Faulty bed, refund refused - can I claim?

Robbo33

Hi, hoping someone can advise on this:

• Bought a bed over 12 months ago (delivered October 2020)
• Several bolts became loose over the course of a few weeks, could not be tightened as the bolt thread had come out of the hole, causing excessive creaking 
• Company sent me a replacement side rail section
• More bolts became loose on the other side and headboard and footboard - also not possible to tighten as thread had come out - bed creaking like mad
• I sent evidence of loose bolts in headboard and footboard sections too, but company would not replace/refund - they did replace other side rail 
• Bolts still loose on headboard and footboard, bed now creaking so badly it wakes me up when I move at night, getting in and out of bed at night is so loud it wakes the kids up
• Asked for refund under Consumer Rights Act several times over course of the issue, which has been refused 
• 'letter before claim' sent 5th April 2022
• Bed is faulty (faulty bolts - developed within first 3 months and recurring over the lifetime of the bed so far)
• Bed is not fit for purpose - i.e. sleeping in - the creaking is totally unacceptable and prevents sleep - I end up in the spare room on many nights

I just want to know what people think - as far as I can tell the criteria are fulfilled to be able to claim a refund / replacement, I have photo and video evidence of the faults and resultant creaking.

Any advice/thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you very much

TELLIT01

What time limit did you put on the 'letter before claim'? If that hasn't expired, wait for a response to the 'letter before claim' and take it from there.  No point in making any assumptions about the vendor's response at this stage.

If it has expired you will need to head for the small claims court.

Alderbank

 - as far as I can tell the criteria are fulfilled to be able to claim a refund / replacement, I have photo and video evidence of the faults and resultant creaking.

You need a little more than that. The fault which led to your problems (stripped threads) must be an intrinsic fault present when you received the bed and not caused by faulty assembly or some kind of abuse.

It sounds as though it is a metal bed, assembled by screwing steel bolts into threaded tappings in alloy frame members? The retailer might claim that you have stripped the threads by not tightening the bolts enough or overtightening them or the bed has been abused e.g. by carrying a load greater than its design load. To counter this you may have to get an independent report to say that the fault is inherent such as the alloy frames are too weak to support the tapped threads, the thread tapping was inferior, the thread pitch or diameter was unsuitable for the load, and the damage was not caused by faulty assembly or use.
The fact that the retailer sent you several replacement parts does not mean they admit there is a fault - manufacturers sometimes do this out of goodwill.

Robbo33

Thanks TELLIT - yes it's expired. Just spoken to CAB and they think that it's fairly cut and dried as a claim, but recommended ADR first - am going to offer this to the retailer first and give them until tomorrow to respond - I don't actually have to do this apparently but might be viewed more favourably going forward...

Robbo33

Thanks Alderbank, really good advice. I assume that self assembly furniture needs to be pretty bombproof to construct, it is actually very simple to put together with no margin for error as far as I (non-expert!) can tell. It's actually a solid oak bed, the bolts have a metal insert to screw the bolt into, and I had been extremely careful not to overtighten as I was aware that could cause an issue - one of the bolts was not able to be tightened fully right from the start - I did communicate this as well as my caution with overtightening the bolts, within 1 month of having the bed delivered. It's only me in the bed and I weigh 11.5 stone lol - shouldn't be too much for the poor old bolts lol

Robbo33

here's a pic of one of the bolts with the thread hanging out 
 

Olinda99

To me it looks like a design fault there is no way those little inserts are going to last - they are just going to pull out over time as you have found out! How much was the bed ?

Ergates

As the faults initially started within 6 months of purchase* then it would be on the retailer to demonstrate the faults *weren't* intrinsic, rather than on you to demonstrate they weren't.

I suppose there is some question as to whether all the falling-out bolts constitute a single issue (which the retailer has had a couple of attempts at fixing), or if they're all individual issues  - which would then mean the most recently reported issues where  reported more than six months from purchase**, which would complicate matters.  I would push for them all being a continuance of the first issue - the issue being "the bolts keep coming out" rather than "This particular bolt has come out".

* At least, it sounds like that's what you're saying - is this correct?

** Again, it sounds like that.

Robbo33

It was £619! Yes the bolts are not substantial imho but again, no expert!! It's actually an ottoman bed and the bolts that initially went are those that hold the pneumatic arm sections to the frame, those side rails take all the weight and also the strain of the bed being opened and closed with the weight of the mattress etc. Incidentally I've opened/closed the bed as little as possible to avoid unnecessary strain, but that aside, it should sure be able to be opened and shut as much as I like in order to be fit for purpose...  

@Ergates (just realised I can do the @ thingy ha) yes that's absolutely right, it is a continuance of the same fault, albeit in different areas. Started within first month, continued to present day.