Brand New furniture infested with weevils. Infested the flat now

DG54

My daughter purchased a brand new desk from a furniture retailer on Ebay. It looked beautiful, and she was really pleased.  Within a couple of weeks little black weevils started crawling out from the desk, and have pervaded her whole flat. When she looked back at the photos she had taken when it arrived, she realised she could actually see a dead bug visible in the packaging.

My daughter is faced with funigating her home, and throwing away infested ittems, which is a costly affair. The seller has offered a refund, but refuses to pay for any pest control products, giving a sob story about not being able to eat. Ebay have not been very helpful so far. The desk in question was still on sale after my daughter complained to both retailer and Ebay, and has now sold out - the seller still has around 50 items listed for sale.

What can she do? Is she entitled to claim help with the cost of pesticides? How can she get a response from Ebay, or should she approach some other organisation?

pbartlett

a refund is all you can expect from ebay - ebay don't do consequential loss.

is the seller in uk? if not, probably nothing you can do. if yes, you can try a small claims action for the cost of fumigaion etc

you will of course need supporting expert proof that the insects came from the desk. this is especially true as weevils dont normally live on wood.

DG54

Thanks, that is helpful, and I had thought of small claims court.  The weevils appear to have been living on the paste in the wood. It seems to have been a nest, which has now hatched, rather than arriving with live weevils eating away.

pbartlett

Ah OK, then if the seller is UK based then small claims court (moneyclaims online) but you could try first and ask the seller saying you are going to do this.

DG54

The seller looks to be Leicester based, but there is a suspicion there is a parent company based in China. My daughter has asked the seller already . He responded with a sob story that he would be unable to eat. Thanks.