In an upcoming ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) this week, Amazon will be banned from making claims guaranteeing next-day delivery for customers who sign up to its Prime service.
Currently, Amazon claims that a Prime membership includes “unlimited one-day delivery” as part of its £7.99-a-month package, which also offers customers unlimited Prime Video and Prime Music streaming.
However, according to the Times, the ASA has found evidence that a “significant proportion of Prime-labelled items were not available for delivery the next day”, following a six-month investigation.
The watchdog began its investigation after more than 200 complaints, with customers reporting that packages “routinely” turn up well outside the expected one-day time limit.
“Because consumers were likely to understand that, so long as they did not order too late, all Prime items would be available for delivery the next day… we concluded that the ad was misleading,” the ASA will say.
Amazon will now have to remove the claims from its website and other advertising to avoid further consequences, and will have to make clear that not all Prime-labelled items can be delivered the next day.
Responding to the ruling, an Amazon spokesperson has said: “Amazon Prime offers fantastic benefits to members including One-Day Delivery on millions of eligible items at no extra cost.
“The expected delivery date is shown before an order is placed and throughout the shopping journey and we work relentlessly to meet this date. The overwhelming majority of One-Day Delivery orders are delivered when promised.
“A small proportion of orders missed the delivery promise last year during a period of extreme weather that impacted all carriers across the UK, and we provided support to impacted customers at the time.”
The news marks the second time the e-commerce giant has fallen foul of UK advertising rules. The ASA ruled against Amazon over its free delivery claims in 2016, stating that its ads “did not make sufficiently clear which items were eligible for free delivery, and under what terms, and that they were therefore misleading”.
