Cartridge Discount had been accused of misleading people with an advert on its website.
The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority released its summary of the case it brought against remanufacturer Cartridge Tech Ltd., trading as Cartridge Discount, which had seen a complaint lodged regarding an advertisement on its website – www.cartridgediscount.co.uk – about a remanufactured Canon cartridge.
The advert, the ASA stated, featured the message “Canon CL-511 Remanufactured High Capacity Colour Ink Cartridge … Ink Capacity (ml) 12ml”, and the sole complainant had “challenged whether the claim” of 12 millilitres was “misleading and could be substantiated”, as it was his belief that the cartridge “contained a maximum” of nine millilitres.
When investigated by the ASA, Cartridge Discount stated that the cartridge in question “held a maximum of 18ml of ink” and that “they chose to fill to 12ml capacity”, supplying samples of “empty, filled and sealed and filled and unsealed cartridges” as well as a video “which showed the filling process being conducted under compression to a measurement of 12ml”.
Reflecting on the evidence, the ASA stated that the complaint was “not upheld” and “no further action [was] necessary”, noting Cartridge Discount’s explanation “that it was possible to fill a cartridge to 12ml by using compression techniques”, which the ASA “accepted might not be possible to replicate at home” having seen the video.
The ASA added that because of seeing the video and evidence, it considered that Cartridge Discount “had shown that they did fill cartridges to 12ml”, and as such “concluded that they had substantiated the claim and that it was not misleading”; it “did not find [Cartridge Website] in breach” of the claims.
The company had previously had a complaint upheld against it by the ASA in an advertising case in 2012 concerning the use of the word “compatible”.