Ad description
A regional press ad for a boiler service stated "Boiler service from only £49 + VAT" and "Aga service from only £58 + VAT".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the prices were misleading, because they did not include VAT.
Response
Valley Services Ltd (Valley Services) said they had several customers who were VAT registered and were able reclaim VAT. They were located in the Peak District and also said that a lot of the properties they serviced were holiday cottages or commercial properties. They listed the VAT element separately so that, in the event that the rate changed, they did not have to incur costs for graphic design and re-printing.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted Valley Services said that some of their customers could recover VAT. However, because not all consumers to whom the price claim was addressed paid no VAT or could recover VAT, we concluded that the prices 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.
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.
3.4
3.4
For marketing communications that quote prices for advertised products, material information [for the purposes of rule 3.3] includes:
and
3.4.3
3.4.3
the price of the advertised product, including taxes, or, if the nature of the product is such that the price cannot be calculated in advance, the manner in which the price is calculated
(Misleading advertising) and
3.18
3.18
Quoted prices must include non-optional taxes, duties, fees and charges that apply to all or most buyers. However, VAT-exclusive prices may be given if all those to whom the price claim is clearly addressed pay no VAT or can recover VAT. Such VAT-exclusive prices must be accompanied by a prominent statement of the amount or rate of VAT payable.
(Prices).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Valley Services Ltd to ensure that price statements in future ads included VAT.
