Every few weeks I spend a little time sifting through the adjudications made by Britain's advertising regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority. Sometimes its a litany of tedious complaints by axe-grinding ninnies from Tunbridge Wells - but sometimes a few interesting examples pop up.
Today the ASA has chastised both Dell and Virgin.net for misleading advertising; In Dell's case, for advertising a £299 laptop which didn't actually seem to be available at that price. And in Virgin's, it was the use of a slogan implying no charges - "Get broadband without the commitment" - but ignoring the fact that although they don't have long-term contracts, you are penalised with a £50 charge if you cancel within the first 12 months.
[Dell]: The ASA considered that because the ad featured both a phone number and a website address, viewers would expect the laptop to be available to purchase at the advertised price by both means when the advert was first broadcast.
[Virgin]: We considered that the claim... implied customers would be able to cancel their account without any obligation. We considered that the fee for cancellation within 12 months, which was equivalent to over three months' service use, was a significant obligation.
The results were hardly spectacular, but at least both firms were found to be at fault - Dell was told not to run the ad again (fat chance, considering it ran for only a short period anyway) while Virgin were told they must, in future, make it clear that there's a cancellation fee. A consumer victory? Of sorts.
