Ad description
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.
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 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 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
1.7
Any unreasonable delay in responding to the ASA's enquiries will normally be considered a breach of the Code.
(Unreasonable delay),
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),
3.38
3.38
Marketing communications that include a comparison with an unidentifiable competitor must not mislead, or be likely to mislead, the consumer. The elements of the comparison must not be selected to give the marketer an unrepresentative advantage.
(Other comparisons) and
3.39
3.39
Marketing communications that include a price comparison must make the basis of the comparison clear.
CAP has published a Help Note on Retailers' Price Comparisons and a Help Note on Lowest Price Claims and Price Promises.
(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.
