ASA Adjudication on Plumbs Ltd

Ad

A national press ad stated "Considering a new suite? Consider Plumbs Covers & Reupholstery, the perfect alternative. NEW Made-to-Measure Covers Half Price Offer ends next 21 days*". Small print stated "Half Price Covers offer applies to 'Elegant Mini', and a selection of other designs in Designer Elite and Designer unpiped make-up. Furniture must be suitable for designer covers. Chair covers start from £119 (was £239), sofa covers from £189 (was £379) in Designer un-piped make up."

Issue

The complainant, who had received similar quotes from Plumbs to re-upholster a chair in the Elegant Mini design before the promotion and during the promotion, challenged whether the half price offer was genuine.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Plumbs Ltd (Plumbs) said they ran In-home offers which consultants offered to customers on visits to their homes and advertised press offers. They said that while all advertised press offers were extended to In-home offers, not all In-home offers became advertised press offers.

They said in May 2007 the complainant had received a quotation for Elegant Mini made-to-measure sofa covers that were subject to a half price reduction. They said the consultant had failed to mark on that quotation that the quoted price included a 50% discount. Plumbs provided order forms from a sample of other customers in May that demonstrated the Elegant Mini design was half price at that time.

Plumbs said the Elegant Mini design was introduced in April 2007 and remained full price for that month. They said it was then put on half price for In-home offers for May and June and sold at full price for July and August. The half price offer then became an advertised offer in the press in November.

Plumbs said that, in October 2007, they reviewed their overall pricing structure, a process which was undertaken regularly, and re-aligned their prices. They said some designs were increased in price, some remained the same, and some decreased. They said that, resulting from the review, the Elegant Mini design was moved up one price band, to account for increased raw material cost, and that new price was used in the half price promotion throughout October, November and December.

Plumbs said they had experienced adverse customer reaction when trying to enforce the 21-day time limit of the offer, especially when consumers had responded just outside the limit. They therefore decided to honour the advertised offer after 21 days had past.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA understood that the half price promotion for Plumbs Elegant Mini design sofa covers was running for In-Home offers in May and again through advertised press and In-home offers in November. We acknowledged that the Plumbs consultant who prepared a quotation for the complainant in May had mistakenly failed to cite the full price before the half price reduction. We accepted that error may have led the complainant to believe the regular price for the Elegant Mini sofa covers was cheaper than it actually was.

We noted that Plumbs had adjusted their prices in October and, as a consequence, the Elegant Mini design was moved up a price band to reflect the increased cost of raw materials. We accepted that when the complainant received a second quotation for the same covers in November that quote was slightly more than was offered in May. We understood that, because the complainant was unaware the offer in May was also a half price offer she believed the quotation in November was not half price and the promotion was not genuine. Plumbs also provided us with order forms from May and November that confirmed the half price offer was genuine and had been satisfied by numerous customers. We concluded the offer was genuine and the ad was not misleading.

We investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness), and 27.4 (Sales promotion rules) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action required.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)