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Coffee machine supplier Ascaso UK has successfully challenged an online rival’s claim to be importing the products direct from the Spanish manufacturer.
The Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint by Ascaso UK – the sole UK distributor of the products – about the statement on myespresso.co.uk. The ad watchdog also decided that the website’s claim to offer all Ascaso products with a warranty was misleading.
Text on Coventry-based myespresso.co.uk stated: “We import Ascaso direct from the manufacturer and are therefore able to offer a very competitive price on this range, unlike many other distributors that purchase from an agent here in the UK.”
Defending the claim to the ASA, it submitted an invoice for various coffee machine parts, dated March 3 2011, from the Ascaso factory in Spain.
However, the ASA said that one invoice dating back to March did not provide relevant evidence to back up the statement as seen by Ascaso UK in June. It decided that in the absence of proof that, in June, myespresso.co.uk imported all its Ascaso products, including coffee machines, directly from Ascaso, the claim was misleading.
Ascaso UK also challenged myespresso.co.uk’s statement that all its Ascaso products were offered with a two-year manufacturer’s warranty, supported directly by myespresso.co.uk. The ASA said the website provided no evidence to support its claim, and concluded that this was also therefore misleading.
The authority said the ad should not appear again in its current form, and told myespresso.co.uk not to use the claims again unless it could support them.
