Not fit for purpose??

victoriav

My brother is a student and now in new digs, he bought a new matress which had been reduced, although on the box it said sold as seen non returnable...he was told it had a factory fault. He couldnt take it completely out of the box and check it , (as he got it home on one of those pushbike trailers and to undo it all would not have let him transort it.) it was vacuum packed you see. Anyway he got it home to put on his new bed and there is a huge ridge in it and it wont go down, he has left it out for 72 hours as it states but it cannort be slept on easily, or even at all, i think this must be what was meant by factory fault, so it makes it unfit for use, can he return it and get his money back? what can he do, as its a lot from a students money to have lost. Ah forgot to mention its one of them memory foam matresses...

browneyedbazzi

Did your brother ask what the nature of the fault was or if it would impact on the use of the mattress??

earthstorm

be very hard as if he was told at the store it was sold and seen and had a factory fault and he still purchased then they store has covered themselves

wellused

To get it onto the trailer did it mean he had to fold it in half perhaps?

earthstorm

wellused wrote: »

To get it onto the trailer did it mean he had to fold it in half perhaps?

A vacuum packed memory foam mattress would be impossible to fold as these are rolled up like a large cigar and the air sucked out

Azari

This is an interesting situation, legally.

A shop is entitled to sell something 'as seen' and thus not subject to normal consumer protection law.

But what is the case if it is sold 'as seen' when it is sealed in a way that the customer cannot see it? Selling something 'as seen' does not protect you if you have deliberately hidden something. Selling a gold bar that was actually lead coated with gold would still be fraud.

I suspect that if it came to court the judge would consider the relative discount given.

hollydays

This was from a high street shop?

earthstorm

Azari wrote: »

I suspect that if it came to court the judge would consider the relative discount given.

I also agree as stated it was marked sold as seen and having a factory fault and reduced in price (most likely due to fault), so he knew he was purchasing a faulty item.

Pinkypants

Yes, but was he informed of what the fault was?

Oli.s

I wonder if it would be argued that he did infact have opportunity to inspect it in the shop, it seems from your post that he simply chose not to because it would make it hard for him to transport as aposed to being denied the opportunity to inspect it by the shop.

earthstorm

Oli.s wrote: »

I wonder if it would be argued that he did infact have opportunity to inspect it in the shop, it seems from your post that he simply chose not to because it would make it hard for him to transport as aposed to being denied the opportunity to inspect it by the shop.

you cant really inspect memory foam mattresses apart from the one they store may have on display, as these are vacuum sealed and once opened they will start to expand to full thickness.

and to Pinkypants i dont think they need to state what the fault it apart from it has a factory fault. Yes some stores will tell you, i have even seen some stores just use coloured stickers placed on the product where the fault is marked 'fault'