Sale of Goods and section 75 credit consumer Acts

tiesys

Hi,

Can someone point me in the right direction please.

We bought two new settees from a large retail store in June 2010. One of the setee's has now developed a fault in that the leather stitching on one of the seats has failed and the padding is now showing (the fault is about 12 " long, but hidden from day to day sight by the back cushion so don't really know how long it has been like this) It's obviously due to the stitching not being able to take the stress from day to day usage.

We bought on credit card.

Obviously the settee's are out of retailers 12 month warranty, but as I understand under the Sale of Goods Act, goods should last a "reasonable" length of time - would a reasonable person expect a brand new settee to last more than 16 months (I can't imagin the salesperson selling many if they said thay would need replacing every 16 months!!).

Also, as we paid by credit card, is the credit card company equally liable under section 75 of the consumer credit act?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Mike

Norfolk_Jim

Yes the card company is equally liable but your problem is going to be that since the goods are now more than 12 months old the onus is on you to prove that they were inherantly faulty. Before 12 months is up it would be for the retailer to prove that they were not faulty. Can you do this? I think you may find it difficult to prove that there was an inherant fault but you could maybe claim that they have not given fair wear for this kind of goods. Hopefully someone can give some advice about that.

derrick

Who is the retailer? If it is DFS, then they have a 2 year guarantee at least.

If not you will need an independant report from a qualified upholsterer.

Yes the CC is jointly liable, but have you been back to the retailer yet and asked them what they are going to do about it?

.

bod1467

Norfolk_Jim wrote: »

Yes the card company is equally liable but your problem is going to be that since the goods are now more than 6 months old the onus is on you to prove that they were inherantly faulty. Before 6 months is up it would be for the retailer to prove that they were not faulty. Can you do this? I think you may find it difficult to prove that there was an inherant fault but you could maybe claim that they have not given fair wear for this kind of goods. Hopefully someone can give some advice about that.

Fixed that for you.

tiesys

Thanks for replying,

The retailer is SCS. I know that the goods are out of original warranty period, but surley any reasonable person would expect a brand new settee to last more than 16 months (the other one has).

I can't imagin it being part of the salesmans "pitch" to say you there is a 50/50 chance of you having to replace within 16 months"!!

Mike