Comparing our service with our competitors on our website - is it legal?

[123Contracting]

Hi, we recently surveyed our clients to find out what they thought about our service. Everyone was very pleased with the service but we did get a couple of comments stating our prices were too high.


When I showed these clients that we are cheaper than our next direct competitor they were shocked at how much everyone else in our market is charging.


I would therefore like to have a page on our website which shows a comparison table between our service and our top 5 or so competitors showing exactly what you get for a monthly fee.


We will not comment on service standards or anything like that - just the facts of what you get.


I just want to know if this is legal - would my competitors sue me for pointing out they charge more than double?


Also are they specific laws/regulations regarding how often we have to check that it is up-to-date say every three months?


Any advice would be fantastic.



Than you.

 

[figurewizard]

If the information regarding both your prices and other benefits and those of your competitors is correct there is nothing in law to prevent you from pointing this out however you choose to do so. Any such table however should ideally carry the date that its information was verified and this should be constantly monitored and corrected as and when changes are identified. Where this last point is concerned, that is something that should be happening on a regular basis, regardless of any price comparison table.

 

[Mattzew]

grey area if the competitors name is trademarked.

 

[fisicx]

What happens when you competitors see the table and change their prices to undercut yours....

I'd just keep it to a simple 'we are cheaper than our top 5 competitors' type message

 

[Chris.Solve]

Well the supermarkets are always competing with each other and I have not heard of any law suits. However you would have to clearly state the date when you referenced the price and keep hold of some evidence, or monitor their price regularly. If they change their price tomorrow and you refer to their old price, this might cause a problem.

 

[chalkie99]

But if Tesco say their price for a can of Heinz baked beans is less than Sainsburys it's a demonstrable claim as, whichever the customer shops at, they will end up with a known and identifiable product.

If the OP is offering a service then the customer is getting something less certain.

 

[Chris.Solve]

Fair comment, but the OP stated that they would provide a "comparison table between our service and our top 5 or so competitors showing exactly what you get for a monthly fee." As long as this is accurate then there is no false claim.