Internet provider Fliber has been found guilty of misleading advertising by marketing themselves as an internet provider where “you hold for less than 60 seconds”.
Complainant Rohan Potgieter laid a grievance against Fliber with the Advertising Regulatory Board, stating that their claim that they could be reached within 60 seconds was misleading.
“The complainant submits that he discovered that this claim is untrue through experience, because this timeline is not always attained by the advertiser’s company,” the ARB said.
Fliber was contacted, informed of the complaint and afforded an opportunity to respond, but chose not to.
Despite Fliber’s decision not to respond, the ARB continued to consider the complaint in order to make a ruling to be followed by its members.
The Advertising Code of Practice cautions advertisers against making any statement or visual presentation, which directly or by omission, ambiguity or exaggerated claim, is likely to mislead the consumer about the advertised product.
— Advertising Regulatory Board
The aspect of the advert that Potgieter took issue with was the claim that consumers will always “hold for less than 60 seconds” when contacting Fliber.
The Advertising Code of Practice cautions advertisers against “making any statement or visual presentation, which directly or by omission, ambiguity or exaggerated claim, is likely to mislead the consumer about the advertised product”.
The ARB found that the claim “AN INTERNET PROVIDER THAT YOU HOLD FOR LESS THAN 60 SECONDS” implies that when consumers contact Fliber telephonically, they will be meaningfully assisted in less than 60 seconds.
Potgieter complained that he had been unable to reach staff at Fliber to transact with the promised 60 seconds.
Because Fliber declined to respond to the complaint, the ARB took to their website. Guided by the greeting, “Hi! How can we help you?” on the website, the ARB went on to dial the provided number.
On one call they opted for “sales”, went through the prompts and the call was answered in 28 seconds. However, a second call directed to the “support” option was less successful, with the call answered only after two minutes and five seconds.
“The directorate notes that a consumer will, in most cases, make one sales call to a provider but may make many service calls. The length of response to service calls is therefore the one that they will be more likely to interpret the claim as applying to; and the one to which they will attach more importance,” the ARB found.
The ARB concurred with Potgieter that it was not possible for Fliber to attain the level of service promised in their advertising, and that their claim to answer within 60 seconds was a big exaggeration that misled.
The ARB advised members not to accept any adverts carrying an unqualified claim that consumers will always “hold for less than 60 seconds”.
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