Now that there are a ton of affordable cloud storage options on the market, younger companies must find ways to break through the noise made by their much bigger counterparts. Carbonite, a relatively small American cloud storage company, declared on their UK website that users would enjoy unlimited online backup storage. Apparently, the Advertising Standards Authority has cried foul, and Carbonite is scrambling to explain the details.
An anonymous third party made the ASA aware of the website’s claim, and declared that the wording of Carbonite’s promise was misleading. Apparently it violated several sections of the Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing, which weighs in on internet promotions. The ASA’s claim goes even further, declaring that Carbonite refused to help ASA investigate the situation.
The problem is apparently in the details. The ASA found that unlimited data could be uploaded, but once a user exceeded 200GB of data, Carbonite would make less bandwith available. The slower backup process was not specified, leading to the rule breach.
Carbonite was told to remove the statement from their site, but they instead released word saying they respectfully disagree with the ruling. Their statement suggested Carbonite was not made aware of the decision nor allowed to participate in the review process, so they will be contacting the ASA to look into the issue.
Although Carbonite may not agree with the ruling, turning their back to it may bring dire consequences. The ASA has the power to submit an open case to the Office of Fair Trading, and they can have a company shut down. Possible civil claims by affected users are also always a possibility.
Comments