ASA bans Hammonds Furniture ads over ‘misleading’ claims

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld three complaints against Hammonds Furniture over a “misleading” website banner and promotional claims regarding pricing and quality.

The decision followed a complaint by Sharps Furniture Group concerning a countdown timer and two price-related statements used on Hammonds’ website in May.

A banner ad on the Hammonds Furniture homepage had stated “Up to 40% off selected finishes + an extra 5% offer ends in […]” and featured a countdown timer showing the time left in the promotion. 

The ASA said that consumers were likely to interpret the ad as one single, time-limited discount, when two separate offers were running and only the additional 5% ended when the timer expired.

The regulator added the design of the banner was “likely to pressurise” consumers into making a purchase decision and ruled the ad “misleading”, breaching UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct and Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) rules.

A second complaint concerned claims on a webpage titled “Why choose Hammonds?” which stated: “We won’t be beaten on quality and price” and “we can offer you better quality furniture at a price others can’t beat”.

Hammonds said the statements referred to its price-match promise, under which it would match or explain lower like-for-like competitor quotes. The company also said it carried out regular market checks to ensure its prices were lower and that its bespoke design, manufacture and installation services demonstrated superior quality.

However, the ASA found the ad made comparative claims with identifiable competitors but did not make clear reference to the price-match policy or provide a link to details of it. It added most consumers would therefore interpret the statements as lowest-price claims rather than as references to a price-match offer.

Evidence submitted by Hammonds showed only seven price checks against a single competitor between February 2024 and August 2025, which the ASA said was “insufficient to substantiate the claims”. It concluded that the company had not provided adequate documentation to demonstrate that it could not be beaten on price.

The ASA also upheld a third complaint, ruling that the comparative price claims were not verifiable. It said the ad did not give consumers enough information to check the accuracy of the claims, nor did it direct them to where such details could be found. The regulator said that because Hammonds’ bespoke pricing meant it could not directly compare price lists, verification of the claims was not possible.

The authority concluded that the advertisements were “misleading” to customers, and that the ads must “not appear again in their current form”. 

It added: “We told Hammonds Furniture Ltd to ensure that their future advertising did not misleadingly imply that discount offers were time-limited, for example by using a countdown clock, if that was not the case. 

“We also told them not to make comparative claims with identifiable competitors unless they held adequate substantiation for those claims, and to ensure such claims were verifiable.”