wrong sofa delivered, seller refusing to correct

diogrwydd

My parents have taken delivery of a new 3 piece suite today after months of waiting, to discover that the totally wrong sized sofa has been delivered.

At the time of order, they had a very specific discussion with the sales rep about wanting a 3 seater sofa that actually had 3 seats (as apposed to two large seats that can fir 3 people). This led to the rep taking them to another part of the showroom, showing them a larger four seater option, and making a number of calls to confirm that a 3 seater version is available.

The sofa delivered is tiny by comparison to what they have discussed, and is totally the wrong item.

Initial calls to the rep resulted in an offer to take the wrong item back and pay the difference for the larger one, which has since been retracted as "the MD said you got what you signed for".

Now technically, the contract signed states 3 piece, however there are no dimensions or images to correspond with this, only meaningless inventory codes. The rep is also denying that the conversation regarding the larger version also took place, despite my parents having a photo of my father sitting in the 4 seater version at the time of sale.

Upon looking on the web there seems to be a number of similar outrageous customer service examples from the same company. As expected they spend more time on their contracts than anything else, is there any suitable course of action that can be taken to force them to correct what is at best their error, or at worst intentionally misleading and mistreating their customers?

Interestingly my parents now also recall a comment the sales rep made during his initial patter about the care they take to making sure everything is correct at the time for sale, because they have to pay for any corrections out of their own salaries...

ssparks2003

So does the sofa that has been delivered have 3 seats? if so then i struggle to see how it is the wrong sofa, it is small that the 4 seater by exactly 1 seat.

seashore22

Did your parents get the exact dimensions of the 3 seat sofa? Did your parents think that the 3 seat sofa would have the same dimensions as the 4 seat one?

I would always expect a 3 seater to be smaller than a 4 seater and, having recently spent months deciding on a new sofa for our house, I can tell you that options and sizes vary considerably. You have to know exactly what you are buying - height, depth and width.

I would also say that a photo of your dad sat on a sofa that they didn't order is irrelevant.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

You seem to be confused between "seats" and "cushions".

diogrwydd

yes sorry, it is a sofa that can sit 3 people, but has two cushions. While they wanted a 3 seater, the version delivered is considerably smaller than what they agreed with the rep.

The issue is that they had a very specific conversation with the rep at the time of order about the requirements, he said he could sort something out, made a few phone calls, confirmed it was possible and completed the order form with them on the basis of that conversation.

The sofa which has since arrived is not what they discussed (at all), and the rep is now denying the conversation ever took place.

To me this sits under section 14 of the sales of goods and services act 1979

Fitness for purpose, s14(3)
If the buyer expressly or implicitly makes his purpose for the goods known to the seller, the seller is obliged to make sure the goods provided are fit for that purpose, if it is reasonable for the buyer to rely on the seller's expertise. An example of the application of this provision can be found in Godley v Perry[15]

The rep has at best made a massive mistake and is refusing to correct it, or at worst knew exactly what he was doing in intentionally misleading.

What would be the best course of action considering their attitude is very belligerent, and they are obviously working in some kind of high-pressure sales environment where errors are presumably deducted from their bonus pot.

agrinnall

Were the dimensions of the sofa that they wanted included in the contract that they signed? Given the absolute importance they put on this it would seem to have been a sensible thing to insist on.

sheramber

the three seater settee will be the size the manufacturer makes it. The seller will have no control over the size.

seashore22

So it's a three seater which has 2 cushions and is smaller than they wanted?

I tend to agree with some of the above comments. Sofas are general made to particular styles and dimensions and manufacturers usually produce leaflets which show all the types and sizes in a particular range. When we bought our sofa we know precisely what it would be like (3 seater/2 cushions) because we could point to it in the brochure.

Unless it was a very expensive and bespoke store I don't see how the rep could have "sorted" anything unless that actual sofa existed. Does the sofa they want exist? Did your parents see a leaflet which showed their exact sofa?

What store was it? Which brand of sofa?

IAmWales

To give us some context, what size is the sofa?