leather 3 piece suite

fudgewispa

Hi,
I purchased a "REAL LEATHER 3 PIECE SUITE" on e-bay when it arrived its just a cheap plastic as far as i am concerned, I complained to the seller who told me it was graded leather as stated in the advert, how do people get away with this and is it legal i have never heard of graded leather i thought leather was leather.

lindos90

I think your rights are different, depending if it was a private or business seller.

There are different kinds of leather, analine, corrected, natural, dyed, even painted!

I have found that different grades are open to definition depending on the shop.

If it is leather, then thats it I guess, unless its faulty, but if some of it is 'fake leather look fabric' (some manyfacturers put this on the sides and back) then you may have some recourse if the seller said it was all leather, how you actually demonstrate its not leather, or the quality described could be indentified buy getting an independent upolsterers report.

Trading standards may advise/help, but if its a private seller (ie individual selling his old or unwanted furniture) they are not a 'trader' as such so would not be covered by sale of goods act etc. therefore its more of a 'buyer beware' issue.

Ebay may help, but its unlikely frrom other bad experiences Ive heard of.

Did you pay by Paypal? credit card?

Might help if you put a link to the item (or similar current listing by same seller, if they are a business)

pinkshoes

Have you got a link to the actual item on ebay? (or item number).

If the advert states leather, you may need to get someone to verify that it's not leather.

You can open up a dispute, but would be expected to return it at your own cost.

Was this a new leather suite, or second hand? How much did you pay?

Purpledaisy_2

Yup need to see a link to the advert to comment.

Becles

Has someone told you it is plastic or are you just guessing?

Sometimes furniture is covered with bicast or split leather. Biscast is scraps of leather ground up and reformed back into a sheet of fabric, and split leather is the bottom layer of the hide. In both cases, the grain pattern is stamped on and they have coatings applied. Although they technically are real leather, the heavy processing can make it look like plastic.

Did the advert tell you what type of leather it was?