ASA took issue with statement on the website of the operator
The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled a recent advert about roaming by Three was misleading to customers.
The advert claimed customers can use data in 71 destinations at “no extra cost” on its roaming scheme.
The network advertised customers could roam in the destinations for free, without mentioning the fair use policy that sets a data limit of 13GB for pay monthly customers and 12GB for pay as you go customers.
The policy was acknowledged in the ‘Whats not included’ section of Three’s website. However, the ASA took issue with the phrase “Go Roam the world in 71 destinations at no extra cost”, feeling it would lead customers to believe there was no chance of incurring additional data charges.
As a result, the advert must not appear in its original form and Three has been advised to avoid stating that there is no extra cost associated with the Go Roam service.
In response, Three has said that it has been clear with its customers over the fair use policy in both text on the website and text messages sent to users. The network added that it has recently increased the data limit to 15GB per month for contract customers.
Three said it believes this meets its needs, with the average customer using 7.6GB of data per month in the UK.
A Three UK spokesperson said: “Go Roam has saved our customers billions of pounds sine its launch in 2013, years ahead of other operators being forced to offer roaming at no extra cost.
“We’re proud of Go Roam and we stand behind our claim as the fair use policy was carefully set at a very high level so that it doesn’t affect the overwhelming majority of people.”
