ASA Adjudication on WNB Ltd
WNB Ltd t/a
Wood & Beyond
220 The Vale
London
NW11 8SR
Date:
15 February 2012
Media:
Internet (sales promotion)
Sector:
Household
Number of complaints:
1
Complaint Ref:
A11-169724
Ad
Claims on woodandbeyond.com, for a wood flooring retailer, viewed on 23 August 2011, stated "August Promotions: Typical 50% OFF RRP + Extra 5% OFF Engineered Wood Flooring until Midnight August 31st + FREE underlay when purchasing 45M2 and over of engineered floors. Hurry, ends August 31st!"
Issue
UK Flooring Direct challenged whether the claim "Up to 50% off RRP" and the associated RRPs stated in the ad were misleading, because they believed that the products were only available to purchase from the advertiser.
CAP Code (Edition 12)
Response
Wood & Beyond, WNB, said it was easily possible for them to demonstrate that the RRPs were more than realistic and that the type of product was readily available from other sources in the UK. However, they did not provide any documentary evidence to support that.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted that WNB did not provide any evidence to demonstrate that the RRPs, referred to in the ad, reflected the prices at which the advertised products were generally sold.
On that basis, we concluded that the ad was misleading and breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation), 3.17 (Prices) and 3.40 (Comparisons).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told WNB to ensure that they held robust substantiation to demonstrate that RRPs reflected the prices at which the products were generally sold in future.
Making a complaint
Find out what types of ads we deal with and how to make a complaint.
How to complain
Adjudications
View our latest weekly ASA adjudications or search for rulings from the last five years.
Adjudications
Sign up
Sign up for adjudications alerts and newsletters.
Sign up
Already registered? Log in
Follow Us
For ASA news, including our weekly rulings, press releases, research and reports.
Dealing with complaints - FAQs
We work hard to ensure our complaints procedures are transparent. Here we answer some commonly asked questions about how we handle complaints.
Dealing with complaints - FAQs
