Ad description
A regional press ad, for DMC Electrical, stated "ALL WORK GUARANTEED".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the claim "ALL WORK GUARANTEED" was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
DMC Electrical did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by DMC Electrical's lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 1.7 Any unreasonable delay in responding to the ASA's enquiries will normally be considered a breach of the Code. (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and we told them to do so in future.
In the absence of evidence to substantiate the claim "ALL WORK GUARANTEED", we concluded the ad 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.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising),
3.7
3.7
Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
(Substantiation),
3.53
3.53
Marketing communications must not use the word "guarantee" in a way that could cause confusion about a consumer's rights.
and
3.55
3.55
Marketers must promptly refund consumers who make valid claims under an advertised money-back guarantee.
(Guarantees and After-sales Service).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told DMC Electrical not to make claims for which they did not hold substantiation. We referred the matter to CAP's Compliance team.
