BT misled consumers in advert

In a recent advert, BT claimed that they had been voted by an independent survey to be the best performing broadband provider, but the survey had been conducted by a company called Epitiro who left out Virgin Media because they were conducting a survey on ADSL providers only.

Virgin Media complained to the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), who agreed with Virgin Media’s claim that the advert did not properly qualify the fact that BT Total Broadband had been voted the best performing ADSL provider and not of all broadband providers.

The ASA mentioned that this advert could mislead potential new customers and should make sure that in future claims they should qualify the ADSL factor in order not to confuse consumers.

Virgin Media also complained about the line rental charges, as the ASA believed that most consumers would be aware that a phone would be needed in order to get fixed line broadband.