The digital services company Telewest has been rapped by the Advertising Standards Watchdog (ASA) for falsely suggesting that its broadband service was available to all of its customers.

The company aired a radio ad that suggested all customers in a Telewest area would be able to benefit from its combined broadband, TV and phone service for £30. In reality, nearly 4% of Telewest customers are unable to receive the digital service and therefore not eligible for the offer. Attempts by the company to argue that stating "conditions apply" would cover this eventuality were rejected by the ASA.

Two directors of the Dublin based invention promotion company, ITE, have been warned about their future conduct after the company failed leaving numerous consumer complaints unanswered.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) investigated the Dublin based company following numerous complaints leading to concerns over the company's advertising, contract terms and cancellation policy. Many customers had paid thousands of pounds for the company to help them and had been left highly dissatisfied with the service provided.

The mail order clothing company Damart has been criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for a mailing that was misleading and untruthful.

The mailing from Damart apologised for the customer not receiving a £3 cheque, which Damart knew full well had never been sent. It told the customer that on this occasion the Managing Director had personally intervened to approve a £5 cheque as compensation. Quite obviously the Managing Director could not have intervened as there was no cheque sent in the first place. The "cheques" too were not what they seemed - in fact they were simply discount vouchers.

A flower delivery company that operates from Jersey has been told not to rely upon guarantees made by their carrier Parcelforce when offering a guaranteed day of delivery to their customers.

Flying Flowers is a popular and well known flower delivery service. Whilst most of its flowers are sent by first class mail, its flagship product, the Ultimate Collection, is sent by the courier, Parcelforce.

The company states that the "day of delivery is guaranteed". Whilst this may appear to offer a service that will ensure that delivery actually happens on the right day, what it actually comes down to is the customer just getting a refund of the delivery charge if the flowers arrive late.

The travel and booking company Lastminute.com has been rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for a tasteless email sent to members drawing a connection between children and sex offenders.

The email in question was supposed to advertising children's theatre and plays, but carried the unfortunate tagline:

"Like Gary Glitter in a sweet shop, you too can have your pick of kiddy treats in London's theatre world. If you don't know what to do with your lovely sprogs, get them off the X-Box and into the theatre. These shows will definitely be their cup of Ribena ..."

A company that makes magnetic therapy products is being sued by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) following concerns regarding claims made in its advertising.

The OFT has issued High Court proceedings against Magno-Pulse Limited, and its directors Derek and Wendy Price. It is seeking an injunction against them under the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988.

A curious case involving Connells Estate Agents in Leamington Spa has given insight into how local estate agents judge themselves to have sold more properties than any of their competitors - they simply go around and count the "Sold" signs.

Although counting the sold signs in a local area seems laughably simply considering today's technology, it's big business with one analysis company surveying around 85,000 homes every month. A Sunderland company, For Sale Sign Analysis Ltd (FSSA) provide data to estate agents that they have collected by surveying (or visiting) the for sale signs in a local area.

Estate agents have been using this information in their local advertising, and the regulator the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has now questioned how reliable this data actually is.

An offer to Debenhams account card holders for "15% Off Everything" has been found in breach of advertising regulations because it was untruthful.

Debenhams appeared to misunderstand the meaning of "everything", perhaps thinking instead that the word means something closer to "almost everything". In the small print for their offer, they listed at least ten product types which were excluded from the offer, and stated that the discount would be only 10% in cosmetic and electrical departments.

A cinema commercial for the alcoholic drink Disaronno has been labelled irresponsible by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for linking alcohol and sexual pleasure.

The commercial showed an attractive young woman ordering a "Disaronno on the rocks" from a barman. As the barman went to take the glass away the woman placed her hand on his arm to stop him, taking an ice cube out of the glass and placed it in her mouth seductively.

An advertisement by Ford Motors for the new Fiesta has been found to be misleading customers by suggesting that mp3 connectivity is included across the range.

The ad claimed that "the 2006 Fiesta has an auxiliary in-line connector socket. (That's posh for mp3 compatible). Just plug in your mp3 player ... " when in fact, the socket for mp3 compatibility is an optional extra, not included as standard.