Forum Discussion

Cardiffman282's avatar
Cardiffman282
Wise owl
24 days ago

When is a gift not a gift?

When it's from VM Ltd. 

What would you say is the normal everyday natural meaning of the terms "reward", "gift" and "on us"? 

Would you tend to see these terms as meaning, well, what they say?  

Currently VM says it has some nice things for me like broadband upgrades and TV offerings that are a "reward", "gift" and "on us" [ie on VM Ltd]. 

These are presented in nice attractive tiles on my VM home page. 

(Screenshots are available upon request as they are proving impossible to post here.) 

However, a tad unsurprisingly to this old hand, none of them actually are a gift or on VM Ltd and all involve additional payment. 

Before I go and make a formal written complaint to the ASA I thought I'd "gift" VM a fortnight to sort its marketing out, check a dictionary, and do the right thing.

I will come back and update the thread in a couple of weeks. 

Cheers. 

10 Replies

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    24 days ago

    No doubt the interpretation of 'gift' comes from the same VM phrase book as 'keep everything the same' (which actually means 'your services will be removed or reduced' as we have seen in so many previous renewal topics on here)!

  • John_GS's avatar
    John_GS
    Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
    24 days ago

    Good evening Cardiffman282 

    Thanks for posting and welcome back to the community.

    Can you expand on this for us and we'll do our best to assist?

    Best wishes.

    • Cardiffman282's avatar
      Cardiffman282
      Wise owl
      24 days ago

      Hi John, 

      Thanks for coming back to me.

      I believe VM is engaged in false advertising by suggesting that broadband and TV upgrades are free gifts courtesy of VM when they are in fact chargeable. 

      This false advertising appears on my "myvmo2" home page at

       https://www.virginmedia.com/myvmo2/home

      For the avoidance of doubt I am not trying to get myself some freebies here. It's about the dishonest and deceitful advertising. In my view the misleading words mentioned in this thread and shown in the screenshots need to be edited out quickly from this campaign. I believe two weeks is sufficient time. 

      If any more clarity is needed (eg the relevant ASA standards that would apply here in my view) please let me know. 

      Cheers. 

      • John_GS's avatar
        John_GS
        Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
        24 days ago

        Good morning Cardiffman282 

        Thanks for coming back to me and also with the evidence. This has been flagged now and is being dealt with.

        Once again thanks for bringing to our attention.

  • Cardiffman282's avatar
    Cardiffman282
    Wise owl
    3 days ago

    My patience is exhausted. 

    "Thanks for submitting your complaint to us.

     

    We’ll shortly send you an email with your unique reference number and more information about the steps we will take in assessing your complaint against the advertising rules. If your complaint is to be pursued with immediate effect, or if we need further information from you, we will let you know. Otherwise, we are unable to give you an update on your enquiry. Please be assured, however, that all of the comments we receive are helpful to inform our current and future work.  

     

    You can read about the areas that we cover here. For more information, visit our complaints FAQ, or read about the action we can take when advertisers don’t follow the rules.

     

    A summary of your submitted complaint is detailed below:

     

    Name: xxx

     

    Ad type:

     

    Brand/product: Virgin Media Ltd

     

    Date: other

     

    Your complaint:

    On my Virgin Media account home page at https://www.virginmedia.com/myvmo2/home I am offered TV package and broadband speed upgrades in wording that clearly implies to me that they will be free: "We like to reward our loyal customers, so here are some little gifts on us". I believe that the terms "gifts" and "on us" clearly imply that they are free. However they are all in fact chargeable. I therefore assert that this upgrade campaign is dishonest and deceitful.

     

    Attachments (if any):

    Screenshot_20250604-095433_104426515.png,Screenshot_20250604- 095448_104426798.png"

    • Kath_P's avatar
      Kath_P
      Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
      2 days ago

      Hi Cardiffman282, 

      Thanks for coming back to us on this one. We've fed this back to the relevant teams and updated them with the latest information you've included. 

      We always take on board the feedback given in the posts we receive so we can collect the information and use it to learn more about the areas we need to improve. 

      If you notice any other issues, feel free to pop back to us. 

      Many thanks,