ASA ruling: Luxsleeps
I’ve looked at its website and although it’s fairly basic – the only frills are on the linens in its product pictures – bed-seller Luxsleeps appears to be a reliable and trustworthy retailer. However, a recent ruling from the ASA would suggest that might not be the case.
In August 2019, an interiors Instagrammer called Amelia, who seems to be in the process of decorating her new-build house somewhere in Leicestershire, posted the following: ‘GIVEAWAY…As promised, to celebrate you lot, 5,000 of you! I have teamed up with 3 fab companies to give one of you the chance to win some amazing things for your home! You will get this gorgeous bed from @luxsleeps in ANY size, colour, & fabric of your choice with over 30 colours to choose from!’
Lack of response
Now I can see a few issues with those details – at Prizeology we wouldn’t run a prize draw quite like that – but I’ll pass over those and get to the substance of the matter. The draw was made, a winner was identified and the lucky person was duly notified that they had won. However, they didn’t receive their prize, contacted Luxsleeps on a number of occasions to no avail, and subsequently made a complaint to the ASA.
When questioned by the ASA, Amelia explained that was no contract between her and Luxsleeps, but her expectation was that the winner would receive the bed once the giveaway was concluded. She provided screenshots of her attempts to contact Luxsleeps, but she did not receive a reply.
When it came to contact Luxsleeps, the ASA didn’t get a response either. In fact, it couldn’t even identify who is behind the company and the ruling refers to ‘Person(s) Unknown t/a Luxsleeps’, but it went ahead with its investigation and found that the complainant had met the qualifying criteria so there was no justifiable reason for withholding the prize. The ASA upheld the complaint, adding that it was concerned by Luxsleeps’ lack of response and apparent disregard for the CAP Code.
Expected delivery date
Interestingly, the ASA noted that the original post had stated the rules of the promotion, but did not specify a date by which the prize would be awarded. The ASA therefore expected that the prize should have been awarded within 30 days after the closing date of the promotion. That’s not to say that you can’t take longer than 30 days to deliver a prize, but if you want to do that Prizeology would always advise you to cover it off in the terms and conditions.
The beds apparently sold by Luxsleeps may well be very comfortable, but they’re not really to my taste. However, even if they were, I wouldn’t be tempted to buy from Luxsleeps, because a company that reneges on delivering a prize isn’t a company that I would trust to deliver a bed or any other goods. I don’t know why Luxsleeps failed to give the winner of this giveaway their prize, but I do know that an action – or rather inaction – like that damages a company’s reputation.
I have to confess I find dishonesty rather depressing – is that bad of me? – but promoters sometimes breach the CAP Code because they’re inefficient or ignorant, which is why engaging the services of a prize promotions specialist such as Prizeology makes sense (even if the logistics are complicated, we pride ourselves on our prize fulfilment and we would certainly have made sure that bed arrived).
Should you want to get in touch with Prizeology, you can do so via email on hello@prizeology.com or give us a call on 020 7856 0402.
Sarah Burns is Prizeology’s Chief Prizeologist and a National Trading Standards Scams Team Scambassador.
