Furniture Ombudsman Reduced Refund

Zara121

I’ve taken my Furniture Village claim to the Furniture Ombudsman after a Technician report confirmed a Manufacturer defect with my sofa. . I reported my corner sofa modules were not aligned properly 11 Months after purchase. The recliner section in particular stuck out from the back by 6cm. They couldn’t provide an exchange as they no longer sell the Natuzzi range so I opted for full refund.

I paid £3850 for the sofa. The Ombudsman have come back confirming a deduction of £629 for 1 year use of the sofa. I believe this is very excessive and since I have a 10 year warranty they believe the alignment issue is not covered. The Ombudsman wrote:

“I have reviewed the Technician Report as part of the evidence. I would not consider an alignment issue to be a “structural integrity” issue, and therefore it is not covered by the 10 year Guarantee.

The definition of structural integrity is, “the ability of an item—either a structural component or a structure consisting of many components—to hold together under a load, including its own weight, without breaking or deforming excessively.” In relation to a sofa, this would not be a misalignment”.

Please need advice on whether I shall settle or if there’s potential to take this claim further. Many thanks for your time.

[Deleted User]

Seems fair given you've been using it for a year.

BoGoF

Are they taking the old sofa back?

agrinnall

If you want to open a small claim to recover more of your money you can, but it's certainly not a slam dunk case in your favour. A reduction of 16% for a year's use doesn't some unreasonable to me, and you'd have to convince the court that it was in order to be awarded more.

Zara121

Yes they’ll be taking the old sofa back.

Zara121

I would have hoped the defect with alignment would somehow be covered the 10 year warranty. That way wouldn’t have had to pay a reduction. The sofa is so poorly designed compared to the sample that was sold to me on the shop floor.

bris

Zara121 wrote: »

I would have hoped the defect with alignment would somehow be covered the 10 year warranty. That way wouldn’t have had to pay a reduction. The sofa is so poorly designed compared to the sample that was sold to me on the shop floor.

They can always deduct for use after 6 months, I don't know any warranties that doesn't allow this.


I assume this fault can't be fixed or they would have done that instead.

shaun_from_Africa

Zara121 wrote: »

and since I have a 10 year warranty they believe the alignment issue is not covered. The Ombudsman wrote:

I would agree with the ombudsman and FV that alignment isn't covered by a warranty provided that the problem didn't appear over time.
A warranty is basically there to provide a remedy should a problem appear after the purchaser has taken possession of the goods and not to provide a remedy if faulty goods are provided at the onset.

Zara121 wrote: »

The sofa is so poorly designed compared to the sample that was sold to me on the shop floor.

In which case, the time to do something about this would have been within the first 30 days from when the sofa was delivered as you could have rejected it for a full refund within this time (provided that you could prove that a fault existed or that the sofa delivered differed from the one you saw in the shop).

Zara121

The Technician ( appointed by furniture village) also noted on the same report an additional defect. He catergorised it as “Manufacture fault” the sofa cushions:
“THE FOAM IS SAGGING AND COVER IS BAGGY”.
I was under the impression that with a extended guarantee they cant deduct for use, but I was corrected by bris that they still can.

Gavin83

As others have said they are allowed to deduct for use. How much they're allowed to deduct is up for discussion but I too don't think 16% is unreasonable. You could push for more, maybe suggest a deduction of 10% but ultimately if they refuse it's probably not worth pursuing. You'll probably get more if you agree to purchase your new sofa from them.

pinkshoes

I would argue the deduction is a little too high, and that a 10% to 12% deduction would be more suitable.

I would expect a sofa to last 8 to 10 years, so a deduction under £500.

£629 isn't far off the mark though. Why not ask them how they calculated this?