Leading UK manufacturer of water boilers Instanta Ltd, has had a complaint against one of its competitors upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority (A.S.A). Instanta claimed that rival manufacturers were making misleading claims in their sales literature and advertising material with regard to the hourly output of their boilers and after studying the evidence, the A.S.A. agreed.
Instanta Managing Director John Brassey, who has been challenging the claims for some time, says that the ruling will force other manufacturers to ‘come clean’ about their figures. “Using the very best technology it is not possible to heat more than around 27 litres of water to near boiling point in an hour using a 3kW electricity supply,” says Mr Brassey. “And yet, several companies were claiming ‘hourly outputs’ of 35 litres and sometimes more. Instanta argued that although these figures were attainable in one hour starting with a full and pre-heated boiler they were not achievable ‘per hour’ or ‘hourly’ and Instanta felt that such claims gave Instanta a competitive disadvantage.”
Having challenged the other manufacturers directly without result, Instanta complained to the A.S.A. The A.S.A used a Lincat price list as a test and upheld Instanta’s complaint. Full details of the complaint and adjudication can be found at www.asa.org.uk/asa/ adjudications/Public?TF_ADJ_4253 6.htm. Having satisfactorily made their case Instanta has now asked the A.S.A. to contact other manufacturers who make such claims and Instanta’s directors are hopeful that all literature on boilers will soon show correct hourly outputs, thereby allowing customers to make an informed decision based on accurate data.
