ASA complaint about A to Z Appliance Repairs

Not so “Free Call-out” it seems. The Advertising Standards Authority agrees: –

A.S.A wrote:A to Z Appliance Repairs
50 Ormonds Close
Bradley Stoke
Bristol
BS32 0DX

Number of complaints: 1
Date: 25 October 2006
Media: Directory
Sector: Household
Ad
A Yellow Pages ad, for A to Z Appliance Repairs, stated FREE CALL OUT TODAY 8am – 8pm – 7 Days We Call Today.

Issue

The complainant, who had been charged a fee of £49.00 despite no work being done on her appliance, complained via her local Trading Standards that the claim FREE CALL OUT was misleading.

The CAP Code: 3.1;7.1;2.6
Response

A to Z Appliance Repairs (A to Z) did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.

Assessment : Upheld

The ASA contacted Yellow Pages who advised that A to Zs directory ad was not due to appear again.

We were concerned, however, by A to Zs lack of response and apparent disregard for the CAP Code, which was a breach of Code clause 2.6 (Non-response). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.

We noted A to Z did not provide evidence to substantiate the claim. We concluded that A to Z had not substantiated the claims in the ad and told them to remove it. The ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.6 (Non-response), 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

We asked CAP to inform its media members of the problem with A to Z.
Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)