Ad description
A radio ad, for We Buy Any Car, a car buying service, included the claim "86% of people said they were well happy and got a really fair price with us".
Issue
A listener challenged whether the claim was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
We Buy Any Car said they surveyed all customers who had sold vehicles to them and 86% of those who responded said they were happy with the price given. They said all customers were also sent an e-mail or SMS message. They asked how likely customers were to recommend We Buy Any Car to friends and family, on a scale of one to ten. We Buy Any Car said the average score of customers who thought the price they received was fair was 9.1, which meant those customers also recommended them. They believed it was logical that a customer who would recommend the company was happy. Based on that score, they were comfortable with the claim that 86% were happy and got a fair price. They submitted the results of the relevant survey questions and said they proposed to amend the ad to state "of people asked".
The RACC said at script clearance stage they asked for the ad to make clear the satisfaction rating did not represent the whole customer base. The final version did not include that qualification, which they saw as an oversight. They said future ads with the claim had been qualified to stated "86% of people asked".
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA acknowledged the ad had been amended to make clear the claim related only to those who had been surveyed. We noted that, while a small number of participants had skipped the question "How do you feel about the price that you got from webuyanycar.com for your car? Was it fair or unfair?" and we considered those participants should have been taken into account, the proportion of those asked who said the price was fair nevertheless amounted to 86%. However, we noted that the question included in the e-mail and SMS survey did not relate specifically to price and considered results that related to whether customers would recommend the company to friends and family on a general basis did not constitute sufficient evidence that 86% of customers were "well happy", or similar. We considered "well happy", in the context in which it appeared, was not likely to be understood as a separate claim related to the willingness of those customers' who believed they had received a fair price to recommend We Buy Any Car to others. Rather, we considered the overall impression of the ad, in particular given the references to people being "well happy" and having received a "really fair" price, was that customers of We Buy Any Car were very satisfied with the price they had received, whereas the relevant survey questions asked only whether the price was "fair" or "unfair" and whether customers would recommend the company to friends more generally. We therefore concluded that the claim was misleading.
The ad breached BCAP Code rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. and 3.2 3.2 Obvious exaggerations ("puffery") and claims that the average consumer who sees the marketing communication is unlikely to take literally are allowed provided they do not materially mislead. (Misleading advertising) and 3.9 3.9 Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify. (Substantiation).
Action
The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form. We told We Buy Any Car to ensure they were in a position to adequately substantiate objective claims before they made them in future.
