Office chair with inadequately designed backrest not fit for purpose - am I entitled to refund?

jez9999

I spent nearly 800 quid on a high back chair from a company who boasts about the ergonomic benefits of their chairs.  I have now had the back rest break on me *twice* in the same way, because I believe it not designed to be fit for purpose.  A relatively weak piece of plastic attaches the back rest to the seat, and as I like to lean back on the back rest, over time the plastic fails.  It has broken on me twice, the most recent time causing me to fall back onto the floor and scratch my back.

I'm now at the point where I don't think the chair is actually fit for purpose.  I don't think it can handle a normal man leaning back on it for a prolonged period of time (it comes with a 5 year warranty and it's only a year since I bought it!) so I'd like to get a full refund - a 'repair' will just replace the backrest with another one attached with weak plastic.  Am I entitled to a refund?  Do I quote the Consumer Rights act at the company?  And if, as I suspect, they refuse to give a refund, what then?  Are there any good solicitors who specialize in this kind of thing?

user1977

You're not entitled to a full refund if you've had a year's use out of it. And after this length of time, the onus will be on you to prove the problems are down to an inherent fault.

I doubt using solicitors is going to be cost-effective, as your legal costs are likely to be as much (or more) than whatever you get.

jez9999

Actually, it broke once within the year already.  So it's not a full year's worth of use without breaking.

user1977

jez9999 said:

Actually, it broke once within the year already.  So it's not a full year's worth of use without breaking.

Whatever. Same principle applies (assuming that the fact it's a design fault means that replacing or repairing it aren't options).

Alderbank

Your post has a sniff of the DSE regulations 1992 about it. First of all, can we confirm that you bought the chair as a consumer purchase and not as an item of work equipment? 

If you bought as a consumer the retailer is entitled to only one go at fixing it before conceding to your request for a refund. It sounds like he has accepted that the chair has a fault since he has fixed it once but the same part has failed again.
How long have you had the chair? Less or more than six months? As said above he may be able to reduce the refund according to the time you have had the chair.

If he continues to refuse to co-operate you might have to threaten small claims court. Be aware however that there will be a number of possible defences open to him. For example, were you using the chair exactly as described in the instructions for safe use? If the instructions say 'do not lean back on the chair for prolonged periods' your case will fail.

jez9999

Yes it was a consumer purchase.  It's about a year old.  And yeah it failed once before in the same way.  Seems to me that a "backrest" should be something you can rest your back on.  And I didn't see anything about not leaning back on it for prolonged periods.  That would probably have discouraged me from buying, lol.

HillStreetBlues

Will play devil's advocate

jez9999 said:

 I like to lean back on the back rest,

So, not just resting your back on the backrest, but leaning on it! how hard is the "lean"?

This could be the type of questions asked if you tried to  claim.

jez9999

Lean back as in... sit in the chair and lean back?  Not sure how else to describe it, lol.  At the end of the day the whole thing is subjective I guess but as far as I'm concerned any chair with a "backrest" should have a backrest that's pretty darn strong, really supported by a metal bar, not some weak plastic like this one.

Manxman_in_exile

Two questions:

1.  You haven't explicitly said so although @Alderbank sort of asked you about it:  did the seller repair it when the back failed first time?

2.  For £800 I'd expect an office chair to have some kind of synchronous tilt mechanism that should easily cope with a person leaning back on it.  Our home office chair was <£300 but has a very robust synchro/tilt.  

If the supplier has had one attempt to fix it but the same problem has returned, you could try rejecting it under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, but after a year the supplier will likely put up a fight and they'd be ebtitled to reduce any refund to reflect the use you've had from it over a year

Did you try the chair before paying £800 for it?  I'd never buy something like an office chair without trying it out several times...

[Edit:  I'm also surprised an £800 chair would have a back supported by a plastic strut.  If it is plastic I'd suggest that's a built-in design flaw.]

Alderbank

Manxman_in_exile said:

[Edit:  I'm also surprised an £800 chair would have a back supported by a plastic strut.  If it is plastic I'd suggest that's a built-in design flaw.]

Many plastics are extremely strong. I have often entrusted my life to nylon or kevlar ropes and structural components.

OP, to make progress it would be useful for you to reveal the retailer's name and especially the make and model of your chair.

jez9999

1) It was repaired in the sense that they sent a replacement backrest.  I was able to fit it, but of course it came with the same weak plastic attachment that the first one had.

2) It was able to lock into place in several positions, but the problem of course was the plastic connection between the seat and backrest.

Manxman_in_exile said:

Did you try the chair before paying £800 for it?  I'd never buy something like an office chair without trying it out several times...

It was off the internet.  I very rarely find any opportunities to try these expensive chairs before buying them nowadays because everything is sold online.  Showrooms are few and far between, if they exist at all (for most office furniture companies).  If you have any tips as to how I'd be able to in future I'd like to hear them.

The chair was a high back office chair from Stuart Seating.  The page seems to have been taken down now but the archive of it is at: http://web.archive.org/web/20220808172419/https://www.stuartseating.com/spinekind-shop/High-Back-Ergonomic-Office-Chair/

And the current web address, where some chairs are still sold, is: https://homeofficeergonomics.co.uk/