What Rights Do I Have If Any

emmie | 11:27 Wed 11th Dec 2019 | Home & Garden

59 Answers

I bought a sofa and chair back in March/April this year.
the sofa has developed two faults one being the sofa seat
cushion is coming away from the seam causing
a small tear and the other where some studs have come away
from the base of the sofa.

Riser Reclining Chairs

How To Rid

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Cloverjo

Best Answer

Unless you, your family and friends are horrendously obese I can’t see how they can cite ‘heavy use’ as an excuse for the company’s shoddy workmanship. You could take them to the Small Claims Court. Ask CAB for help or look at Martin Lewis’s website.

11:52 Wed 11th Dec 2019

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emmie

Question Author

not cheap at 1.500.00 pounds.

teacake44

Paying a lot of money for an item was a way of ensuring a well made product, but I'm afraid that's no loner the case. I knew a couple who bought two sofas from Debenhams, paid a hell of a lot of money for them, simply because they trusted in getting good quality, within three months of use, the two end cushions on both sank to the point they where touching the wooden frame, they battled for over 12 months to just get them repaired.

emmie

Question Author

this was their reply to my e mail

"It's extremely important to us that we stick to the agreements that we have made with you. Organisations such as Trading Standards and the Citizens Advice Bureau hold us accountable and ensure that your rights are protected. We see this as a positive thing and we would always encourage you to contact them as this helps to bring about the best possible solution for everyone.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, goods should be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described.

We believe that the goods sold to you are of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described.

As you disagree with this, you could escalate the dispute to the furniture Ombudsman. They will inspect your sofa and provide an independent report. If they agree with you — we will repair the sofa at no cost to you. There is a fee for an Ombudsman inspection but this would be recoverable from us if they found in your favour.

We would also be willing to give you a £150 refund on your order as a gesture of goodwill for making such a mistake.

I do sympathise that you have had the sofa for a relatively short period of time and that it clearly has issues — but it would be unfair on PORTABELLO to have to bear the cost of fixing these issues when an independent technician who is not affiliated with us has stated that they do not result from a manufacturing defect.

Adam

emmie

Question Author

sorry about the length of the e mail

teacake44

Hopefully hc4361 will get back to you on that emmie, as I said I'm not to up on the law as such, but it does come across as trying to put you off going any further. Good luck.

emmie

Question Author

teacake thanks... i have e mailed the furniture ombudsman and see what they have to say....

emmie

Question Author

the furniture ombudsman has got back to me, essentially they say that they can provide a report on the furniture which would cost £150 or an expert furniture report costing £350 and upwards.
they said that Portabello Interiors are not an affiliated member of the Furniture guild or some such word.
looks like i am snookered.

emmie

Question Author

hc can you get back to me

teacake44

Looks like the ombudsman is laughing all the way to the bank. Your rights seem to cost money :0(

emmie

Question Author

it does, will phone the CAB tomorrow and see what they say.

Ryzen

If they have a showroom you need to go in at a very busy time and voice your grievances ...several times if need be. It tends to focus their company complaints procedure.

emmie

Question Author

they are based in North of England, and make bespoke furniture..so doubt they have a showroom,
i will either get the CAB involved or grimace and bear it.
which i am not about to do.

Canary42

I've twice had recourse to an Ombudsman - both times utterly useless.

However I have successfully used the "busy showroom, and loud voice" tactic.

emmie

Question Author

canary see above..

THECORBYLOON

If it were me, I would want to see the report and ask some questions.

Is the description of the damage in the report accurate?

What does the expert mean by normal wear and tear? How many hours a day would he expect folk to use the sofa?

On average, how many hours a day has it been actually used?

If it says it has had heavy use, does he equate it to period? Has he said it looks as if it has had two years' use for example?

How likely is it that one person could have caused the damage with normal use?

emmie

Question Author

TCL i am sole user, wear and tear is crap.

emmie

Question Author

the second fault is that its a chesterfield sofa and the panel on the arms has studs, some of which have come away from the other studs.

THECORBYLOON

The assessor needs to say what he judges normal wear and tear to be and by much the "heavy use" exceeds that.

emmie

Question Author

an update for you, this is getting ridiculous,
e mailing back and forward to furniture company
about shoddy workmanship about the split cover on middle seat cushion.
now Adam at Portobello interiors says they are sending me two cushions the left and the right, whilst the
one i need, the one that has split is the effin middle one, you couldn't make this up.
I have e mailed them again and notified them, and will wait for them to get back to me, sigh.......

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