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Novelty coaster has damaged our table!

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Grrr! O/H got a Simpsons themed mug / keyring / coaster set for Secret Santa. He left the coaster on the table with the mug on it (as you might). The coaster's made out of some nasty plasticky rubber stuff.

On tidying up, I tried to pick up the coaster and it was stuck to the table - having gingerly peeled it off, I found a sticky residue. Cleaned the residue off, and... it's eaten into the varnish of the table! :mad:

I've checked the packaging and all I have to go on (other than the obvious Fox connection) is the website and address of the distributor.

If I write to them, how can I reasonably expect them to respond? The table's less than a year old, by the way, and WAS pristine...
My TV is broken! :cry:
Edit: refunded £515 for TV 1.5 years out of warranty - thank you Sale of Goods Act! :j
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Comments

  • Grrr! O/H got a Simpsons themed mug / keyring / coaster set for Secret Santa. He left the coaster on the table with the mug on it (as you might). The coaster's made out of some nasty plasticky rubber stuff.

    On tidying up, I tried to pick up the coaster and it was stuck to the table - having gingerly peeled it off, I found a sticky residue. Cleaned the residue off, and... it's eaten into the varnish of the table! :mad:

    I've checked the packaging and all I have to go on (other than the obvious Fox connection) is the website and address of the distributor.

    If I write to them, how can I reasonably expect them to respond? The table's less than a year old, by the way, and WAS pristine...


    So the cleaning materials (which will almost certainly have a warning) damaged the table not the coaster

    You have no chance
  • frivolous_fay
    frivolous_fay Posts: 13,302 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
    Um, no. I cleaned the whole area. Only the area that had the sticky residue has been damaged. The damage is in the same pattern as the (clearly visible) residue still on the underside of the coaster.

    Anything else you'd like cleared up?
    My TV is broken! :cry:
    Edit: refunded £515 for TV 1.5 years out of warranty - thank you Sale of Goods Act! :j
  • Um, no. I cleaned the whole area. Only the area that had the sticky residue has been damaged. The damage is in the same pattern as the (clearly visible) residue still on the underside of the coaster.

    Anything else you'd like cleared up?

    Chemicals act differently together...

    Still think you have no chance
  • Righto... well I'm not going to just put up with an item designed to protect a table, leaving a residue on said table, which may or may not react in a destructive way with cleaning products.
    My TV is broken! :cry:
    Edit: refunded £515 for TV 1.5 years out of warranty - thank you Sale of Goods Act! :j
  • Why not put the coffee table on your local freecycle site, and offer it to someone who might really appreciate it, and maybe they could cover the patch up with a table mat or small cloth or ornament? You could write it all down to experience, or see if you could claim off your contents insurance, and that way life will move on, with at least the freecycler a little happier and richer for the experience.
    Reason for edit? Can spell, can't type!
  • mandragora wrote: »
    Why not put the coffee table on your local freecycle site, and offer it to someone who might really appreciate it

    It's the season of giving, 'n' all, but I'm not quite ready to freecycle a table (not coffee) that was part of a set that cost over £1200 last August :eek:
    My TV is broken! :cry:
    Edit: refunded £515 for TV 1.5 years out of warranty - thank you Sale of Goods Act! :j
  • Insurers then
    Reason for edit? Can spell, can't type!
  • For a vent board, everyone around here seems a bit keen to just put up with stuff, accept blame, or put their hand in their own pocket :confused:

    Is this where MSers come when they have no fight left? :D
    My TV is broken! :cry:
    Edit: refunded £515 for TV 1.5 years out of warranty - thank you Sale of Goods Act! :j
  • Lorian
    Lorian Posts: 6,265 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Its a reasonable vent. Take pictures of the coaster and and the table. Write to the distributors and call your home contents insurance provider, hopefully one will help you redress the damage.
  • Nope - just like to win the fights I start, and to make sure they're worth the candle. Look - it was secret santa - so a gift, so you don't have the consumer rights that the original purchaser would have had; the likelihood is if you go back to the person who gave it to you (assuming you can find out who it was), you may well cause them upset and worry - not really in the spirit of the thing, and even then, as they might have to act on your behalf, could be long winded and tricky - potentially awkward with a colleague. It was an accident, and your property has been damaged. Surely that's what contents insurance is for, and why you buy it in the first place?
    Reason for edit? Can spell, can't type!
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