New Leather Recliner Sofa - Faulty on Arrival

skirmish

Hi All

I thought I would pass on some information about a new sofa that we have just had delivered and which is faulty.

Having recently moved house we needed some new furniture, especially two sofas. Concerned about not being able to get a three seater into the lounge we were pleasantly surprised when we were informed that a recliner would partially dismantle meaning it could be manoeuvered into the room with ease. We didn't have any intention of buying a recliner so we really did consider that aspect a bit of a bonus.

We finally found a design in leather we liked and placed the order for a three seater recliner and also a two seater standard type, taking advantage of their interest free credit. The only downside was that we had to wait 11 weeks for them to arrive.

Last week though they arrived on time and delivery men easily carried them into place. I did however notice that there was a poor alignment of the back rests of the recliner and the delivery man attempted to rectify it. Unfortunately he couldn't and also alerted my attention to a badly attached bolt that he needed to tighten up.

Concerned about this problem I asked that a note of my concern was put on the delivery confirmation form.

After they had gone we started to use the sofa and noticed that the back rest seemed much looser on one side than the other. We therefore phoned the company up and they agreed to send a technician out the next day to look into the matter.

Initially when he arrived he tried a little 'fobbing off' however I stood my ground and he started to dismantle the back rest. He firstly discovered that two wood screws were barely long enough to grip the components they were supposed to and he replaced with much longer screws. He then reassembled the sofa however there was still noticeable play in the back rest and he dismantled it again. This time he found a captive nut that did not align with the adjacent component meaning the bolt that was supposed to be located within the captive nut could not be so. No amount of work with the sofa in our lounge could rectify that problem and he suggested that our brand new sofa (or at least the backrests) would need to be sent to their workshops for the problem to be fixed. He did state that if the sofa was left as it was then the recline mechanism would fail and that it would most definitely then need repairing.

I was told that the company would get in touch with me last Friday which they did not and based on the statement that his manager was to return to work today we were also disappointed that no one contacted us today either. We will therefore contact THEM tomorrow.

Can anyone please advise what our rights are in a situation like this bearing in mind that this sofa was delivered to us faulty. To say we are disappointed and annoyed is an understatement, especially as we have had to wait 11 weeks to receive them.

Could we reject the sofa and ask for a replacement. Bear in mind that as we have a 'good' matching two seater we do need a similar design. If they did agree to giving us a new one would they demand that the faulty one is given back immediately or could they let us keep it until the new one arrives.

Alternatively, is the company within its rights to offer and repair the faulty one and to make it good.

Sorry for the long post but I thought it useful to give all the necessary details.

Any help or advice gratefully appreciated.

David

frugal_mike

Given that the sofa was faulty on arrival and you brought this to their attention before a reasonable time for inspection had elapsed then you are entitled to reject it for a full refund as acceptance has not yet occurred. You can ask for them to replace it but can't force them to if they refuse. The company is certainly within its rights to offer a repair, but you don't have to accept that in this case as you have not yet accepted the sofa in my opinion. If you do accept the repair you will still have the right to reject the sofa for a full refund if the repair is not acceptable.

skirmish

Thanks for the reply.
It would seem that in situations like this that the company who sold the sofa always has the upper hand as the only way any matter can be resolved to the customer's satisfaction is by going down the legal route and they realise that most people don't want to have to do that.

I'm just about to phone the company and we'll see what they offer.

skirmish

Well I only lost 40 minutes of my life on the phone today trying to resolve the sofa problem.

The result is that apparently the matter was passed on to the quality control department and they have worked out a way to rectify the fault without taking the sofa away. A service manager is now booked in to come and deal with it next Friday. I'm rather dubious how he is going to achieve a satisfactory repair without taking it away however I will give them the benefit of the doubt. I will however be watching the man like a hawk and if I'm not happy with what he's doing I'll have something to say. I'm a product designer by profession so I'll know if what he's doing is just a bodge or likely to not work.

I'll keep you posted.

frugal_mike

Well that is at least a semi-result. As I said earlier, accepting the repair does not mean you lose your right to a full refund if they don't fix the problem. Keep a log of all communication you have with them in case you need it later. Good luck with the repair.