The High Court has struck a blow on behalf of promoters and agencies by granting an injunction against a company that sent out a mailing claiming recipients had won a prize.
The injunction stops Heaven Communications and its two officers. John Kitching and Alixandra Thornton, from publishing misleading prize draw promotions in the UK or within the European Economic Area.
The defendants sent a mailing in the name of URA Winner to at least 350,000 consumers. The Office of Fair Trading considered that the mailing misled recipients into believing they had won a major prize when in fact nearly everyone received a low value “giveaway” item of either a holiday voucher for one person with onerous terms and conditions attached to its use, or a cheap watch.
More than 8,300 consumers called a premium-rate number to claim their award at a cost of up to £9 per call. A further charge of £12.50 was payable as a “secure postage fee” for claiming the watch.
The defendants were also involved in running, on behalf of a Belize-based company called Studio Telecom, a misleading prize promotion sent via automated telephone messages to 100,000 Dutch consumers. Mr Kitching was involved in a further misleading mailing sent out by Studio Telecom under the name Signature Holdings.
The defendants had previously given the OFT undertakings in February 2005 in respect of misleading prize draw promotions. The OFT believed that the defendants had breached those undertakings and misled consumers in further ways. If any of the defendants breach the injunction they may be held in contempt of court, which can carry a penalty of imprisonment or an unlimited fine.
Mike Haley, head of consumer protection at the OFT, said: “The defendants have a track record of misleading consumers with their prize draw promotions. Where businesses fail to abide by undertakings, the OFT will not hesitate to take court action to protect consumers both in the UK and across Europe.”