Possibility of refund on Amtica flooring sold by Magnet?

Grooveisintheheart

Hi, in January this year we purchased 50 sq m of Amtico Spacia Click flooring (a floating LVT, luxury vinyl tile) in store from Magnet at the same time as we bought our kitchen. The flooring was on promotion and we bought enough to cover the ground floor of our house, which we were extending. The Magnet rep described the flooring as really easy to lay, he did not point out any possible drawbacks or ask about our sub-floor. We arranged with our builder, who was already installing the kitchen, that his team would install the flooring. I did let our builder know in advance what the flooring was. However during the installation, gaps appeared in areas of the floor. We stopped the installation about 2/3 of the way through. The builder has not charged us for any work done, but obviously a lot of the flooring has been cut. A rep from Amtico has visited and said that the product was fine but that the 'installation and sub-floor were to blame, that the sub-floor was unsuitable for any type of vinyl flooring'. He recommended uplifting it all, laying plywood and relaying, he has offered up to 8 more boxes as a goodwill gesture. However, we are now on our 3rd professional flooring fitter who has come to look at the situation and he has advised that that remedial / prep work would be very expensive and that even then he doesn't think the Amtico Spacia Click will work with our floor. He advised starting again with a different product. Obviously our builder was partially to blame, but do we have a case for at least a partial refund from Magnet (over and above the small number of boxes which are still unopened). We haven't approached Magnet yet to ask for a refund. Thanks for reading.

naedanger

Grooveisintheheart wrote: »

Hi, in January this year we purchased 50 sq m of Amtico Spacia Click flooring (a floating LVT, luxury vinyl tile) in store from Magnet at the same time as we bought our kitchen. The flooring was on promotion and we bought enough to cover the ground floor of our house, which we were extending. The Magnet rep described the flooring as really easy to lay, he did not point out any possible drawbacks or ask about our sub-floor. We arranged with our builder, who was already installing the kitchen, that his team would install the flooring. I did let our builder know in advance what the flooring was. However during the installation, gaps appeared in areas of the floor. We stopped the installation about 2/3 of the way through. The builder has not charged us for any work done, but obviously a lot of the flooring has been cut. A rep from Amtico has visited and said that the product was fine but that the 'installation and sub-floor were to blame, that the sub-floor was unsuitable for any type of vinyl flooring'. He recommended uplifting it all, laying plywood and relaying, he has offered up to 8 more boxes as a goodwill gesture. However, we are now on our 3rd professional flooring fitter who has come to look at the situation and he has advised that that remedial / prep work would be very expensive and that even then he doesn't think the Amtico Spacia Click will work with our floor. He advised starting again with a different product. Obviously our builder was partially to blame, but do we have a case for at least a partial refund from Magnet (over and above the small number of boxes which are still unopened). We haven't approached Magnet yet to ask for a refund. Thanks for reading.

I do not think you have a straightforward claim.

However if the product was described on the packaging, or in-store, as "easy to install over underlay" AND you can get an expert to say this is untrue then you could argue the item is not as described. Whether or not this argument would succeed would depend on whether the retailer can successfully refute it.

(As an aside, I would be slightly surprised if your floor was unsuitable for any type of vinyl.)

Grooveisintheheart

Thanks very much for your reply. So the verbal description given by the Magnet rep of the Amtico product doesn't have much/any sway?

bris

The prep for Amtico flooring is similar to the prep for tiled flooring on wooden floorboards.


It needs a minimum of 6mm (preferably thicker) ply screwed/nailed every 6 inches to guarantee no movement, screeded for bumps. It then gets glued in place. When done properly it's stunning. Your third fitter seems to be the only one who knew what he was talking about. The instruction should tell the fitters all they need to know.


I would blame them if I were you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GWtFGLAxXs

Grooveisintheheart

Bris, while it sounds like the prep you've described sounds like what's needed, the Spacia Click isn't glued down. Obviously most of Amtico's products are (I know now) but the Click floats over underlay.

naedanger

Grooveisintheheart wrote: »

Thanks very much for your reply. So the verbal description given by the Magnet rep of the Amtico product doesn't have much/any sway?

What the rep said does not sound too different from what was said on Amtico's website, namely "It’s easy to install over underlay and there’s no need for adhesive. It’s the simplest way to create seamless flooring that gives the appearance of wood or stone, but with the durability and performance of viny". So I think you could probably convince a court, on the balance of probability, you were led to believe it would be easy to install relative to alternatives with the appearance of wood or stone. If you can convince a court the description was false then you should have a strong case.

The question is whether or not you can convince a court the flooring was not as described. You are in a much better position to judge that than anyone here since you know all the facts. Of course Magnet will also be in a position to state their case fully.

bris

Grooveisintheheart wrote: »

Bris, while it sounds like the prep you've described sounds like what's needed, the Spacia Click isn't glued down. Obviously most of Amtico's products are (I know now) but the Click floats over underlay.

Ah sorry, wrong product, the FIL's was vinyl and the prep was twice as long as the fitting.