Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.
The ASA has upheld many complaints over the last few years against telecommunications marketers who have made misleading price statements or price comparisons. After consulting the telecommunications industry, in May 1998 CAP issued a Help Note on Price Claims in Telecommunications Marketing to provide guidance in this area.
The Help Note covers:
1) General principles - comparisons should be clear and fair; marketers should assume that different customers with different call patterns will behave rationally in selecting the best value service available; price claims, including those stating "from" and "up to", should not exaggerate the availability or extent of benefits likely to be obtained by consumers.
2) Variables - variables such as time, areas and degree of usage combine to make up different customer call patterns. Marketers should state which call pattern a price or savings claim applies to if a customer is likely to need this qualification to understand the claim properly. Qualifying this in a footnote is unlikely to be considered prominent enough. If a marketer's rental charge applies to both a telephone service and another service, the marketer should avoid referring only to that part of the charge they consider covers the telephone line rental if customers have to pay the full charge for the "bundle" of services.
3) Total bill comparisons - claims that customers can save on their total bills should be avoided unless marketers can show that all of the tariffs are lower than (or lower than and, in some cases, equal to) those of a competitor; total bill savings claims that relate to an individual call pattern are, however, likely to be acceptable.
4) Tariff comparisons - marketers should, where applicable and where possible, compare their tariffs with the most comparable tariffs of their competitors; when making price statements or tariff comparisons, marketers should normally state in a footnote the extent of any relevant call set-up fee or minimum fee. If, however, the call set-up fee or minimum fee is greater than the pence per minute charge stated in the advertisement, marketers should state clearly in the body copy the extent of the fee.
See also entries on: ''Comparisons'' and ''Phones''.
Last modified : 14 October 2010