Background
Summary of Council decision:
Two issue were investigated, both of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A website for an online clothing retailer, www.herdress.co.uk, seen in January 2017, included a listing for "A-Line/Princess Bateau Long Sleeves Lace Chiffon Court Train Dresses" priced at £84.50.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad was misleading because:
1. they were charged an additional £33.02 in tax, duties and charges after paying for the item; and
2. it was not clear that the advertiser was based outside the UK.
Response
herdress.co.uk did not respond to the ASA's enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by herdress.co.uk'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 respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in the future.
1. Upheld
The ASA understood that the complainant only discovered the cost of VAT and other charges after they purchased the item, but before it was delivered. We considered that consumers would expect quoted prices to include all non-optional taxes, duties, fees and charges that applied to all or most buyers, provided those costs could be calculated in advance.
We understood that the products were shipped from outside the EU, but as noted at point 2 below we considered that the website was clearly addressed to UK consumers. We therefore considered that the VAT on goods entering the UK could have been calculated in advance and should have been included in the advertised price.
For those reasons, we concluded that the price claim was misleading. On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
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.
(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.
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).
2. Upheld.
The ASA noted that the website URL ended in ".co.uk". We also noted that the pricing of herdress.co.uk's products was in British Pounds Sterling and that, on the "Contact Us" page of the website, its billing address was in the UK. The website also stated at the bottom of every page that it was copyrighted from 2012-2017 as "Her Dress UK Online Store".
However, there was no information on the website about the manufacturing or operational location of the business. The only information that suggested the business was based overseas was in its "Terms and Conditions" page where it made reference to the "Hong Kong International Arbitration Center" in relation to settling customer service disputes.
We considered that the overall impression of the website was that herdress.co.uk was a UK-based business. Because we understood that was not the case, we concluded the ad was misleading.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
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.
(Misleading advertising).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told herdress.co.uk to ensure they included tax and duties in their pricing and that they did not imply they were based in the UK.
