Voda false advertising?

I think it's safe to say that Vodafone is taking the proverbial - claims to
"unlimited" services are limited in the small print (very small print) to an
extent that a mockery is made of the term "unlimited".

I just came across an add on this page (a Vodafone ad) offering a free Nokia
N95 8Gb (black) for £15 a month with 600 minutes and unlimited texts:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/207654/nokia-e71.html

There is no obvious (or even less obvious) mention of the offer anywhere on
the Vodafone website - even if you interpret the offer as being a £30 a
month contract with the first 3 months at £15.

Is it not time that the ASA took action against these tossers - we are all,
surely, facing a hard time at present and don't need to be further shafted
by misleading advertising?

On Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:35:39 +0100, "Alan Davies" <nosspam@nospam.com>
wrote:

>Is it not time that the ASA took action against these tossers - we are all,
>surely, facing a hard time at present and don't need to be further shafted
>by misleading advertising?

The ASA aren't going to do anything unless YOU complain to them.
--
-- Nick ICQ: 9235201 EMAIL & MSN: nickmooney@spamcop.net
-- Triumph Tiger 955i -- http://www.bgn.me.uk -- Touch -
-- LOTR#4 SKOGA#8 DS#7 BOTAFOT#159 BOTM#2 FBOTY#06 PM#11

"BGN" <nickmooney@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:63cjb45vesm8r0kaeragijualeu3tbq5jc@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:35:39 +0100, "Alan Davies" <nosspam@nospam.com>
> wrote:
>
>>Is it not time that the ASA took action against these tossers - we are
>>all,
>>surely, facing a hard time at present and don't need to be further shafted
>>by misleading advertising?
>
> The ASA aren't going to do anything unless YOU complain to them.

And I was just about to but - and in the words of Mr Meldrew - I don't
believe it: the ad has just changed to show the £35 offer and not a non
existent £15 offer!!!!

On Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:35:39 +0100, "Alan Davies" <nosspam@nospam.com>
wrote:

>I just came across an add on this page (a Vodafone ad) offering a free Nokia
>N95 8Gb (black) for £15 a month with 600 minutes and unlimited texts:
>
>http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/207654/nokia-e71.html
>
>There is no obvious (or even less obvious) mention of the offer anywhere on
>the Vodafone website - even if you interpret the offer as being a £30 a
>month contract with the first 3 months at £15.

It's a rotating ad. I've uploaded the four parts here
<http://www.spam-free.org.uk/vodafone_ad/>.
--
Martin Jay

"Alan Davies" <nosspam@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:xaiuk.79368$AE1.71989@newsfe28.ams2...
>I think it's safe to say that Vodafone is taking the proverbial - claims to
>"unlimited" services are limited in the small print (very small print) to
>an extent that a mockery is made of the term "unlimited".
>
> I just came across an add on this page (a Vodafone ad) offering a free
> Nokia N95 8Gb (black) for £15 a month with 600 minutes and unlimited
> texts:
>
> http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/207654/nokia-e71.html
>
> There is no obvious (or even less obvious) mention of the offer anywhere
> on the Vodafone website - even if you interpret the offer as being a £30 a
> month contract with the first 3 months at £15.
>
> Is it not time that the ASA took action against these tossers - we are
> all, surely, facing a hard time at present and don't need to be further
> shafted by misleading advertising?
>
>
I complained to Trading Standards. They said it is /OK/ to use the word
unlimited
providing it is made clear there is a limit. Obviously the person I spoke
to
had no understanding of English.
Trading Standards continue to allow ISPs to put out false and
misleading adverts which also confuse the Advertising Standards Authority.

"Martin Jay" <martin@spam-free.org.uk> wrote in message
news:163.1220139064.20080830@spam-free.org.uk...
> On Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:35:39 +0100, "Alan Davies" <nosspam@nospam.com>
> wrote:
>
>>I just came across an add on this page (a Vodafone ad) offering a free
>>Nokia
>>N95 8Gb (black) for £15 a month with 600 minutes and unlimited texts:
>>
>>http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/207654/nokia-e71.html
>>
>>There is no obvious (or even less obvious) mention of the offer anywhere
>>on
>>the Vodafone website - even if you interpret the offer as being a £30 a
>>month contract with the first 3 months at £15.
>
> It's a rotating ad. I've uploaded the four parts here
> <http://www.spam-free.org.uk/vodafone_ad/>.

Thank you - after I posted I noticed that the ad changed: gone was mention
of the £15 a month and instead the £35 tariff was in its place! I hoped when
I saw your post that you had managed to save the original ad but I see that
you also have the £35 ad. I didn't save the original one.

On 31/08/2008 11:07, Alan Davies wrote:

> Thank you - after I posted I noticed that the ad changed: gone was mention
> of the £15 a month and instead the £35 tariff was in its place! I hoped when
> I saw your post that you had managed to save the original ad but I see that
> you also have the £35 ad. I didn't save the original one.

Turning off adblock (and looking at the adverts that Martin had
captured) Samsung and Sony are £15 for first 3 months, Nokia is £35 per
month. Are you sure you didn't just get confused by seeing different
adverts as they rotated?

"Andy Burns" <usenet.april2008@adslpipe.co.uk> wrote in message
news:COOdne3-_IgZ7SfVnZ2dnUVZ8jydnZ2d@posted.plusnet...
On 31/08/2008 11:07, Alan Davies wrote:

> Thank you - after I posted I noticed that the ad changed: gone was mention
> of the £15 a month and instead the £35 tariff was in its place! I hoped
> when I saw your post that you had managed to save the original ad but I
> see that you also have the £35 ad. I didn't save the original one.

>> Turning off adblock (and looking at the adverts that Martin had captured)
>> Samsung and Sony are £15 for first 3 months, Nokia is £35 per month. Are
>> you sure you didn't just get confused by seeing different adverts as they
>> rotated?

No way although I can understand that people might think that.

There was another ad at the bottom of the page - similar to the one that
Martin captured but greater width and less height. It clearly stated that
the Nokia N95 8Gb was free on a £15 a month tariff - it was a different ad
to the one that was captured.

"Alan Davies" <nosspam@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:JMxuk.87256$AE1.78791@newsfe28.ams2...
>
> "Andy Burns" <usenet.april2008@adslpipe.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:COOdne3-_IgZ7SfVnZ2dnUVZ8jydnZ2d@posted.plusnet...
> On 31/08/2008 11:07, Alan Davies wrote:
>
>> Thank you - after I posted I noticed that the ad changed: gone was
>> mention of the £15 a month and instead the £35 tariff was in its place! I
>> hoped when I saw your post that you had managed to save the original ad
>> but I see that you also have the £35 ad. I didn't save the original one.
>
>>> Turning off adblock (and looking at the adverts that Martin had
>>> captured) Samsung and Sony are £15 for first 3 months, Nokia is £35 per
>>> month. Are you sure you didn't just get confused by seeing different
>>> adverts as they rotated?
>
> No way although I can understand that people might think that.
>
> There was another ad at the bottom of the page - similar to the one that
> Martin captured but greater width and less height. It clearly stated that
> the Nokia N95 8Gb was free on a £15 a month tariff - it was a different ad
> to the one that was captured.

Ha, it's still there! If you go to the page and try a few times to refresh
it the ad should appear (at the bottom of the page - it seems to rotate
randomly with a PC World ad).

I've saved it to my desktop (it's an animated gif) and it clearly says that
the phone is available *free* for £15 a month.

I will post the animated gif to the ASA and see what happens (I won't hold
my breath).

On 31/08/2008 15:20, Alan Davies wrote:

> There was another ad at the bottom of the page - similar to the one that
> Martin captured but greater width and less height. It clearly stated that
> the Nokia N95 8Gb was free on a £15 a month tariff - it was a different ad
> to the one that was captured.

Yes I see it, but they'll have an E&OE clause somewhere on the website;
You can't them to force them to sell at that price any more than they
can force you to buy.

"Andy Burns" <usenet.april2008@adslpipe.co.uk> wrote in message
news:QoednSBxeK6xLyfVnZ2dnUVZ8uidnZ2d@posted.plusn et...
On 31/08/2008 15:20, Alan Davies wrote:

> There was another ad at the bottom of the page - similar to the one that
> Martin captured but greater width and less height. It clearly stated that
> the Nokia N95 8Gb was free on a £15 a month tariff - it was a different ad
> to the one that was captured.

>> Yes I see it, but they'll have an E&OE clause somewhere on the website;
>> You can't them to force them to sell at that price any more than they can
>> force you to buy.

Sure. But the point was that they are pretty carefree with their misleading
advertising. I only visited the website because, having seen the ad, it
seemed like an offer too good to miss :-(

The ASA upheld a complaint against them in June for using the term
"unlimited" in relation to mobile email and internet but thet haven't
stopped using the terms in response - just upped the limit.