Roller blinds bought online -colour difference What are my rights

gllj40

I purchased some Orla Kiely roller blinds online from a company in Northern Ireland. I had ordered samples from a few other companies but not the company I purchased the blinds from. All the samples were the same and I presumed Orla Kiely was a brand name and the material and colour would be the same whoever I bought it from. I waited 3 weeks for the blinds but when they arrived I was really disappointed with the background colour of them, which was more pale yellow than ivory that I was expecting. I decided to then order a sample from them to check what the colour should be. I received the sample and it was indeed different but the same as the other samples I had from other companies.After weeks of messaging them and sending photos to them they are refusing to do anything except quote their terms and conditions. They are in short telling me as I didnt order a sample prior to ordering the blinds they dont want to know.  Can anyone help me with what if any rights I have please?

sheramber

  Our Returns Policy

We understand that you may occasionally want to return items that are not suitable. If you are not satisfied with a product purchased from our online store, please contact customerservice@orlakiely.com within 30 days of delivery.

Did you request to return the blind within 30 days?

gllj40

The blinds are made to measure and were purchased online from a blinds company

Zinger549

sheramber said:

  Our Returns Policy

We understand that you may occasionally want to return items that are not suitable. If you are not satisfied with a product purchased from our online store, please contact customerservice@orlakiely.com within 30 days of delivery.

Did you request to return the blind within 30 days?

It doesn't say in the OP that they ordered from Orla Kiely just says that was the brand.

TELLIT01

What do the T&C say about custom made items?  They can be excluded from the standard distance selling regulations.  Not requesting samples from them prior to ordering doesn't help you case, but a sample received from them being the same colour as that from other suppliers certainly doesn't help their case.  Is there anything in the T&C about possible colour variations?

Sandtree

gllj40 said:

The blinds are made to measure and were purchased online from a blinds company

Part of the issue will be you got the sample after you got the blinds however still in the first instance raise a complaint that the colour doesn't match the sample and provide a photo showing the colour differences. As such they are not as described.

Olinda99

Could you clarify - when you ordered a sample to check (after receiving the blinds) did the sample match the blinds they sent or did it match the samples you had received from other suppliers?

Ergates

I think they're just using the sample thing as an excuse to try to avoid their responsibilities. 

The reality is that the colour of the blinds doesn't match the colour of the sample.  The order in which they're sent doesn't change that, and if the OP had got a sample first they would still have ordered the blinds and found them to be the wrong colour.

Sandtree

Ergates said:

I think they're just using the sample thing as an excuse to try to avoid their responsibilities. 

The reality is that the colour of the blinds doesn't match the colour of the sample.  The order in which they're sent doesn't change that, and if the OP had got a sample first they would still have ordered the blinds and found them to be the wrong colour.

It does because dying fabric etc often results in small differences in colours between each run which is why they tell you when buying wall paper etc to ensure that all the rolls have the same batch number.

By buying the blinds first and then a sample the vendor can say the sample was from a different batch and hence the colour difference. Had the sample been gotten first and on the basis of that the blinds ordered then there is an argument that its not matched as the sample has set the expectation. 

Manxman_in_exile

Ergates said:

I think they're just using the sample thing as an excuse to try to avoid their responsibilities. 

The reality is that the colour of the blinds doesn't match the colour of the sample.  The order in which they're sent doesn't change that, and if the OP had got a sample first they would still have ordered the blinds and found them to be the wrong colour.

I think it might be very difficult for the consumer to argue that the goods should match a sample from the retailer that they got after making the purchase.  See s13 and s14 which only refer to samples seen or examined before a contract is made.

I'm not convinced an item can generally be "not as described" if the description/sample is not seen until after it has been purchased?

Manxman_in_exile

Can somebody clarify for me something that is not clear - to me - from the OP?

Am I correct in thinking that the OP has bought a certain type of a particular brand of blinds, and that before purchasing them from trader D she based her purchase decision on samples of material and colours of the brand in question that she got from (eg) traders A, B and C, but not from trader D?

Is that what has happened?

I think it might be an unjustified leap of faith to assume that samples from A, B and C,  will necessarily match the apparently corresponding sample from D.