The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has judged that a plumbing firm’s ads offering ‘no call-out charge to your door’ was untruthful.

A directory ad for Plumbers Direct, trading as 1st Action, was headed "Your local plumbing service." 

Smaller headings then read, "One hour Service - No call-out charge to your door - 24 hr service - free estimates… Over 90 per cent of jobs completed on first visit- FreeCall 0808 XXX XX XX.”

A second directory ad was headed "Plumbers Direct”, with body copy reading, "All problems solved now! – Free estimates”. A telephone number beginning 0800 was shown at the bottom of the ad.

Earlier advice 

One reader challenged the claims "No call-out charge to our door" and "Free estimates" in the ads.

1st Action said they did not charge a call-out charge to the door of the property but that they began charging when they entered the property.

They believed this was in line with how other companies operated and with earlier advice from the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP).

The firm said their operators explained to customers telephoning to request an engineer that they charged a minimum of one hour work and then for each additional half-hour after that.

They said their operators also asked customers how they would be paying and explained to them that payment was due to the engineer on the day.

Decline the work 

1st Action said the details of customers who telephoned and requested free estimates were passed on to the estimator for a customer’s area, who then contacted them to make an appointment.

They supplied documentary evidence of examples of customers who had received free estimates for work to be undertaken.

The ASA noted that five years previously the CAP Copy Advice team had advised the use of the claim "No call-out charge to your door" was likely to be acceptable and that 1st Action had followed that advice.

A number of published ASA adjudications since then, however, had clarified the interpretation of the claim to mean that customers who had called an engineer could decline the work after the engineer had arrived at their property without incurring a charge.

Because 1st Action customers were always charged for a minimum of one hours work once the engineer arrived at their property, even if they declined the work, the ASA considered 1st Action had not substantiated the claim.

1st Action was told to remove the claim "No call-out charge to your door" from its ads.

The Advertising Standards Authority nevertheless decided that the information 1st Action supplied demonstrated that free estimates were available and rejected the objection to the use of the term ‘free estimates’.

Related links 

• Advertising Standards Authority

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