So was the complaint upheld or not?
Quote:
Originally Posted by pippincp
Virgin Media said
"Virgin said they followed CAP guidance and always qualified their use of "unlimited" and stated that "acceptable use policy applies". They explained that their policy did not limit the amount of data a user could download over any period of time, and it did not have any price implications for heavy users.
They explained that, if a user was found to affect other users bandwidth, they would temporarily limit the speed of that user's internet connection. They said those user's would receive their full connection speed after 240 minutes. They said they planned to publish a list of Frequently Asked Questions on traffic management shortly. They argued that there were no limits to the amount of material that can be downloaded by customers and that the claim "unlimited downloads" was not misleading.
The above paragraph is an extract taken from paragraph 2 of the response by VM to the ASA.
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So they follow CAP guidelines?
7 TRUTHFULNESS
7.1 No marketing communication should mislead, or be likely to mislead, by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or otherwise.
VM advertise broadband as: 'no download limits'
Yet bury the fact that there is a usage allowance which, when exceeded, initiates Subscriber Traffic Management.
You are referred to the T&Cs and the acceptable use Policy...
Cabled T&Cs
B About our services
4.i. We reserve the right to monitor and control data volume and/or types of traffic transmitted via the interactive services on your Virgin TV and/or Internet access. In the event that you exceed any usage allowance applicable to your Internet access or your use does not comply with the 'acceptable use policy' which you can read on the Virgin Media website, we reserve the right (at our sole discretion) to reduce, suspend or terminate your Internet access.
No mention of actual STM or link to the STM which contains details of the usage allowance, referred to in the T&Cs, before being throttled.
The AUP does not mention or link to the STM, only a link to section J (Ending the agreement) of the T&Cs
So where are the STM details?
Hidden under the 'Need to know' tab.
Omitted from the package sales details.
Omitted from the AUP and T&Cs
I would agree that there isn't technically a download limit. whether on 20Mb or 2Mb, you can still download a large file... it just takes ten times longer.
The misleading advertising for me is the fact that I pay for a 10Mb connection but for up to 9 hours a day it can potentially be as little as 2.5Mb because I have exceeded a usage allowance that is not clearly defined on a no download limit connection.