ScS Sofa trouble - again!

Buzzz

I have just done a search on here and have been reading some previousl postings by people and am hoping that by posting what we are going through anyone can offer any other advice.

I'm sorry that it's long winded, but would appreciate any comments.

We chose sofa's from ScS in February of this year and paid for them (£3500) and had them delivered in April.

When un-packed we immediately noticed that there didn't seem to be enough flocking in the headrest of the sofa's and phoned the shop to tell them.

They advised us to wait a week as where where the sofa's had been packed up and waiting to go they may have got squashed in the process.

We allowed about 10 days and phoned back and were told we had to phone their customer services department to log this fault; which we did.

We had to phone again to chase this up and ended up with someone coming out at the end of May to inspect the sofa's.

They confirmed that they sofa's were insufficiently flocked and said they would report back and we would hear from them regarding a solution. I say 'them', as i'm not sure whether it was ScS or the manufacturer we would hear back from.

A few weeks later we hadn't heard anything so phoned ScS customer services again, as we don't have contact with the manufacturer, and were told they would log this and we would hear from someone within 3 working days.

3 working days later still nothing, so phoned ScS customer services again and were told the same thing, so had no option but to wait 3 working days.

Still nothing from ScS so I contacted trading standards, by this time it was the end of June, a month after the sofa's were inspected and two months after they were delivered!

Trading standards said that as we hadn't accepted any repair, although were open to see what they offered, and had contacted ScS fairly quickly, we were within our rights, under the sale of goods act to request that they came and collected the sofa's and gave us a refund as they were of an 'unsatisfactory quality'.

I sent this letter, requesting that they responded within 7 days but as predicted, didn't hear anything. So on advice from trading standards we sent a second letter requesting the same thing and stating we would take further action if they did not respond.

Since the second letter I have had a call from someone who ScS have appointed to arrange and come out and re-flock the sofa's at the end of July.

However, we didn't pay £3500 to have sub-standard sofa's delivered and also we do not feel they have responded in a reasonable time frame and have concerns over any future dealings with them.

I've spoken again with trading standards this morning who have said we can still push for a refund, but, if ScS stand firm and refuse we have to assess whether we want to take it futher and if we do it will be through the small claims court.

I don't have a problem with this, but are we likely to be successful? Also, trading standards have advised if we are going to take this further, then we shouldn't use the sofa's as this may be seen as 'accepting' them in the eyes of any judge.

However, our house isn't exactly big and we're not able to move them into another room out of the way. Although it does worry me if we damge them in the mean time.

We did pay by credit card, so the next step is to speak to them and explain what we're doing and how we will hold them equally liable. Is this a better route to go down? Do the credit card company's seem to have more clout?

I see from other people's threads they've gone into the shop and spoken and re-directed letters to higher people than the store manager. However, trading standards are advising all correspondence to be sent by letter as it is our only means of proof about what we are doing.

Help! Any comment or other guidance would be gratefully received!

I notice ScS are apparently having financial problems and hope this isn't the start of the end:(

Buzzz

Anyone?

hollydays

I think you really have to take trading standards advice.Is there any reason why they think the claim in the small claims court might not succeed?

Buzzz

Because I guess it's subjective whether or not the time we've been waiting for their response is 'reasonable'.

Anyway, have taken legal advice and been advised to go into the shop and ask them to take the sofa's. Failing that, arrange delivery of the sofa's to the shop and then under Section 75 of the consumer credit act, hold the credit card company liable, who will be more likely to deal with this than the shop!

So wish me luck:)

hollydays

good luck........................................

stressedbyscs

Buzzz wrote: »

I have just done a search on here and have been reading some previousl postings by people and am hoping that by posting what we are going through anyone can offer any other advice.

I'm sorry that it's long winded, but would appreciate any comments.

We chose sofa's from ScS in February of this year and paid for them (£3500) and had them delivered in April.

When un-packed we immediately noticed that there didn't seem to be enough flocking in the headrest of the sofa's and phoned the shop to tell them.

They advised us to wait a week as where where the sofa's had been packed up and waiting to go they may have got squashed in the process.

We allowed about 10 days and phoned back and were told we had to phone their customer services department to log this fault; which we did.

We had to phone again to chase this up and ended up with someone coming out at the end of May to inspect the sofa's.

They confirmed that they sofa's were insufficiently flocked and said they would report back and we would hear from them regarding a solution. I say 'them', as i'm not sure whether it was ScS or the manufacturer we would hear back from.

A few weeks later we hadn't heard anything so phoned ScS customer services again, as we don't have contact with the manufacturer, and were told they would log this and we would hear from someone within 3 working days.

3 working days later still nothing, so phoned ScS customer services again and were told the same thing, so had no option but to wait 3 working days.

Still nothing from ScS so I contacted trading standards, by this time it was the end of June, a month after the sofa's were inspected and two months after they were delivered!

Trading standards said that as we hadn't accepted any repair, although were open to see what they offered, and had contacted ScS fairly quickly, we were within our rights, under the sale of goods act to request that they came and collected the sofa's and gave us a refund as they were of an 'unsatisfactory quality'.

I sent this letter, requesting that they responded within 7 days but as predicted, didn't hear anything. So on advice from trading standards we sent a second letter requesting the same thing and stating we would take further action if they did not respond.

Since the second letter I have had a call from someone who ScS have appointed to arrange and come out and re-flock the sofa's at the end of July.

However, we didn't pay £3500 to have sub-standard sofa's delivered and also we do not feel they have responded in a reasonable time frame and have concerns over any future dealings with them.

I've spoken again with trading standards this morning who have said we can still push for a refund, but, if ScS stand firm and refuse we have to assess whether we want to take it futher and if we do it will be through the small claims court.

I don't have a problem with this, but are we likely to be successful? Also, trading standards have advised if we are going to take this further, then we shouldn't use the sofa's as this may be seen as 'accepting' them in the eyes of any judge.

However, our house isn't exactly big and we're not able to move them into another room out of the way. Although it does worry me if we damge them in the mean time.

We did pay by credit card, so the next step is to speak to them and explain what we're doing and how we will hold them equally liable. Is this a better route to go down? Do the credit card company's seem to have more clout?

I see from other people's threads they've gone into the shop and spoken and re-directed letters to higher people than the store manager. However, trading standards are advising all correspondence to be sent by letter as it is our only means of proof about what we are doing.

Help! Any comment or other guidance would be gratefully received!

I notice ScS are apparently having financial problems and hope this isn't the start of the end:(

Hi I too had very similar problems with SCS and did win eventualy. I have a note saying you sent me a private message but my pop up is blocking it so apologies I don't know how to access your message. You probably read my story that I posted earlier in the year. If it helps SCS gave us exactly the same treatment as you are having and I know how stressful it was. Be prepared for a long battle as they don't give in easily and ignore most letters for at least a month before responding. Chek your household insurance as some include legal expenses as standard. Without the intervention of a solicitor I'm sure I would still be fighting them but they instantly backed down as soon as we got one involed. I have copies of all my letter and would be happy to e-mail you copies along with the solicitors details if you can let me know where to send them. I did get a good response by copying all my letters to their customer services department and stating very clearly that I paid money in good faith that I would receive a brand new sofa in showroom condition and that was not what they delivered. You would never willingly pay full price for a sofa that had been repaired as that makes it a second. I told them that I had contacted Watchdog (you can do this via e-mail) and trading standards along with anyone else I could think of at the time and that I was not going to go away until I had persued every avenue open to me. I kept copies of all my letters along with photographs. We used the sofas for 6 months before they took them away as they were taking up room in our house we had no option and they were sagging really badly by that time but we got a full refund in the end. Good luck let me know if I can be of further help but however hard they push you don't accept a repair as even though they say you can reject it when questioned it's only their upholsterer who has the final say on this.

hollydays

Isn't it scs who are in trouble financially

Optimist

hollydays wrote: »

Isn't it scs who are in trouble financially

Well they were put into administration but they have been taken over by a private equity firm. The shareholders have lost out though !

Buzzz

Hi Stressed by ScS!! Yes I did read your thread.

We did a first letter to ScS requesting they came and collected the sofa's within a timescale and made arrangements for a refund, blah blah blah.

Nothing. So a seconde letter was sent, referring them to the first and requesting again, that they came and collected the sofas. We added all the usual jargon about knowing our rights etc etc.

After the second letter an upholsterer rang us who ScS had appointed and he was after arranging a date to come and re-flock them.

I informed him we were in dispute with ScS, and thanks but no thanks as we did not wish the sofas to be repaired, but collected and refunded.

I also informed the credit card company we used and wrote to them explaining that unfortunately we had to hold them equally liable, section 75 stuff etc.

I also re-wrote to ScS reminding them that it is a refund we want, not a repair, and enclosing a copy of the letter we sent to the credit card co.

I have just had a phonecall from the manager of the shop to make arrangements to come and collect the sofas and fully refund us!!!!!

I explained that we may not have gone down this route had we not been blatanly ignored by their customer services team and acknowledge this and said it was 'a problem'!!

Anyway, it aint over till the fat lady sings, i.e. the sofas are collected, but, it's now going the right way.

I have to say, although Trading standards were quite helpful with what to put in the letters and what Act our rights fell under; they were fairly vague about whether we would get a refund and said that it might be viewed by a judge, if it went to court, that a repair was sufficient and all the time we kept the sofas and were using them, we were 'accepting' them.

The citizens advice said what a load of old tosh! If we've requested ScS collect the sofas and they don't, then the fact they remain in our house and be used is not our problem. Obviously the one of damaging them in the mean time always worried me though!

I felt confident that things would start being dealt with by the credit card company. However, if not, the next step would either to have been to issue a claim through the small claims court, which is about £150 I think, or use the money to get a solicitor to write a letter.

Thankfully, I hope, we won't have to do this.

Thought i'd update you all!!

stressedbyscs

Buzzz wrote: »

Hi Stressed by ScS!! Yes I did read your thread.

We did a first letter to ScS requesting they came and collected the sofa's within a timescale and made arrangements for a refund, blah blah blah.

Nothing. So a seconde letter was sent, referring them to the first and requesting again, that they came and collected the sofas. We added all the usual jargon about knowing our rights etc etc.

After the second letter an upholsterer rang us who ScS had appointed and he was after arranging a date to come and re-flock them.

I informed him we were in dispute with ScS, and thanks but no thanks as we did not wish the sofas to be repaired, but collected and refunded.

I also informed the credit card company we used and wrote to them explaining that unfortunately we had to hold them equally liable, section 75 stuff etc.

I also re-wrote to ScS reminding them that it is a refund we want, not a repair, and enclosing a copy of the letter we sent to the credit card co.

I have just had a phonecall from the manager of the shop to make arrangements to come and collect the sofas and fully refund us!!!!!

I explained that we may not have gone down this route had we not been blatanly ignored by their customer services team and acknowledge this and said it was 'a problem'!!

Anyway, it aint over till the fat lady sings, i.e. the sofas are collected, but, it's now going the right way.

I have to say, although Trading standards were quite helpful with what to put in the letters and what Act our rights fell under; they were fairly vague about whether we would get a refund and said that it might be viewed by a judge, if it went to court, that a repair was sufficient and all the time we kept the sofas and were using them, we were 'accepting' them.

The citizens advice said what a load of old tosh! If we've requested ScS collect the sofas and they don't, then the fact they remain in our house and be used is not our problem. Obviously the one of damaging them in the mean time always worried me though!

I felt confident that things would start being dealt with by the credit card company. However, if not, the next step would either to have been to issue a claim through the small claims court, which is about £150 I think, or use the money to get a solicitor to write a letter.

Thankfully, I hope, we won't have to do this.

Thought i'd update you all!!

Thats great news hope it all works out for you - it took about 3 days following collection of ours before we got the refund as they had to send a report from their warehouse to say they had them to the shop. Luckily they didn't argue at all and gave the refund to out credit card over the phone. Well done I expect like us you wil choose the next one very carefully!:T

Buzzz

Well done I expect like us you wil choose the next one very carefully!

You're not kidding!!! Trouble is we're not sure where to go now! We're thinking John Lewis, as their customer services is always so good, well, it has been for us anyway!

However, you're obviously limited with sofa choice there! I've seen a couple, but typically mu husband doesn't like them!!