ASA upholds complaints made against Vodafone advert
Three complaints that were recently lodged about advertising from Vodafone with regards to its mobile broadband services are to be upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority.
Two adverts that were shown in the national press are at the centre of the complaints made against the provider and contain the headline “The fastest, most reliable mobile broadband in the galaxy. Only £15 a month.” The claims made in the advert are being questioned by T-Mobile, 3G, Hutchinson and a member of the public as to whether claims of being the fastest mobile broadband could actually be substantiated by Vodafone, whether Vodafone was the most reliable mobile broadband and also that customers were being misled by the phrase “mobile broadband that’s light years ahead.”
Tests that had been carried out by LCC International and backed up any of the claims made in the advertisement were given as a response by Vodafone to the ASA. From the information provided by Vodafone some interesting observations were made by the ASA having assessed all the information provided. The test data provided by LCC showed that the average time taken to download a web page was faster with other mobile broadband providers in six out of the ten regions in the UK that were included in the tests, and testing in homes was not included in the data provided.
With the ASA upholding all three of the complaints made it has told Vodafone broadband that for all future advertising it must make clear reference as to the basis of its claims.
A key issue regarding mobile broadband that was highlighted from this adjudication was that if users are going to be accessing a service from a fixed location, before entering into a lengthy contract, ensure that the 3G signal for the provider is strong enough by either using a mobile phone or somebody else’s dongle with the same provider. Also, factors that may affect mobile broadband connection speeds are the distance from a base station, any clutter or environmental factors in the area and the number of users that are connecting to the same network in the area.
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Correction: The Link are also at fault as an agent for Vodafone selling products that DO NOT live up to their promise. Beware dealing with both these companies is a nightmare and they are world champion ‘busk passers’ In my view they are the worst two companies I have ever had the misfortune to deal with.
Vodafone are misleading customers with the claim that 3G mobile broadband is available in their areas using an inaccurate computer generated map on their website. This coverage is misleading and after numerous calls to their useless customer services I ended up talking to some ignorant service manager called Alistair (would’nt give me his surname, doesn’t have to apparently) His main argument was that “3G is available in my area OUTDOORS” they (Vodafone) “don’t guarantee coverage indoors” and according to him NO other provider will either? In other words to get the service they are advertising I would have to sit on the roof of my house with my netbook! When I contacted their technical help I was told that according to their own internal coverage maps which are far more detailed than the one on their website I was in a VARIABLE coverage area which means I DONT have 3G or indeed 2G, I am lucky if I can stay connected to their GPRS service which is the equivalent of ‘dial up’ slow speeds and not capable of allowing video to play on websites etc. They are now refusing to cancel my contract on the basis that I am receiving “a service” from them even though it is nothing like what they advertised. They are also using the old ploy of “read what it says on our website” ie disclaimers. I have had a look at these and nowhere can I find mention of Indoors/outdoors/variable coverage. The Link are also at fault as an agent for Vodafone selling products that live up to their promise. Beware dealing with both these companies is a nightmare and they are world champion ‘busk passers’ In my view they are the worst two companies I have ever had the misfortune to deal with.
3 mobile PASG broadband is just about as bad as it can be. With speeds as low, as 1kbs, most of the time. To customer service I had to send a nasty email, before any reply. They charge for something they do not supply: In plain English, committing theft and fraud. They had done the same when they started with their Mobile phone service and they should be shut down. With customer service also bad, bad, bad: just ignorant! You pay for 3 GB and you are maybe able to use only 1.2 GB.
Not recommendable to any one, unless you hat them.
Yes, I was forced to use bad words !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!