Well, what a treat. Today in my law class we covered the subject of false advertising under the Consumer Protection Act (of Canada, but I believe the same or similar laws are present in the United States). And, according to Law, as I asked my professor after class, merchants are prohibited to create an image of "rush" so that consumers sign up for the same offer under the impression of it being expired the next day (or other period), when it fact it just continues on and on and on...

I have not really noticed (if someone here does know, please confirm), but I'm pretty sure GISOL is changing their special offer expiration date every day to the next one, offering the same package deal over and over again:

http://gisol.com/hosting/

Now, GISOL.com may be sued on several grounds. Two of which are: 1. a Consumer may sue GISOL after he used (or in the process of using) the services. He may sue for full amount paid as well as explicit damages (moral and such) based on Advertising Fraud laws of Consumer Protection Act. 2. anyone can sue GISOL for the same reason.

CPA is public order, thus GISOL may not contract against it (cannot create or modify laws approved by government in other words), thus it will hold no power and can be seriously fined for doing so in the court.

There are many other implications of the law, but the truth is that the CPA will almost always stand to protect the consumer.

Best,

go sue!:D

:rolleyes:

Dot5 does the same thing as well as many other companies.

Their current "special offer"...

Doubled Space & Bandwidth Until 11.59pm 02-03-2004

I've seen that for at least three months now. :rolleyes:

Hostrocket does the same thing with their giga special. A script changes the date for the special to the next day...

Isn't that false advertising?

It's not hard to just create a PHP date function and have it increment the date 24 hours, or even a few hours.

Originally posted by animpocket
Isn't that false advertising?
Well, that was the point of my post. If those companies keep it running all the time with the same offer, they are breaking the law, at least based on Canadian judicial system, but I'm sure similar lawas are present in the United States as well. Anyone can take advantage of that - their existing and non-existing customers.

If they were to just run it as "Special Offer" since its been a good seller, then no problem. But once they create a "rushing effect" by adding an expiration date to an ongoing offer - then they are in trouble.

There are special consumer protection hotlines available. They always investigate such practices.

Best,

Yes it is, but I find it hard with no regulation in this industry that anyone will actually launch some sort of official complaint on the matter.

The industry needs regulation to remove dirty tricks like this. Keep them honest.

Robert, any industry falls under the category of business. And since companies like GISOL are categories as merchants, then they are all targes of same laws, be it an Internet service or an offline retail store.

****** does the same thing. But than again, so do most infomercials. "The next 20 callers will receive one free month"

It's a popular marketing tactic.

I would agree with you that this is simply a popular and effective marketing tactic.

Artashes, I am not denying that it does not fall under current laws. I am just stating it will be difficult for one person to make a complaint and for them to listen. If the webhosting industry had a body that ALL hosts had to report too, then the body could have the power to act on behalf on all hosts to take action.

It's deceptive advertising.

Originally posted by nickn
****** does the same thing. But than again, so do most infomercials. "The next 20 callers will receive one free month"

It's a popular marketing tactic. This is quite different IMO. You have 20 callers who will actually be given an incentive for calling quickly. There is no incentive given for opening an account that will expire at midnight but magically restarts the clock the next day. We aren't talking about a "sale" that has been extended here, this type of deception is worse because a script is created to automatically ensure a "sale" never ends. As was already stated in this thread so far, it's blatant deception...

Do you honestly think only the next 20 callers get the sale price?

Sure, I think they give some worthless trinket to the first 20 callers, it's cheaper to do that than face a potential lawsuit...

Personally, I think they have the rights to use that marketing strategy, although some may think it's a false advertising.

Originally posted by Watcher_TVI
Sure, I think they give some worthless trinket to the first 20 callers, it's cheaper to do that than face a potential lawsuit...
They usually give the "freebie" to everyone, not just the first 20 callers. It's a marketing tactic to get people to buy.

- Matt

Originally posted by animpocket
Personally, I think they have the rights to use that marketing strategy, although some may think it's a false advertising.

Some may think that. I.E. The heads of those companies. However, the FTC doesn't look think of it in very high regard. There was a similar thread a couple of months back regarding this same subject and Dot5 where I posted the link to where the Fed said this was illegal. I'll have to find the link.

EDIT: Here's the link to the Dot5 thread back in October (with the same expiring deadline. I'll post again with the exact FTC link.

EDIT 2: Guess it would have helped if I posted the link.

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=197630&perpage=15&highlight=Dot5&pagenumber=1

Originally posted by Coach
EDIT: Here's the link to the Dot5 thread back in October (with the same expiring deadline. I'll post again with the exact FTC link.

*looks around, doesn't see it, thinks Coach is loosing his mind :eek4: *

I lost my mind a long time ago. I updated the post though. It was a great read and some great information there.

Anyway, I found the links on the FTC website regarding deceptive Internet advertising. Links below.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/dotcom/index.html

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/policystmt/ad-decept.htm

Each can easily be applied to the scenario being discussed.

I was thinking of doing this, but not quite the same actually. Would expire weekly and rotate between a few different offers...I don't think that constitutes same thing though as what thiese guys are doing...

Also, saw several references to Going Out Of Biz sales as examples taht ppl do this all the time. Not sure where they live, but I know in my area, you need a special permit to have a GOOBS lest you get heavely (and I mean heavily) fined.

That was some pretty interesting reading Coach, thanks for posting those links...

@Artie,
I don't think rotating sales are in the same category as some of the deceptions being discussed here. I think those links Coach posted help to spell it out pretty well...

Well first off they must be overselling there servers, it isn't false advertising if they change the date on the advertisement .:eek: