ASA Adjudication on Superglide Wardrobes
Superglide Wardrobes
Old Carpenters Yard
Coleshill
Highworth
North Wiltshire
SN6 7PT
Date:
15 February 2012
Media:
Internet (e-tailing)
Sector:
Clothing
Number of complaints:
1
Complaint Ref:
A11-178619
Ad
A website for a wardrobe manufacturer, seen on 6 December, stated "2 Oak framed doors and tracks up to 2100mm wide sales offer! 10% OFF Our Oak framed sliding wardrobe doors. 2 x doors and tracks made to suite you [sic] bespoke opening. You can choose from mirror panels, coloured glass and wood grain panels. Price includes VAT and FREE delivery". The description "Oak framed" and "wood grain panels" was used for various other sizes of wardrobes on the same page.
A page on which customers could chose the size and finish of wardrobes also stated "We have a wide range of wardrobe frame colours, woodgrains, metallic and frameless options". Consumers were then presented with various options in a drop down selection, which included "Oak + £25.00".
Issue
The complainant, who had purchased a wardrobe from the website, challenged whether the description of the product as "oak framed" was misleading.
CAP Code (Edition 12)
Response
Superglide Wardrobes said they did not believe the product description was misleading. They said the use of the word oak was descriptive of the look of the product, and that because the product was not made from oak they deliberately did not describe it as "solid wood". They said the construction of the product meant it would not be possible to construct it from solid oak, and believed that their description of the product was standard industry practice and was used by many other websites. They said that the product was made from chipboard with oak laminate. They said they had not received any customer complaints on this issue.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted that Superglide Wardrobes said they had deliberately avoided using the words "solid wood" to describe their product, and that as a result they did not believe their website was misleading. We also noted that the website did not appear to state anywhere that the product was constructed from chipboard with a laminate covering. We considered that the average consumer was likely to interpret the description "oak framed" to mean that the product's exterior frame was constructed from solid oak. As this was not the case we concluded that the claim was misleading.
The website breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).
Action
We told Superglide Wardrobes to make it clear in their product descriptions if products were not constructed from solid wood.
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