Faulty sofa from furniture village.

amorph

Hi Visidigi
Thanks for your comments. If they had offered that we might have agreed as we could do without the hassle but the amount they did offer was a slap in the face. We could only go back to them with something to show how strongly we felt about it. We still want to take it further. They shouldn't get away with what they have done to apparently so many people.

jaspig

visidigi

With all due respect that's not true although does depend on each person's circumstance but basically if it was missold you are entitled to a full refund and any interest. Well thats if you take it to the court as i did. Depending on your circumstances you can go for the full amount I have sent amorph my case papers and its up to him to decide if he wants to take it further but for what its worth I would take them all the way. They are particularly inadequate when it comes to representing themselves in court and as long as your case is sound your should win although always depends on the judge and your approach etc etc. always leave all your paperwork to the last minute as it gives them little time to react and in my experience i believe they just hold out hoping that eventually you will give up the chase.

Go get em.....

consumers_revenge

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Suebeesue

Hi Jaspig. I would really be grateful if you could forward me any details that might help. I purchased a Scala sofa in January 2008. My receipt says it's 'hide'. A few months ago it started to crack & now peel. Looks terrible! I came across this forum today & dug out my old receipt. Phoned Furniture Village & was advised to send an email to them.


When I purchased this sofa, it was a big outlay for me but I was quite chuffed to have a leather sofa. Now, I just feel really ripped off! We had visitors at Christmas & quite frankly, I was embarrassed because of my cheap 'plastic-like' shedding sofa! I felt stupid standing there explaining to people that I'd been sold a leather sofa, but obviously it wasn't!

aburyfield

HI Jaspig, Would be really grateful if i too could have details to pursue my claim. Thanks

mmedd

Hi, Thanks for the welcome!

I live in England - my brother will consult with counsel regarding this. Seems like there are lots of unhappy customers out there who've been sold these sofas that are frankly not fit for purpose.

Mark

jaspig

Hi If anyone wants a link to my files please private message me as this is the only way i can do this as i cannot post a link. It may not be immediate but i will reply and send you a link. Thanks and good luck.

jcrigg

Right then, I came on here about 16 months ago to read the horror stories people had had with their Furniture Village sofas not being made of real leather when they started to peel 5/6 years after buying them. Well, I am delighted to announce to the forum that I have just been awarded a full refund for my brown 'Scala' sofa suite purchased over eight years earlier in October 2006 for £758 on the basis that the sofa was marketed as being made of 'real leather' when in reality it was not.

I first had an exchange of letters with FV in Jan 2014 when after requesting a full refund, I was offered just over £100 to settle. I felt that this just wasn't right, so I did some further research on the law and digging around my records.

Firstly, I found the original marketing material for the Scala model along with the receipt still stapled inside, with the leaflet having the leather hide stamp and the words 'real leather' printed in various places. I also remembered that I had bought the suite on a credit card, meaning that the purchase was covered by the Consumer Credit Act, and that as an alternative to pursuing the matter with FV, I could make a section 75 claim under the CCA, under the principle that my credit card provider was 'jointly and severally liable' for the goods.

A key problem I thought I had was that I was making my claim over 6 years after the purchase from the FV store - let it be known that under the Limitations Act 1980, this is only an issue if you are making a claim for a breach of contract. My angle was that this was not a matter of contract, but one of negligence, in that I felt that FV, as a large nationwide supplier of furniture, had a duty of care to ensure that their marketing material correctly described the goods they were selling, and that they ought to really know what materials their products were made from. Negligence is a 'tort', and under the Limitations Act the claimant has three years from the point of becoming aware that there is a claim in order to do so.

At this point, I did not actually know whether the goods had been misdescribed, I just had a hunch because it was peeling in a way that I didn't think leather should, so I still could not actually demonstrate negligence - it might actually have been leather in a legal sense. So I contacted a nice lady at a company called 'Leatherwise', who for £48 analysed a small sample of the 'leather' cut from underneath the sofa. Within a few days she provided a formal report confirming that the material was 'Coated Leather' which cannot be legally described as being leather. It was from the date of receipt of this report that under the Limitations Act I had three years to make a claim.

After sending a copy of the report, my credit card provider took a bit of time to deal with this, and after a few nudges, and advice that I would take the matter to the Financial Ombudsman if they didn't get on with it, I received a letter two weeks ago in Jan 2015 telling me the good news that I would be getting a full refund plus the cost of carrying out the leather report.

Key Advice to FV Claimants
1. If you have the marketing material, then you can claim under tort. There is no 6 year time limit for you, just 3 from the date you get your leather lab report. Note that the Furniture Ombudsman will not deal with a case if the goods were bought more than 6 years ago - implicit in this is that they will not deal with case of tort >6 years since purchase, such as mine.
2. The time you have had your sofa has no bearing on your right to claim full compensation under tort.
3. If bought on a credit card, make a claim with your credit card provider if FV start playing games. Do not fall for any tricks such as 'VISA need this extra information' or 'Mastercard will only deal with that'. These are techniques they will use to put you off - Consumer credit law is there to protect you.

robertcrew

Dear Member,

I started buying this furniture in 2008. I have rental properties the tenants where very happy and they looked very good so I ended up buying 2 x sofa beds 2 x 2 seat 2 x 3 seat all are now in quite bad condition, I invested in real leather" believing this was and would last a considerable amount of time, not so sadly.
I would appreciate it very much if you could send any the documents/ information you have, enabling us to fight the Furniture Village and get our money back.




Many Thanks for your help.

Regards

Mindimooch

I have had my sofa and chair from Furniture Village just over 2 MONTHS!!! the leather is peeling off already, unbeknown to me it was delivered with every spring broken on both items as confirmed by one of their guys who came to inspect them, has reported them as faulty. I paid £2500 for these items, and they are offering to repair it!! I've hardly used the sofa and have not even sat on the chair yet, I don't have children and I live on my own! I called the store who just keep fobbing me off, meanwhile I've got a sofa that's not going to last 5 minutes and I want my money back and they seem to be dragging their heels - not sure where to go from here??