Ad description
A listing by MCC Trading on www.ebay.co.uk, seen on 16 September 2016, showed photographs of a pop-up garden gazebo with different coloured covers which were closed on two or three sides. The heading stated Text stated "3x3m Pop-up Waterproof Outdoor Garden Gazebo Party Event Tent Marquee Canopy". Text stated "2 Winder Bars - Weight Bags - Extra Waterproof Layer [each with a tick against them] - £49.99 to £69.99" alongside four small differently coloured squares (corresponding with the cover colours shown in the photographs).
Issue
The complainant, who understood that the price was for the metal frame only, challenged whether the price on the listing was misleading.
Response
MCC Trading Ltd acknowledged receipt of the complaint, but did not supply a substantive response.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted MCC Trading had acknowledged the complaint, but we were concerned by their lack of any further 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 provide a substantive response to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
The ASA considered consumers would interpret the ad, which included the wording "Waterproof Outdoor Garden Gazebo Party Event Tent Marquee", the photographs of assembled gazebos with covers and the offering of a choice of colours, all alongside the price range £49.99 – £69.99, to mean that the cheapest price for a gazebo with a cover was £49.99. Because we understood that was not the case, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead.
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 not appear again in its current form. We told MCC Trading Ltd to ensure that in future, prices shown in their ads corresponded with the products featured.
