Sagging sofa less then a year old

serapis

Apologies if this is the wrong section. If a kind mod can move it if appropriate.

I'm having some trouble with Debenhams over a sofa we took delivery of in March this year. The issue we have is the seat cushions have sagged to such a degree I have been forced to place a wooden board under the cushions so the sofa gives support. When the board is not present the seating sags by just over 13cm. A new sofa drops by around 2cm when sat on. Ours has dropped by an additional 11cm over 11 months.

Debenhams are being rather belligerent and initially stated that as the sofa was over 1 year old, they would do nothing to rectify the problem or help. After I pointed out the sofa was less than a year old they sent an independent technician round to look at the sofa. His conclusion was there was no structural defects and so no fault.

I pointed out that the issue is with the cushions and now Debenhams say that the supplier will not replace the cushions due to us not following the care instructions. These cushions are none reversible and have been rotated between seats numerous times.

To top this off Debenhams have admitted there was an issue with the cushions on my sofa in a response to a review on their site by one of their staff.

Response from Debenhams Carly, Online team12 April 2017
Hello, this is Carly from Debenhams. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. Your feedback is very important to us. We would like to to reassure you that after receiving customer feedback, we have since worked with our suppliers to make improvements to the cushions. They now offer more support and have had the issue of loosing their shape addressed. Thanks.

At present, I am having an email conversation with a member of their furniture team but feel I am getting nowhere.

Can anyone give me any advice on how to proceed? I have quoted the Consumer Rights Act 2015 that the fails to be satisfactory quality and is therefore not fit for purpose, but Debenhams seem unwilling to address the issue.

Greta_Sharbo

serapis wrote: »

I'm having some trouble with Debenhams over a sofa we took delivery of in March this year. .

Assume you mean 2017 not this year as the rest of your post suggests 2017 but worth a clarification.

After 6 months, the onus is on the consumer to prove an inherent fault and not consumer misuse as is being suggested.

Who was the independent technician? Were they really independent? Its possible if Debenhams arranged them (which it sounds like) that they were told what outcome they were to 'find' before they even got to you.

If Debenhams wont budge, you are going to have to try to prove a fault and then pursue a remedy with this evidence. You will probably have to pay for a report - you can claim this back if you are proved to be correct.

theonlywayisup

Yes, the date is very important. I thought "this year" was a typo but then you say "less than a year old", so late March 2017 at a guess?

As per the above post. As it's over 6 months the onus is on you to prove the fault was inherent.

serapis

Thanks, Greta,

Yes, sorry typo there. The sofa was delivered to our address in March last year, so it is less than a year old and I first brought this up with Debenhams in January.

I suspect I will have to fight them and that the independent technician was not as independent as they claim.

theonlywayisup

serapis wrote: »

I suspect I will have to fight them and that the independent technician was not as independent as they claim.

You don't need to fight anyone and certainly not that technician. Employ one yourself and hope the fault is deemed inherent, then Debenhams will have to pay for the report aswell.