Argos Home Furniture Issue - Item Broke just out of warranty

NVRAM

Well I bought a bed from Argos website on 18 Feb 2008.
Cut to 27 Mar this year and lo and behold the bed is broken.

I immediatley phoned argos to advise them of this and that the lifetime of the bed should have surely been longer than this.

Spoke to a agent and also a manager at Argos ho have now stated that I need to locate a VAT registered Joiner/Carpenter/Bed person and pay approximatley £50+ for an independant report to ascertain wether this is a manufacturing defect or not.

I admit that when the item arrived I thought it was of questionable quality material wise, but it went together fine and seemed to do the job (such a challenge lol)

Now I've removed the section that is broken (the struts that hold the mattress plank things up) to photo the fault to find this...

hxxp://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4061/left1h.jpg

hxxp://img5.imageshack.us/img5/8599/left2.jpg

hxxp://img9.imageshack.us/img9/1927/middlel.jpg

Should any item thats meant to be bearing some form of weight be split into 2 sections like this?

hxxtp://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7906/right1c.jpg

hxxp://img9.imageshack.us/img9/7391/right2e.jpg

I dont see how they think that using glue on wood that has been coated and thus non porous would be a good way of holding anything together. Looks to be a strip of glue approx 1cm in width along the whole piece.

As you can see it looks like the glue has failed and stopped holding, then we get onto the pins that have been used...

hxxp://img9.imageshack.us/img9/2145/pinf.jpg
hxxp://img6.imageshack.us/img6/9790/pin2.jpg

They are ridiculously thin (penny for example) and have all bent, they seem to be made of some extremely soft alloy.

Im just wanting others opinions on this and wether it is worth pursuing, for spending £150 I'd expect something to last longer than this in standard use, no kids so noone jumping on the bed. It just gave way one morning, well gave way and gave me quite a wakeup.

Also if anyone can suggest or knows anyone that would be able to perform this survey/report that would be most appreciated?

Im rather annoyed at the whole situation to be honest, most so about Argos's reply which was out of warranty, can't do anything despite the items lifespan being an issue.

Sorry about links, new user so not allowed to post links, have edited these for example.

4743hudsonj

hmmm its a rather cheap bed, im really not sure what the courts would view as a reasonable lifespan under the sale of goods act.

For starters, try sending your photos (copies) of the problem to argos in writing or email and give them 14 days to reply to you, say that if they do not then you will begin a small claims court proceeding.

If they realise your serious then it may just save you the cost of that independent report that technically you should provide.

if they reject this claim then its purely your decision whether to pursue the issue, i would contact trading standards and ask them if they can shed any light on what a reasonable lifetime for your bed would be under the sale of goods act taking into account the price you paid. Their reply will give you a better idea of what to do if your first request is rejected.

regards josh

Meepster

Hmmm tricky one. The first thing I would say is that when you initially recieved the bed, you should have rejected it then, if you weren't convinced with the quality. The fact you've had it over a year means you accepted the quality, so, to get a refund YOU must prove that there was a fault with the bed when you got it. (You cannot say it was faulty because the quality was poor, as you've already accepted the quality to be suitable for you in what I've said above) If you get someone to do the report, all they can really say (here we go again) that the bed is poor quality (which again you've already accepted). They could also say of course, that it wasn't put together properly or it was misused.

I'd save the 50 quid and put it towards a new bed. Sorry...