ASA Adjudication on HLS Caravans
HLS Caravans
Unit 996
Rear of Brunel House
Gorseinon Road
Swansea
SA4 9RU
Date:
14 March 2012
Media:
Internet (on own site)
Sector:
Business
Number of complaints:
1
Complaint Ref:
A11-181739
Ad
Claims on www.hlscaravans.co.uk home page on 13 December 2011 stated "We are NCC approved technicians which means we can service your new caravan and your warranty remains in place". The National Caravan Council (NCC) logo appeared on a number of pages on the website.
Issue
The NCC challenged whether the claim "We are NCC approved technicians" and the use of their logo were misleading, because HLS Caravan's membership of the NCC Approved Workshop Scheme was terminated in 2010.
CAP Code (Edition 12)
Response
HLS Caravans (HLS) did not respond to our enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by HLS' 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.
The CAP Code requires marketers not to imply that they were endorsed or authorised by any public or other body unless that was the case. We noted we had not seen evidence to show that HLS was a member of the NCC or an NCC approved technician as claimed, and that the NCC itself stated HLS was not currently a member. We therefore considered that the right to use the NCC logo and the claim "We are NCC approved technicians" had not been substantiated and were therefore misleading.
The claims breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.7 (Unreasonable delay), 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.50 (Endorsements and testimonials).
Action
The claims must not appear again in their current form. We told HLS not to state or imply that they were members of professional associations unless they held appropriate, current registration. We referred the matter to CAP's Compliance team.
