VODAFONE has had two website adverts removed by the UK’s advertising watchdog for making “misleading” claims about savings.
Customers were led to believe two SIM card packages advertised during November and December last year could save them as much as £312 annually.
1
However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found they did not return on the savings promised.
An advert for Vodafone’s Unlimited Plus SIM plan, referred to as example A, stated: “Save £240. Monthly £23. Offer ends 19 December.”
While a previous version of the ad, example C, said: “Unlimited Plus. Black Friday. Save £312. Monthly £20. Offer ends 02 December.”
Similarly, an advert for Vodafone’s Unlimited Max SIM package, example B, read: “Black Friday: Save £312. Monthly £23. Offer ends 2 December”.”
READ MORE ON MOBILE NETWORKS
However, another version of the advertisement, example D, said: “Unlimited Max. 6 months half price. Monthly £18. £36pm after 6 months. Offer ends 28 November”.
The savings claimed in the example A were based on a prior price of £33 per month, but the immediately preceding price had been their Black Friday deal of £20 from example C.
The listings were investigated by the regulator after it received a complaint from rival mobile network provider EE.
Following an investigation, the watchdog concluded that the savings of £240 and £312 in both package promotions “were not genuine”.
Savings claims in the two packages “had not been made against the immediately preceding prices at which the products were sold at when the ads appeared,” the watchdog wrote in its ruling.
ASA also found that the products in both ads “did not return to the prices against which the savings were being claimed once the promotions ended” – which meant they were misleading.
The watchdog told Vodafone that the ads in their current form must not appear again.
The network provider was also told to “ensure that future savings claims did not mislead and to ensure products returned to the price against which the saving was being claimed, once a promotion ended”.
Vodafone responded to the ASA’s investigation, noting that during the promotional period, the Unlimited Plus was on offer for 33 per cent of the time and the Unlimited Max was on offer for 49 per cent of the time, according to Marketing Beat.
