Advertisment
Website:
Advertising appeared on the company’s own website on a ‘bundle card’. The bundle card advertised ‘Up to 500Mb/ 12 Month Contract/ €34.99 a month for 12 Months’; ‘500Mb/ 24 Month Contract/ €39.99 a month for 24 Months’; and ‘1Gb/ 24 Month Contract/ €44.99 a month for 24 Months’.
Below these three options it read ‘The monthly price of your plan will increase each April by CPI plus 3%. Find out more.’ The ‘Find out more’ was a hyperlink that linked to the terms and conditions for the plans.
Direct Mail:
The direct mail advertised ‘€34.99 a month for 12 months/ 500Mb Speeds’ and ‘€44.99 a month for 24 months/ 1Gb Speeds’. On the reverse side it read in large lettering ‘Experience 500Mb Fibre Broadband speeds from just €34.99 a month’.
The terms and conditions appeared under this in a separate box. They read; ‘From April of each year, the monthly price of your plan (excluding any discounts) will increase by the Consumer Price Index rate published in January of that year plus an additional 3%. For more information see eir.ie/annual-price-increase.’
Complaint
There were two complaints concerning the internet advertising and one concerning the direct mail advertising. The complainants contended that the monthly prices advertised were misleading due to the fact that the prices were adjusted in April of each year in line with Consumer Price Index (CPI) and an additional 3% The complainants all considered that it was not therefore possible to pay the quoted price each month for the full 12 or 24 month contract as advertised.
Response
The advertisers said that they were very open with their customers regarding pricing. On the issue of the broadband ‘bundle card’ on their website, they said that while they highlighted the price and the contract length, they said that they had never communicated that these were ‘fixed price points.’ They said that on the same bundle card they clearly highlighted that the monthly price of the plans would increase each April by CPI plus 3% and that from there they directly linked to a dedicated page with additional information about these increases.
On the issue of the direct mail complaint, they said that the information regarding price increases sat separately to the terms and conditions and that they highlighted its importance even further by placing it in a separate box.
Conclusion
Complaint upheld.
The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response.
The Complaints Committee noted that while the advertisers had illustrated that there would be a price increase through footnotes and hyperlinks, these caveats fundamentally contradicted the stated offer. While the Committee welcomed the transparency regarding a future price increase, the advertising had stated that the price was a per month price for 12 or 24 months, when in fact the price would be increasing, and therefore was not valid for the full 12 or 24 months of the contract. In the circumstances, the Committee considered that the advertising was in breach of Section 4.1 and 4.22 of the Code.
Action Required:
The advertising must not appear again in the current format.
