Sofa chaos

powerful_Rogue

Charlieew said:

The manufacturer themselves could contact me and ask for it back but what will they do with a 2nd hand sofa plus it was totally their mistake and as such most of the info i can find suggests i am absolutley within my rights to keep it and they cant ask for payment for it.. 

It's upto the manufacturer what they will do with a 2nd hand sofa, however you're certainly not within your rights to keep it. This is clearly an error, so it will be a case of pay for the sofa or return it.

Aylesbury_Duck

It seems quite straightforward to me. You're not in the controlling position you think you're in, and none of the businesses you are dealing with have to "suck up" anything. They may choose to, but that's their choice, not yours.  I'm afraid your understanding of your rights is flawed, as several others have pointed out.

Your options are quite simple:

A. Contact the retailer with which you have a contract and see what they propose to do about it (which will mean working at your convenience and with your cooperation, to an extent), or

B. keep quiet in the hope you get lucky, and deal with whatever process that retailer might instigate, which might be less convenient or expensive for you.

HillStreetBlues

If you want to keep sofa, sit tight and wait to see what happens.

JetpackVelociraptor

Short answer is no, you have no right to keep the sofa you currently have in your house. Nothing that you've written here would make a difference to that, unless and until the retailer that you have a contract with tells you that you can keep it. As the sofa you have taken delivery of is worth more than the amount agreed, the company you ordered from can pursue you for the difference in value or the return of the sofa. They have up to six years to do this. Whether they actually will or not, who knows, but in your position I would want permission to keep the sofa in writing before I could actually relax on it.

Are you saying you ordered 2 grey sofas, and you've received 1 grey sofa and 1 green sofa? If so, it's likely that they are simply going to locate your missing grey sofa, deliver that and collect the green one at the same time. Your grey sofa is most likely the subject of another dispute from some very disappointed person who didn't receive the expensive green sofa they bought and is currently waiting for the catalogue company to sort it out.

You can keep quiet and hope nobody notices, for six years. Bearing in mind you've already informed them that you have the wrong sofa and therefore it's highly likely they're already in the process of dealing with the problem.

If you take delivery of the grey sofa and sell it, you still risk being pursued for the price difference between it and the green sofa.
If you or they cancel the order for the grey sofa, they can and likely will pursue you for the full cost of the green sofa, because you won't have paid anything for it. At that point it starts getting into rather sketchy legal territory. You would have obtained goods without paying for them, attempting to take advantage of an obvious error. Is it theft, fraud or something else? I don't know, but I wouldn't want to be in that position myself.
If you keep paying the credit and they never find the grey sofa, they can still pursue you for the price difference.

You are not the owner of the sofa, and it's pretty much irrelevant whether the owner of the sofa is the manufacturer, the retailer or the other catalogue company. It's the retailer that would be going after the missing sofa or the price difference, and "You don't own it because it's normally sold by a different retailer" isn't going to carry much weight in court if it comes to that.

If I were you, I would inform the retailer that you would be more than happy to keep the green sofa and see where you go from there. It's only been a week, I think it's quite likely they will locate your grey sofa and then get in touch to arrange to swap it if you don't say anything. If you're right about it not costing the retailer anything, they may be happy to leave it with you for no extra charge once they know you would be happy with that.

sheramber

Nothing to stop the manufacturer billing the retailer for the green sofa that they have taken receipt of.  That is between the retailer and the manufacturer.

If the retailer went to court to get the sofa back what proof do you have that you ordered/paid for it?

pinkshoes

The manufacturer will realise the error and want the green sofa back. The shop will deliver your two grey sofas and collect the green one. 

If the green one is not returned, the manufacturer will bill the shop for it, and the shop will bill you for it. 

If you'd rather have one green one instead of two grey ones (I assume both are missing?) then speak to the shop and negotiate. 

Debbie9009

I think some people are missing the part where the OP has said the green sofa is not sold by the company they ordered the grey sofa from.  Its sold by a completely different company. 

So I don’t think the company they have ordered from can say if OP can keep it, as not their sofa to sell. 

I think the OP needs to get back onto aftercare, and get them to sort this out, or at least get something in writing confirming you can use the sofa.

WhiskersTheWonderCat

Charlieew said:

The manufacturer themselves could contact me and ask for it back but what will they do with a 2nd hand sofa plus it was totally their mistake and as such most of the info i can find suggests i am absolutley within my rights to keep it and they cant ask for payment for it.. 

I am not sure where on earth you got that information from, but you absolutely do not have the right to simply keep what you haven't paid for. 

If you're lucky, they will not contact you regarding the error, and you will get to keep the sofa. There's also no harm in telling them your desire to keep the green sofa (at the price of the grey sofa). But if they do want to rectify the mistake and take back the green sofa, they absolutely can and will do that. And if you refused, it would be theft and lead to legal consequences. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

WhiskersTheWonderCat said:

Charlieew said:

The manufacturer themselves could contact me and ask for it back but what will they do with a 2nd hand sofa plus it was totally their mistake and as such most of the info i can find suggests i am absolutley within my rights to keep it and they cant ask for payment for it.. 

I am not sure where on earth you got that information from, but you absolutely do not have the right to simply keep what you haven't paid for. 

If you're lucky, they will not contact you regarding the error, and you will get to keep the sofa. There's also no harm in telling them your desire to keep the green sofa (at the price of the grey sofa). But if they do want to rectify the mistake and take back the green sofa, they absolutely can and will do that. And if you refused, it would be theft and lead to legal consequences. 

I think technically OP is a involuntary bailee of the incorrect sofa and the store have an obligation to supply what was ordered. 

If it's deemed they have delivered the goods and those goods don't conform to the contract (meaning OP isn't an involuntary bailee) then OP has a duty to return or, more likely, make them available for collection if they reject them. The two parties can of course amend the terms of the contract if they wish (i.e OP keeps the current sofa for any agreed consideration). 

In either case I don't think it's theft, there are legal obligations for an involuntary bailee but I don't think theft covers it as the OP has notified the owner they are in possession of their goods. If the OP sells the goods they'd have to notify the owner again to see if they want the money from the sale but there isn't an obligation to keep chasing the owner endlessly to inform them you are in possession of their goods. Making contact twice is recommended but if you sit back and keep the goods after that point you have not intended to permanently deprive (i.e committed theft) as you've contacted the owner to resolve the matter. 

WhiskersTheWonderCat

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

WhiskersTheWonderCat said:

Charlieew said:

The manufacturer themselves could contact me and ask for it back but what will they do with a 2nd hand sofa plus it was totally their mistake and as such most of the info i can find suggests i am absolutley within my rights to keep it and they cant ask for payment for it.. 

I am not sure where on earth you got that information from, but you absolutely do not have the right to simply keep what you haven't paid for. 

If you're lucky, they will not contact you regarding the error, and you will get to keep the sofa. There's also no harm in telling them your desire to keep the green sofa (at the price of the grey sofa). But if they do want to rectify the mistake and take back the green sofa, they absolutely can and will do that. And if you refused, it would be theft and lead to legal consequences. 

I think technically OP is a involuntary bailee of the incorrect sofa and the store have an obligation to supply what was ordered. 

If it's deemed they have delivered the goods and those goods don't conform to the contract (meaning OP isn't an involuntary bailee) then OP has a duty to return or, more likely, make them available for collection if they reject them. The two parties can of course amend the terms of the contract if they wish (i.e OP keeps the current sofa for any agreed consideration). 

In either case I don't think it's theft, there are legal obligations for an involuntary bailee but I don't think theft covers it as the OP has notified the owner they are in possession of their goods. If the OP sells the goods they'd have to notify the owner again to see if they want the money from the sale but there isn't an obligation to keep chasing the owner endlessly to inform them you are in possession of their goods. Making contact twice is recommended but if you sit back and keep the goods after that point you have not intended to permanently deprive (i.e committed theft) as you've contacted the owner to resolve the matter. 

Well, the point I was making, was that if they did request return of the green sofa and OP refused, then it would be theft. OP seems to think they have the right to keep it no matter what.