Faulty kids' mattress.

moosticks

So I got my daughter a mattress for her cotbed from Mothercare 14 months ago. It's now coming apart at the seams. I contacted Mothercare and told them I was unhappy with this. They said they have a 12 month guarantee and because the mattress was 14 months it's down to wear and tear and they can't do anything.

How does this fit in with the whole reasonable amount of use from an item thing? It's a cotbed mattress. Cot beds are designed to last from birth until around five years! My daughter was an infant when she started using it. She couldn't even roll over. Wear and tear? Really?! That doesn't seem very reasonable to me, and considering mattresses are not cheap items I really resent having to buy a new one because the first one failed. Given how close to the 12 month cut off point the mattress has died I can't help but feel they are designed to fail.

Do I have any rights here?

Pinkypants

Under the sales of good act, goods do have to last a reasonable amount of time. If product is older then 6 months old it's down to to the consumer to prove the product had a fault when made.

Quite how you go about this I have no idea. Independent inspection by someone and if succesful, reclaim the costs from Mothercare.