Advertisment
Advertising on the advertisers’ website offered the following information:
“Remote control for your home heating
With climote, you can control your home heating from anywhere. Whatever the weather or wherever you are, you can arrive home to a warm house. Whatever way your day works out, you can reset, boost your heating or even turn on your hot water – from anywhere.
Installation in Just 30 Minutes
When you buy climote, we’ll arrange for a climote –endorsed installer to visit your home. And in as little as 30 minutes, in three simple steps, they’ll have installed your climote HUB and you’re ready to start controlling your home heating from anywhere.”
The advertisers also provided information on the removal of the old time clock from the existing heating system and the installation of the new climate HUB which allowed the system to be controlled remotely.
The following information was also provided in relation to using the new system.
“Control your climote HUB in three different ways
When you buy climote, the climote HUB will be installed in your home and you can download a free APP to enable you to control it remotely from your Smartphone.
climote SMS
Climote is equally at home with text commands sent direct to the HUB. Easy commands give you total control and you can save them as templates, making managing your home heating easier than ever.
climote ONLINE
Use climote CLOUD on the Internet from home, work or abroad to manage your home heating however you choose. You can just click and drag to set up three different on/off periods per day for all the zones of your home heating.
Free Mobile App
Anywhere is truly possible with your iOS or Android smartphone. Setting schedules, boosting your heating and saving energy are just a smartphone-swipe away.
It’s the digital version of the time-clock on your wall
Setting the time-clock on your wall can be a frustrating experience. Whether it’s fiddling with the pins or navigating your way around a digital clock, you’ll probably agree it’s time for a change.
The climote HUB takes the mechanical nature of your existing time clock and converts it to a digital version. In just 30 minutes, it‘s installed in your home.
A clear digital interface means it’s very easy to use.
Only climote lets you control your heating from anywhere you want. Anytime you like. And come home to a warm home very soon. You can control it on the wall or simply communicate with your climote HUB by sending messages through your Smartphone, by SMS or over the cloud.
A video was also provided by the advertisers in relation to the system on offer.
Complaint
The complainant said that he considered the advertising to be misleading. He said that the advertisers had strongly implied that the climote product allowed the user full control over their water heating system in their home and he discovered that this was not the case. He considered that any person who had an electrical immersion water heating system, would assume based on the information provided that the climote system was compatible with this commonly used system.
The complainant also considered that the advertisers’ reference to “remote heating control” had not been specific in stating whether the control related to central heating or water heating. He considered the reference to “Whatever way your day works out, you can reset, boost your heating or even turn on your hot water – from anywhere” to imply that he could control his immersion water heating system remotely. It was only when he made enquires that he was informed that the system could not accommodate the electrical load required to operate a domestic immersion water heating system.
Response
The advertisers said climote was a domestic remote heating control product. The term “home heating control” described the control of a domestic central heating system and it was their opinion that almost all central heating boilers were also used to heat water.
They said that the main banner on their website had referred to “Remote heating control”. Their video had also opened with a reference to “Control your home heating whenever you want from wherever you are”. The video also made reference to the term heating control a further eight times and had demonstrated how the old central heating clock would be removed from the existing system and replaced with a new controller before closing with the statement “Use climote to control your heating and hot water”.
The advertisers reiterated that they had clearly demonstrated that the climote HUB (which was fully in keeping with building regulations) was a replacement for the central heating timer. They said electric immersion heaters were used exclusively to heat hot water and were not part of the main home central heating system. While most homes in Ireland had been installed with immersion heaters, the most common and economical form of hot water heating was through the central heating system. In fact, they said, the most recent comprehensive report on housing stock by the ESRI had demonstrated that 82% of homeowners used their central heating boiler as the main way to heat their running hot water.
In conclusion the advertisers said that there was no mention in any of their marketing material that their system could control an electrical immersion heater.
While it was technically possible to use the climote HUB for immersion control, this was not a supported configuration and would usually require additional work from a qualified electrical contractor for which the homeowner would generally be charged. Taking their consistent presentation of climote as a remote home heating controller, the overwhelming use of the central heating system to heat hot water, the advertisers considered it to be evident from their advertising that those who chose to buy climote as a replacement for their existing central heating time clock, did so in the knowledge that they were controlling their central heating system.
Conclusion
Complaint not upheld.
The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response. The Committee considered it to be clear that the advertisers were offering a replacement for existing timer clocks which controlled heating systems and could also heat water. In this regard they noted the ESRI figures in relation to how water is heated by homeowners. They did not consider the advertising to be misleading and did not uphold the complaint.
Action Required:
No further action was required in this case.
