Background
Summary of Council decision:
Two issues were investigated, both of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A website for VivaFolio, www.vivafolio.com , a glazing company seen in January 2023, featured the claim “Viva has been designing, manufacturing and installing glass, doors and aluminium structures, that are both beautiful and functional, for over 50 years”. The Trustpilot Five Star logo was displayed at the end of the page.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether:
1. the claim “Viva has been designing, manufacturing and installing glass, doors and aluminium structures, that are both beautiful and functional for over 50 years” was misleading and could be substantiated, because they understood the company had been incorporated in 2012; and
2. the five-star Trustpilot logo was misleading, because they understood that VivaFolio had a rating of four stars on the Trustpilot customer review platform.
Response
1. & 2. Viva Doors Ltd t/a VivaFolio did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The ASA was concerned by Viva Doors Ltd’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquires and told them to do so in future.
We considered that consumers would understand the claim “Viva has been designing, manufacturing and installing glass, doors and aluminium structures … for over 50 years” to mean that as a company Viva Doors Ltd had over 50 years of experience in designing, manufacturing and installing glass, doors and aluminium structures. We therefore expected to see documentary evidence to demonstrate that was the case. Because we had not seen any evidence, we therefore concluded that the claim had not been substantiated, and was misleading.
On that point , the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).
2. Upheld
We noted that Trustpilot was a website that allowed consumers to review businesses and give them ratings out of five stars. We considered that consumers would understand the Trustpilot logo, with five stars beneath it, to mean that VivaFolio held a Trustpilot rating of five stars. However, we had not seen any evidence to demonstrate that was the case, and we understood that at the time the ad was seen, the company did not hold a rating of five stars. We therefore concluded the ad was misleading.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Viva Doors Ltd t/a VivaFolio not to claim or imply that they had over 50 years of experience as a company or that they had a five-star Trustpilot rating if they did not hold evidence to demonstrate that was the case. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team.
