Wood flooring falsely advertised and sold - what rights do I have?

pinkcloud17

Long story but recently had "engineered wood" flooring installed through most of my house which I bought from an online retailer using debit card.

Admittedly it is cheaper than any other engineered wood I have seen, and thinner. The retailer states it's composition, but still clearly classifies it as engineered wood. Being uneducated in wood floors and on a tight budget, I bought this floor thinking I was buying a thinner type of engineered wood. I specifically wanted engineered wood and not laminate. 

Turns out after realising the rubbish quality, chips after a couple of weeks, scratches and marks, it isn't actually engineered wood according to the proper definition of engineered wood. It is made of up a 0.6mm layer of real wood with a thin layer of HDF.

Spoken to a few carpenters and they all think it's laminate. I'd say it's maybe not laminate because it does have real wood on top rather than synthetic, but the wood layer is 0.6mm!

After doing more research on the proper manufacturer website, it does not state that it is engineered wood. Rather, it is "more dimensionally stable than any traditional solid or engineered wooden floor" which I beg to differ after seeing the state of it after a couple of weeks. 

I've spent almost £2000 on the floor and £700 on an external company fitting the floor (with great difficulty due to it's poor quality). 

I've already complained to the company about defects in the wood (it's supposed to be matt lacquered but most of the planks had shiny varnished patches on them) but now I am furious that it isn't even engineered wood. 

I feel I'm going to rip this floor up and want compensated for it.

What is the best way to go about this? Thank you.

[Deleted User]

You complain to the company. If they agree it's inferior or mis-described, you should get a refund, but you won't 'get compensated' for it.

pinkcloud17

Deleted_User said:

You complain to the company. If they agree it's inferior or mis-described, you should get a refund, but you won't 'get compensated' for it.

Thanks, just meant I want a refund but it's unlikely the company will agree. In that case what can I do?

mclaren32

It’s been fitted, your chances of getting anything are slim.

you had your opportunity to review the product before it was fitted.

pinkcloud17

mclaren32 said:

It’s been fitted, your chances of getting anything are slim.

you had your opportunity to review the product before it was fitted.

That's what I was worried about, but I never realised that it wasn't engineered until now.

lemondrops69

I guess it comes do to what the definition of engineered wood is, probably very lose, so long at is has a wood veneer and a second ply then almost anything could be engineered wood. HDF core engineered flooring is a less common type. However, they are growing in popularity as they can be extremely versatile. The core works very well with DIY friendly click installation systems so installation is fast and simple. High-density fiber cores are naturally strong, so the total thickness can often be reduced, making transitions easier between other floor types.

Unless there is a manufacturing fault I dont think you stand much chance

Sandtree

The problem is obviously the question of when does laminate become engineered wood... the product you have appears to fit between the typical definition of either. Laminate is normally a printed image not wood and engineered wood is normally backed on plywood rather than HDF.

I am not sure there is a legal definition of these things and you say the website did state it was real wood on HDF and so hard to argue it isn't what they told you to at least some degree. Did it state the thickness of the layers?

Irrespective of all that you may well have grounds to reject it on its durability rather than its miss-selling. 

pinkcloud17

Sandtree said:

The problem is obviously the question of when does laminate become engineered wood... the product you have appears to fit between the typical definition of either. Laminate is normally a printed image not wood and engineered wood is normally backed on plywood rather than HDF.

I am not sure there is a legal definition of these things and you say the website did state it was real wood on HDF and so hard to argue it isn't what they told you to at least some degree. Did it state the thickness of the layers?

Irrespective of all that you may well have grounds to reject it on its durability rather than its miss-selling. 

Yes the website stated the thickness of the layers.

I guess it's just really annoying that they have stated it's engineered wood when the manufacturing company states it's not, and I've not noticed.

Regardless of the type of wood it is, it is definitely faulty. Many planks in each pack had a shiny patch of varnish which it's not supposed to, and we just noticed this after the carpenter already fitted most of the floor because it's only visible in certain lighting but, when you see it, it looks like there is a spill on certain areas of the floor. 

I've complained about this and getting not much responses except they have contacted the manufacturer.

As I mentioned it's also already chipped in several locations.

neilmcl

pinkcloud17 said:

Sandtree said:

The problem is obviously the question of when does laminate become engineered wood... the product you have appears to fit between the typical definition of either. Laminate is normally a printed image not wood and engineered wood is normally backed on plywood rather than HDF.

I am not sure there is a legal definition of these things and you say the website did state it was real wood on HDF and so hard to argue it isn't what they told you to at least some degree. Did it state the thickness of the layers?

Irrespective of all that you may well have grounds to reject it on its durability rather than its miss-selling. 

Yes the website stated the thickness of the layers.

I guess it's just really annoying that they have stated it's engineered wood when the manufacturing company states it's not, and I've not noticed.

Regardless of the type of wood it is, it is definitely faulty. Many planks in each pack had a shiny patch of varnish which it's not supposed to, and we just noticed this after the carpenter already fitted most of the floor because it's only visible in certain lighting but, when you see it, it looks like there is a spill on certain areas of the floor. 

I've complained about this and getting not much responses except they have contacted the manufacturer.

As I mentioned it's also already chipped in several locations.

Do you have a link to the manufacturer's website?

pinkcloud17

neilmcl said:

pinkcloud17 said:

Sandtree said:

The problem is obviously the question of when does laminate become engineered wood... the product you have appears to fit between the typical definition of either. Laminate is normally a printed image not wood and engineered wood is normally backed on plywood rather than HDF.

I am not sure there is a legal definition of these things and you say the website did state it was real wood on HDF and so hard to argue it isn't what they told you to at least some degree. Did it state the thickness of the layers?

Irrespective of all that you may well have grounds to reject it on its durability rather than its miss-selling. 

Yes the website stated the thickness of the layers.

I guess it's just really annoying that they have stated it's engineered wood when the manufacturing company states it's not, and I've not noticed.

Regardless of the type of wood it is, it is definitely faulty. Many planks in each pack had a shiny patch of varnish which it's not supposed to, and we just noticed this after the carpenter already fitted most of the floor because it's only visible in certain lighting but, when you see it, it looks like there is a spill on certain areas of the floor. 

I've complained about this and getting not much responses except they have contacted the manufacturer.

As I mentioned it's also already chipped in several locations.

Do you have a link to the manufacturer's website?

https://www.par-ky.com/en/

baza52

pinkcloud17 said:

Sandtree said:

The problem is obviously the question of when does laminate become engineered wood... the product you have appears to fit between the typical definition of either. Laminate is normally a printed image not wood and engineered wood is normally backed on plywood rather than HDF.

I am not sure there is a legal definition of these things and you say the website did state it was real wood on HDF and so hard to argue it isn't what they told you to at least some degree. Did it state the thickness of the layers?

Irrespective of all that you may well have grounds to reject it on its durability rather than its miss-selling. 

Yes the website stated the thickness of the layers.

I guess it's just really annoying that they have stated it's engineered wood when the manufacturing company states it's not, and I've not noticed.

Regardless of the type of wood it is, it is definitely faulty. Many planks in each pack had a shiny patch of varnish which it's not supposed to, and we just noticed this after the carpenter already fitted most of the floor because it's only visible in certain lighting but, when you see it, it looks like there is a spill on certain areas of the floor. 

I've complained about this and getting not much responses except they have contacted the manufacturer.

As I mentioned it's also already chipped in several locations.

if its chipped its probably not been laid even and the joints are raised.
This would be down to the fitting or underlay that was used.