Fifth slap for Spicerhaart from advertising watchdog

News Category: Industry News

Yet another complaint against Spicerhaart has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority.

It is the fifth complaint upheld against the agents since last September.

But Spicerhaart says of the latest ruling that it is standing by the advertisement in question and has taken legal advice.

The complaint was about a regional press advertisement for an estate agent depicting a pink heart with the words ‘Good Bye’ written on it.

The headline stated ‘Breaking up is hard to do’ but the word ‘hard’ had been crossed out and replaced with the word ‘easy’. The text continued: ‘Switch to haart without penalty.’

Smaller text stated: ‘If your current estate agent isn’t delivering, and you decide to leave them, then switch to haart. We’ll smooth the way by settling any leaving fees or HIPs charges you might be liable for, up to £1000, until we sell your home, you withdraw your property from sale or for nine months.’
 
A reader objected that the advertisement was misleading because it stated that the payments would only be deferred rather than absorbed by the advertisers, which they believed contradicted the claim about switching ‘without penalty’.
 
Spicerhaart told the ASA the intention of the advertisment was to highlight the practice whereby certain agents had hidden lock-in fees to prevent customers switching agents. They said the advertisement sought to explain that they assisted the customer to avoid the penalty of being locked in to their current agent.

They said the text at the foot of the advertisement clearly explained that Spicerhaart settled such lock-in fees until payment at a later date by the customer, and they did not consider the advertisement to be misleading.
 
However, the ASA ruled that because readers would still be liable for fees, which Spicerhaart was offering to pay temporarily to enable people to switch estate agents, but not permanently, the headline claim was contradicted by the qualifying text.
 
The ASA concluded that the advertisement was likely to mislead and ruled that it must not appear again.

But Paul Smith, chief executive of Spicerhaart, claimed that he would appeal against the ASA’s decision.


He insisted the small print in the advert made it very clear that terms and conditions applied and that its headline encouraging people to switch without penalty simply highlighted they could avoid being locked in to their current agent. 

He said: “We have taken legal advice and feel strongly that this advert does not flout any rules and is clear in its interpretation. We stated we would temporarily settle any leaving fees or HIPs charges up to £1000, until the property was sold or withdrawn from sale or for nine months.

”

Following other recent ASA rulings, he said Spicerhaart is now running new marketing materials past the CAP Copy Advice team to confirm they comply with the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (the CAP Code).


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