Issue with Bed

jtotheb

Can anyone help me here?

I'm in an ongoing dispute with a bed shop about a bed we originally bought from one of their retail outlets back in January this year.

The bed was delivered in March but immediately we noticed some faults with it. The finishing on the fabric trim was very poor and it was poorly assembled causing lots of movement and ultimately starting to fall apart.

We complained about this very soon afterwards and the company agreed to replace the bed. This replacement was delivered in June however, during the course of the assembly, the installation crew ripped a lot of the material on the bed and subsequently the company agreed, yet again, to replace it.

The third bed was delivered in September. This time it was again, poorly assembled, the foot part of the bed came loose and came away from it's fixing. A team from the manufaturer came out to view it. They agreed that it was poorly made and assembled but they 'patched it up' whilst the company agree to yet again, replace it.

Some weeks later, the company have now decided that they don't want to replace it and are suggesting we source a bed elsewhere. Once we've had it delivered, they will arrange to collect their bed and, once they've inspected it (and provided it's still in it's current condition) they will issue us with a refund.

The trouble is, we really like the bed and just want one that's fit for purpose!

What can I do?

InsideInsurance

Accept it as is

If you are deemed to have accepted the bed then its purely at the sellers discretion if they repair, replace or refund.

If you havent accepted it then the only thing you can demand is a refund.

Its not 100% clear from the timeline if you;d be deemed to have accepted or not but neither way can you insist that they continue to replace it.

It appears its not a high quality product/ constructed well and so really you either accept it as is, possibly negotiating a partial refund for the issues you still have with this unit, or hand it back and buy something else.

Personally, if its got this many problems now, what state is it going to be in 6 months or 2 years time?

jtotheb

I tend to agree with your last paragraph but I like the style of the bed and have found little else around that I like for the money (for the record it was £1,700!)

Not sure whether I've 'accepted' the bed(s) or not. Surely if you find fault with a bed after you've had it for a few days, you would already have accepted it in the first place?

Bed 1 - we notified them of the initial problems within 24 hours, the movement problems, within 2 weeks

Bed 2 - they were notified immediately of the damage they caused (and photographic evidence was taken)

Bed 3 - Notified within 3 days of the issues.

Additionally, a bed is not something you can necessarily 'refuse' to have is it. It's a basic necessity!

sheramber

what do you really like about that you cannot get with another bed?

Can you buy another one of the same make elsewhere?

jtotheb

sheramber wrote: »

what do you really like about that you cannot get with another bed?

Can you buy another one of the same make elsewhere?

No it was bespoke. I'm purposely not mentioning the company as I'm aware they monitor forums and would rather not alert them to this thread.

shaun_from_Africa

jtotheb wrote: »

INot sure whether I've 'accepted' the bed(s) or not. Surely if you find fault with a bed after you've had it for a few days, you would already have accepted it in the first place?

Acceptance of the goods in the way that InsideInsurance is referring to has a legal meaning and doesn't just mean accepting something in the normal context that the word is generally used.

When buying goods, acceptance isn't generally deemed to have occurred until the buyer has taken possession of those goods and has had a reasonable time to examine and test them to ensure that they are as described. This time isn't actually defined in law but it is generally taken to be between a few days and a few weeks depending on the type of item concerned. ( eg, a newspaper could be checked within a few hours but a complex tv or computer may take a week or more to fully check out).

Until acceptance of the goods has happened, a consumer has the legal right to reject faulty goods and get a refund. After acceptance, the retailer can decide whether to refund, repair or replace.

Opting to get the original bed repaired or replaced doesn't mean that you have accepted it and you still have the right of rejection if the repair fails or the replacement is also faulty.


Even if you are unable to find a similar bed for the same money, do you really think it wise to stick with that particular model knowing all the problems that you've already had?
You may well end up with one you are happy with but if might well fail again in the future leaving you having to fight for a repair.

InsideInsurance

jtotheb wrote: »

I tend to agree with your last paragraph but I like the style of the bed and have found little else around that I like for the money (for the record it was £1,700!)

Not sure whether I've 'accepted' the bed(s) or not. Surely if you find fault with a bed after you've had it for a few days, you would already have accepted it in the first place?

Shaun above adds the detail on the legal element of acceptance but as I did say its a little irrelevant as having not accepted it yet you can only force a refund which isnt a path you want and is already on offer.

If they arent prepared to replace it again then your options are either to accept it, and possibly negotiate a partial refund, or send it back, get your refund and then buy the same bed elsewhere.

Personally, assuming its a divan bed, for not much more you can get a vi-spring bed which have hundreds of choices of fabric coverings, a wide range of headboards with all the same fabric options and last for donkey's years. Ours is 5 years old and is like the day we bought it. My mothers was about 15 years old when she sold it and the only reason she got rid of it was because she was downsizing.

bigeddie747

jtotheb wrote: »

No it was bespoke. I'm purposely not mentioning the company as I'm aware they monitor forums and would rather not alert them to this thread.

If the item was "bespoke" then you're lucky their offering you a potential refund after three different occasions.

I can see both sides of this dispute, the bed you have purchased has been "incorrect", "damaged" or constructed to "sub-standard" levels on three occasions now, the product could be faulty or not fit for purpose. That's obviously something you have to show.

However from the retailers point of view they have supplied three beds which *may* have been perfect when they left their premises, has the customer damaged all three? has there been a transit issue? or is the customer simply hard to please? Obviously I don't know these answers i'm just looking at it from a distance.

Here's a government link which may interest you....

www. gov .uk/accepting-returns-and-giving-refunds (can't post links)

"When you don’t have to offer a refund

You don’t have to refund a customer if they:

• knew an item was faulty when they bought it
  
• damaged an item by trying to repair it themselves or getting someone else to do it (though they may still have the right to a repair, replacement or partial refund)
  
• no longer want an item (eg because it’s the wrong size or colour) unless they bought it without seeing it

You have to offer a refund for certain items only if they’re faulty, eg:

• personalised items and custom-made items, eg curtains
  
• perishable items, eg frozen food or flowers
  
• newspapers and magazines
  
• unwrapped CDs, DVDs and computer software

The retailer could argue you might have tried to fix the product yourself, however you could argue the custom item is simply faulty.

I think you need to take a good look at the situation, sending a new product three times and there's still issues (for whatever reason that may be) - you should consider the refund if it's still available - seems perfectly acceptable to me.

For the record I'm not legally trained - this is simply my point of view. Hope it helps

jtotheb

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Even if you are unable to find a similar bed for the same money, do you really think it wise to stick with that particular model knowing all the problems that you've already had?
You may well end up with one you are happy with but if might well fail again in the future leaving you having to fight for a repair.

I know what you're saying but in two of the three cases, it was damage during the assembly that was at fault.

jtotheb

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Personally, assuming its a divan bed, for not much more you can get a vi-spring bed which have hundreds of choices of fabric coverings, a wide range of headboards with all the same fabric options and last for donkey's years. Ours is 5 years old and is like the day we bought it. My mothers was about 15 years old when she sold it and the only reason she got rid of it was because she was downsizing.

It's not a divan bed. It's an upholstered sleigh bed. Literally finding it very difficult to find anything else we like - regardless of cost!

jtotheb

bigeddie747 wrote: »

If the item was "bespoke" then you're lucky their offering you a potential refund after three different occasions.

I think it's classed as bespoke (their words not mine) because they offer multiple fabric choices etc and they're made to order. Not quite what I would called bespoke! Why am I lucky to be offered a refund?

bigeddie747 wrote: »

I can see both sides of this dispute, the bed you have purchased has been "incorrect", "damaged" or constructed to "sub-standard" levels on three occasions now, the product could be faulty or not fit for purpose. That's obviously something you have to show.

However from the retailers point of view they have supplied three beds which *may* have been perfect when they left their premises, has the customer damaged all three? has there been a transit issue? or is the customer simply hard to please? Obviously I don't know these answers i'm just looking at it from a distance.

Appreciate that but I have documented all incidents / damage fully with pictures so can back this up with evidence.

bigeddie747 wrote: »

The retailer could argue you might have tried to fix the product yourself, however you could argue the custom item is simply faulty.

Definitely no evidence of that!