A COMPLAINT about an advert for computer giant Time has been rejected by watchdogs.

Rival firm Tiny was one of the complainants against the advert promoting a 'buy one, get one free' offer advertised by the firm in the national press.

Complainants argued that Simonstone-based Time had inflated the price of the computer for the advert.

But Time claimed the complainants had misunderstood the ad.

It said the package was of a higher specification than its standard package but that it had not been possible to list all the extra features because of lack of space.

The Advertising Standards Authority accepted that Time had not inflated the price.

Several complaints have been made against Time to the ASA in the last 12 months and two have been upheld. In October 1999 the firm was ordered to stop describing itself as Britain's biggest PC retailer

A complainant argued that the claim made in an advert was misleading, because PC World alone had a higher turnover and more employees than the Time and PC World, Dixons and Currys each sold a wider variety of products and had more stores.

Time had argued that the claim was based on the fact that their 135 stores were more than double those of PC World. Time also said it believed it sold more PCs and had a greater percentage of staff who specialised in PC retailing than PC World.

But it did not provide supporting evidence to the ASA. The ASA considered that the claim implied the advertisers sold the most PCs in the UK and ordered Time to stop using it.

Another complaint was upheld in December over the description of a computer monitor.

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