DFS Woes

fishnuts

Hello,

Apologies for a lengthy post but i could really do with some advice...

I bought a sofa from DFS in Dec, delivered 10th Dec. I noticed last Friday that the leg on the right side was sitting funny. I only noticed this as i had a couple of people over who were sitting on the sofa and i was sitting on the floor.

My friend and I tipped the sofa on it's back so I could investigate further. I could immediately see a problem as there was a chunk of wood that had burst through the base fabric. I unzipped the base and inside the where the arm attaches to the base is all cracked and split. To me it looks like it has been dropped so i called DFS immediately who agreed to send someone out to have a look at it the following Friday.

I have a credit agreement with DFS where I start paying for the sofa in May... so i've not even started paying for this and it's broken! I am not the type to have wild parties, i do not have children and despite the fact this sofa is a 4 seater there has only ever been a maximum of 3 people on it.

Here is my issue...
When the man from DFS arrived to look at teh sofa the first thing he said to me was 'what have you done to it'. This immediately got my hackles up as he was bascially coming in with the mindset that this was my fault. I explained all of the above and clarified that this was not due to any fault on my part. He had a look at it, suggested it looked like it had been dropped and then said that DFS would probably repair it but would not replace it.

This again made me angry as he was implying that I had somehow managed to drop and damage the sofa. I'm a girl, this is a 4 seater sofa and my sitting room is quite small so even if I could lift it on my own there's simply not enough height space availabel to drop the sofa and cause such damage.

He said that I should have noticed this within a week and called DFS who would have replaced it. Because i was well outwith the week timescale they would only offer a repair. I was so pleased to have a new sofa that i have spent the last couple of months sitting on it and not looking at the legs! To make matters even worse, it's the opposite end to where I sit that is broken!

My stance on this issue is that the sofa is not fit for purpose if it is broken only 2 months in. I would like a replacement sofa and would not be happy to have this one repaired for a number of reasons...
1. if it has been dropped by their delivery men or at the warehouse then there may be further weak points that we are not aware of. Repairing to me, is a patch job.
2. I am paying £1000 for a new sofa and footstool, I do not want to be paying the same amount for a damaged and subsequently repaired sofa.

Am i within my rights to demand a replacement? Should i expect and rather long fight?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.

wealdroam

Have you read MSE's Consumer Rights article?

In there you will find that the retailer must effect a remedy which can be either a refund, replacement or repair. They also must not significantly inconvenience you.

During the first six months the fault is assumed to have been there at the time of sale. It is for the retailer to prove otherwise. So don't agree that the fault is your fault without proof.

Esqui

fishnuts wrote: »

a cunk of ood

A what?

And I would settle for the repair. You don't have an automatic right for a replacement, and it'll be more hassle than it's worth to try and do that

McKneff

Chunk of wood perhaps?:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

kev.s

did they have a "sale" on by any chance?

aheaton46

kev.s wrote: »

did they have a "sale" on by any chance?

Is it of any relevance at all?

Esqui

McKneff wrote: »

Chunk of wood perhaps?:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Never more shall I say "chunk of wood" (gotta love typo errors!)

Anyway, my advice still stands

kev.s

aheaton46 wrote: »

Is it of any relevance at all?

nope.........

fishnuts

indeed a chunk of wood... sorry. I was typing in a hurry!
Thank you for advice.