New sofa nearly set on fire

SabreUK

Just got my new electric recliner sofa delivered from ScS; not happy is an understatement. Within 5 minutes my living room was filled with smoke from an electrical fire. It’s a good job I didn't leave the house or the whole place would have gone up in flames. It turns out the transformer was at fault.

I telephoned their technical support section and explained the situation; they didn’t seem to take it very seriously at all. The reply I received was; a technician will telephone you within the next 24-48hrs. Frustrated with the response; I took to Twitter, to see if I could receive a better response from the SCS Sofas Twitter page; to which I never received a reply.

The following day I returned to the store the where I had ordered the sofa from. To be honest, the sales team and store manager were very helpful indeed once I produced photos of the faulty sofa.

To cut a long story short; my wife and I have since chosen replacement sofa at an additional cost of £130 on the original price. We have both been put off the electric recliner and have opted for a manual recliner as a result.

Do you think we have grounds to make a complaint and take the matter further; and if so what would be the best course of action to take?

wealdroam

SabreUK wrote: »

Do you think we have grounds to make a complaint and take the matter further; and if so what would be the best course of action to take?

Firstly, consider what you hope to achieve by making a complaint.

Fosterdog

Under the circumstances IMO SCS should offer to cover the £130 difference, this isn't just a case of a faulty item causing some inconvenience this really could have been very dangerous.

Andy262

We purchased a 2 and 3 seater lazy boy electric recliners for £3,600.00 and were delivered on 17/03/2016. We had paid extra to have grade A leather but all the leather on the back has shrunk away and will not fix to the bottom of the sofas. I rung to tell SCS of the issue and was told I would have to wait 4 weeks for an assessor to come and inspect I felt the long wait must be due to the amount of complaints they have. The assessor arrived and agreed the sofas were of poor quality and I had to write on his report what I would like to resolve this so I put I would like a full refund. I received a letter stating as the complaint was raised 30 days after the delivery I was not entitled to a refund and it would be repaired. I was not happy with this as lazy boy are one of the market leaders in sofas so I rung them and was told as the issue is with SCS that the complaint has to be dealt with by them. I have to wait 5 to 7 weeks before the repairs are done and I have asked if I will be compensated but to be rudely told no and I have to accept this. I feel that their are no procedures in place to protect you when you have a major issue with a product that is of poor condition.

DoaM

Goods were delivered on 17/03/2016. When did you report the fault? If it was later than 16/04/2016 then SCS are correct ... you were outside the 30 day window where the absolute right to reject applied. Therefore any remedy (repair, replace, refund) is at the seller's discretion - you can request a specific one (e.g. refund) but the seller can reject if it is disproportionately costly.

In this case SCS have opted for repair. If they'd agreed to a refund they could have reduced the amount to account for usage (if your complaint was made more than 6 months from delivery. And that's the important date ... when you first notified them of an issue, NOT when they got around to sending someone out).

Nilrem

I would in addition to any complaint or report you make to the retailer make one to Trading Standards as it's a potential safety issue that they should be aware of (otherwise they may not get notified until one burns down a house or worse if it's not just an isolated incident).

[Deleted User]

Nilrem wrote: »

I would in addition to any complaint or report you make to the retailer make one to Trading Standards as it's a potential safety issue that they should be aware of (otherwise they may not get notified until one burns down a house or worse if it's not just an isolated incident).

I assume you are responding to the OP who posted this thread six months ago. The thread was bumped up today (at post #4) by another poster who simply has an issue with the leather covers, so no safety issue....

Nilrem

Aye i didn't spot the fact it was bumped:o so was replying to the fact the op's one nearly caught fire.