Can a Business Buyer be a Consumer?

ScottishSapper

It has been suggested to me that a business buying from a supplier/manufacture does not have the same rights as an individual buying for own use.

Would like to know before I make a pratt of myself quoting Sale of Goods.

Story is; Bought a Bouncy Castle from a large UK manufacturer to use for commercial hire. This is a totally enclosed Dome type that you enter/exit through a 'slit' in the front.

The castle went out for it's first hire and within 10 minutes the hirer phoned to say child had slipped and there was a rip in the material.

On inspection there was a 14 inch horizontal rip running from the top of the 'slit'. It appears that there is a weak spot at that part of the inflatable. It is hard to explain and probably understand unless you knew the equipment, so sorry!

The manufacturer is saying it is definitely the hirers fault and is only going to offer to have it repaired (est £100 plus carriage £50 each way!) at my cost.

I am adamant that it is a fault. I intend to have an independent inspection asp.

But the main question is as this is business to business does the Sale of Goods Act and or Consumer Rights apply?

All help appreciated

sjbrun

Hi - Yes you do have different rights but if it is faulty that they normally provide you with a credit.

Ask for a copy of their terms of sale.

Are you 100% certain that they took their shoes off when entering the bouncy castle?

pitkin2020

Ideally your going to need an independent inspection so get your local RPII inspector to take a look and see what they report.

With out actually seeing it its hard to say if its manufacturer fault or client fault. With it being a dome I am guessing the rip is at the top part of the entrance?? Does the panel have a seam that runs up from the entrance slit or has the entrance been cut in the middle of a panel? (does that make sense lol) If its the seam that has ripped it should be an easy repair and I would say its been poorly stitched if its the panel that has ripped (the actual material) then its 50/50, they either haven't put sufficient stitching at the top of the entrance or the client is being lax with the truth and more than a child slipped. Bouncy castle PVC will take a hell of a lot strain before it rips.

Out of curiousty who the manufacturer?? You can PM me if you happy to share and not post it publicly.

mo786uk

Businesses can have SOGA rights - but most rights can be excluded, so check the terms and conditions

Hintza

You will need to exclude such things as mishandling eg dragging it over a nail or similar at setup. Your hirer will in all probability deny any mishaps.

The other thing is, I imagine you will be losing money whilst it is not on hire so be careful and think if this is a battle worth fighting.

ScottishSapper

pitkin2020 wrote: »

Ideally your going to need an independent inspection so get your local RPII inspector to take a look and see what they report.

With out actually seeing it its hard to say if its manufacturer fault or client fault. With it being a dome I am guessing the rip is at the top part of the entrance?? Does the panel have a seam that runs up from the entrance slit or has the entrance been cut in the middle of a panel? (does that make sense lol) If its the seam that has ripped it should be an easy repair and I would say its been poorly stitched if its the panel that has ripped (the actual material) then its 50/50, they either haven't put sufficient stitching at the top of the entrance or the client is being lax with the truth and more than a child slipped. Bouncy castle PVC will take a hell of a lot strain before it rips.

Out of curiousty who the manufacturer?? You can PM me if you happy to share and not post it publicly.

Have it booked in this morning with an RPII inspector. Yep the rip is at the top and it is hard to to describe. The rip is is in the panel and not the seam, the seam I could have lived with but this is in the middle of the panel and goes straight through the artwork including text!

Have no problem naming manufacturer;- Pineapple Leisure,

But as I said in OP, more interested in what 'rights' I have as this is business to business and not business to private user!

ScottishSapper

pitkin2020 wrote: »

Ideally your going to need an independent inspection so get your local RPII inspector to take a look and see what they report.

With out actually seeing it its hard to say if its manufacturer fault or client fault. With it being a dome I am guessing the rip is at the top part of the entrance?? Does the panel have a seam that runs up from the entrance slit or has the entrance been cut in the middle of a panel? (does that make sense lol) If its the seam that has ripped it should be an easy repair and I would say its been poorly stitched if its the panel that has ripped (the actual material) then its 50/50, they either haven't put sufficient stitching at the top of the entrance or the client is being lax with the truth and more than a child slipped. Bouncy castle PVC will take a hell of a lot strain before it rips.

Out of curiousty who the manufacturer?? You can PM me if you happy to share and not post it publicly.

Hintza wrote: »

You will need to exclude such things as mishandling eg dragging it over a nail or similar at setup. Your hirer will in all probability deny any mishaps.

The other thing is, I imagine you will be losing money whilst it is not on hire so be careful and think if this is a battle worth fighting.

I delivered and set up, so there was no mishandling! Hirer admits child slipped/stumbled going in - I honestly believe this is faulty goods.

texranger

for something like this i would not just deliver and erect, i would have stayed or had an employee stay with the castle, so you can make sure that everything is correct and that the users are removing shoes etc.
a child may have slipped, but children being children, how do you not know if this happened because 6 children tried to get through the opening at the same time causing 1 child to lose their footing and slip.

also if the rip is above the door opening how can a child slip upwards

pitkin2020

texranger wrote: »

for something like this i would not just deliver and erect, i would have stayed or had an employee stay with the castle, so you can make sure that everything is correct and that the users are removing shoes etc.
a child may have slipped, but children being children, how do you not know if this happened because 6 children tried to get through the opening at the same time causing 1 child to lose their footing and slip.

also if the rip is above the door opening how can a child slip upwards

Clearly you have no idea how the inflatable industry works so (in the nicest way possible) your advice is totally irrelevant and totally off the mark. Whilst wet hire is done its not the general practice, especially not for your average garden birthday party. If it was your party would you pay lets say £100 for the hire plus another £120 for 6 hours of supervision?? I don't think so.

There is absoulety no requirement or need to man a dome.

Also to your last point, the door is basically a slit into a dome, the dome is a single skin that is kept inflated off a second blower, if the door had been pulled wide the slit would be lengthed if there is nothing to stop that from happening it will go through the material at the top. Like I said before though this material will take a lot strain before it will rip so i still reckon more than one child tried to go through at once forcing it wider than it should have been.

pitkin2020

ScottishSapper wrote: »

Have it booked in this morning with an RPII inspector. Yep the rip is at the top and it is hard to to describe. The rip is is in the panel and not the seam, the seam I could have lived with but this is in the middle of the panel and goes straight through the artwork including text!

Have no problem naming manufacturer;- Pineapple Leisure,

But as I said in OP, more interested in what 'rights' I have as this is business to business and not business to private user!

Sound like they haven't put enough of a stitch at the top of the entrance to prevent the entrance from pulling into the panel, you would normally have a piece of webbing/material as a stopper so if the entrance is pulled wide apart it would follow up into the panel.

As for your rights if its a manufacturer flaw it should be covered under the warranty. The RPII inspectors report should carry some weight on getting it fixed. IF the warranty is RTB then you are still liable for the return costs to and from base.

Are you a member of TIPE?? or even BIHA?

texranger

pitkin2020 wrote: »

Clearly you have no idea how the inflatable industry works so (in the nicest way possible) your advice is totally irrelevant and totally off the mark. Whilst wet hire is done its not the general practice, especially not for your average garden birthday party. If it was your party would you pay lets say £100 for the hire plus another £120 for 6 hours of supervision?? I don't think so.

There is absoulety no requirement or need to man a dome.

well as i work closely with 2 organisations that do such a thing and even at birthday parties they always have the castle/dome supervised. they work the price into the total hire charge and do not charge any extra for it being supervised.

yes at a party you dont want a big burly bloke hanging around, so they sometimes use young women.

also this way they get their insurance slightly cheaper as these are supervised all the time.