Direct Line - Cost of a consultation

Re: Direct Line - Cost of a consultation

David Mills — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 14:40:19 GMT

[quote user="Bob Russell"]

I complained to Churchill when they advertised a price comparison between PetPlan and a couple of other companies. On the phone they accepted that the policies were not comparable (budget v's proper!). They refused to change the ads or allow me to speak to someone more senior but after I threatened to report them to the Advertising Standards Agency the adverts disappeared.

Churchill are/were part of the RBS group as is DirectLine. They are clearly not overly fussed about being misleading until threatened!

[/quote]

I think it's a bit naieve to think otherwise. Many companies work on calculated risk - a slap on the wrist and a fine from ASA/TS is likely far less costly than the income from new customers. It happens is most industries, actually, and it's self-justifying - ASA/TS can illustrate high numbers of settlements/fines, and the industry continues to trade healthily. If everyone advertised fairly I'd wager people's taxes would rise.

Re: Direct Line - Cost of a consultation

Hannah Wynne Richards — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 14:27:05 GMT

I'm really surprised no-one at RBS has been prosecuted I always thought it was illegal to continue to trade if you knew you were insolvent-which they would have been if the poor taxpayer (yet again ) hadn't come tothe rescue

Wynne

Re: Direct Line - Cost of a consultation

Bob Russell — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 11:56:41 GMT

Churchill are/were part of the RBS group as is DirectLine. They are clearly not overly fussed about being misleading until threatened!

Re: Direct Line - Cost of a consultation

Neil Wheadon — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 11:46:46 GMT

A victory of sorts, so it does pay to complain to the right people.

I don't seem to be able to post the letter on this post, so will put it on galleries.

Basically Direct Line have removed the ad and agreed not to use it again.

In essence, Direct Line withdrew this ad before the ASA had time to get at them, but I guess that the £585 average consultation charge has been knocked on the head permanently.

Neil

Re: Direct Line - Cost of a consultation

Neil Wheadon — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 12:00:37 GMT

Update on this

Direct Line called back yesterday and have said that they are going to change their written advertising as of now to explain that this is the average claim cost. The advert in question though will still run on the TV until mid September. They had had an internal inquiry and decided that the advert was acceptable.

Of interest though was the reaction of 11 cycling families last week. No prompting involved, two commented on the ads asking if it was true that this was the average price of a consultation and one father stated it was another reason not to get a dog.

I haven't as yet heard back from Advertising Standards, but would suggest others complain. Of interest was a management consultant querying if this was a regulatory issue (RCVS) However I'm not sure if this is within the remit of the RCVS, gut feeling thinks so but may not be the case.

Neil

Re: Direct Line - Cost of a consultation

Nicola Lawlor — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:00:17 GMT

Even giving this as an average cost of a visit including treatment/investigations etc is probably misleading too though - it is calculate based on those patients who have a claim I would presume, and doesn't account for the many people who only need one visit and some medication to sort out their pet's problem and do not claim as their bill is under the insurance excess.

Re: Direct Line - Cost of a consultation

Hannah Wynne Richards — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 10:52:11 GMT

That's the problem If people think veterinary treatment is too expensive they may not come(even though it's breaking the law to allow unnecessary suffering, but they have to be caught before they can be prosecuted ) , if they think it's cheap they won't bother with insurence Either way the poor animals(and the veterinary profession) are the ones who suffer

Wynne

Re: Direct Line - Cost of a consultation

Michael Woodhouse — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:35:57 GMT

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"]Look on the bright side If it makes more people take out insurence then everybody, especially the patients will benefit[/quote]

My concern would be it would put more people off going to the vets that the number who rush to take out insurance!

Re: Direct Line - Cost of a consultation

Hannah Wynne Richards — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:29:11 GMT

Look on the bright side If it makes more people take out insurence then everybody, especially the patients will benefit

Wynne

Re: Direct Line - Cost of a consultation

Richard Fox — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 08:29:05 GMT

Yes I think the advert is terrible and misleading - It is not the average "trip to the " cost - it is the avergae cost of a claim - i.e. total claims/number of claims - this just add fuel to the fire in my view - very angry about this!

Re: Direct Line - Cost of a consultation

Neil Wheadon — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 20:40:42 GMT

http://www.asa.org.uk/complaints/how-to-complain.aspx

Chatting on this forum is entertaining, but if enough make a fuss to the right people you might make a difference. I've submitted one tonight, but you need tolook at it first to fill in the channel and time.

The Youtube one is at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnMpIb4lNtU

but the pop up words aren't on the TV advert (I'm pretty sure)

Neil

Re: Direct Line - Cost of a consultation

Mark Frost — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 19:22:51 GMT

I believe the tiny writing at the bottom says its the average cost of a claim (as expected) however I think its misleading to the point of false advertising the way it is worded in the advert, would a complaint to the advertising standards agency may be more likely to effect a change?