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

pinkcloud17

Bradden said:

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

I bought it from hardwoodfloorstore.co.uk. They advertise it as engineered wood, not veneer. I did get samples but thought it was just a thin engineered wood. I didn't realise from the sample that it would damage so easily once laid. The large planks are much more flimsy and prone to breakage compared to the samples. I should have realised from the samples and even the planks before I laid them that it is not actually really engineered wood, but it's definitely been falsely advertised.

pinkcloud17

Hunyani_Flight_825 said:

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.

It was laid on concrete floor with this as the underlay - silver-rubber-foil-backed-underlay-3mm

I'm not expecting any of those things to happen but obviously it's not nice to be tiptoeing around your house scared of the slightest thing marking the floor. Can't even wear slippers.

pinkcloud17

@Bradden i've used that description from havwoods in my complaint, but also just noticed that havwoods also state engineered in the description of the product which will weaken my argument

https://www.havwoods.com/au/products/hw7368/

Aylesbury_Duck

I agree with others that getting hung up on the precise definition is not the best way of going about this.  You're far better off pursuing on the basis that the flooring is demonstrably not fit for purpose.

The problem you may have is that your fitter was telling you it was rubbish as he was fitting it, yet you've awaited the whole lot being fitted to raise it.

lemondrops69

I agree with PP's you're getting into too much detail on what is engineered wood and whats not. Even if its laminate it should be better quality than you have 

baza52

taken from https://res.cloudinary.com/havwoods-global/image/upload/v1555410422/au_havwoods_par-ky_technical_maintenance.pdf

OWNER/INSTALLER RESPONSIBILITY The installer assumes all responsibility for the final inspection of product quality and for intended application. This inspection of all flooring boards should be done prior to installation. Carefully examine flooring for grading, finish and colour before installing it. The installer must use reasonable selectivity and hold out or cut off pieces with deficiencies, whatever the cause. If material is doubtful as to grade, manufacture or factory finish, do not install it and contact your supplier immediately. The installer/owner is responsible for determining if the job site subfloor and job site conditions are structurally and environmentally acceptable for the product and installation. The manufacturer/importer declines any responsibility for floor failure resulting from or connected with subfloor, subsurface, job site damage, jobsite environmental deficiencies or, atmospheric conditions or deficiencies after hardwood flooring has been installed. All substrates must be dry, clean, structurally sound, and level. Use of appropriate products for correcting subfloor voids should be accepted as a normal industry practice.

pinkcloud17

baza52 said:

taken from https://res.cloudinary.com/havwoods-global/image/upload/v1555410422/au_havwoods_par-ky_technical_maintenance.pdf

OWNER/INSTALLER RESPONSIBILITY The installer assumes all responsibility for the final inspection of product quality and for intended application. This inspection of all flooring boards should be done prior to installation. Carefully examine flooring for grading, finish and colour before installing it. The installer must use reasonable selectivity and hold out or cut off pieces with deficiencies, whatever the cause. If material is doubtful as to grade, manufacture or factory finish, do not install it and contact your supplier immediately. The installer/owner is responsible for determining if the job site subfloor and job site conditions are structurally and environmentally acceptable for the product and installation. The manufacturer/importer declines any responsibility for floor failure resulting from or connected with subfloor, subsurface, job site damage, jobsite environmental deficiencies or, atmospheric conditions or deficiencies after hardwood flooring has been installed. All substrates must be dry, clean, structurally sound, and level. Use of appropriate products for correcting subfloor voids should be accepted as a normal industry practice.

Sorry but it's not just a variation in colour or finish etc. As others have been saying it's not fit for purpose and that has only really been determined after laying. Yes, alarm bells should have gone off when we saw how thin it was and difficult to install. But I was willing to accept the fact that it was thin. You've seen my photos and this damage has happened after installing so it's not like I could have pre-determined how bad it was going to be. And it's not failure due to the sub-flooring etc. It's failure due to the flooring itself. The company should accept that.

greyteam1959

The bottom line is that the product is not fit for purpose.
Too late now but you fitter was right.
It should never have been laid.

DalyBread

Hi I was wondering how what you did about your floor. Did you complain about the product not being fir for purpose and did you get a new one? Any other compensation?
We are in a similar position in that we have bought a floor online and began installation - and now need to return it as it is not as described. After a week of negotiation the company have agreed to pick up and replace the floor but refusing the labour costs we incurred.

born_again

DalyBread said:

Hi I was wondering how what you did about your floor. Did you complain about the product not being fir for purpose and did you get a new one? Any other compensation?
We are in a similar position in that we have bought a floor online and began installation - and now need to return it as it is not as described. After a week of negotiation the company have agreed to pick up and replace the floor but refusing the labour costs we incurred.

Pretty sure you will not get a reply..

Op Last Active

9 May 2021 at 8:34AM