Harvey’s scolded over delivery claims

Furniture retailer, Harvey’s has been reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over claims of “guaranteed Christmas delivery”.

A complainant questioned whether the claims, which were followed by the words “selected items only” in smaller text, were “misleading” and could be substantiated.

In response to the claims Harvey’s said it “tried to manage consumers’ expectations” at the ordering process with “a clause in the general terms and conditions”. The furniture retailer said that in the case of bespoke deliveries it was “not able to give a precise date for home delivery”.

Harvey’s acknowledged that by “Christmas delivery” its intention would be to deliver up to and including 24 December. The retailer referred to the text in the ad which it said “made clear” that the delivery guarantee applied to “carefully selected lines only”.

The ASA said it considered that by “guaranteed Christmas delivery” that certain items from the Harveys range, would be delivered to consumers’ homes by 24 December in time for Christmas Day, barring exceptional or unforeseen circumstances.

The regulator said it requested evidence from Harveys of the number of occasions and the reasons which it considered were “beyond their control” for when products were not delivered in time for Christmas in line with the guarantee, the ASA said Harveys, did not supply that information.

According to the ASA there was “no information included in the ad which referred to any limitations to the guarantee” and therefore the regulator found the claims “had not been substantiated” and were “likely to mislead”.

The ASA told Harvey’s: “The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Steinhoff UK Retail Ltd t/a Harveys not to make claims of guaranteed Christmas delivery if that was not the case.”