Complaint against online retailer upheld by advertising watchdog
Huddersfield-based online marketplace Buy It Direct has been rapped by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) for a “misleading” advert for a gaming monitor.
The watchdog ruled the company was unable to demonstrate the claim made in the advert represented a genuine saving against the price at which the product was usually sold.
A website for Laptops Direct, www.laptopsdirect.co.uk, spotted by a shopper on 18 February 2019, advertised an electriQ 35 inch WQHD 100Hz HDR FreeSync Curved UltraWide Gaming Monitor for £339.97. Text above the selling price on the advert stated: “You save: £310.00”.
A complainant, who had not seen the product sold at the higher price, challenged whether the claim “You save: £310.00” was misleading and could be substantiated.
Buy It Direct, trading as Laptops Direct, said that when the product was first added to its system, there had been a data error and the price was incorrectly set to £649.97. The business said its staff spotted the error quickly and rectified it. However, its own system was set to calculate savings claims against the highest previous price and therefore made a claim against the incorrect £649.97 price.
Laptops Direct said it had now made a change to its system, which would ensure future similar errors were not made.
Upholding the complaint, The ASA stated: “We welcomed the action of Laptops Direct to correct the error as soon as they were aware of it.
“Nevertheless, we considered consumers would interpret the claim to mean a genuine saving against the price at which the product was usually sold at the time the ad appeared. Because Laptops Direct were unable to supply evidence that showed the savings claim represented a genuine saving against the price at which the product was usually sold at the time the ad appeared, we concluded the claim was misleading.
“The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.17 (Prices).
“We told Buy It Direct Ltd, trading as Laptops Direct, not to imply savings were against the usual selling price of products if that was not the case, and to ensure they held adequate substantiation that savings claims represented genuine savings against the price at which product were usually sold.”
