DFS sofa woes

Revolting_Peasant

Looking for any advice / guidance etc on how to deal with an unpleasant situation with DFS.

On 30th December we ordered 2x sofas and a footstool from DFS.
We specified the thicker leather on the premise that it would be more hard-wearing. Total cost for the package was £1600

When the sofas arrived on 27th January, rather than (as I would have expected) delivering in several parts and assembling in-situ, the barely-trained apes making the delivery tried to shove the three-seater into the house in one part, damaging the leather in two places.

We immediately contacted DFS who said they could not get an assessor out to us until March. We dug our heels in and said that this was unacceptable and after much heated 'deliberation' they arranged for a rep to come and repair the next week.

Today, we have discovered that the leather on the seat base has split (a different area to the previous damage). DFS are refusing to acknowledge that the sofas are no good, again giving us a March date for assessment / repair.

We are not prepared to accept that the leather would split after 2 weeks and maybe 4 days actual use.

The sales manager at the store, during 'discussion' today actually said (His words) "This happens all the time", so as far as we are concerned they know there is a problem but are just trying to fob us off. I have said that the quality of the item doesn't match what we were sold, and my preference is that they take them back, return any money and cancel agreements for future payments, on the basis that there's not a hope of them lasting 5 years.

Have we got a leg to stand on??
(Yes, I'll admit that perhaps going to DFS in the first place was a stupid idea, but the last sofa we had from them was OK.)

unholyangel

How did you pay?

If you reject goods within a reasonable time, you are entitled to insist on a refund rather than a repair or replacement. Given the time you have had the sofas, even if you hadnt contacted them previous....you'd still be within a reasonable time to reject.

Remind DFS of this. By way of Letter Before Action if you prefer.

If you paid any amount (even a deposit) on credit card or finance (providing the finance wasnt provided by the retailer) then the creditor are jointly liable for the performance of the contract and you have the same rights against them as you do the retailer.

If you'd rather have a repair, then remind them that any repair should be carried out within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience - and also that any fault found in the first 6 months is assumed to be inherent and it is for them to prove otherwise.

Revolting_Peasant

OK, just a little update.

Persistent badgering paid off and I got an admission from the store manager that they WOULD / COULD call the whole thing off. We're happy with that as we really don't want the hassle of having to deal with this shambolic company for any longer than necessary.

DFS will be coming to collect the sofas tomorrow.

Naturally, I have prepared a document for their trained chimp delivery driver to sign to acknowledge that the goods are being returned as faulty and therefore all responsibilites pass back to the supplier.

The one concern we now have is over the credit agreement - DFS / Ikano bank (who, presumably are the same thing) are stating that it may take them several weeks to process the cancellation.

As we will have paperwork signed by a representative of DFS taking the goods back, where do we stand with planned payments on the credit agreement? It would be nice if we could just cancel the direct debit and tell them to whistle for it, but I suspect that they will try and hit us up with non-payment fees, credit score damage etc.??

Do we have to make payments against goods which we will no longer have / be responsible just because of drag in their systems??

Cheers,

Rev_Pez