Advice please about faulty Mothercare item...

Legacy_user

Hello, wonder if anyone can help?

I bought a Mothercare bean bag cushion for my baby in January 2008 for £39.99. My baby was born in February 2008 but wasn't well and was over 6 months old by the time I even considered using the cushion but as the beanbag is not suitable for babies over 6 months, I ended up not using it at all. I never even took it out of the packaging. 2 months ago my sister had a baby so I gave her the cushion as a gift. She has used it only a handful of times but both buttons which secure the safety harness on either sider have come off and the seam down the side has started coming undone.

I spoke to Mothercare who have told me that as it has been over 12 months from the date pf purchase, there is nothing they can do. Will I just have to accept this or is should I push for a refund / repair / exchange? I know they are looking at it that there is no way for me to prove it hasn't been used for more than 2 months which is fair enough I suppose but the design must be faulty for it to start falling to bits so easily! This isn't typical of stuff from Mothercare because I buy absolutely everything from there.

Can anyone give me any advice?

Thank you.

Halloway

There is no hard and fast rule here. Certainly the fact that 12 months has elapsed between your buying the cushion and notifying Mothercare of the fault does not help. It's a common myth btw that 12 months represents some kind of legally defined cut off time - it does not. The shop does have a duty to offer some kind of remedy commensurate with the expected life of the product.

Is the cushion the one on the website currently selling for £45? Even with constant use I would expect something that expensive to last longer than 12 months.

So it's not a case that Mothercare can do nothing, rather that they will not do anything. In this case I'd push for a repair as the item is repairable; I don't think it's realistic to expect a refund or a replacement. You could try taking it higher up in the customer service chain if you haven't already.

System

Thanks for your reply. I will give it another shot then.

And yes it is the older version of the beanbag you are referring to. I paid £39.99 for it which is why I am so surprised it is already falling to bits!

Regards.

Mummy_Jo

If the item is faulty then Mothercare should either repair it or arrange for a replacement. We were in court this week over a similar issue with our pushchair (not mothercare) that became faulty after the 12 months and we won. Under the sale of goods act 1979 goods should be fit for purpose and durable. Your item clearly is not. We are members of Which Legal service and have used them extensively over the past 7 years and the money that we have saved has far out weighed the quarterly subscription (around £12.00) I think.

If you do not want to join try searching on google for Sale of Goods Act info or call your local trading standards office to ask their help or opinion on the matter.

When retailers offer 12 months in which to return goods it is a gesture on their part but does not affect your statutory rights as a customer.

Hope you get somewhere. Let us know how you get on