Background
Summary of Council decision:
Four issues were investigated, all of which were Upheld.
Ad description
The website www.lazydaysmotorhomeconversions.co.uk promoted a motor-home conversion service. The home page stated "Here at Lazy Days conversions we specialise in 2 berth motor home conversions providing top quality service at affordable prices ... we are a small company and have been building Motor home's [sic] and Camper Vans for many years, we are very competitive and will not be beaten on price like for like, we are the cheapest in the UK and offer unbeatable service and excellent quality ... every conversion we build go [sic] through a full gas safety check with a gas safety certificate ...". The page entitled "About us" included the claim "... all our staff are full [sic] qualified tradesmen".
Issue
Two complainants challenged whether:
1. the claim "we are a small company and have been building Motor home's [sic] and Camper Vans for many years" was misleading and could be substantiated, because they understood that the company had been formed in early 2015; and
2. the claim "all our staff are full [sic] qualified tradesmen" was misleading and could be substantiated, because they understood that the staff were not qualified to fit gas or electrical systems.
One of the complainants challenged whether the following claims were misleading and could be substantiated:
3. "we are very competitive and will not be beaten on price like for like, we are the cheapest in the UK"; and
4. "every conversion we build go [sic] through a full gas safety check with a gas safe certificate".
Response
Lazy Days Motorhome Conversions Ltd did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by Lazy Days Motorhome Conversions Ltd's lack of substantive 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.
1., 2., 3. & 4. Upheld
We noted that we had not seen any evidence to show when the company had been established and the number of years it had been trading. Further, Lazy Days Motorhome Conversions Ltd had not supplied any information regarding the qualifications of their staff, or evidence to show that when converting motor homes they carried out a full gas check and issued a gas safety certificate. They had also not provided any comparative evidence regarding their own and their competitors' pricing to show that they were the "cheapest in the UK". Therefore, in the absence of any evidence to substantiate the claims, we concluded that they were 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. (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) and 3.33 3.33 Marketing communications that include a comparison with an identifiable competitor must not mislead, or be likely to mislead, the consumer about either the advertised product or the competing product. (Comparisons with identifiable competitors).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We referred the matter to CAP's Compliance team.
