The Advertising Standards Authority has ordered a bi-fold door and window manufacturer to withdraw website statements claiming endorsement and official status with systems houses Schüco and Cortizo.
The ruling came after complaints that UK Bi-Fold Door Factory Ltd of Croydon made claims on its website including “Cortizo UK Official Dealer” and “Schüco Partner” as well as the companies’ logos.
The Authority said in its ruling: “We considered that consumers would understand the inclusion of the Cortizo logo and another that stated “Schüco Partner” alongside the claim “Proud to work with world-leading systems for commercial and domestic products” to mean that UK Bi-Fold Door Factory had an official partnership with those two businesses. We also considered that the claims “Cortizo Approved”, “Cortizo UK Official Dealer” and “Approved Manufacturer and installers by world leading Cortizo” would be interpreted in the same way.
“Because UK Bi-Fold Door Factory did not provide any evidence to show that it had official partnerships with the two businesses, we concluded that the claims were misleading.”
It concluded: “The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told UK Bi-Fold Door Factory Ltd not to claim or imply that they had official partnerships with Schüco or Cortizo or with other businesses and any public or other body if they had not.”
When The Glazine checked the site earlier today, the logos denoting ‘Schüco partner’ and ‘Cortizo UK Official Dealer’ were still present on the site.
