The complainant challenged whether the sponsored advert from PRS Directory Services (PRS) was misleading because it suggested the link would provide a contact number for NatWest. However, the advert led to a premium rate telephone number from which callers could obtain a number for NatWest from a recorded message.
PRS said they believed their adverts suggested they were a directory service that could provide the number the consumer was searching for quickly.
It said that at no point in their adverts did they state that the adverts linked directly to the required number.
PRS said that there may be a small percentage of users that may make that assumption based upon “their mistaken belief that the internet is non-commercial in its nature and that its sponsored adverts are not in fact adverts but are part of the organic search results”.
PRS said that was not their intent and did not believe they had done anything to encourage that belief.
The directory service said there were strict limits on the amount of text that could be included in a sponsored search advert and that it was unreasonable to require advertisers to state call cost information in each advert.
It confirmed that no financial transactions resulted from the sponsored search adverts, which is only possible from the landing page where pricing information is displayed below the telephone number.
The ASA said: “We considered the adverts suggested that the website provided a telephone number for customer service or enquiries at the organisation being searched for, but not that the advert would click through to a premium rate telephone number operated by PRS Directory Services.
“We considered it was insufficient for call charges to be stated on the landing page only. For those reasons, we concluded that the adverts were misleading.
“The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told PRS Directory Services not to use any companies’ names and to make clear the nature of the service they offered in future.
