Kartell chairs refusing refund

rollerball

I purchased three designer dining chairs from an online shop, delivery took a couple of months. Upon receiving the chairs, I took them out of their large cardboard boxes and left them wrapped in their shrinkwrap in my spare room, as I was decorating the dining room they were going in. They were stored in my spare room for 2 weeks.

The chairs are made from moulded Polypropylene and have sharp angles and straight edges. When I unboxed and started using the chairs I noticed small indentations on the edges of the plastic they are made from. I pushed them underneath my dining table to see how they looked, then when I pulled them back out I noticed that this simple action of tucking them away under the table had marked the edges even further. I wasn't overly rough with them, it's the kind of typical action you do several times a day with any dining chair. I could tell right away these chairs weren't going to last, and the SAD FART "Fit for purpose AND last a reasonable length of time" rang true.

So I contacted the Online shop to return the items and get a refund. They said if I can return the chairs in their original boxes and packaging they would send them on to the manufacturer (Kartell) to assess whether we could get a refund. I explained that to open the large cardboard boxes and get the chairs out I had to rip the cardboard, which I then disposed of - so I don't have the original packaging. They've said because of this, they cannot process for a refund as Kartell will not accept a returned item not in its box.

Is this true? Does me not having the original cardboard boxes invalidate my ability to get a refund?

unholyangel

No it doesn't invalidate your rights.

I suspect they are referring to perhaps a company returns policy. Or just clueless about legal rights.

However one thing to note, it would be for you to show the goods don't conform to contract in some manner. Not liking something doesn't give you statutory rights, but something not matching its contract does. Satisfactory quality is one element of it although as above, its for you to show it doesn't meet the standard a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory taking into account all relevant information (including description, price paid etc).