Catches in adverts

James Daley: Adverts these days. Is it me, or are they always full of little catches? It sometimes seems like they're only put there so companies can offer one thing, only for you to find out, the offers not quite as good as you initially thought. And why's there so much tiny print compared to the bigger messages they're trying to get out?

Well, they might like putting their catches in the small print. But, I'm gonna make them nice and big.

First up, we hear the word 'unlimited' a lot. Especially in relation to broadband and mobile phone adverts. What we don't see so often are the words 'fair use'. But, what those words actually mean are that you might not have unlimited access to text messages and data downloads. For example, if you send 5000 text messages a month, you may find that breaches your provider's fair usage policy.

So, if you're a particularly heavy use of data or you send a lot of text messages, you may want to check your provider's fair usage policy before you sign up to them.

Next up, those tiny words like 'up to' and 'from' that you can so easily miss. You know like up to 75% off, where the 75% is huge and the 'up to' is far smaller. And the problem is that shops only need to put up one item of stock at a discount of 75% to be able to use that advertising. There's nothing more frustrating than excitedly going to an up to 75% off sale, only to find that most things are discounted at a far smaller rate.

And what about this? The word 'from' in tiny letters and £30 in far huger letters. You know so, for example, a hotel room from £30. But, in reality it's very hard to book that hotel room anywhere close to a price of £30 because in most cases that offer is only available at the weekends. Or it's only available for a limited period, or there are extra credit card charges to pay.

Technically there might not be anything wrong with presenting an offer in this way. But, it's just so frustrating if it gives you the idea that the offer's much better than it really is. So, as ever, you've got to keep reading that small print.

You may also spot one of these…… the asterisk. It will usually lead you to a load of terms and conditions at the foot of the advert and typically in tiny print. Even if there isn't an asterisk there are often disclaimers at the foot of the advert. You know like those shampoo adverts where it says that the model is actually wearing hair extensions or those worrying small sample sizes on surveys.

So, what can you do if you think you're being misled or duped by an advert? Well if it's serious enough you could submit a complaint to the advertising standards authority. They've got the power to investigate adverts and even get companies to take them down. If you can, send a copy of the advert or think about taking a photo. If it's not as serious you could complain directly to the advertiser, or think about spreading news of your complaint on social media. That will warn other people about it and could get the company's attention.