Advertising authorities have banned adverts by a tour boat company offering wildlife trips to tourists on the Isle of Skye.
An online ad promoted a ‘Unique, no hype money back guarantee’ on all trips which ‘gives you confidence in what wildlife you will see’.
It read: “Its [sic] simple – if you don’t see the wildlife we promised you get your money back™
Meanwhile, a magazine ad also stated ‘Unique wildlife guarantee!’.
A customer who took a tour and who did not see all of the wildlife listed was refused a refund and then lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority.
The customer claimed to have understood that they were ‘guaranteed’ to see the wildlife listed in the description of the trip they took, and challenged whether the guarantee was misleading because the terms and conditions were not made sufficiently clear.
Bella Jane Boat Trips said that guarantee was a promise that the business would make accurate and truthful statements about wildlife to customers, without ‘hype’ or exaggeration.
They said they had never received a claim against the guarantee in 12 years.
Bella Jane Boat Trips said wildlife viewing inevitably varied according to the time of year, location, weather and other factors, and what they told customers reflected this.
The ASA noted that the complainant had understood that the ‘guarantee’ constituted a promise that customers would see the types of wildlife listed for each trip, as described on the ‘Boat Trips’ page of the website, www.aquaxplore.co.uk.
It agreed that without qualifying information or further detail about what ‘the wildlife we promised’ referred to, consumers would likely understand that this referred to the wildlife listed in the descriptions of the boat trips.
“While we appreciated that the advertiser wished to state that they would not exaggerate the likelihood of seeing particular animals, we considered that due to the general nature of the guarantee, the lack of clarity in its presentation, and the lack of any further explanation of any applicable limitations, it would not be possible for customers to gain an understanding of its full terms before taking it up,” it said.
It concluded the ads must not appear again in the forms complained about and told Bella Jane Boat Trips not to offer a ‘money-back guarantee’ unless the full terms and conditions of that guarantee were made clear to customers.
