In mid-November I received an unsolicited promotional email from Laura Ashley which advertised made-to-measure curtains as follows: “Order by Sunday 23 November to guarantee pre-Christmas delivery.” The following day I placed an order by phone for a single made-to-measure curtain, and was given an approximate delivery date of 9 January next year.
When I challenged this, I was told that Laura Ashley cannot guarantee delivery before Christmas. I have since emailed customer services three times but the response I receive is consistently that “all due dates are approximate and are never guaranteed as per our terms and conditions”.
How can Laura Ashley promote a service clearly promising pre-Christmas delivery, with no intention of being able to fulfil it? BS, Eyemouth, Scottish Borders
You ordered a single curtain and tie-back, for which you paid £242.90 after the 30% discount which was advertised. We checked the company’s terms and conditions, which said, in relation to made-to-measure curtains and blinds: “Any delivery dates specified are estimates and [what we found very puzzling] time is not to be made of the essence. We regret that specific delivery dates and times cannot be agreed when placing your order.”
We have to admit that our view was that the company was in danger of falling foul of advertising rules within a strict code laid down by the Advertising Standards Authority, which – even if advertisers received an unexpected deluge of orders – would not allow them to categorically promise delivery by Christmas and then say that delivery dates are approximate.
The rules apply to promotional emails because they are marketing communications – i.e, adverts. But there was, indeed, more to this than meets the eye.
Laura Ashley says you were one of a small number of customers adversely affected by “a system-related issue” and – wrongly – told that your deliveries would not arrive until after Christmas. Why you were also told that three times in later emails remains a mystery.
But it has contacted you to give you the good news (and us in a separate statement) that: “We are pleased to confirm that BS’s order will be arriving before Christmas. All customers who purchased with our pre-Christmas delivery guarantee, will have their orders fulfilled within this time.” Hallelujah!
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