Damaged clothing - where do I stand when they say no?

jgallcash

I purchased a coat from an online store at the beginning of Dec. The coat arrived and within a day one of the buttons came off so I contacted the company and they refunded me the cost of a repair. Which was reasonable and suited us both.

I wore the coat last week for what must be the fifth time and when I went to put my mobile in the pocket the pocket ripped badly creating a hole where the seams meet (the seams didn't come apart).

I contacted them and they asked me to send in the coat which I duly did. I have just received a response as follows:

"Our fulfilment team have assessed the coat, and unfortunately it doesn't qualify for a refund on this occasion. Although there are some loose seams, the material around the pocket has been ripped with some force - this damage doesn't look like a manufacturing defect, but seems to be damage caused when wearing the coat. Although the loose seams were reparable, I'm afraid that the torn material isn't, meaning that we won't be able to refund or repair the coat due to the extent of the damage."

i'm very annoyed that they seem to admit the seams are loose but that they still think that it's reasonable to refuse a refund or replacement.

Could anybody advise on what my next steps are? Do I need to just suck this up and pay £50 for a new one?

Thanks in advance

iammumtoone

jgallcash wrote: »

Could anybody advise on what my next steps are? Do I need to just suck this up and pay £50 for a new one?

You ask for your coat back, it is still yours then either stop using that pocket, sew it up yourself or pay someone to sew it up. All options costing a lot less than a new coat.

societys_child

one of the buttons came off so I contacted the company and they refunded me the cost of a repair

How were the buttons attached?

jgallcash

iammumtoone wrote: »

You ask for your coat back, it is still yours then either stop using that pocket, sew it up yourself or pay someone to sew it up. All options costing a lot less than a new coat.

The hole is in an awkward position and cant be sewn up without totally messing up the right side.

Am I not right that goods should be of reasonably quality and last a reasonable length of time under what was SOGA? I could understand if I'd battered the coat but its been worn five times in 8 weeks.

societys_child wrote: »

How were the buttons attached?

They were sewn on but after the first day wearing the coat one of them just unravelled. Wasn't stitched on correctly. Last thing I wanted to do was to ask for a full replacement for such a small issue and was pleased that they offered to pay for the repair (£3) but with hindsight I wonder if it was indicative of the quality of the item.

bris

They say the coat was ripped with force, you now need to get a report that counters this and present it to them.


Whilst 8 weeks is not a long time accidents happen, that's what they see when they see it ripped, this isn't covered.

da_rule

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 (which replaced the SOGA) sets out that goods should be of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose. There is a element of price involved too, so you'd expect a £1000 coat to be of better quality than a £10 coat.

However, the difficulty you have is that they are claiming that the damage has essentially been caused by you rather than manufacturing problems. If they won't accept that you didn't do it and you've exhausted all their complaints processes, all you can do is make a claim through the courts. You'd have to ask yourself (and the courts would ask you too) whether this is appropriate for a £50 coat.

da_rule

bris wrote: »

They say the coat was ripped with force, you now need to get a report that counters this and present it to them.


Whilst 8 weeks is not a long time accidents happen, that's what they see when they see it ripped, this isn't covered.

The issue may be the cost of getting a report done may outweigh the cost of the coat. And I can't see anyway (except pursing the retailer tgrough the courts) to force them to pay for this second opinion.

jgallcash

Just thought I would update.

I politely asked them to review this issue as I thought that their admission that seams on the pockets were loose was a significant contributing factor and that along with a button failing in the first couple of days that the item didn't meet the satisfactory quality test.

They responded and said that they wouldn't expect such a problem to occur so soon after purchase and they accept it didn't meet expected standards. Refund or replacement offered.

Fosterdog

Thanks for coming back to let us know.