ASA Adjudication on Plumbers Direct

Ad

a. A directory ad for 1st Action was headed "Your Local Plumbing Service." Smaller headings then stated "1 hr Service - No Call Out Charge to your door - 24 hr Service - Free Estimates ... OVER 90% OF JOBS COMPLETED ON 1ST VISIT - FreeCall 0808 XXX XX XX."

b. A second directory ad was headed "Plumbers Direct." Body copy then stated "ALL PROBLEMS SOLVED NOW! - FREE ESTIMATES." A telephone number beginning 0800 was shown at the bottom of the ad.

Issue

1.  A reader challenged the claims: "No Call Out Charge to our door" in ad (a); and

2.  "Free Estimates" in ads (a) and (b).

CAP Code

Response

1.  Plumbers Direct/1st Action (1st Action) said they did not charge a call out charge to the door of the property but that they began charging when they entered the property.  They believed this was in line with how other companies operated and with earlier advice from CAP.  They said their operators explained to customers telephoning to request an engineer that they charged a minimum of one hours work and then for each additional half-hour thereafter.  They said their operators also asked customers how they would be paying and explained to them that payment was due to the engineer on the day.

2.  1st Action said the details of customers who telephoned and requested free estimates were passed on to the estimator for a customers area, who then contacted them to make an appointment.  They supplied documentary evidence of examples of customers who had received free estimates for work to be undertaken.

Assessment

1.  Upheld

The ASA noted that five years previously the CAP Copy Advice team had advised the use of the claim "No Call Out Charge to your door" was likely to be acceptable and that 1st Action had followed that advice.  A number of published ASA adjudications since then, however, had clarified the interpretation of the claim to mean that customers who had called an engineer could decline the work after the engineer had arrived at their property without incurring a charge.  Because 1st Action customers were always charged for a minimum of one hours work once the engineer arrived at their property, even if they declined the work, we considered 1st Action had not substantiated the claim.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

2.  Not upheld

Notwithstanding the problem with the ad identified in point 1, we considered the information 1st Action supplied demonstrated that free estimates were available.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness) but did not find it in breach.

Action

We told 1st Action to remove the claim "No Call Out Charge to your door" from ad (a).

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)