Faulty Sofa, but who takes responsibility?

dw85

My bf and i bought a sofa for our first home May last year at a Homebase shop. We ended up being 'conned' (how im feeling right now) into three year furniture care policy to cover the sofa for any accidents, incidents and structural damage.

Sofa arrived to our house 2 weeks later, all well and good. Anyways, the last 9 months or so, we've noticed the two main seating cushions really sag in the middle where they meet, causing whoever is sitting on it to gravitate towards the centre. Despite numerous fluffing, kicking, turning these cushion pads still sink as soon as anything is placed on them.
June i contacted the company dealing with the warranty, sent all paperwork. Then had a trip to store who advised me it was with the warranty people. Got a letter back from Guardsman (who the policy is with apparently) that they will not do anything about it as it is ' a gradual fault that developed within the first year of the certificate of insurance.'

Im now not sure of where to turn to. To me, this Sofa is Not Fit for Purpose (esp as we spent £500 on it...were not expecting to be looking at new ones a year later!) for a Reasonable Period. It is not even being sat on much as my bf works 160miles away so we alternate weekends.

IF anyone can offer any advice as to what i should do next, i would really appreciate it.

Herongull

Check the wording of the policy. It may be that it genuinely doesn't cover this sort of situation. You may find that the policy has lots of get-out clauses and isn't very useful. Most of these sorts of policies make loads of profit for the store because there are very few claims due to limits/get-out clauses.

However you may have a claim against the seller under sale of goods legislation. As it is more than 6 months, the onus will be on you to demonstrate that the sofa is faulty. Consider an independent report (from furniture expert) - you will have to pay for this upfront. After you have the report, you can then decide whether you have a strong claim.

Also check the sellers dispute procedure in case there is anything there in addition to your statutory rights.