Chesterfield sofa and chair damaged on delivery - what are my rights/

WDW2010

tacpot12 said:

You have had some good advice about what to do, but in future in you or anyone else is faced with a delivery driver that is reluctant to deliver the goods as you beleive they should do, tell the driver that you are not prepared to accept the goods. 

Thank you yes and I do agree and I guess the reason I didn't do that at the time or inspect them was because I was intimidated by his attitude and just wanted them gone. For future deliveries yes I will do that

WDW2010

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

If the goods don't conform it doesn't matter if they were custom or not and the regs state:

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/9/enacted

Every contract to supply goods is to be treated as including a term that the quality of the goods is satisfactory.

The quality of goods includes their state and condition; and the following aspects (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods—

(c) freedom from minor defects;

So although the damage may be minor it doesn't give the trader an excuse not to offer a remedy. 

Do we have to pay return fees?

Ergates

WDW2010 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

If the goods don't conform it doesn't matter if they were custom or not and the regs state:

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/9/enacted

Every contract to supply goods is to be treated as including a term that the quality of the goods is satisfactory.

The quality of goods includes their state and condition; and the following aspects (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods—

(c) freedom from minor defects;

So although the damage may be minor it doesn't give the trader an excuse not to offer a remedy. 

Do we have to pay return fees?

Not if you are rejecting them because they are faulty.   

You might have been liable for return fees if you were rejecting them for other reasons - e.g. you realised they didn't match your carpet - *and* if such fees were clearly stated in the Ts&Cs.   But that isn't the case here as they're damaged

Ergates

WDW2010 said:

I guess my question is are we entitled to any financial compensation re the awful delivery and scratched paintwork 

You're not entitled to any *compensation* for the delivery being bad - other than a refund for the goods (and delivery costs) because they were damaged upon receipt.   However, if the damage to the paintwork is significant, you could ask for a reimbursement for whatever it costs to make it right.  Without seeing the damage it's impossible to say - compare the cost/time to fix it with the time and hassle it'd take to argue the case.  Unless they've really gouged the walls or something, it's probably not worth it.

WDW2010

Ergates said:

WDW2010 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

If the goods don't conform it doesn't matter if they were custom or not and the regs state:

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/9/enacted

Every contract to supply goods is to be treated as including a term that the quality of the goods is satisfactory.

The quality of goods includes their state and condition; and the following aspects (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods—

(c) freedom from minor defects;

So although the damage may be minor it doesn't give the trader an excuse not to offer a remedy. 

Do we have to pay return fees?

Not if you are rejecting them because they are faulty.   

You might have been liable for return fees if you were rejecting them for other reasons - e.g. you realised they didn't match your carpet - *and* if such fees were clearly stated in the Ts&Cs.   But that isn't the case here as they're damaged

Thank you so much this is really useful and I appreciate your reply. So they should arrange to collect and return the items? I have looked at other company websites and its really clear in terms of the procedure for cancelling/returning but hard to find on this company's site

Ergates

They should arrange to collect them.   Smaller items that could be posted, they could ask you to mail them back and reimburse you the cost of postage.   But obviously that's not going to work for furniture!

cx6

keep a copy of everything as if (as may happen) they just ignore your return request and messages then your card company is the next point of call.

I would email AND post them a signed for letter within the 14 / 30 days rejecting the faulty sofas and asking for them to be collected.

WDW2010

Okay we are going to request a refund - nervous that they are not going to accept this but I don't think we will be happy with a repaired sofa after spending that much money plus the attitude following the delivery has altered my opinion of them as a company

WDW2010

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

You can reject outright for a full refund within 30 days for the damage.

Alternatively you can leave it to them to repair or replace. 

If they aren't able to repair or replace in a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience, or if after one repair the goods still don't conform to the contract, you can either exercise your final right to reject (for a full refund if within 6 months) or you can keep the goods accepting the fault in return for a price reduction. 

You can't force them to replace (either the sofa or the feet) unfortunately so will have to decide between accepting their offer of repair and seeing how this fairs or rejecting now.  

You may have claim for a refund of part of the delivery fee if this service wasn't carried out in accordance with the contract, perhaps best to get the sofa sorted and complain about this afterwards (although if you go for a full refund obviously the delivery fee would also need to be refunded in full, anything above a full refund would be goodwill at their discretion). 

I have received the following reply:

Good afternoonl,

As your furniture is bespoke  (made to your requirements) and not faulty, under consumer law we are within our rights not to provide a refund but offer a repair.

There is only slight damage which was caused during delivery.

We are entitled to repair the furniture and are willing to send a technician to repair in house to cause minimum disruption.

We are prepared to refund the cost of delivery once the furniture has been repaired.

Regards

Is this correct? The furniture is not bespoke in that we chose the studs, colours from their set requirements. 

cx6

That is not correct. It is from their standard list of options and thus not bespoke.

You have the option to tell them a. the item is faulty and b. in any case you wish a refund under the 14 day returns option or you will go to your card company (unless of course you want to accept their offer)