Ad description
A website for Plumbforce, www.plumbforcedirect.co.uk, seen on 16 May 2019, featured a page titled “London Plumbers With Fixed Price Repairs From £70”. Text stated “… we provide up-front fixed pricing for plumbing services, heating and blocked drains repairs”. Further down that page was text that stated “FIXED PRICE REPAIRS FROM £70 … We’ll give you a full fixed priced [sic] before commencing work, giving you financial peace of mind with no surprise costs or add-ons”. Another page was titled “Your 12 Month No Quibble Guarantee” and stated “Your 12 Month No Quibble Guarantee Is one of the simplest guarantees in the world! … If you’re not 100% satisfied at any time, we promise to put it right; No Quibble, No Fuss”. Further down that page was text that stated “Guaranteed Work … All your repairs and installations are guaranteed for 12 months, financial backed by Plumbforce Direct Ltd”.
Issue
1. The complainant, who was quoted a fixed price of £80 at the point of booking a drain repair but then quoted £390 on the day of the repair, challenged whether the claims “… we provide up-front fixed pricing …” and “FIXED PRICE REPAIRS FROM £70 … We’ll give you a full fixed priced before commencing work, giving you financial peace of mind with no surprise costs or add-ons” were misleading.
2. The complainant also challenged whether the claims “12 Month No Quibble Guarantee” and “All your repairs and installations are guaranteed for 12 months …” were misleading because they suggested that Plumbforce’s repairs and installations would be guaranteed in all circumstances.
Response
1. Plumbforce Direct Ltd said that while the website stated that they offered a Quick Fix drain unblocking service, consumers were told at the point of booking that the fixed price could change under certain circumstances. In the event that circumstances changed, a new fixed price was agreed with the consumer before further action was taken.
2. Plumbforce said that there were exceptions to their warranty and that those were laid out in the terms and conditions on their website, as well as on invoices provided to consumers.
Assessment
The ASA noted the following claims in the ad: “London Plumbers With Fixed Price Repairs From £70”, “… we provide up-front fixed pricing for plumbing services, heating and blocked drains repairs” and “FIXED PRICE REPAIRS FROM £70 … We’ll give you a full fixed priced before commencing work, giving you financial peace of mind with no surprise costs or add-ons”. We considered that consumers would understand the claims to mean that when they booked the fixed price repair service with Plumbforce, they would be quoted an unchangeable price for the service. We understood that prices could change depending on the circumstances on the day of repair and noted that the terms and conditions page, linked at the bottom of each page on the website, contained a section titled “FIXED PRICE REPAIRS” that stated “*Conditions Apply … If our engineer can fix your initial fault without parts there will be no additional charge. If we cannot repair it immediately as parts are required our engineer will provide the customer with a new fixed price which will be agreed prior to the work being carried out … Our standard fixed prices do not include any parts”. We considered that because the link was in small writing at the bottom of the page it was not sufficiently prominent, especially given the significance of the limitation. Because the ad omitted that information, we concluded that it was misleading.
On that point the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising) and 3.9 (Qualification).
2. Upheld
We considered that consumers would understand the claims “Your 12 Month No Quibble Guarantee” and “All your repairs and installations are guaranteed for 12 months” to mean that all of Plumbforce’s repair and installation services were covered by the guarantee for 12 months, because the ad did not state otherwise. We noted that the guarantee excluded repairs to blocked drains “… unless a Plumbforce Direct drainage engineer has carried out a full CCTV camera inspection and no defects are found”. We considered that was a significant limitation to the guarantee and should have been made clear in the ad. While the ad contained a link to the significant limitation labelled “TERMS & CONDITIONS”, we considered that because the link was in small writing at the bottom of the page it was not sufficiently prominent, especially given the significance of the limitation to consumers’ use of the guarantee. Because the ad omitted that information, we concluded that it was misleading.
On that point the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising), 3.9 (Qualification) and 3.54 (Guarantees and after-sales service).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Plumbforce Direct Ltd to ensure that their future marketing communications prominently displayed all significant limitations to the main claim and all significant limitations to guarantees.
