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You can't rely on Tiny to give ‘ultimate in service and support’

Says Advertising Standards

Tiny Computers has got a rap on the knuckles from the Advertising Standards Authority for making the outrageous claim that "you can rely on Tiny to give you the ultimate in service and support".

One punter from the Isle of White doesn't think you can and the ASA agrees. It has asked Tiny to remove the claim from its advertising.

The customer had bought a Tiny PC - presumably the 'BEST 900MHz PC FOR THE PRICE' from the national newspaper advert he was complaining about - and experienced a number of technical difficulties.

Tiny said that without knowing the specific customer details, it was difficult to assess the complainant's objection to the claim. It also said that the company aimed to provide high levels of service and carried out regular assessments to ensure those standards were met, and argued that, because of the "technical nature of the goods, queries usually referred to user error instead of a fault with their product".

Tiny produced statistical evidence to back up its claim that "you can rely on Tiny to give you the ultimate in service and support." It had a recent survey that showed 90% of customers surveyed would recommend Tiny to other people; over 60% of customers surveyed did not need to call the Technical Support line; and 38% of those that needed technical support had to call once only for the problem to be resolved.

The ASA agreed the survey showed that only a small number of customers called the technical support line more than once, and an even smaller number of customers called the after-sales support line more than once about the same problem.

BUT the ASA said it "understood that there had been press coverage concerning complaints about the advertisers' service and that another organisation had received a significant number of complaints about the advertisers' customer services." That'll be BBC's Watchdog.

In conclusion the ASA said: "In view of the number of complaints, the Authority considered that the advertisers had not substantiated their claim. It asked the advertisers to remove the claim and amend their advertisements with the help of the Committee of Advertising Practice Copy Advice team." ®

Related Link

ASA adjudication

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