DFS legal threat!

cx6

I think the OP is timing the 6 months from the July order date.

Ath_Wat

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

OP there are a few things to consider, firstly their loss is not £699, for starters on the sale price £116 would be VAT which they don't have to pay on a replacement as there's no monetary input, their (non compliant) terms for cancelling your contract state a return fee of up to 20% so so you'd be fair in assuming their cost of collecting the incorrect sofa is up to £140 meaning their direct loss is their net landed price minus collection which is going to be relatively small.   

The other issue is what did they expected you to do with the sofa, if they said you can use the sofa whilst waiting for the new one then it's value is what, £50?

If they expected you to keep a sofa unused in your house for 7 months before collecting I think that would be unacceptable plus they wouldn't be providing a remedy (solving the problem) within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenient.  So it may be reasonable to argue the assumption was the incorrect sofa could be used whilst they spent a considerable amount of time fixing the problem (i.e getting a new sofa to you). 

With this in mind I would write a letter to the store manager and hand it in in person, saying the second hand sofa they allowed you to use in the meantime was sold at market value and offer them the £50 you received for the sale (as you shouldn't benefit from the sale of the incorrect sofa and it's always best to be seen as acting reasonably). 

If they decide to take court action I would suggest you seek professional advice but raise the points above. I can only see that they either expected you to use the incorrect sofa as thus it's value is very little or that they failed to meet their obligations to provide a remedy within the requirements of the Consumer Rights Act. 

The value of the sofa is surely immaterial as they have made no mention of charging the OP for it, they just want their property returned.  The idea that they want it back unused is an assumption you are making as the OP said
"They won’t be selling it on, it’ll be, most likely, destroyed, from the way he described it. They don’t expect it to be in a resale condition, they just want it back." and "They have to return it to the supplier as proof".
I can't see any reason they are not entitled to collect their property, which they allowed the OP to use while they sorted the problem, at their own expense.  In fact if they do this I think their customer service has been admirable.

If they complain about the condition (something the OP has expressly stated they are not going to do) then what you say might be relevant, but so far, they have not.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Ath_Wat said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

OP there are a few things to consider, firstly their loss is not £699, for starters on the sale price £116 would be VAT which they don't have to pay on a replacement as there's no monetary input, their (non compliant) terms for cancelling your contract state a return fee of up to 20% so so you'd be fair in assuming their cost of collecting the incorrect sofa is up to £140 meaning their direct loss is their net landed price minus collection which is going to be relatively small.   

The other issue is what did they expected you to do with the sofa, if they said you can use the sofa whilst waiting for the new one then it's value is what, £50?

If they expected you to keep a sofa unused in your house for 7 months before collecting I think that would be unacceptable plus they wouldn't be providing a remedy (solving the problem) within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenient.  So it may be reasonable to argue the assumption was the incorrect sofa could be used whilst they spent a considerable amount of time fixing the problem (i.e getting a new sofa to you). 

With this in mind I would write a letter to the store manager and hand it in in person, saying the second hand sofa they allowed you to use in the meantime was sold at market value and offer them the £50 you received for the sale (as you shouldn't benefit from the sale of the incorrect sofa and it's always best to be seen as acting reasonably). 

If they decide to take court action I would suggest you seek professional advice but raise the points above. I can only see that they either expected you to use the incorrect sofa as thus it's value is very little or that they failed to meet their obligations to provide a remedy within the requirements of the Consumer Rights Act. 

The value of the sofa is surely immaterial as they have made no mention of charging the OP for it, they just want their property returned.  The idea that they want it back unused is an assumption you are making as the OP said
"They won’t be selling it on, it’ll be, most likely, destroyed, from the way he described it. They don’t expect it to be in a resale condition, they just want it back." and "They have to return it to the supplier as proof".
I can't see any reason they are not entitled to collect their property, which they allowed the OP to use while they sorted the problem, at their own expense.  In fact if they do this I think their customer service has been admirable.

If they complain about the condition (something the OP has expressly stated they are not going to do) then what you say might be relevant, but so far, they have not.

OP said they sold the incorrect sofa so my post is on the assumption it can’t be returned.

If OP sold to a friend or such who will give it back to the OP then probably problem solved.

If they sold it to a stranger there’s less chance of getting it back again. 

If it went to small claims DFS would be looking to recover the value rather than the actual sofa (never heard it mentioned here that small claims courts can instruct specific pieces of property to be returned?)

molerat

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

OP said they sold the incorrect sofa so my post is on the assumption it can’t be returned.

If OP sold to a friend or such who will give it back to the OP then probably problem solved.

If they sold it to a stranger there’s less chance of getting it back again. 

If it went to small claims DFS would be looking to recover the value rather than the actual sofa (never heard it mentioned here that small claims courts can instruct specific pieces of property to be returned?)

OP has clarified they sold their old sofa and put the incorrect one in its place.

Sold my old sofa for £50 to make space for the one they want back

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

molerat said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

OP said they sold the incorrect sofa so my post is on the assumption it can’t be returned.

If OP sold to a friend or such who will give it back to the OP then probably problem solved.

If they sold it to a stranger there’s less chance of getting it back again. 

If it went to small claims DFS would be looking to recover the value rather than the actual sofa (never heard it mentioned here that small claims courts can instruct specific pieces of property to be returned?)

OP has clarified they sold their old sofa and put the incorrect one in its place.

Sold my old sofa for £50 to make space for the one they want back

Thanks molerat, so I’ve got it all wrong then!

OP ended up with two sofas from DFS, thought they could keep the incorrect one so sold their original sofa which they wouldn’t have otherwise done.

In that case I guess it’s a case of either return the incorrect one as they are asking and pick up a second hand sofa or offer DFS some money to keep the incorrect one.

Their 30% discount to keep it is probably on the low side, try for 70% off and see what they’ll haggle to, meeting around the more favourable side of half price doesn’t sound like too bad a deal. 

If you’ve offered a fair sum to keep it then the small claims process would probably question why they didn’t accept. 

Ath_Wat

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

molerat said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

OP said they sold the incorrect sofa so my post is on the assumption it can’t be returned.

If OP sold to a friend or such who will give it back to the OP then probably problem solved.

If they sold it to a stranger there’s less chance of getting it back again. 

If it went to small claims DFS would be looking to recover the value rather than the actual sofa (never heard it mentioned here that small claims courts can instruct specific pieces of property to be returned?)

OP has clarified they sold their old sofa and put the incorrect one in its place.

Sold my old sofa for £50 to make space for the one they want back

If you’ve offered a fair sum to keep it then the small claims process would probably question why they didn’t accept. 

They've said why they want it back according to the OP; they need to return it to their supplier, where it will be destroyed.  Why they need to do that is their business.

Spies

How does a sofa get "stained and all sorts" in only 4 months, did you not look after it because you didn't care as you thought it was 'free'?

Ath_Wat

I can't edit the above post but would add that no doubt they think they could get more than 30% of its value by doing so.  Possibly it's the end supplier who made the mistake on the order and thus will be refunding DFS, but only if DFS get their sofa back.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Ath_Wat said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

molerat said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

OP said they sold the incorrect sofa so my post is on the assumption it can’t be returned.

If OP sold to a friend or such who will give it back to the OP then probably problem solved.

If they sold it to a stranger there’s less chance of getting it back again. 

If it went to small claims DFS would be looking to recover the value rather than the actual sofa (never heard it mentioned here that small claims courts can instruct specific pieces of property to be returned?)

OP has clarified they sold their old sofa and put the incorrect one in its place.

Sold my old sofa for £50 to make space for the one they want back

If you’ve offered a fair sum to keep it then the small claims process would probably question why they didn’t accept. 

They've said why they want it back according to the OP; they need to return it to their supplier, where it will be destroyed.  Why they need to do that is their business.

I understand that but my point was if the OP doesn’t give it back DFS will have to recover the monetary value via small claims.

Are you saying the small claims process can instruct the OP to hand back the actual sofa?

NBLondon

Ath_Wat said:

They've said why they want it back according to the OP; they need to return it to their supplier, where it will be destroyed.  Why they need to do that is their business.

Surely, it's because DFS need to prove to the supplier (who made the sofa) that they made it in the wrong colour and therefore the supplier/manufacturer should refund DFS.

The unanswered question here is why DFS didn't arrange the return/pickup of the rejected sofa as soon as the OP decided they wanted a replacement rather than a discount.  Then why didn't they arrange for the team delivering the correct replacement to also pick up the rejected one (unless the replacement was delivered direct from the manufacturer).