T-Mobile will comply with NAD request to drop "Price Lock" guarantee from all ads
According to The Verge, the National Advertising Division (NAD) today asked T-Mobile to stop or modify its advertisements stating that its 5G internet service offers the carrier's "Price Lock" guarantee after raising the price of the service earlier this year. Rival carrier AT&T brought the issue to the NAD's attention which is part of the non-profit BBB (Better Business Bureau) National Programs that check out claims made in advertisements.
The "Price Lock" claim appeared on T-Mobile print, television, and online advertisements. In each ad, consumers were told that they would get their last month of service paid for by T-Mobile if the carrier raised the price of their internet service. The NAD says that this disclosure contradicts the "Price Lock" claim since the company isn't really locking in a customer's price and is only giving a subscriber one month of free service.
The NAD has two recommendations for the carrier. One option would see T-Mobile change the claim it makes about "Price Lock" in its ads to explain better what the feature does and doesn't do. The NAD also suggests another possible option for T-Mobile to follow which would be to stop mentioning the "Price Lock" in its advertisements.
T-Mobile will change how it presents Price Lock, or not mention it at all, in new ads. Image credit-T-Mobile
In the past, T-Mobile advertised the "Price Lock" feature when it ran ads for wireless or internet service. At the time, this was a guarantee from the company promising never to raise the monthly price that a subscriber pays for service. At the beginning of this year, the carrier changed the "Price Lock" guarantee by offering new customers one month of free service in the event of a price hike. The free month would cover a subscriber's final month of service once he decided to leave T-Mobile because of the price hike.
At the same time that T-Mobile changed its "Price Lock" guarantee, the company raised the price of its 5G home internet service for new customers to $60 per month (with a $5 per month discount for AutoPay).
T-Mobile says that it plans to comply with the NAD's decision but it did say to the NAD that its ads "appropriately communicate the generous terms of its Price Lock policy." Besides raising the pricing of its 5G internet service, the "Price Lock" guarantee was criticized last month when T-Mobile raised the prices of some of its legacy plans.
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