The Salford-based companies and their two directors provided written assurances under the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations after the case was referred to the OFT by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The advertisements, sent by fax, invited businesses to send their details to a premium rate fax line if they wished to amend or in some instances maintain their entry in the www.192directoryenquiries.net internet directory.
The advertising misled by giving the false impression that the faxes were sent by or on behalf of a telephone company providing a directory enquiry service accessed by telephoning 192, such as BT, and that recipients of the faxes will only be listed (or continue to be listed) in the 192directoryenquiries.net directory if the fax is returned.
The OFT recently obtained a final injunction in the High Court against Planet Telecom Plc of Wigan, director Peter Hutcheon and former director John Tonge, to stop similar misleading advertisements for the directoryenquiries.biz internet directory (formerly 192enquiries.com).
John Vickers, Director General of Fair Trading, said:
”This is the second time in recent months that the OFT has taken action against misleading directory enquiries advertising. We will continue to work with the ASA and Trading Standards to prevent any advertising which misleads customers.”