ASA Adjudication on Going Places Leisure Travel Ltd

Ad

A Teletext ad for Airtours Direct (Airtours) stated "Jamaica Just In!” and offered a 14-night, all inclusive holiday, in September for £394 by calling an 0800 free phone number.

Issue

The complainant thought the ad was misleading because:

1.   on calling the advertised free phone number, a recorded message directed her to telephone a phone number that incurred a charge and

2.   she was then informed by the operator that the advertised offer was not available at that price.

BCAP TV Code

Response

1. Airtours said that with regards to the free phone number, they had experienced technical difficulties when one of their offices had closed and calls were being rerouted. Unfortunately, this led to a small number of customers being rerouted incorrectly including this viewer who was mistakenly directed to telephone a number that incurred a charge. However, this matter was promptly corrected when Teletext alerted them of this issue and all calls were redirected to a free phone call centre.

2. Airtours stated that the price advertised should have been £754 and due to human error, the incorrect price was entered into the software; the price for the all inclusive holiday and the adjacent self catering holiday had been reversed in error. They said this offer was aired for two days and was removed when Teletext notified them of the complaint.

Airtours apologised for any inconvenience and said they did not intend to mislead any customers.

Assessment

1. Complaint upheld

The ASA acknowledged that due to technical problems some customers were directed from an advertised free phone number to telephone a number that incurred a charge. Although we noted the problem only affected a small number of customers and was fixed quite quickly, we considered it was misleading to advertise a free phone number and then ask callers to that number to telephone a number for which a change would incur.

2. Complaint upheld

We noted that due to human error, an incorrect price was broadcasted. Nonetheless, the offer was unavailable at the advertised price and we therefore considered it to be misleading.

On these points, the ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rule 5.1 (Misleading advertising) and 5.3.1 (Accurate pricing).

Action

No further action necessary.