Background
Summary of Council decision:
Four issues were investigated, all of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A website and leaflet for a driving school:
a. The website, www.billplant.co.uk, stated "24hr Freephone: 0330 555 2254 ... Our instructor support team is second to none, offering consistant [sic] support to our Bill Plant Driving School driving instructors and their vehicles, ensuring that they have someone to turn to at all times, no matter the issue". Text at the bottom of the page stated "We have two Franchise options available for you to choose from" and the "STANDARD FRANCHISE AUDI A3" option directed readers to a page that stated "Standard Franchise ... YOUR 1ST 15 PUPILS* GUARANTEED OTHERWISE YOU PAY NOTHING! FREE CPD COURSES TO THE VALUE OF £3,860 ... *Selected areas only".
b. The leaflet stated "YOUR 1ST 15 PUPILS* GUARANTEED OTHERWISE YOU PAY NOTHING!"
Issue
The complainant, an ex-franchisee of Bill Plant, challenged whether:
1. the claim "Freephone" in ad (a) was misleading, because it was a geographic number;
2. the claim "offering consistent support to our Bill Plant Driving School driving instructors and their vehicles, ensuring that they have someone to turn to at all times, no matter the issue" in ad (a) was misleading, because this was not his experience;
3. the claim "YOUR 1ST 15 PUPILS* GUARANTEED" in ads (a) and (b) was misleading, because it did not make clear that it included pupils sourced by the franchisee himself; and
4. the claim "FREE CPD COURSES TO THE VALUE OF £3,860" in ad (a) was misleading, because he had not received these.
Response
1. Bill Plant Ltd (Bill Plant) said they were assured by the number provider that all calls were free of charge. They discovered this was not the case and agreed to include an asterisk after the number that directed readers to text that stated "*0330 numbers are included in your free usage if eligible or cost the same as calling a standard UK landline".
2. They said instructors had various contact options, including support via two telephone numbers and during induction were issued with the training manager's business card, which stated they could contact him if needed. They submitted a copy of a training manager's business card and a list of Instructor Support numbers.
3. They submitted a franchise agreement which detailed the 15-pupil guarantee. They said all instructors were sent a copy which they had to sign and return before completing the final agreement. They also said selected areas were subject to change.
4. They said all new instructors were invited to attend an induction course, which was usually completed on the day they collected their vehicle, and provided five hours of continuing professional development (CPD). They submitted a template of a Bill Plant CPD certificate and a welcome letter, a spreadsheet and document of instructor names, locations and dates. They said the spreadsheet listed all the induction and CPD courses that were carried out free of charge.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The ASA considered that readers would understand from the claim "Freephone" that the stated number was free to call from a landline, in the same way that 0800 and 0808 numbers were. However, we understood that the number was chargeable from a landline and free only to those with inclusive calls in their calling plan. We acknowledged Bill Plant had included qualifying text but considered this contradicted the claim that the number was free. Because the number charged callers the same per minute as a geographic number, we concluded that the claim "Freephone" was misleading.
On this point ad (a) breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising)
2. Upheld
We considered the claim "offering consistent support to our Bill Plant Driving School driving instructors and their vehicles, ensuring that they have someone to turn to at all times, no matter the issue" implied that Bill Plant had in place facilities that ensured their instructors and their vehicles were continually supported on a range of issues. Whilst we acknowledged that instructors' experiences were likely to differ with regard to this service, we considered a business card and list of support numbers, which related to support in relation to the vehicle only, was insufficient to substantiate that support was in place for instructors and that this was consistent throughout their contract with Bill Plant. Because the claim exaggerated the support available, we concluded that the claim was misleading.
On this point ad (a) breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising),
3.7
3.7
Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
(Substantiation),
3.11
3.11
Marketing communications must not mislead consumers by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product.
(Exaggeration) and
20.7
20.7
Marketing communications for business opportunities must neither contain unrepresentative or overstated earnings figures nor exaggerate the support available to investors.
(Business opportunities).
3. Upheld
We considered readers would understand from the claim "YOUR 1ST 15 PUPILS* GUARANTEED OTHERWISE YOU PAY NOTHING" that Bill Plant supplied instructors with 15 pupils and that if they were not able to do this, the franchisee would not be requested for payment. However, the franchise agreement letter made clear what was guaranteed. It stated "No payment would be requested until the franchise had 15 pupils (The 15 pupil guarantee, includes all pupils irrespective of whether the pupil or pupil's agent contacted the franchisee directly or the pupil's details were supplied by the Bill Plant Ltd call centre ...)". However, this was not made clear in the ad itself and we considered it contradicted, rather than clarified, the claim that the advertiser would "guarantee" the franchisee with 15 pupils. We therefore concluded that the claim was misleading.
On this point ads (a) and (b) breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising),
3.7
3.7
Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
(Substantiation), 3.9 (Qualification),
3.11
3.11
Marketing communications must not mislead consumers by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product.
(Exaggeration) and
20.7
20.7
Marketing communications for business opportunities must neither contain unrepresentative or overstated earnings figures nor exaggerate the support available to investors.
(Business opportunities).
4. Upheld
The template welcome letter stated that the application had been accepted. It referred to an induction course that recipients were required to attend and requested for payment to be made prior to induction day. The other submissions detailed the names of various drivers, trainers, first aid staff, locations, allocated course dates, qualifications and the date the driver or trainer joined the franchise. However, we considered this was insufficient to demonstrate that franchisees received free courses in CPD worth £3,860. We concluded that the claim had not been substantiated and was therefore misleading.
On this point the ad (a) breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising),
3.7
3.7
Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
(Substantiation),
3.11
3.11
Marketing communications must not mislead consumers by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product.
(Exaggeration) and
20.7
20.7
Marketing communications for business opportunities must neither contain unrepresentative or overstated earnings figures nor exaggerate the support available to investors.
(Business opportunities).
Action
The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told Bill Plant Ltd not to use the claim "Freephone" if calls from landlines were charged. We also told them not to exaggerate the support available to investors and ensure that claims capable of objective substantiation were supported with adequate documentary evidence.
