Ad description
A website, www.smittenlingerie.com, promoted the sale of lingerie. The "Delivery & Returns" page stated "RETURNS: What if my item doesn't fit, can I exchange it? Yes, as long as its [sic] unused and in original packaging. A postage cost of £5.95 will apply for items exchanged. For information on how to return your product please email [email address].
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad breached the Code, because no refund or information on obtaining a refund was received, despite having paid the extra sum to exchange the goods.
Response
Astramore Consulting Ltd t/a Smitten Lingerie London (Smitten) did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Smitten'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 provide a substantive response to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
We noted that the ad set out that customers could exchange items which were unused and in their original packaging and that a postage cost of £5.95 would apply. We understood that the complainant had ordered and received a corset, which she then wished to exchange for a different size, but did not receive the replacement, despite having paid an additional sum to exchange the item. We noted that the ad also stated "For information on how to return your product please email [email address]", but the advertisers had not responded, for example, with details of a return address or with any further detail about the returns process in order to enable the complainant to exchange her item. We understood that, in spite of a number of attempts at contacting Smitten, the complainant had not had any further response from the advertisers.
Because the ad did not make sufficiently clear how and where consumers could exchange items, or further information on how to do so was not provided on request as claimed, and because we had not seen any evidence that consumers could exchange items, we concluded that the ad's claims were misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1, 3.3 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told the advertisers to ensure their exchange policy was clear and to ensure they could substantiate their claims in future. We asked CAP to inform its members of the problem with Smitten.
