How do I complain about Misleading advertising on Life Insurance?

In the financial services arena, companies attract attention to themselves using adverts on TV, Radio, Newspapers, online and all other possible media. Nowadays, financial product adverts are laden with small print at the bottom in order to cover themselves should their product not meet their customers' expectations. However, despite all of the disclaimers, you may feel that you have cause for complaint about an advert you have seen, heard or read.

Should this be the case, there are three organisations you can approach. Whomever you approach, you should do so in writing, so that they will have a record of the complaint and to ensure they understand exactly which advert you are complaining about and the reasons for your complaint. All three organisations will accept letters or submissions on an online form on their website.

Should you want to complain about a print advert, you need to contact the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). This covers adverts you may have seen in a newspaper, magazine, on an outdoor poster, in a direct mail leaflet or brochure, or in a banner ad or pop-up on the internet, or maybe in the cinema or on a commercial email or any kind of sales promotion.

With these non-broadcast adverts, you should send a copy of the ad, with details of where it appeared and when. You should also point out the problem, and include your name, address and other contact details so you can be kept in touch with the progress.

For broadcast adverts on the television, you should contact the Independent Television Commission (ITC). For those on the radio, you should contact the Radio Authority (RA).

Both of these organisations will require you to tell them the name of the TV or radio programme the advert appeared on, along with the date and the time of the ad. The teletext page should be noted if it was on teletext. Then you should describe in detail the nature of your complaint and the name of the product that featured in the advert.

All three organisations will investigate your grievance, and will raise the issue with the relevant media company should there be a case to answer. The complaint will be upheld should there have been a proven breach and any changes necessary to avoid repetition of the misleading information will be ordered.

A more serious breach or persistent breaches could be punished by a formal warning, or for the most serious cases a company will have to print, publish or broadcast an apology. The Authorities could fine the media company, or even withdraw or shorten their licence.

You should remember that an isolated service problem is not a misleading advert and the advertising standards authorities won't intervene in disputes between companies and customers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© AskFinancially.com 2008

Life Insurance

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