Redten Communications Ltd 23 Castalia Square Docklands London E14 3NG Number of complaints: 7

Date: 23 July 2008 Media: Internet (sales promotion) Sector: Computers and telecommunications

Ad
A website promotion, for broadband packages, featured a headline that alternated between "8Mb* broadband and a desktop PC from £12.99 per month", "8Mb* broadband and a Toshiba laptop from £17.99 per month", "Unlimited ** broadband" and "Free upgrade to 24Mb broadband".  The asterisks led to footnotes that stated "*Actual download speed dependent on distance from local BT exchange.  **Subject to a fair usage policy".  Further text on the page that described the 8Mb offer stated "Sign up to our desktop PC Package and we'll not only connect you up to super-fast 8Mb* broadband with unlimited** internet downloads ...".  The company logo stated "redten internet unlimited".

Issue
1. Customers challenged whether the claims "Unlimited broadband" and "unlimited internet downloads" were misleading and whether they could be substantiated, because their downloads had been capped at 5 GB or 15 GB and on reaching that limit their service was reduced to dial up speed.

2. One of the customers objected that the claim "Free upgrade to 24Mb broadband" was misleading, because he was told 24 Mb was not available as a free upgrade.

The CAP Code:

3.1;7.1

Response
Redten Communications (Redten) did not respond to the ASAs enquiries.

Assessment
1. & 2. Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Redtens lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code clause 2.6 (Non-response). We reminded them of their obligations under the Code and told them to respond promptly in future.

We understood that Redten had recently changed broadband provider.  We noted complainants had since reported that their downloads had been capped at 5 GB or 15 GB and when that point was reached their service was reduced to dial-up speed.  We also noted the ad stated that the broadband package was subject to a fair usage policy.  Because we had not seen evidence to show that the download cap excluded only atypical users, or that customers were able to obtain an upgrade to 24 Mb free of charge, we concluded that the claims "Unlimited broadband", "Unlimited downloads" and "Free upgrade to 24Mb broadband" were misleading.

Action
We told Redten not to repeat the promotion in its current format.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)