Furniture Village 'Usage Charge'

waynehayes

Quick outline:

Leather suite ordered October 2010, delivered December 2010. Upon delivery a few blemishes and imperfections in the leather dye were noticed (on the sofa) and noted down by the delivery driver.
Furniture Village sent a technician to fix the marks, but only made the problem worse. After numerous visits, Furniture Village replaced the whole suite as they couldn't guarantee that the colour on the replacement sofa and existing chair would match.

The replacement eventually came in February 2012. Around 3 months ago we noticed heavy wear on the sofa in certain places. Furniture Village again sent a techie, who said, again that the suite was faulty (the dye was rubbing off due to a manufacturing error) and that the suite needed replacing.

Furniture Village have said that we can't have a replacement suite as the model was slightly different, and have offered a store credit of £950 to replace the suite. The original purchase price was £1550. To replace the sofa alone today would cost £1100.

Does this sound fair?

This is from their terms:

7.3 After Delivery: If the pre-existing fault or damage is discovered after delivery, you should contact us as soon as you notice the defect or at the latest within 14 days of delivery of the goods on our Customer Care line: 0845 521 9704 (csc@furniturevillage.co.uk) or via our On-line store.
i. Our customer care team will then contact you to arrange a technician to visit and inspect the goods and discuss your options including returning the goods or repairing the problem to manufacturing standards, generally within 14 days. If he/she is unable to resolve the matter on the first visit and parts are required, we will endeavour to source them as quickly as possible.
ii. In the event that a repair cannot be made, we will replace the furniture, offer a reselection to the value of the purchase price less any discounts or give a full refund including any delivery charges (where applicable). The goods that are deemed faulty revert to the ownership of Furniture Village, and must be in our possession before monies are refunded. A refund may be subject to a usage charge depending on the period of time that has elapsed since delivery.

7.4 Faults that develop after 14 days of Delivery: In the unlikely event that one of our items is to develop a fault, please call us on our Customer Care line: 0845 521 970 (csc@furniturevillage.co.uk) or via our On-line store to discuss the options. Your options may vary depending on the individual circumstances including the length of time that you have had the item and the nature of the fault.

I spoke to a lady on Aftersales who quoted paragraph 7.4 above (I had to tell her where to find the T&C's), which means they are entitled to change for usage. It seems that that paragraph entitles them to pretty much what they like?

Any thoughts on this one? Thanks.

CoolHotCold

Seems pretty fair. Looks like they just put £1550 into their calculators and divided by 72 (the number of months in 6 years) and multiplied by 30ish to take into account the number of months you've had, which works out about £600 and subtracted that from the original price paid.

Furniture Village are within their rights to give a partial refund, though it doesn't have to be a credit note, you can insist in a refund if you want, however it seems FV have been pretty good about the whole SoGA and I'd certainly buy from them if I was given the same treatment.

wealdroam

Firstly their T&Cs cannot overrule your statutory rights.

The Sale of Goods Act allow for the principle of a 'usage charge'.

The actual words from the Act are...

(3)For the purposes of this Part, if the buyer rescinds the contract, any reimbursement to the buyer may be reduced to take account of the use he has had of the goods since they were delivered to him.

Now all you need to do is decide whether a deduction of around 38% for approx 28 months is fair.
That seems to imply that the goods have an expected life of something like six years.

unholyangel

SoGA allows them to offer a repair, replacement or refund (which can be partial to take into account use you have had of the items). You can request one over the other but they can refuse if its impossible or disproportionately costly.

So yes, they can make a reduction.....however theres no set amount that they have to reduce it by. So it may be seen that their offer is reasonable depending on lifespan, how the contract is comprised etc.

A store credit isnt really a refund though and personally, I always advise people to push for a higher amount if accepting credit as opposed to an actual refund.

How was the contract formed? Was it purchased as a suite? Or individual items? Have they taken the sofa but not the chairs or have they taken back all/none of it?

waynehayes

If FV are offering £950 as store credit, am I entitled to this full amount as a cash refund? What would be a reasonable offer of store-credit instead of cash?
Furniture Village do seem to have been pretty good. I'm a bit annoyed that it took over 12 months to replace the first set of furniture (which was defective from day 1), yet this is still taken into account under their usage charge.
The furniture was bought instore, using their 0% interest offer, which is administered through Hitachi. We bought a sofa and a chair, which are 2 separate pieces.

What left a slightly sour taste was the attitude of their aftercare team. She wouldn't explain where I could find their policy on usage charges, refused to let me speak to a manager (they were away from the table, couldn't call me back, email is usual policy).
Thanks for the replies.

wealdroam

waynehayes wrote: »

If FV are offering £950 as store credit, am I entitled to this full amount as a cash refund? What would be a reasonable offer of store-credit instead of cash?

As you say, FV are offering you £950 as store credit.

Because it is store credit, this remedy appears to be an offer towards replacement furniture rather than a partial refund.

I'm not sure that money off replacement goods is a suitable remedy under SoGA.
My understanding is that a SoGA remedy is either a repair, replacement or (partial) refund.

If they were to offer a partial refund, i.e. real money, I am certain the amount would be somewhat less.

waynehayes wrote: »

Furniture Village do seem to have been pretty good. I'm a bit annoyed that it took over 12 months to replace the first set of furniture (which was defective from day 1), yet this is still taken into account under their usage charge.

Since we don't know how they performed their calculation, it is not possible to say whether or not that 12 months are included as 'usage'.
Or to put it another way, if FV have deducted 38% for just 16 months good usage, then their offer doesn't appear to be 'pretty good' at all does it?

Having said all that, if FV have suitable replacement furniture at the right price, then store credit might be your best option.

visidigi

Don't take it - there's movement in every part use offer.

Guarantee the £950 means you have to spend yet another £500+ to get a suite.

If it were me, I would go back and say given the inconvenience and the fact that's twice they have failed to provide whats sold that you want £1250 store credit or £1100 cash refund.

Push, there's movement in their numbers (our suite was mid advertised, I got a 50% refund after having had it four years, I'm still sat on it now - the first offer they made me was 25%-ish I recall.)

waynehayes

wealdroam wrote: »

As you say, FV are offering you £950 as store credit.

Because it is store credit, this remedy appears to be an offer towards replacement furniture rather than a partial refund.

I'm not sure that money off replacement goods is a suitable remedy under SoGA.
My understanding is that a SoGA remedy is either a repair, replacement or (partial) refund.

If they were to offer a partial refund, i.e. real money, I am certain the amount would be somewhat less.


Since we don't know how they performed their calculation, it is not possible to say whether or not that 12 months are included as 'usage'.
Or to put it another way, if FV have deducted 38% for just 16 months good usage, then their offer doesn't appear to be 'pretty good' at all does it?

Having said all that, if FV have suitable replacement furniture at the right price, then store credit might be your best option.

The particular model we bought is now 22% more expensive than when we bought in late 2010, even with their 'sale' price included.

waynehayes

Would the fact that the furniture was bought with a credit agreement make any difference on my case? We haven't quite finished paying yet.

wealdroam

waynehayes wrote: »

Would the fact that the furniture was bought with a credit agreement make any difference on my case? We haven't quite finished paying yet.

That means that the credit supplier are equally responsible for performance of the contract.

As FV have already given you a starting point for negotiations, I am not sure what more you can expect the credit supplier to do.

Anyway, have a read of MSE's Section 75 Refunds article.

waynehayes

I thought I'd update this thread, and ask another question...
After a few phone calls and emails, FV have said we can select a replacement sofa up to the same value as the original purchase. This does seem reasonable, but they are still refusing to replace the furniture as the current cost is nearly £300 more than we paid. From what I've read on SOGA, I do believe I'm entitled to replacement.
Anyway, if I do accept the offer of store-credit (it also seems that store credit isn't acceptable under SOGA) the store manager said that the we would only be entitled to two and a half years warranty, as it wouldn't be classed as a new order, does that sound right? Surely if I have store credit, and am adding cash on top, then that would qualify as a new order?