Hurtigruten pins pricing glitch on IT error after being hauled up by ad watchdog

Hurtigruten said the savings claim was pulled from the wrong location on its website due to a recent change in IT systems. It said it would correct the IT error as a matter of urgency.

The line went on to explain the incorrect savings claim affected only one category of cabin on the cruise, and added Hurtigruten did not intend to publish misleading savings claims.

The ASA said in its ruling that while it accepted the error had been due to an IT issue and that it welcomed Hurtigruten’s swift action to correct the mishap, it nonetheless had to uphold the complaint after concluding the ad was likely to mislead.

"We told Hurtigruten Ltd to ensure their future savings claims did not mislead by including a crossed-out price that was not the usual selling price of the cruise," said the ASA.

The ad must not appear again in the price complained of.

"The ASA considered consumers would understand the crossed-out price of £4,932 to represent the price at which the cruise was usually sold and therefore they would be able to make significant savings by purchasing the cruise at the discounted price of £1,994," said the ASA in its detailed ruling.

"We understood the crossed-out price had been included in error due to an IT issue and we welcomed the action of Hurtigruten to correct the error as soon as they became aware of it.

"However, because Hurtigruten were unable to supply evidence that showed £4,932 was the established usual selling price of the cruise and that the price reduction represented a genuine saving for consumers, we concluded the ad was likely to mislead."