Description:
A website advertisement promoted a prepaid gift card, up to a maximum dollar value, to be gifted to consumers when they sign up for one of the specific wireless plans referred to in the advertisement. The listed plans included language that each requires an eligible rate plan with financing. Below the listed plans were additional terms and conditions governing the referenced promotional offer.
Complaint:
The complainant alleged that the advertisement was false because the terms and conditions did not disclose that the offer was not available to existing customers on a specific plan, an important exclusion he claimed misled him to believe he qualified for the promotion.
Response:
In its response to Council, the advertiser confirmed that the customer was not eligible for the promotional offer while maintaining his current plan, however, he would have been eligible with another plan.
Decision:
Council appreciated the advertiser’s response, and considered the complaint together with the advertiser’s submission.
According to Council, it was difficult to determine exactly what was being offered. Council found the language used in the advertisement to be ambiguous in terms of whether or not there were any exclusions. It was unclear to Council what an “eligible rate plan” was and without a carve out in the terms and conditions specifically excluding those existing customers on the specific plan the complainant was on, Council found the disclosure to be inadequate to the average consumer.
Council unanimously held that the advertisement omitted relevant information resulting in an advertisement that was misleading.
Infraction:
Clause 1(b)
