ASA Adjudication on NXEC Trains Ltd

Ad

An e-mail, for train travel, stated "... Our miniature prices just got smaller! 20% OFF* our Standard Advance fares Book by 12 January ... We're offering 20% off our lowest Standard Advance train tickets on the National Express East Coast route for the New Year ... How to save 20% Go to nationalexpresseastcoast.com or use the booking links within this e-mail Sign in using your registered e-mail address and password Enter your promotional code, which is NEWYEAR09 Enter your journey details in the 'buy rail tickets' panel on the left-hand side. The additional discount will be included in the fares you see ... * All fares quoted are one way, subject to availability. Tickets will be available for travel until early April. Terms and conditions apply. Offer exclusive to bookings at nationalexpresseastcoast.com. Discount applies to our Standard Advance tickets. Travel is on National Express East Coast services only. You are receiving this e-mail from National Express East Coast because you've opted into receive communications from National Express East Coast ... ".

Issue

1. One complainant objected that the ad was misleading, because he only received a 10% discount; on contacting NXEC Trains (NXEC) he was told online fares were already discounted by 10%.

2. Another complainant objected that the promotion was misleading, because the ordinary online fare appeared to be cheaper than the fare he booked with his online code.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. National Express East Coast (NEEC) believed the e-mail was not misleading. They said the e-mail was sent to their database of registered customers, both buyers and non-buyers, on 7 January 2009 and offered their registered customers a 20% discount off their published Standard Advance Fares for a short booking period between 7 and 12 January 2009.  They said the offer was only marketed through the e-mail.  They said they were mindful not to use the words "an extra 20% off", because they already offered 10% off their published Advance fares for bookings through their website.  They said the terms and conditions clarified that the Advance fares featured already included the 10% discount they were offering for bookings made online and that the promotional discount was based on their off-line fare, i.e. their published fare that was available offline, and through non NXEC online retailers.

2. NEEC said the booking the complainant had made through the promotion was for four tickets, and a family railcard had been used in conjunction with the purchase.  They said the promotional terms and conditions advised that railcard discounts could not be used in conjunction with the 20% off offer.  They said because the customer had proceeded to book through the promotional booking environment using both the discount code and his railcard, the booking had been accepted and only the highest discount available to him, the railcard discount of 34%, had been applied.

NEEC said the customer had then gone on to check the price of the same journey through their non-promotional booking environment and found the fare to be cheaper.  They said during the same promotional period they also offered all customers a discount of 10% off their Standard Advance fares if booked online.  They said the terms and conditions of that offer did allow the use of railcards in conjunction with the 10% discount and therefore offered a cheaper fare.  They said they had taken steps not to send the e-mail to railcard holders and all the customers on their database who were known railcard holders were not mailed the offer.   

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted the e-mail had been sent to NEECs database of registered customers.  We also noted NEECs general terms and conditions for ticket sales on their website stated "Advance fares featured on the website already include the 10% online booking discount.  Any promotional discounts are based on the offline Advance ticket price".  However, we considered that, particularly because it was sent via e-mail to registered customers, readers would expect it to be a 20% discount off the usual online prices. We noted the ad did not make clear that the offer included the 10% online discount that already applied and considered that, because it did not make that clear, the e-mail was likely to mislead.

On this point, the e-mail breached CAP Code clauses 7.1 and 7.2 (Truthfulness), 27.4 (Sales promotion rules - Introduction) and 34.1 (Sales promotion rules - Significant conditions for promotions).

2. Upheld

We noted the complainant had believed the promotion was misleading because the promotional code supplied had quoted him a higher fare than without the code.  We noted the reason for that was because the complainant had used a railcard when making his purchase; we also noted NEECs general terms and conditions for ticket sales on their website stated "Railcard discounts cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers unless specifically stated".  We considered, however, that the use of a railcard was a significant restriction on the offer and should therefore have been made clear in the e-mail.

On this point, the e-mail breached CAP Code clauses 7.1 and 7.2 (Truthfulness), 27.4 (Sales promotion rules - Introduction) and 34.1 (Sales promotion rules - Significant conditions for promotions).

Action

The e-mail must not appear again in its current form.  We told NEEC to make clear the significant terms and conditions in future promotions.  

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)