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

pinkcloud17

baza52 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.

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.

Even if some of the chips are in the middle of planks rather than at joints?

I used a professional fitter and an underlay recommended by the company I bought it from. 

baza52

pinkcloud17 said:

baza52 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.

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.

Even if some of the chips are in the middle of planks rather than at joints?

I used a professional fitter and an underlay recommended by the company I bought it from. 

can you upload some pics?

Sandtree

Where does the Manufacture state it isn't engineered wood flooring?

I can see there comments about it being more durable than laminate but cannot see engineered wood mentioned anywhere. Given they are based in Belgium it may just not be a term thats widely used outside the UK

pinkcloud17

baza52 said:

pinkcloud17 said:

baza52 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.

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.

Even if some of the chips are in the middle of planks rather than at joints?

I used a professional fitter and an underlay recommended by the company I bought it from. 

can you upload some pics?

There are are few that are not at joins. These happened only wearing socks. There are also some at joins. The fitter is experienced but said it's the worst floor he has ever dealt with and he was discarding loads due to chipping as he was fitting also. 

pinkcloud17

Sandtree said:

Where does the Manufacture state it isn't engineered wood flooring?

I can see there comments about it being more durable than laminate but cannot see engineered wood mentioned anywhere. Given they are based in Belgium it may just not be a term thats widely used outside the UK

Sorry it's not completely accurate that they have stated "this is not engineered wood".

It says "Our Titanium finished wood in combination with a core out of high density fibre board (HDF), makes your floor stronger and more dimensionally stable than any traditional solid or engineered wooden floor." 

Seems to suggest it is not a "traditional engineered wood floor" but could be argued.

I've emailed Parky and they are beating around the bush:
"Is this an engineered floor?" 
"It's a wooden floor"
"Yes but is it engineered wood?"
"It is a top layer of real wood on HDF"
"Yes... but is it engineered wood or not?"
No reply.

If you google the construction of engineered wood floor it certainly doesn't meet any description of engineered wood and engineered wood floors should be able to be sanded. Kind of sounds like a veneer: "veneer flooring consists of three layers; surface, core and backing. The core is made from HDF. The total thickness is 7 mm. These floors should not be re-sanded. They are installed floating on a level, solid surface such as concrete, particleboard or wood and can also be glued down."

theoretica

Wikipedia uses engineered wood for just about anything chipboard, plywood etc.  To me, the question is whether it was 'fit for purpose' as flooring.

greyteam1959

Well whatever it's made of those pictures show it looks like absolute rubbish to me.

GrumpyDil

Agreed. Pointless arguing about the definition. Approach this from the basis that the flooring isn't fit for use. Note that this claim is against the place you purchased from not the manufacturer. 

Bradden

The only UK distributor I could find is Hvwoods.. who state this on their site:

ALTERNATIVES TO AN ENGINEERED WOOD FLOOR

Engineered wood flooring is a superb alternative to a solid wood floor, but it's not necessarily a cheaper alternative. If you want the look and feel of real wood in a quality flooring but are on a tight budget a veneer could well be the perfect answer. A veneer uses a very thin layer of real wood, usually bonded to a core of some type of composite wood product like fibreboard. Par-ky is Havwoods' collection of choice; displaying all the unique characteristics of solid or engineered wood it is also tough and durable and is the European market leader in wood veneer flooring.

They do offer free samples as well. Did your supplier not offer any samples or have any info like this on their site? If they didn;t this may help your case.

https://www.havwoods.com/uk/selection/engineered-wood-flooring/?clearance=0&p=3&s=1

Flight3287462

The question are

1.  What was the new flooring laid on?  Was that sound?

2. Do you expect anything unreasonable from light domestic flooring?  (eg dropping heaving items, dragging heavy items across floor, using it for judo (or something strange)

If both those are OK then it really is carp.