Carpet estimator came up short

kerriejhg

Hi
I recently ordered some carpet from a very well known High Street retailer. I wanted a carpet runner as I had seen them in a magazine and thought they looked nice. But I did not know what width they should be. So I went with the advice of the carpet estimator. I did not re-measure as I thought they are the experts.. but when the carpet was fitted it was too narrow and in places did not cover the unpainted wood. The fitter said (off the record) that it was 10cm too narrow. The retailer is refusing to replace it saying it was my responsibility for checking the measurements.  Can anyone please advise if I have any grounds to get them to replace it?
Thanks in advance 

Aylesbury_Duck

kerriejhg said:

Hi
I recently ordered some carpet from a very well known High Street retailer. I wanted a carpet runner as I had seen them in a magazine and thought they looked nice. But I did not know what width they should be. So I went with the advice of the carpet estimator. I did not re-measure as I thought they are the experts.. but when the carpet was fitted it was too narrow and in places did not cover the unpainted wood. The fitter said (off the record) that it was 10cm too narrow. The retailer is refusing to replace it saying it was my responsibility for checking the measurements.  Can anyone please advise if I have any grounds to get them to replace it?
Thanks in advance 

I can't see that you have grounds for a replacement if you allowed them to estimate it.  Did they come to your house and measure?

Grumpy_chap

I assume by "estimator" you mean someone visited the house to measure.

Once they gave you the "preferred" width of carpet for your stairs, did you re-paint the boundary stripes?  It was perhaps up to you to make sure the boundary stripes were wide enough - you will have had the width of the carpet written on the order paperwork. 

A difference of 10 cm is only 1" either side so I can see in a lot of cases, the boundary stripe could easily be an inch wider and it would still look "correct".

kerriejhg

Thank you for your replies. To clarify, the stairs were already painted. The estimator came to the house to measure. I wasn't given an option about this. I told him I wanted the runner to be 55cm. He told me 50cm would be okay. The carpet was just whipped on the edges, so the total width is still 50cm. Not only does it look too narrow the carpet does not cover bare wood, so I will have to get this rubbed down and painted again if they don't replace the runner.

Wanderingpomm

Then it’s been measured wrong. This is the shops fault as they have not delivered what you asked for 

kerriejhg

Problem is I agreed the estimators advice of 50cm.... my query is would I have grounds to say the advice was poor and the carpet was mis-sold?

sheramber

Why did you agree to a width of 50 cms when you knew you needed 55 cms?

 in places did not cover the unpainted wood. 

That sounds like the edges are not uniform.   Did the bit the estimator measured only measure 50 cms between the painted areas but in other places  the measurement is more?

Walls are often not straight. Mine are out of true by 1 mm on one side but 5 mms on the other side.  if the floor  area was painted measuring from the walls that could explain why the middle space is larger in some areas.

kerriejhg

I agree to 50cm because I thought the estimator knew better than me....

I think you must be right about measuring the muddle and not from the walls. 

beeg0d

There is no right or wrong for the width of stair runners its all down to personal taste. ive cut 90cm (very wide staircase) wide runners and ive cut 40cm wide ones (between 40 and 50 is the "standard"). The only true "rule" there is, is that both the covered sides and uncovered sides should be wide enough to walk on. so you should be able to confortably walk on the wood (one foot per step) without touching the carpet. or walk on the carpet without touching the stairs. on a typical staircase (appx 80cm) a 50cm runner would only give you about 15cm each side which is quite narrow for the painted sides.

I personally dont think youve got much of a claim here. you stated a preference, the estimator suggested a reccomendation you agreed to his recommendation but im sure could have demended 55cm and he would have agreed.

TELLIT01

Grumpy_chap said:

I assume by "estimator" you mean someone visited the house to measure.

Once they gave you the "preferred" width of carpet for your stairs, did you re-paint the boundary stripes?  It was perhaps up to you to make sure the boundary stripes were wide enough - you will have had the width of the carpet written on the order paperwork. 

A difference of 10 cm is only 1" either side so I can see in a lot of cases, the boundary stripe could easily be an inch wider and it would still look "correct".

It's actually 2" either side, but the simplest solution would seem to be to paint the exposed woodwork.