humber imports teak garden bench - "recommended by moneysaving expert"?!

jogu

Hi all,

I came across this seller of teak garden furniture:

http://www.humberimports.com

They're on amazon and seem to get decent reviews, and are competitively priced.

However on their homepage they claim

Recommended by "The Guardian" and "Moneysavingexpert"

After some googling, I can't find any evidence to back up these claims, which is making me highly suspicious.

Does anyone know for sure if moneysavingexpert did recommend this company?

Alias_Omega

Thanks,

A Private Message has been sent to the MSE Towers, to have a look at this thread.

Regards,

AO

jogu

Thanks AO!

I did some further searching, and the non-Amazon reviews seem very poor. Lots of reports of the benches failing in under 2 years.

It's a shame, but probably to be expected - they claim to sell grade-A teak garden benches for sub £200, which is just too good to be true.

Former_MSE_Andrea

Thanks for flagging this up jogu, we're looking into it

jogu

Thanks Andrea.

It does seem there's some truth in the guardian claim, I came across:

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/may/07/ten-ways-save-gardening

which whilst I'm not sure it is technically a recommendation, does at least say that the guardian writer used them without a problem.

eclaire106

Disgusting customer service!

I paid £669 for a set of garden furniture and just out of warrantee, a chair completely collapsed injuring my father and baby. I contacted Humber Imports and their response was awful, I have copied the email trail below for others to see their disgusting customer service. I will be pursuing them in the small claims courts....

PLEASE READ EMAIL TRAIL BACKWARDS FROM BOTTOM OF PAGE.......

[Thanks for your email, the last person that did this lost in court as the judge ruled that the chair was damaged by the customer. So if you want to waste your money over a £50 chair then crack on.

Regards

Humber Imports

From:
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2015 12:21 PM
To: Humber Imports
Subject: RE: Thanks for your order

HI,

This chair has been sat on less that a dozen times, it is of poor quality. My father sat down normally on it, you can clearly see it has collapsed. I really hope you will replace this chair as I am aware of my rights and despite a one year warrantee I still have rights for 6 years under the Sale of Goods Act (see below), and will pursue this via the small claim court if necessary and you will be then liable for refund and costs.

Obviously, this is not what either of us want so I hope we can come to an agreement prior?

Sale of Goods Act
Wherever goods are bought they must "conform to contract". This means they must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality
If goods do not conform to contract at the time of sale, purchasers can request their money back "within a reasonable time". (This is not defined and will depend on circumstances)
For up to six years after purchase (five years from discovery in Scotland) purchasers can demand damages (which a court would equate to the cost of a repair or replacement).

Kind regards

From: mail@humberimports.com
Subject: Re: Thanks for your order
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2015 11:53:00 +0100

Hi Claire

Yes it is not fit for purpose now because someone has damaged it. It has not got like that on its own and it is out of guarantee.

Regards

Humber Imports

From:
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2015 11:07 AM
To: Humber Imports
Subject: Re: Thanks for your order

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, but as you can see this chair is not fit for purpose. A chair that has been sat on less than a dozen times should not collapse like this. I hope you will agree with this and replace it if possible?
Kind regards

Sent from my iPhone

On 18 Sep 2015, at 10:50, Humber Imports <mail@humberimports.com> wrote:

Dear Clair

As you point out the furniture is out of warranty.

Regards
Humber Imports

From:
Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2015 8:05 PM
To: mail@humberimports.com
Subject: Re: Thanks for your order

Dear Sir/Madam,

Please see email below sent a week ago, I hope you received it. I look forward to your response.

Kind regards,


Sent from my iPhone

On 11 Sep 2015, at 17:24,

Dear sir/madam,

I am writing regarding some garden furniture I purchased from your company last year. One of the chairs has completely collapsed and is beyond repair (please see picture attached). Although they are now out of the one year warranty, the furniture has only been used a dozen or so times in the last year so should not have broken so badly. My father sat in it while holding my small baby and the whole chair collapsed with him cutting his arm and the baby was very shaken up. Although it is out of warranty, I hope you will agree that a chair of this price and quality shouldn't break like this and consider replacing it please?

I look forward to hearing from you.[/I]

jogu

Hi eclair106,

Sorry to hear about your trouble with humberimports, though I can't say it surprises me, sadly.

I'm sure you'll have success via small claims.

Here's a bit of extra evidence for your submission:

Taken from:
http://www.humberimports.com/blog/what-s-the-difference-between-grade-a-teak-and-lower-grades-

"On the other hand, if you opt for good quality, grade A teak for your garden furniture set, you can be sure you'll have made a sound investment which will last many years. And if you are concerned about price as well as quality, rest assured that our teak garden furniture sets cannot be beaten on either front by any other UK supplier."

This makes it clear that their furniture is expected to last many years.

With that claim, I'm fairly certain the judge would take your side unless humberimports could prove that you'd taken some action that caused your set to fail.

If they then argue that you've failed to maintain the furniture, point out this page:

http://www.humberimports.com/blog/should-you-oil-teak-garden-furniture-

"Top quality, grade A teak already has all the defence it needs to protect itself, without having to rely on additional products."

I'd bet they will either give in before the court date or fail to show up at court...

Good luck!

By the way, interesting piece of history - the people that run humberimports used to be second hand car sales men...

jogu

They've also had a complaint to the ASA upheld about misleading advertising:

https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2014/10/Humber-Imports-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_274082.aspx#.VfwbLLSlkbs

Gloomendoom

I bought a couple of benches from them last year.

So far, so good. Based on my experience so far, I'd buy from them again.

Davesnave

Many companies have been 'featured' on Moneysavingexpert, not always in a good way either.

And that's what it says, not 'recommended,' so I don't think there's a case for them to answer there. After all, here's the feature. :cool:

Or has the page been altered?

jogu

Davesnave wrote: »

Many companies have been 'featured' on Moneysavingexpert, not always in a good way either.

And that's what it says, not 'recommended,' so I don't think there's a case for them to answer there. After all, here's the feature. :cool:

Or has the page been altered?

The page has been altered; the original text was:

Recommended by "The Guardian" and "Moneysavingexpert"