ASA Adjudication on 1st Active Drainage Ltd
1st Active Drainage Ltd
C/O HJS
12–14 Carlton Place
Southampton
SO15 2EA
Date:
22 August 2012
Media:
Internet (on own site)
Sector:
Business
Number of complaints:
1
Complaint Ref:
A12-198939
Ad
A website for a plumbing, heating and drainage service, www.emergency-plumber.org.uk. Under the "Drainage" section text stated "No need to compare, we are the cheapest on the market with the fastest service!"
Issue
The complainant, who did not believe that the advertiser could substantiate the claim that they were the cheapest on the market, challenged whether it was misleading.
CAP Code (Edition 12)
Response
1st Active Drainage Ltd did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by 1st Active Drainage Ltd's lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of the 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.
In the absence of any comparative evidence to demonstrate that the advertiser was the cheapest on the market we considered that the claim "No need to compare, we are the cheapest on the market with the fastest service!" had not been substantiated and concluded that it was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition12) rules 1.7 (Unreasonable delay), 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation), 3.38 (Other comparisons) and 3.39 (Price comparisons).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told 1st Active Drainage Ltd not to make claims that they were the cheapest on the market unless they held comparative evidence to substantiate them. We referred the matter to CAP's Compliance team.
