Mis-sold Product and Insurance

sammutfamily

4 years ago my wife and i bought our 1st sofa, it was a 3 a 2 and a 1 seater leather suite from Land of Leather. Im not 1 for taking out additional insurance on products as im not a fan but we have 2 small children and the sales man at the time made out the cover was like gold, "It will cover for everything" with the children lifting up off the arms pulling the seams and spillage he told me all i wanted to know, and for 5 years cover with this purchase been so large we chose to take the insurance aswell. Land of Leather are now in administration and when i found this out a few years ago i phoned the insurance company to confirm that this was still valid and all was confirmed. 6 months ago however we contacted the insurance company as the sofa is slowly falling to pieces, the seams are splitting all over all 3 pieces of furniture so i filled the online claims form in and also attached pictures. I was told i could not claim as the sofa is not leather. WHAT!!!! i must have been very naive while purchasing this suite in "the land of leather" and the saleman emphasizing this but feel that not only was the insurance sold to me falsly but also the suite. With the company now in administration will i be able to do anything about this? all help would be much appreciated.

fluffnutter

Firstly, are you sure it's not leather?

Meepster

Just because you bought it from "Land of Leather" it doesn't mean it is made from leather.

In the same way my China tea set isn't from China...

Hintza

OP I think you will be on a hiding to nothing here. You might be able to claim the premiums back from the insurance company though.

I imagine trying to pursue Land of Leather will be futile.

So, what does your insurance policy state? Does it have the name and brand of the suite on it? If so how can the insurer now claim you are not covered.

The more I think about this you might be worth seeing if there is anything the insurance ombudsman can do. But go through your paperwork with a fine tooth comb.

fluffnutter

Meepster wrote: »

Just because you bought it from "Land of Leather" it doesn't mean it is made from leather.

I agree. But it's worth establishing for sure. The OP was happy to take someone's word for it that it was leather. They're now happy to take someone else's word for it that it isn't. Did either of them provide any evidence as to what it is actually made of?

My first step would be to determine myself whether it was leather or not. Both 'advisers' have an agenda don't they? The salesman wants to flog it as leather. The insurance company wants to wriggle out of their obligation to honour the insurance policy. I wouldn't trust either of them, frankly.

I also think that pursuing the insurance company will prove more fruitful than trying to claim for misselling. This is hard enough to prove as it is, let alone when a company's gone bust! They'll get nowhere with Land of Leather.