Habitat Hendricks sofa caused injury to my children

Wonderstuff12

I need some advice if possible. In March we ordered a Hendricks sofa from the Brighton branch of Habitat. In June it arrived, firstly with no feet. On calling Habitat several time and waiting on hold for hours they managed to find them, subsequently we ended up with a courier delivering 5 feet?! In the meantime the children were on the sofa and the buttons which form part of the design, had not been secured correctly. They both scratched their knees on a button which flipped over to reveal a sharp plastic underside. This occurred every time we sat on the sofa the buttons became loose with the weight of sitting. Habitat have sent a man to fix the buttons and these now seem to be secured. However my children both still have the scars from the sofa button. Habitat have offered £20 as a gesture of goodwill. We have tried to contact Habitat but they appear to be utterly useless in responding. Has anyone else experienced an injury from furniture? What did you do? I just think £20 is pretty poor. Please advise. Thanks 

k3lvc

Were any nuns injured as well ? Is there blood staining on the sofa ? Do the kids have no backsides so they have to 'sit' on their knees on the sofa ??

If none of these apply then take the £20 and get on with your life

Penguin_

I do hate the culture we seem to be in now. Tell your children to sit properly on a brand new sofa!! 

pinkshoes

Wonderstuff12 said:

I need some advice if possible. In March we ordered a Hendricks sofa from the Brighton branch of Habitat. In June it arrived, firstly with no feet. On calling Habitat several time and waiting on hold for hours they managed to find them, subsequently we ended up with a courier delivering 5 feet?! In the meantime the children were on the sofa and the buttons which form part of the design, had not been secured correctly. They both scratched their knees on a button which flipped over to reveal a sharp plastic underside. This occurred every time we sat on the sofa the buttons became loose with the weight of sitting. Habitat have sent a man to fix the buttons and these now seem to be secured. However my children both still have the scars from the sofa button. Habitat have offered £20 as a gesture of goodwill. We have tried to contact Habitat but they appear to be utterly useless in responding. Has anyone else experienced an injury from furniture? What did you do? I just think £20 is pretty poor. Please advise. Thanks 

Both of them? On their knees on a brand new sofa? Both scratched their knees at the same time?

Did you check the sofa didn't have any sharp bits on it before letting the kids loose on it? Surely you would examine a sofa before letting kids jump on it? If my kids get injured jumping on or off my sofa then I'm afraid it's tough sh*t, because sofas are for sitting on, not climbing, so if they get injured they will just have to get over it. 

How much has a scratch on their knees impacted their lives so far? 

Wonderstuff12

Thanks for the replies, to confirm the sofa is wide and the kids can both sit on the sofa and are very sensible. There is absolutely no way I would let them jump on a brand new sofa or indeed an old sofa - but thanks for your speculation on knowing the ins and out of every household in the UK and their sofa use! The problem is when you sit the buttons were loose and flipped over these are the buttons with a toggle underside which on one had a sharp edge. This happened on the first day of having the sofa, not over a prolonged period of time. After the injury no one sat on the sofa. They both have a scar 4 months later. If lockdown wasn’t in prime I would have taken them to A&E. 

We did examine the sofa fully- but the incident could only happen whilst sitting on the sofa which causes the button to pop out of the position each time and flip as you sit down and then move - only by looking at the sofa you’ll see what I mean. 

JJ_Egan

£20 you can ask for more or take them to court .

But you will need a medical report for the injury's.

Wonderstuff12

JJ_Egan said:

£20 you can ask for more or take them to court .

But you will need a medical report for the injury's.

Thanks - unsure what to do as never been through this before. 

Sandtree

Wonderstuff12 said:

 However my children both still have the scars from the sofa button. 

Do you really mean scars? That in 50 years time the marks will still be visible on their knees or are you talking about scratches/scabs?

Did they go to A&E? Have you engaged any medical professional for their injury?

On the surface it all it sounds as if you are being melodramatic but obviously none of us have seen whats happened etc. If there were to be compensation for their injuries then the compensation is for and to them, as they are minors (under 18) any compensation must go to court for approval to ensure no one is trying to take advantage of them.  

If it is token injuries then no one is going to want to deal with it for you because compensation will be under £1,000 per person and so lawyer fees are unrecoverable so unless you are willing to pay lawyers more than your kids compensation will be "on principle" then possibly ask for a greater gesture of goodwill or just move on with life and google treatments that can be done to reduce scaring. 

Torry_Quine

Wonderstuff12 said:

I need some advice if possible. In March we ordered a Hendricks sofa from the Brighton branch of Habitat. In June it arrived, firstly with no feet. On calling Habitat several time and waiting on hold for hours they managed to find them, subsequently we ended up with a courier delivering 5 feet?! In the meantime the children were on the sofa and the buttons which form part of the design, had not been secured correctly. They both scratched their knees on a button which flipped over to reveal a sharp plastic underside. This occurred every time we sat on the sofa the buttons became loose with the weight of sitting. Habitat have sent a man to fix the buttons and these now seem to be secured. However my children both still have the scars from the sofa button. Habitat have offered £20 as a gesture of goodwill. We have tried to contact Habitat but they appear to be utterly useless in responding. Has anyone else experienced an injury from furniture? What did you do? I just think £20 is pretty poor. Please advise. Thanks 

Wonderstuff12 said:

Thanks for the replies, to confirm the sofa is wide and the kids can both sit on the sofa and are very sensible. There is absolutely no way I would let them jump on a brand new sofa or indeed an old sofa - but thanks for your speculation on knowing the ins and out of every household in the UK and their sofa use! The problem is when you sit the buttons were loose and flipped over these are the buttons with a toggle underside which on one had a sharp edge. This happened on the first day of having the sofa, not over a prolonged period of time. After the injury no one sat on the sofa. They both have a scar 4 months later. If lockdown wasn’t in prime I would have taken them to A&E. 

We did examine the sofa fully- but the incident could only happen whilst sitting on the sofa which causes the button to pop out of the position each time and flip as you sit down and then move - only by looking at the sofa you’ll see what I mean. 

So no-one sat on the sofa after the injury but in the first post you said the buttons popped over everytime someone sat on it.
The thing though that I'm most surprised by is that you didn't take them to A &E for an injury that was so bad they are still scarred.

mattyprice4004

Scars? From a plastic button?! 
Come off it. 

Wonderstuff12

Thanks it’s hard to know what to do as the sofa was clearly at fault and has been repaired. They have scars, we managed to get the strip plasters for deep cuts as we didn’t want to risk going to A&E for stitches. Really hard getting into see any GP at the moment. Habitat have been really poor with any communication or customer service. Thanks for your help and advice.