Ad description

A Google sponsored search result for a carpet cleaning company stated "Carpet Cleaning just £25. cleanstar.co.uk. www.cleanstar.co.uk. Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning at Crunch Busting Prices!". It included a link which took consumers to the Cleanstar website where they could obtain an instant online quote.

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the claim "Carpet cleaning just £25" was misleading.

Response

Cleanstar said the home page on their website made clear that the £25 price was based on the average price per area when having three areas cleaned. They said it was only possible to obtain a quote from them by telephone or via their website. Because that information appeared on their website which consumers had to visit before obtaining a quote, they did not believe the search result was misleading.

Cleanstar said they did, in fact, offer a cleaning service for £25 and provided two invoices for customers who had only been charged £25. They said that price applied to carpet areas of 10ft by 10ft or smaller, which they considered to be a small lounge. They explained that additional rooms were cleaned for £15 each and that if customers wanted more than one room cleaned, they offered customers further discounts. They said that in some cases, customers could get four rooms cleaned for £22.50 per room.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered the claim "Carpet Cleaning Just £25" was an absolute one and would be interpreted to mean that all carpet cleaning offered by Cleanstar cost £25; we noted that was not the case. Furthermore, Cleanstar's website stated "PREMIUM CARPET CLEANING from £25 based on an average of three areas" which they confirmed meant consumers would need to pay £75 to achieve the equivalent price of £25 per carpet. Although Cleanstar had demonstrated that some customers had paid £25, we understood that £25 was the cheapest price available and not the only price they charged, as implied by the ad. We therefore concluded the claim "Just £25" was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules  3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  (Misleading advertising) and  3.17 3.17 Price statements must not mislead by omission, undue emphasis or distortion. They must relate to the product featured in the marketing communication.  (Prices).

Action

The ad must no longer appear. We told Cleanstar to make clear that £25 was the minimum price they charged.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1     3.17    


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