ASA Adjudication on Iron Easy
Iron Easy
5 Wildridings Square
Bracknell
Berkshire
RG12 7SJ
Date:
19 October 2011
Media:
Internet (on own site)
Sector:
Household
Number of complaints:
1
Complaint Ref:
A11-159317
Ad
The Iron Easy website, viewed on 26 April 2011, stated the price for ironing with a 24-hour turnaround as “£9.00 per kg”.
Issue
The complainant, who had used the service and was charged an additional fee for VAT, challenged whether the ad was misleading, because the stated prices were exclusive of VAT.
CAP Code (Edition 12)
Response
Iron Easy did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Iron Easy’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
We understood the stated prices did not include VAT. Because it appeared the ad was targeted mainly at consumers and the prices were VAT-exclusive, we concluded that it breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.7 (Unreasonable delay), 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising) and 3.18 (Prices).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Iron Easy to ensure price statements in future ads included non-optional taxes, charges and fees. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
