DionWired aircon ad misleading and may not be used again: ASA

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that a DionWired advertisement for an air conditioning unit is misleading and must be removed immediately and not used again.

This came after the ASA investigated a complaint against DionWired.

Willie Malherbe had complained about DionWired advertising the Samsung Maldive 12000BTU Inverter R410A indoor air conditioning unit. He said it was misleading‚ because the advertisement never said one needs the outdoor air conditioning for the indoor unit to work.

The ASA phoned Samsung technical support to check if consumers need the outdoor unit to use the indoor unit. Samsung confirmed the indoor unit needs the matching outdoor unit‚ because they are installed back-to-back.

“The two should not be sold separately. It therefore seems that the complainant’s (Malherbe) version is correct.”

The ASA checked DionWired’s website “to see if this information was apparent from the surrounding material‚ and it was not”.

The ASA tried to get a response from DionWired‚ but to no avail. It assumed DionWired is not an ASA member over which it has no jurisdiction.

The product was still available on Wednesday evening when the publication visited DionWired’s website. There was no indication this product has to be sold along with the outdoor unit.