Household

The advertisement was a listing on the advertiser’s’ own website for a “Carter Bunk Bed Pack”. The description of the bunk bed said, “Carter Is A Beautifully Designed Classic Panel Bunk Bed With Seomra Mattresses (sic)”. The price was listed as €409 with a previous price of €459 struck through beside it. The advertisement also featured an image of the bunk bed frame with mattresses.

The complainant considered the advertisement was misleading on the grounds that it implied that the price of the bunk beds included mattresses. After purchasing the beds, the complainant was asked if they wished to add mattresses to their order, and on querying the matter, they were advised that the description in the advertisement contained a ‘typo’ and they were offered a small discount.

The advertisers responded that there can be a slight delay between updating prices on their website relative to the prices of their suppliers. They said that this was beyond their control, however, they employed 2 people full time to monitor in-store and online pricing and if there was an increase in price that was not reflected on the website in a timely fashion, they would contact the customer to advise of this and to explain their options. They said that this was a rare occurrence which had only happened 4 or 5 times in the past 5 years. They said that they had not set out to deceive or to make a sale in an underhanded way.

The provided a global shipping report which they said showed that the complaint issue was due to volatility in the market and that the fact that Ireland was an island meant that they were constantly suffering from increases in global shipping costs.

Complaint Upheld.

The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertiser’s response.

The Committee noted that the advertisement had stated “Carter Bunk Bed Pack” and in the description had said “with Seomra Mattresses”. They also noted that the complainant was advised that the advertisement had contained a ‘typo’. The Committee considered the advertiser’s response regarding delays updating their website and how global shipping costs can impact pricing.

The Committee decided that the inclusion of the word “pack” in tandem with the description “With Seomra Mattresses” could have reasonably been said to have given a consumer the impression that mattresses were also provided along with the frame for the advertised price. As the advertised price did not include the purchase of the mattresses, the Committee considered the advertising in breach of Code sections 4.1; 4.4; and 4.22.

ACTION REQUIRED:
The advertisement must not reappear in its current form.