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MoneySavingExpert under fire for misleading TalkTalk email ad

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By Natalie Mortimer, N/A

September 10, 2014 | 2 min read

Consumer finance site MoneySavingExpert has had an email ad for TalkTalk and Love2Shop banned after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that it was misleading to consumers.

A journalist complained to the ASA about the email after noticing that it contained information about broadband and call packages that missed out additional fees.

MoneySavingExpert said it was “standard practice in the telecoms market” to offer packages that were not all-inclusive and that the average consumer would not assume from the ad that calls would be included in the line rental, despite the reference to the word ‘phone’ in the email headline.

With regards to TalkTalk, the journalist said that MoneySavingExpert did not make “significant conditions” clear, including that there was a £20 per month unbilled call limit.

The finance site said that the ad “explicitly stated” that calls were not included and therefore did not view it as “a condition so significant” that it should be highlighted to consumers.

It added that although the ad did not include all of the small print set out in TalkTalk's terms and conditions, a link to a landing page was provided.

The ASA said in its ruling that the wording used in the email “contradicted rather than clarified” information around line rental and calls and that the ad did not make significant conditions clear to consumers.

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

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