The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2024
BT's '£29.99 a month' ad banned — six broadband firms hid price rises in small print
The headline promised £29.99 a month; the £3 yearly rise hid in 'the legal stuff'. The ASA banned BT, EE, Plusnet, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media in one day.
BT · EE · Plusnet · TalkTalk · O2 · Virgin Media · 2024-10-09
What happened
In May 2024 BT's website advertised 'Get Ultrafast Full Fibre 100 for only £29.99 a month'. Six packages each carried the line 'Increases 31 March 2025', but the actual rise — '£3' each year plus 5% on out-of-bundle charges — sat at the very bottom of the page under the heading 'The legal stuff'.
The ASA upheld a complaint under CAP Code rules 3.1 and 3.3 (misleading advertising), 3.10 (qualification) and 3.17 and 3.18 (prices): the price-rise information was not presented prominently, and consumers could be misled about what the contract would really cost.
On 9 October 2024 the ASA published the same-day rulings against BT, EE, Plusnet, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media — the whole batch of major UK broadband sellers. All six had failed to make mid-contract price rises clear and prominent, months after the ASA's December 2023 guidance (with a six-month grace period) demanded exactly that.
Each ad must not appear again, and future ads must state the rises clearly and prominently alongside the headline price. BT, EE and Plusnet said the information had been present and the ASA wanted 'even greater prominence'; Virgin Media O2 said it was 'surprised and disappointed'.
Why it happened
- The headline price was true only for a month: the £3 yearly rise and 5% out-of-bundle increase lived under 'The legal stuff' at the bottom of the page
- Six companies, six bans, one day: the entire industry ran the same non-prominent disclosure until the regulator made them move it
- The operators' defence — 'the information was on the page' — was the offence: presence is not prominence
The lesson
A price you will not charge for long is not the price. When the monthly rate rises mid-contract, the headline and the rise must sit together — presence of the small print is not prominence.
Aftermath
The batch followed ASA guidance issued in December 2023, with a six-month grace period, requiring price-rise information to be up front and prominent with the full future price shown in pounds and pence. After the rulings the operators revised their pages to show rises alongside each package. Ofcom separately moved to ban inflation-linked mid-contract rises from 2025. The Independent covered the six rulings as a warning that headline prices without prominent rise information would not survive.
Sources
- ASA ruling: British Telecommunications plc (Ultrafast Full Fibre 100 price claim)
- The Independent: Broadband adverts from BT, EE, Plusnet, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media banned over misleading prices
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