A £39 Dover-Calais ferry fare promotion should have made clear that the deal was only available two days a week, the advertising watchdog has ruled.
The website for ferry operator DFDS Seaways misleadingly claimed that trips were available from £39 when the offer was only available on certain days and the fare rose to £55 for the rest of the week, according to the Advertising Standards Authority.
Upholding a complaint against DFDS, the ASA told the ferry firm to make clear in future advertising that ‘from’ prices referred to certain days of the week only.
Publishing its ruling, the authority said: “We considered that because the £39 fare was only available on Mondays and Tuesdays, and that had not been made clear in the ad, the ‘from £39’ claim was likely to mislead.”
The authority went on to say the advert “made no reference to the £39 fare being restricted to Mondays and Tuesdays and consumers would therefore have expected the £39 fare to have also been available on other days of the week.
“We therefore expected that any evidence substantiating the price claim would include all days of the week.”
The ruling followed a compliant over an advert seen on October 18 last year promoting day trips from £39 for a car and four people for travel by December 15 if booked by October 31.
The complainant, who searched for trips between October 26-30, found that fares were not available at the £39 price and challenged whether the ‘from £39’ claim was misleading and could be substantiated.
DFDS told the ASA the £39 fare was available on all sailings on Mondays and Tuesdays between September 6 and December 15, 2022 but the price from Wednesdays to Sundays was £55.
The company noted that its usual ‘date availability is subject to availability’ text had been omitted.
It apologised and undertook to review procedures to ensure similar omissions did not occur again.