Letting agents claiming I maliciously broke bed

FutureTrunks

Hi guys.

So where do I start with this. I moved into my property in the middle of December and when I moved in I noticed that the bed I was given was a pretty cheap wooden Ikea style bed. Now this bed has a cheap wooden support beam along the centre of the bed with three support "feet" on the top, middle, and bottom of the bed. Now these three feet were very loose when I moved in and would consistently move backwards and forwards whenever I sat or laid down on the bed, not really providing any support whatsoever. I initially sent an email to the letting agents about this and told them it didn't seem like an issue at first. But over the next week or so I noticed that it kept on moving left and right, and forwards and back. So not only were the feet not bolted in correctly, the centre support beam was loose and moving too! Now I'm a big lad and I knew this wouldn't really suffice. This photo here should portray how the feet were at the beginning, but got worse over time: https://i.imgur.com/Xuv7LMS.jpg. Eventually the feet weren't even making proper contact with the floor and were at a constant angle.

I contacted them another 2 or 3 times by phone to inform them that this bed wasn't really adequate and that at the very least someone needed to come and bolt it in correctly and was told each time that someone would contact me again with an update.

Now fast forward to last week, eventually the centre support beam snapped off when I went to lie on the bed, and then when I tried to get up to see what happened, the mattress broke 3 or 4 horizontal support beams going across the width of the bed near the top. See this image here: https://i.imgur.com/cwHyraE.jpg

I contacted the letting agents straight away to inform them of the situation, I sent them images of the broken support brackets and the broken centre support beam and was told I'd be contacted again.

I just now received a reply (over a week later) to which they said the following:

1. The email you sent on the 22nd December indicates the centre legs at a slight angle, please note the bed was fully intact and the legs are not broken, they are designed to be moved and straighten at this point you could have straighten the legs by hand without the need of any tools.
   
2. The images sent on the 5th February indicate the bed was maliciously broken, its impossible for the side supports just to break as indicated in the images sent by yourself

Now they say that they were designed to be moved and straightened, but what good are centre support legs if they wobble and move in any direction at the slightest pressure? And on top of that, the centre beam itself was wobbling left and right, so there would also be lateral force on the feet as well as vertical force.

How is me lying down on my bed a "malicious" activity? It's ironic because I was trying to be careful with the bed in the first place, but apparently even me being careful wasn't good enough for this pile of junk.

Now they're saying the can provide me with a new bed at the cost £180.

Do I have any sort of defence against this?

Comms69

FutureTrunks wrote: »

Hi guys.

So where do I start with this. I moved into my property in the middle of December and when I moved in I noticed that the bed I was given was a pretty cheap wooden Ikea style bed. Now this bed has a cheap wooden support beam along the centre of the bed with three support "feet" on the top, middle, and bottom of the bed. Now these three feet were very loose when I moved in and would consistently move backwards and forwards whenever I sat or laid down on the bed - did you tighten the screws? , not really providing any support whatsoever. I initially sent an email to the letting agents about this and told them it didn't seem like an issue at first. But over the next week or so I noticed that it kept on moving left and right, and forwards and back. So not only were the feet not bolted in correctly, the centre support beam was loose and moving too! Now I'm a big lad and I knew this wouldn't really suffice. This photo here should portray how the feet were at the beginning, but got worse over time: https://i.imgur.com/Xuv7LMS.jpg. Eventually the feet weren't even making proper contact with the floor and were at a constant angle. - did you make any effort to repair / rectify

I contacted them another 2 or 3 times by phone - just for future reference for repairs - you write a letter to inform them that this bed wasn't really adequate and that at the very least someone needed to come and bolt it in correctly and was told each time that someone would contact me again with an update.

Now fast forward to last week, eventually the centre support beam snapped off when I went to lie on the bed, and then when I tried to get up to see what happened, the mattress broke 3 or 4 horizontal support beams going across the width of the bed near the top. See this image here: https://i.imgur.com/cwHyraE.jpg

I contacted the letting agents straight away to inform them of the situation, I sent them images of the broken support brackets and the broken centre support beam and was told I'd be contacted again.

I just now received a reply (over a week later) to which they said the following:

1. The email you sent on the 22nd December indicates the centre legs at a slight angle, please note the bed was fully intact and the legs are not broken, they are designed to be moved and straighten at this point you could have straighten the legs by hand without the need of any tools. - Agreed
2. The images sent on the 5th February indicate the bed was maliciously broken, its impossible for the side supports just to break as indicated in the images sent by yourself - irrelevant

Now they say that they were designed to be moved and straightened, but what good are centre support legs if they wobble and move in any direction at the slightest pressure? And on top of that, the centre beam itself was wobbling left and right, so there would also be lateral force on the feet as well as vertical force.

How is me lying down on my bed a "malicious" activity? It's ironic because I was trying to be careful with the bed in the first place, but apparently even me being careful wasn't good enough for this pile of junk. - irrelevant

Now they're saying the can provide me with a new bed at the cost £180.

Do I have any sort of defence against this?

You can just buy your own bed?

AdrianC

What have you shoved under the bed? It does look rather as if it's that which has knocked that centre leg.

It does look like a fairly cheap and nasty bed, sure - no surprise there - but when you say you're a "big lad", how big are we talking...? Any, umm, "activity" involved in the failure?

tlc678910

Hi,
Could you just ask them to remove the old bed and leave it at that.
Then buy (eBay/ free cycle) etc your own bed and take it with you (or offer to leave it/free cycle it) when you leave.
Tlc

FutureTrunks

Comms69 wrote: »

You can just buy your own bed?

1) Yes I tightened them pretty much every day, and they would come loose no matter what I did
2) Yes I would constantly go down to straighten the feet up but it didn't matter because the slightest movement would just cause them to move back to an angle no matter what I did.
3) I moved them back CONSTANTLY but it didn't matter, I had to do this every time I used the bed (which was over the course of almost a month and a half).
4) In regards to me buying my own bed, the bed came with the room so would they say anything if I got my own one?

FutureTrunks

AdrianC wrote: »

What have you shoved under the bed? It does look rather as if it's that which has knocked that centre leg.

It does look like a fairly cheap and nasty bed, sure - no surprise there - but when you say you're a "big lad", how big are we talking...? Any, umm, "activity" involved in the failure?

That's just a stand for my computer monitor which I have removed because I didn't need them anymore. They were not the objects that knocked the feet as they were already like that. The front and rear feet were like that too as you can see here: https://i.imgur.com/1bA5zEG.jpg

Bear in mind it's not just a forward and backwards movement, it's also moving from left to right.

I'm 95kg and no, there were no activities on the bed :rotfl:

Comms69

They might say something, but a 1year+ old bed frame (especially a cheap variety like this) has very little value for the LL to claim against.

FutureTrunks

tlc678910 wrote: »

Hi,
Could you just ask them to remove the old bed and leave it at that.
Then buy (eBay/ free cycle) etc your own bed and take it with you (or offer to leave it/free cycle it) when you leave.
Tlc

I'll contact them and see if they're okay with that if I can't do anything else. Hopefully they don't try to say anything about the replacement bed when I move out.

Mickey_Nine

I'd dismantle it and get another bed. They've clearly made up their mind they're not replacing it. Ask them if you can bin it. If not, store it under the new bed.

They'll try and charge you for a new bed at the check out but you have your e-mails to prove it wasn't fit for purpose so the claim shouldn't go far.

FutureTrunks

Mickey_Nine wrote: »

I'd dismantle it and get another bed. They've clearly made up their mind they're not replacing it. Ask them if you can bin it. If not, store it under the new bed.

They'll try and charge you for a new bed at the check out but you have your e-mails to prove it wasn't fit for purpose so the claim shouldn't go far.

Would they try claiming even if they agree for me to buy my own bed do you think?

tlc678910

If the bed was new the landlord might be able to use your pictures and emails to get their money back. Worth a shot maybe.