MANX Telecom has been ordered by the Advertising Standards Authority to stop its ‘misleading’ adverts for roaming packages.
In a ruling issued last week, the media regulator found six adverts – including MT’s ‘no roaming charges’ claim were misleading following a complaint.
It states: ‘The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told Manx Telecom Ltd not to make the claims “no roaming charges” and “pay the same as you would at home” unless they made clear in the body copy which products they related to.
‘We also told them not to imply, by text or imagery, that there were no roaming charges in locations where customers would have to pay more than they would at home.’
The adverts for overseas rates featured on MT’s website, Twitter and Facebook pages, in a leaflet distributed across the island, on the radio and on the cover of the Manx Advertiser.
The ASA found the ‘no roaming charges’ claim misleading because data with the Talk & Text country zones two and three bolt-on was charged at £3 per MB, rather than the standard rate of 50p.
It said consumers would understand the claim to mean that, with a bolt-on, no call, text or data charges over the standard rates would be incurred.
In addition, a separate bolt-on costing £6.99 per month was required to enable consumers to receive ‘free incoming calls’ for zones two and three.
It said the adverts did not specify to which roaming bolt-on the ‘no roaming charges’ claim applied.
The ASA also found the ‘Pay the same as you would at home’ claim made in five adverts misleading because customers in zones two and three would not pay the same for data roaming.
It said while the terms and conditions made clear that data roaming in zones two and three was charged at £3 per MB ‘we considered that information relating to reduced charges contradicted, rather than clarified the claim “pay the same as you would at home” and, alongside the images of cities within zones two and three, misleadingly implied that with any bolt-on, customers would not be charged more for roaming, including data, than standard on-island fees’.
The ASA did not uphold a second complaint about ‘Pay the same as you would at home’, saying ‘we did not consider it implied that roaming would be included in the basic contract for pay monthly customers’.
Manx Telecom marketing director David Smith said: ‘We take all complaints very seriously and always comply fully with Advertising Standards Authority regulations.
‘We accept the authority’s rulings on this matter, which related to one complaint. In fact, as soon as we became aware of this issue we made immediate changes to our campaign which we felt met the concerns of the complainant and ASA.
‘Independently, we also took the decision to replace the campaign as soon as practically possible.
He said ‘well over 1,000 customers regularly use our roaming bolt-ons at anyone time and the feedback we receive indicates that they love the value this product provides’, adding: ‘We shall continue to offer our roaming bolt-ons and find more ways of giving our customers excellent value when travelling overseas.’