Faulty Carpet.

CSLW32443

Purchased a carpet in June 2013 from a local retailer.
Slowly but surely, we noticed irregular shading of the carpet.
Reported this to the retailer in April 2014 who advised that they do see this occurence in approx 4 in every 100 carpets sold and that we were 1 of the 4 unlucky ones. He arranged for a consultant to carry out an inspection in-situ.
The reports findings are :

"Several areas of shading evident to the carpet fitted to the lounge. Some in front of seating areas and some less prominent shading evident in other areas of the carpet.
As you are aware pile pressure/shading occurs when the pile in certain areas are leaningto one side as opposed to the surrounding pile. The light then reflects from the sides of the tufts and this gives the carpets a lighter or darker appearance, dependant upon which direction one is viewing from. This phenomenon is something which all manufacturers have no control over and it can occur at any time in the life of the carpet.
We would like to assure your customer, however, that this "shading" effect will not affect the wear of the carpet in any way and is not a fault in manufacture"

We weren't advised that we would be purchasing a carpet with a "phenomenon" indeed, it appears that this is a "get out" clause used by the manufacturer to cover themselves,
The retailer has now "washed his hands" completely of the situation. His only recommendation is that we should arrange at our expense, for an independant inspection at a cost of £125.00

We would be most greatful for your advise on how to proceed.

tomtontom

If you wish to take this further you will need to get an independent report stating this is an inherent fault.

LilElvis

Tomtontom is absolutely correct to say that, if you believe the carpet is faulty, you need to pay for an inspection report.

Just adding the following for your information:

This is because, as the carpet is now more than 6 months old, it is up to you to prove to the seller that it is inherently faulty. However if the inspection concurs with your view then the seller will have to reimburse you for the cost of the report in addition to offering you a resolution re the carpet.

daytona0

http://www.city-carpets.co.uk/wp-content/themes/carpet/images/termsandconditions.pdf

This and a few other carpet sites state the same (or similar) wording to what you have said in the first post.


It does seem that this IS NOT an inherent fault at the point of sale, rather something which happens in a certain situation and which can be fixed somewhat with more even weight distribution and hoovering.

Is it as described? Yes

Is it fit for purpose? Of course (it serves the purpose that a carpet should)

Is it inherently faulty? Well arguable but i'm afraid every site i've checked do not consider this a manufacture fault and as such you'd be up against it were you to take it to court (not going to rule out an outcome but they aren't going to resolve under SOGA here). I'd probably just not get a fault report because it will probably serve no purpose if the industry in general don't consider it a fault.

Hintza

It sounds as if the "shading" is in high wear areas, I would thik that that is to be expected as their report said, the carpet will be a lot flatter there.

CSLW32443

Thank you for your comments.

Feeling_Blue

I may be a bit late on this one, but is either the retailer or manufacturer members of the carpet foundation? If so, they will guarantee to change a carpet suffering from 'pile reversal' within the first two years of it being laid.


Try looking at the Carpet Foundation website - Code of Practice