Has anyone had any problems with Bicast sofa from Furniture Village

ambercal

We bought a sofa from Furniture Village in 2006 and was sold the sofa as 100% leather. Over the past three month the top layer has been peeling off and found out that it was bicast leather which is not 100% leather.

I called Furniture Village and told them what was happening and they sent someone out who confirmed that it was bicast.

The store manager offered us £500 off a new suit which I thought was a joke as why should we pay any money out after we were sold a bicast sofa as 100% leather. The store are refusing to increase this or replace our sofas.

Has anyone else had the same problem as this or anyone have any advice where we go from here?

judyb

It is illegal to sell something that is not leather as leather.
Has whoever verified that it is Bicast had the leather tested as it is generally about the thickness of the coating which determines whether it is Bicast or not. As there has been much publicity about this I would be very surprised if they were selling it as real leather if it is actually Bicast although this does now go back a few years. Does your invoice actually say leather on it?
On coated leather like this appears to be there will be no real case for the coating coming off after this length of time (coatings on true Bicast do not generally peel off they usually go sticky) and I think the offer may be a reasonable one as they are not obliged to offer anything unless of course you have been misold the furniture in the first place.
We can help further if you need any further verification. Please check your invoice or any information you were given at the time.

Hope this helps
Judyb

arcon5

What remedy are you hoping for ? This will help in deciding on your best course of action.

visidigi

I have... and you need to refer to this thread... its allll in there, including what I managed to get from my complaint...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2274725

fthl

as you bought five years ago your rights of redress are limited; you should be able to get something but it won't be alot unless FV are willing to be generous. Other reports indicate that they are. If tested in court expect the court to take a huge chunk of the contract price off any award due to the five years you've had it.

Kedibone27

I bought my Scala 3+2 seater suite+footstool in April 2006.(so now out of warranty). It started peeling 3 weeks ago to my dismay. After reading through this forum, i called FV Watford. They said it was out of warranty, i said despite that they had sold it to me as genuine leather, and i'd now found out it's leather coated. They then said their manager would get back to me. I chased them up today, and they will be giving me a credit note for the value of the suite minus £200 (usage over the 5yr period), as they are aware of the problems with this range. They suggested i order the Dante which looks the same but is 100% leather. I will be popping into the branch to see it and will then decide what to do. I am happy with the outcome so far. Will keep you posted...is worth persevering...

Team_Zephyr

I too have the same problems after 5 and a bit years , found this thread and checked my FV receipts on which they list a Zante Sofa 2 & 3 Bicast 156 dark brown.

I cant remember if they were advertised as real leather. They were however very keen to sell me the Bicast LTHR sup elite care on the sofas that is also shown on the receipt showing that they were indicating it was leather.

• Has anybody successfully claimed for the Zante models ?
• Has anybody also claimed with an original receipt for any sofas that shows the product as bicast leather on the receipt?
• Finaly anybody got a Zante original brochure showing if it was advertised as leather ?

Thanks

TZ

Fordvic

Have also purchased a Zante sofa set from Furniture Village which we are certain was sold as genuine leather and was advertised as such. It does also say Bicast 156 on the receipt but we had not idea what this meant and it could easily have referred to a model number for all we knew. Besides, who would pay £995 for fake leather sofas?

The sofa is now peeling badly after 5.5 years.

FV refuse to provide copies of the literature that we know shows the genuine leather symbol. They say they don't have it. But what company of that sort of size would not keep historic records of their advertising literature?

They have offered a paltry £100 that is supposed to reflect the use we have got out of it. This does not take into account the fact that we paid for genuine leather and never actually got what we paid for, so it was clearly mis-sold.

If anyone has any literature about the Zante sofa set or any other useful info, please get in touch. There seems to be a lot written about the Scala sofas, but not Zante which is very similar.

email: sharingtheflame@bmth.ac.uk

ap1986

Fordvic wrote: »

Have also purchased a Zante sofa set from Furniture Village which we are certain was sold as genuine leather and was advertised as such. It does also say Bicast 156 on the receipt but we had not idea what this meant and it could easily have referred to a model number for all we knew. Besides, who would pay £995 for fake leather sofas?

The sofa is now peeling badly after 5.5 years.

FV refuse to provide copies of the literature that we know shows the genuine leather symbol. They say they don't have it. But what company of that sort of size would not keep historic records of their advertising literature?

They have offered a paltry £100 that is supposed to reflect the use we have got out of it. This does not take into account the fact that we paid for genuine leather and never actually got what we paid for, so it was clearly mis-sold.

If anyone has any literature about the Zante sofa set or any other useful info, please get in touch. There seems to be a lot written about the Scala sofas, but not Zante which is very similar.
[EMAIL="sharingtheflame@bmth.ac.uk"][/EMAIL]

I'd take your e-mail off your post if I were you, there are so many trolls and spammers frequenting this place that you'd be inundated with anything but help!