rights as a sole trader

roxytoo

My husband is a painter and decorator and bought 12 rolls of wallpaper from B&Q to do a job. He spent a wasted afternoon trying to get the wallpaper to match up, had to open them all when he realised the paper had been incorrectly labelled and they were not going to match. Where does he stand in claiming an afternoons work from B&q? They will give him a refund for the wallpaper no problem as its not fit for purpose

halibut2209

Might not be relevant, but were they purchased on a business account?

roxytoo

Yes it was

mo786uk

its a breach of contract and he can claim for damages - in court

might be worth trying to come to an agreement with b and q first of course.

arcon5

Depends on their terms of business - B2B contracts aren't as simple as that, especially if their terms limit liability. And no, such a term wouldn't automatically be deemed unfair

mo786uk

arcon5 wrote: »

Depends on their terms of business - B2B contracts aren't as simple as that, especially if their terms limit liability. And no, such a term wouldn't automatically be deemed unfair

not sure they will be able to limit liability for something as blatant as an incorrectly labelled item - ( given the fact it needs to be accurate given the fact its wallpaper)

you could limit liability for minor things but this seems pretty critical to me.

Looksguywalker

I'm thinking a painter and decorator should know fairly quickly that something isn't right. Personally I'd know within minutes that I couldn't match wallpaper and be back at the supplier PDQ.

arcon5

mo786uk wrote: »

not sure they will be able to limit liability for something as blatant as an incorrectly labelled item - ( given the fact it needs to be accurate given the fact its wallpaper)

you could limit liability for minor things but this seems pretty critical to me.

With exceptions such as death and injury liability can be transferred, limited etc with the agreement of both parties for pretty much anything. Trouble is most find out the hard way, when they sign full repairing and insuring leases or entered in to dropship agreements finding them liable for the cost of returning faulty goods whilst the consumer legally doesn't have to incur these necessary charges for example. Consequential loss for example, as seems to be the case here, is often excluded in terms.

musicmaker29

I suspect that your OH will be able to obtain a refund/replacement from B and Q with regards to the paper. However, his time and other expenses may or may not be claimable, depending on the contract entered. This is different in consumer law, where rights cannot be 'signed away'. The 'enhanced' consumer rights exist as there is a percieved imbalance between a consumer and a business (the business is more knowledgable than the consumer). This is not considered to be the case in business to business transactions and the law reflects this without distinguishing between the size of the businesses involved.

roxytoo

Some rolls matched and some didn't. Thanks for the replys , fair play to B&Q, they came up trumps and sorted it all