According to the
OFT
, the promoters of Jackpot
Promotions sent unsolicited automated telephone messages to over
seven million consumers, advising them that, as a result of
entering a competition the previous year, they had won prizes such
as a Volkswagen Beetle worth £15,000, a plasma screen television, a
DVD
player, a
PC
, £6,000 cash or an
all-inclusive Bahamas cruise.
Fifteen-thousand people responded to the message by calling a
premium rate number at a cost of £1.50 per minute.
But in the
OFT
's view, the automated telephone
message was misleading as it gave the impression that the recipient
had been lucky and won a major prize.
In fact nearly everyone who responded to the message received
a 'giveaway' item of a cruise voucher with stringent terms and
conditions attached. And, unsurprisingly, recipients of the message
had not previously entered one of the promoter's competitions – the
promoters had simply bought their telephone numbers from a
specialist database.
The promoters of the competition, John Timothy Kitching, Alix
Faye Thornton and Heaven Communications Limited, were also involved
in other misleading premium rate promotions advertised via
automated telephone calls and an unsolicited mailing, said the
OFT.
The consumer watchdog took action against the company and its
officers under The Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations
(
CMAR
s) 1988, which give the
OFT
the
power to step in where it is in the public interest that an advert
should be stopped and future misleading ads prevented.
As a result, Heaven Communications Limited and its officers
have now given the OFT undertakings that they will not use
misleading advertising to promote such competitions in future. If
the undertakings are breached the
OFT
is empowered to
seek a court injunction against the promoters, which, if disobeyed,
could result in proceedings for contempt of court.
"These were highly misleading telephone messages," said
OFT
Chairman, Sir John Vickers. "Consumers should not
respond to any unsolicited messages telling them that they have won
a major prize. Action will be taken to stop this type of deceptive
practice."
