OakFurnitureLand Leather Chairs

Dadof4

Hi, please can you help?
I purchased a number of items from OakFurnitureLand back in Dec 2011, including a table and 10 leather covered chairs. Everything was great until around a year ago when we noticed that the leather on 2 of the chairs had started to "craze". We had purchased a leather protector kit at the time of purchase and had used this a few times, but it didn't make a difference. I contacted OakFurnitureLand and provided photos, but their standard response is that I am outside their 12 month manufacturer's warranty, so there is no help they can offer. Is this right, or do I have some form of protection under the Sale of Goods Act? Any help appreciated. Many thanks.

London50

As you are talking 5/6 years down the line then unless you can prove an inherent fault {from an independent that you will need to pay for but if you win that would be repaid}but I would think that whoever did a check {rightly or wrongly} it will be classed as normal wear.

Oakdene

It could be possible that the issue is happening on the most used chairs as its confined to only 2 of the set. It'll be wear & tear as they were bought quite a while ago.

Dadof4

Interestingly, all 10 chairs are regularly swapped position and the issue is only evident on 2 of the 10 chairs. I would hope leather chairs should last longer than 5.5 years?

askmeaboutsofas

Sorry to say that you're unlikely to get anywhere with this due to the length of time you've had the chairs. That said, if you'd like to avoid this happening in the future make sure your replacement chairs are not made of bonded leather. Bonded leather is a thin layer of leather glued to a fabric backing, and when the glue eventually fails (say after 4 years or so...) the leather layer will peel away from the backing fabric. The first symptom is cracking or crazing as you describe.
Be aware that most 'leather' dining chairs are bonded leather, not full thickness leather, and the price of a full thickness leather dining chair will be a lot more than your average chair when you come to replace them. If you'd rather have inexpensive chairs I personally would recommend you go for faux leather instead. It's not real leather, being made of PVC plastic, and it won't last like real leather either, but they're cheap and you will at least know that you're getting what you pay for!

wblondemandy

Just wondering if you managed to get your chairs sorted? Our chairs are 3 years old and they look 20 years old! There terrible! The leather is all cracked! We have also noticed a split in our dinner table and marks in our best of tables. We did take out the warranty so we’re going to try that route.