A company offering a promotion on do-it-yourself probate kits has been ordered to stop making the misleading offer.

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint made against Leicester-based Berkeley Weston Ltd, trading as DIY Probate Pack.

The company’s website had marketed its pack on a ‘limited offer’ for the introductory price of £29, reduced from the usual £97.

This advert claimed there were a limited number of packages available at the reduced price and that once the allocation had sold out, the price would return to the higher rate.

But a complainant noted the lack of information about how long the offer lasted, and challenged whether the claims about the original price and limited availability of the sale price could be substantiated.

Investigations by the ASA confirmed the advert had remained unchanged since 2012.

DIY Probate Pack did not respond to ASA enquiries and provided no evidence that the usual selling price of the product was £97. It was therefore upheld that the advert was misleading. The ASA also noted its concern at the lack of response and ‘apparent disregard’ for advertising standards.

The advert must not appear again in its current form and DIY Probate Pack was told not to claim that consumers had a limited period in order to purchase the product if that was not the case. The company was also told not to claim a saving against a usual selling price if the product was not usually available for that price.

According to its website, the owners of Berkeley Weston Ltd have more than 20 years’ experience of providing legal and financial advice for retired people. The site offers free tips to ‘avoid the common pitfalls and get the protection you need’. 

A spokesman for Berkeley Weston said the product was available at the full price on Amazon. But they said the company accepted the ASA ruling and would amend its website accordingly.