Laura Ashley Sofa, Not Fit For Purpose

Gerry_Conlon

Hi All,
Just need a bit of advice on how to deal with Laura Ashley customer services. I had a new sofa deliver in Sept 2011, within 6 months one of the legs had broken, I contacted Laura Ashley who carried out a repair, fast forward to March 2016 and the same leg has broken again. Laura Ashley are sending out one of their technicians, however they do not have an appointment before April 20th a good 5 weeks away. I have contacted them again to suggest that the sofa is not fit for purpose and what do they purpose I sit on for the 5 weeks before they come to review the sofa!!
I appreciate the sofa in now 4.5 years old however it is guaranteed for 10 years, am I right in thinking that I should get at least 50% of the original cost back as the sofa has only lasted for 50% of the time it should have done?

Any advice would be much apprieciated from those in the know out there.
Thanks

JJ_Egan

Your ask of 50% will depend upon the terms and conditions of this guarantee .

Under SOGA i doubt if you would get 50% .

pinkshoes

It is up to the shop whether they repair, replace or refund.

A broken leg? Surely you have a yellow pages or phone book you can put under the sofa for 5 weeks until they can fix it?

Gerry_Conlon

Thanks for the replies, what is SOGA?

tealady

Sale of Goods Act

JJ_Egan

Gerry_Conlon wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, what is SOGA?

It is what you would be claiming under as not fit for purpose .

Sale of Goods Act = your rights under the law . Its up to you to prove via an independent report your claim if the vendor requires .
Guarantee = an extra subject to the terms and conditions may be from the vendor or the manufacturer .

[Deleted User]

Personally, I'd just go to B&Q and buy a set of legs if it is the legs that are the problem and not the frame that the legs are fixed to.

I am not sure you'd get 50% of the value at best, it could be a 'second hand value' which will be much much less. But as already stated, its up to the shop what actions they take to remedy the situation. However they could say its down to undue wear rather than a fault and refuse to do anything. Then you'd have to get an independent report to prove it is a fault.

Not sure its worth the hassle if the worst comes to the worst and they aren't helpful after 5 years.

mo786uk

The cosniderations udner SOGA and a manufacturers warranty are quite different though if a gurantee is saying it will last for 10 years save for wear and tear

we all know most manufacturers guarantees are !!!!!!!! though

Leo2020

The leg has been fine for 4 years before it broke again. Its under guarantee so presumably they will repair. Not sure what your problem is, sorry. If the rest of the sofa is doing OK then I would consider one broken leg a minor inconvenience.

paddyrg

LA seem to be honouring the warranty though, just delayed a bit.

Is a sofa with a flawed leg completely unfit for purpose? Has it transformed into a man-eating shark? Clearly not. It's still a sofa, but leans a little for 2% of its life to date.

OP, under SoGA LA have every right to come and fix the leg. Best bet you have is claiming that 5 weeks isn't a timely enough fashion and see if they'll give you a £20 LA voucher to keep you quiet ;-)

oldoakey

It sounds to me that this is due to use and not really a complaint as such and could be very easily fixed without the need for anyone to call out.

If the leg has a castor (wheel) then look for a screwdriver slot under that, there is a long bolt that runs right through the leg into the frame and this can sometimes come loose with use and it just needs to be tightened up with a large flat head screwdriver.

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