furniture company wants us to sleep on the floor

pipper12

Hi,

We recently bought a bed from a well known furniture store. The bed cost £403 and was delivered about 2 weeks after we paid for it. It was delivered fine, and although it was a bit softer than we expected or experienced in the shop demonstration model, we thought we would get used to it; After a couple of nights in it we thought it seemed o.k. and took the old bed to the local recycling centre.
However, the next days that followed we started to get increasingly sore and aching, and found once removing the sheet from the mattress, that it had big dips in it and a large bump in the middle along with a pronounced crease along the middle in line with the seam of the base. This crease was replicated in the underside of the mattress, and there was clearly something wrong with it if it is like this after only 5 days of use.
We contacted the store (actually their customer services, miles away from the store), and she said she would contact the manufacturer and she would get back to us. She rang back and said the manufacturer wants us to try it out for at least a month and that it would usually be 3 months but because we had told her that it was hurting our backs they said 1 month would be o.k. Then I said a month is too much if the bed is hurting our backs after only a few days but we will give it a few more days. She also suggested that we take photos of the bed which my husband did and sent them to her that night.
That night, my husband woke up in the middle of the night, with the feeling of a spring sticking in him (the reason for buying a new bed on the first place), and indeed this was what it was, and could be felt such that it was like it had little padding in it and could be pushed from side to side. We both agreed we were not gong to keep this bed.

We decided to find out a bit about consumer rights, and read on this forum what our rights are, and from there, my husband wrote explaining it was not fit for purpose, and at first she kept quoting the manufacturer, but after writing back re-iterating that the shop is responsible and that we want a refund.

Eventually she agreed to a full refund and has sent a e-mail to this effect My husband said it was a good idea to communicate only through e-mail from now on so everything is in writing, as they could say anything but we would have no proof of it.

However, when we accepted the refund, we asked them if we could keep it until the end of next week, so that we could get another bed from somewhere (don't know how to get a bed in such a short time, but thought it wasn't right to ask for longer), since we got rid of our old bed. This seemed reasonable to us since they would have let us use the bed for at least a month, and presumably, if it was still no better, they would have refunded us then.

However, this morning, we got this e-mail which I think is very un reasonable and can only think they are being awkward on purpose. This is what they wrote :-

"In response to your request for collection of your bed, unfortunately if you are rejecting the goods then we have the right to collect them from you at our earliest convenience



As we have not been able to do this today and I appreciate it was short notice to do so, then we can now book the collection for Monday 26th April. The time will be confirmed with you on Saturday when we will contact you by telephone advising you of the time slot allocated



Once the drivers confirm they have collected the goods from you they will contact me here and I can take your card details to refund the money to you. The amount to be refunded is £403.00



Please can you confirm this is acceptable?"



Notice they used the phrase "our" earliest convenience i.e. theirs not ours.

We will be without a bed then on Monday, unless someone can give us some clue as to whether this is unreasonable in law; If they were willing to let us try it out to see if it got any better for a month, why would they insist on taking the bed straight away ? (in fact they wanted to take it yesterday but we were out and she wrote the above second e-mail today).

Have we got any rights to ask them to let us keep it until next Friday 30th) ?

Thanks for any help you can give.

gordikin

I think you have been treated very fairly. I'd buy a cheap inflatable bed at the weekend and let them collect their bed on Monday.

shirlgirl2004

Clearly if the bed isn't suitable for the purpose then you shouldn't be able to use it. By letting you use it they could leave themselves open to a claim if you were hurt by a spring coming through or whatever.

HouseHuntr

pipper12 wrote: »

Hi,

We recently bought a bed from a well known furniture store. The bed cost £403 and was delivered about 2 weeks after we paid for it. It was delivered fine, and although it was a bit softer than we expected or experienced in the shop demonstration model, we thought we would get used to it; After a couple of nights in it we thought it seemed o.k. and took the old bed to the local recycling centre.
However, the next days that followed we started to get increasingly sore and aching, and found once removing the sheet from the mattress, that it had big dips in it and a large bump in the middle along with a pronounced crease along the middle in line with the seam of the base. This crease was replicated in the underside of the mattress, and there was clearly something wrong with it if it is like this after only 5 days of use.
We contacted the store (actually their customer services, miles away from the store), and she said she would contact the manufacturer and she would get back to us. She rang back and said the manufacturer wants us to try it out for at least a month and that it would usually be 3 months but because we had told her that it was hurting our backs they said 1 month would be o.k. Then I said a month is too much if the bed is hurting our backs after only a few days but we will give it a few more days. She also suggested that we take photos of the bed which my husband did and sent them to her that night.
That night, my husband woke up in the middle of the night, with the feeling of a spring sticking in him (the reason for buying a new bed on the first place), and indeed this was what it was, and could be felt such that it was like it had little padding in it and could be pushed from side to side. We both agreed we were not gong to keep this bed.

We decided to find out a bit about consumer rights, and read on this forum what our rights are, and from there, my husband wrote explaining it was not fit for purpose, and at first she kept quoting the manufacturer, but after writing back re-iterating that the shop is responsible and that we want a refund.

Eventually she agreed to a full refund and has sent a e-mail to this effect My husband said it was a good idea to communicate only through e-mail from now on so everything is in writing, as they could say anything but we would have no proof of it.

However, when we accepted the refund, we asked them if we could keep it until the end of next week, so that we could get another bed from somewhere (don't know how to get a bed in such a short time, but thought it wasn't right to ask for longer), since we got rid of our old bed. This seemed reasonable to us since they would have let us use the bed for at least a month, and presumably, if it was still no better, they would have refunded us then.

However, this morning, we got this e-mail which I think is very un reasonable and can only think they are being awkward on purpose. This is what they wrote :-

"In response to your request for collection of your bed, unfortunately if you are rejecting the goods then we have the right to collect them from you at our earliest convenience



As we have not been able to do this today and I appreciate it was short notice to do so, then we can now book the collection for Monday 26th April. The time will be confirmed with you on Saturday when we will contact you by telephone advising you of the time slot allocated



Once the drivers confirm they have collected the goods from you they will contact me here and I can take your card details to refund the money to you. The amount to be refunded is £403.00



Please can you confirm this is acceptable?"



Notice they used the phrase "our" earliest convenience i.e. theirs not ours.

We will be without a bed then on Monday, unless someone can give us some clue as to whether this is unreasonable in law; If they were willing to let us try it out to see if it got any better for a month, why would they insist on taking the bed straight away ? (in fact they wanted to take it yesterday but we were out and she wrote the above second e-mail today).

Have we got any rights to ask them to let us keep it until next Friday 30th) ?

Thanks for any help you can give.

And your problem is ??????? besides being a troll!

Lip_Stick

I agree with Gordikin. :eek:

I've heard inflatable beds can be quite comfy so you might get some decent sleep while you're waiting for a new bed. I've never tried one myself though, so don't blame me if they're crap. lol

shellsuit

If its that bad and is causing you both pain, why would you even want to sleep on it again, let alone till the end of the month?

Be glad that you have been offered a full refund ~ let them take the bed asap.

pendulum

I wouldn't even bother with an inflatable bed - just put some bedding on the floor and sleep on that. You'll be fine.

gordikin

pendulum wrote: »

I wouldn't even bother with an inflatable bed - just put some bedding on the floor and sleep on that. You'll be fine.

I'd be happy to 'rough it'....as most people would I suspect. OP I think wants their cake etc ie it's not fit for purpose/causing pain....but can I keep it until I've got something else?

pipper12

Thank you, to all the very very helpful people who live on this forum, and have wrote with their words of wisdom.
Your advice has been ,what can I say "great" I am totally up to speed to this forum,
and the smart "I've got nothing better to do " people who just write for the sake of it.
And for the record how are you expected to sleep on the floor, or anything else but a bed if you are elderly.
This bed is rubbish, but a little bit better than the floor.
Thanks again for all your wonderful help.
I really do know were to come to, when a want some advice.
pipper12

gordikin

Glad we helped you out pipper12...please return soon and share the outcome with us.

Equaliser123

HouseHuntr wrote: »

And your problem is ??????? besides being a troll!

Is that all you do - wander around the boards accusing people of being a troll?

I thought schools were back...