Dear Mr ********

Your Complaint – Marks and Spencer plc – A14-254***

Thank you for contacting the Advertising Standards Authority, and please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in providing you with an update about your complaint.  We thought you raised a valid concern about the use of the claim “local rate” in reference to 0845 on the M&S website, so we contacted the advertisers to explain our guidelines on this issue and raise our concerns.  Their reply is due this week and we hope to agree a resolution immediately upon receiving it, in which case I’ll contact you straight away to inform you of the outcome.  Thanks for your patience.

Kind regards

Dear Mr ********

Thanks again for your patience while we’ve followed up your complaint.  We’ve now received a response from the advertisers, who provided their assurance that the claim “local rate” will no longer be used in reference to 0845 numbers on their website.  They explained that the entire site is transferring to a new platform so the former pages you referenced may no longer exist as they did, but that these changes will apply to all relevant changes on the new platform.

Now that we’ve received this assurance, we will close the case, and information including the advertisers’ name and the medium in which the ad appeared will feature on our website, in a list with other advertisers who have amended their marketing on our request.  Thanks again for taking the trouble to bring this issue to our attention.

Kind regards

Dear Mr ********

Thanks for your message. 

I’d like to assure you we instructed them not to use the term “national rate” in reference to 0870 numbers either, so both your “local rate” and “national rate” points were covered in the resolution of the case.  Because we only received and confirmed their assurance yesterday, and we understand their web team is in the process of transferring the entire website to the new platform, we understand the relevant changes may not have been made immediately.  However, if you find after a period of three or four weeks that the claims continue to feature on the site, please do let us know and we’ll pursue the matter as appropriate. 

Thanks again for bringing this matter to our attention.

Kind regards

Dear Mr ****,

Re your reply below, it is now 4 weeks since and M&S are still proclaiming the same on both the pages in the email linked to below dated 14th February 2014.

I trust you will "pursue the matter as appropriate" ?


Regards

D *****

27th March 2014

Dear Mr ******

Thanks for your message.  We contacted M&S to point out the at the ad had still not been amended.  They explained that the member of staff responsible for making the amendments had left the organisation without mentioning it as an outstanding task to her successor.  Now that we’ve raised the issue again, they have made the necessary amendment.  Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Kind regards


Justin

Advertising Standards Authority
Mid City Place, 71 High Holborn
London WC1V 6QT
Telephone 020 7492 2222
www.asa.org.uk