July 23, 2010

ASDA – Guarantee Campaign Misleading

The Advertising Standards Authority ('ASA') has held that the ASDA supermarket advertising campaign promoting a 100 day guarantee was misleading to consumers.

The ASA found that the advert appeared to suggest that consumers only had 100 days in which to return faulty goods, when in fact under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 consumers have a much longer period. In addition the ASA also found that the offer did not provide any more protection than was already provided under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, and as a result ASDA have been banned from using the advert.

June 3, 2010

Shill Bidding - Online Auction Sites

It is an offence for online traders to bid on their own items or get friends or family to bid as a recent case has illustrated.

An online trader placed goods for sale on the e-Bay website and then bided for his own goods, but under a different name, in order to push the price up. The online trader admitted to committing a number of offences under the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Each offence committed under the Regulations carries a hefty maximum fine of £5,000.