GSF Car Parts have avoided any further action for a promotional campaign, following a complaint from a member of the public.
The issue revolved around a promotional email for GSF Car Parts sent on 26 August 2016 that stated: "45% OFF* ALL CAR PARTS. Offer valid from Friday 26th to Monday 29th August", A footnote at the bottom of the ad stated "... GSF Car Parts reserves the right to withdraw these offers at any time. Offer valid from Friday 26th August to Monday 29th August at 23.59".
The complainant wrote to the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) to challenge whether the ad was misleading because they received a subsequent email on August 30, which stated that the closing date for the offer had been extended until September 1.
GSF responded to the watchdog that a problem occurred with the server used to process ‘Click and Collect’ orders shortly after the email was sent. They said that the server was used to send those orders to the relevant GSF Car Parts branch and because of that problem, the service was unavailable. The chain added that it was never their intention to mislead or place any consumers at a disadvantage; it said it extended the offer in good faith to their customers who had been unable to use the GSF website because of the technical problem.
A statement from the ASA said: "We considered that GSF Car Parts took action as soon as they could to resolve the problem and we understood the problem was the motivation behind their decision to extend the closing date of the promotional period". No further action was necessary.
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