Consumer Rights surrounding Furniture Village Sofa delivered faulty/damaged

RS2OOO

HillStreetBlues said:

tightauldgit said:

RS2OOO said:

I decided to email FV back and request replacement of the 2 units that still carry faults as opposed to having further repairs.

The other peices that have been repaired are now satisfactory so rejecting the entire suite isn't really necessary.

I will give them 3 working days to respond before chasing by phone.

Be aware you are possibly running the risk of the new units not matching the old ones exactly. 

And the risk of the new units matching the old ones!

  Haha

 

RS2OOO

No reply to my email from FV so I chased by phone today.

The lady said they tried to call me on 8th April but there was no answer. My phone shows no missed calls or voicemails.

For reasons I do not understand, because the repairs were unsuccessful the faults apparently now need to be re-reported as new faults and I will hear back from the Resolutions Team within 72 hours to progress the matter. I made clear these are the same faults from the time of delivery that have not been successfully repaired, but apparently this is the process.

As a recap, today is 2 Months and 2 days since the furniture was delivered and at the time of delivery I was advised not to reject the furniture as someone would come and repair the faults within 2 or 3 days! 

Next update in 72 hours.....

Manxman_in_exile

RS2OOO said:

...For reasons I do not understand, because the repairs were unsuccessful the faults apparently now need to be re-reported as new faults and I will hear back from the Resolutions Team within 72 hours to progress the matter. I made clear these are the same faults from the time of delivery that have not been successfully repaired, but apparently this is the process....

You need to be thinking about whether you want to continue or not.

My understanding is that you are now entitled to reject the sofa for a full refund on two grounds.

First, you notified them of faults with the sofa on the day of delivery (15 February) and repairs were partially effected on 03 April.

So that means that for the purposes of the 30 day window for the short-term right to reject, a "waiting period" started on the day of delivery, and that "waiting period" then ended on the day repair was attempted, meaning that the 30 day window now ends 30 days after 03 April.*

Second, as the faults became apparent within 6 months of purchase and as the seller has had one (partially) failed attempt at repair, you can now reject for a full refund.  (I may be wrong, but I don't think the seller can identify the unsuccessful repairs as "new faults" just because they failed to repair them.)

That's my opinion but wait and see if others agree with me about the options still open to you.

Personally I'd just reject for a full refund...


*Also might be a good idea to check my calculation for the 30 days

RS2OOO

Manxman_in_exile said:

RS2OOO said:

...For reasons I do not understand, because the repairs were unsuccessful the faults apparently now need to be re-reported as new faults and I will hear back from the Resolutions Team within 72 hours to progress the matter. I made clear these are the same faults from the time of delivery that have not been successfully repaired, but apparently this is the process....

You need to be thinking about whether you want to continue or not.

My understanding is that you are now entitled to reject the sofa for a full refund on two grounds.

First, you notified them of faults with the sofa on the day of delivery (15 February) and repairs were partially effected on 03 April.

So that means that for the purposes of the 30 day window for the short-term right to reject, a "waiting period" started on the day of delivery, and that "waiting period" then ended on the day repair was attempted, meaning that the 30 day window now ends 30 days after 03 April.*

Second, as the faults became apparent within 6 months of purchase and as the seller has had one (partially) failed attempt at repair, you can now reject for a full refund.  (I may be wrong, but I don't think the seller can identify the unsuccessful repairs as "new faults" just because they failed to repair them.)

That's my opinion but wait and see if others agree with me about the options still open to you.

Personally I'd just reject for a full refund...


*Also might be a good idea to check my calculation for the 30 days

Thanks for the info.

My understanding is that the paused right to reject remains paused until satisfactory repairs are completed, and in email correspondance I have stated I am retaining this right up until final resolution.  I don't know with certainty if that's accurate as its my interpretation from here:

(8) The waiting period—

(a) begins with the day the consumer requests or agrees to the repair or replacement of the goods, and

(b) ends with the day on which the consumer receives goods supplied by the trader in response to the request or agreement.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/22/enacted

We're having a hard time finding a suitable alternative suite and that's why I'm still entertaining options to replace the faulty units within the current suite.

RS2OOO

FV got back to me.

To proceed with rejecting the faulty pieces of the suite they need to commission another inspection.

The reports from the original inspections and the report provided by the Technician who couldn't fix all the faults are apparently not adequate as they were written on the pretence of further repairs being carried out and not total rejection for replacement units.

Inspection number 3 now booked for 5th May.

At this speed of progress the pausing of the 30 day rejection period will be least of my worries..... the 25 year frame warranty will have expired!

tightauldgit

RS2OOO said:

FV got back to me.

To proceed with rejecting the faulty pieces of the suite they need to commission another inspection.

The reports from the original inspections and the report provided by the Technician who couldn't fix all the faults are apparently not adequate as they were written on the pretence of further repairs being carried out and not total rejection for replacement units.

Inspection number 3 now booked for 5th May.

At this speed of progress the pausing of the 30 day rejection period will be least of my worries..... the 25 year frame warranty will have expired!

This seems like BS to me. The supplier gets one attempt to repair it. All they need to know is that the first repair attempt didn't fix it and faults remain. Which if they are admitting further repairs are required is already confirmed. There shouldn't be any need for any further inspection. 

I'd be pushing back on that as it's just going to lose you another 2 or 3 weeks. 

Manxman_in_exile

Point out again to them that the law only gives them one attempt at either a repair or a replacement.  If they fail to fix it at that one attempt, you can exercise your final right to reject for a full refund.

It's in s24 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk):

"24  Right to price reduction or final right to reject

(1) The right to a price reduction is the right—

(a) to require the trader to reduce by an appropriate amount the price the consumer is required to pay under the contract, or anything else the consumer is required to transfer under the contract, and

(b) to receive a refund from the trader for anything already paid or otherwise transferred by the consumer above the reduced amount.

(2) The amount of the reduction may, where appropriate, be the full amount of the price or whatever the consumer is required to transfer...

(5) A consumer who has the right to a price reduction and the final right to reject may only exercise one (not both), and may only do so in one of these situations—

(a) after one repair or one replacement, the goods do not conform to the contract;...  [my bold]

(6) There has been a repair or replacement for the purposes of subsection (5)(a) if—

(a) the consumer has requested or agreed to repair or replacement of the goods (whether in relation to one fault or more than one), and

(b) the trader has delivered goods to the consumer, or made goods available to the consumer, in response to the request or agreement..."

The fact that they weren't sufficiently competent enough or well enough prepared to repair it first time isn't your problem - it's their problem.

But it's up to you if you want to pursue a refund or give them more chances to get it right...

Manxman_in_exile

RS2OOO said:

...The technician has advised, and reported back to Castalan that the entire sofa frame and reclining mechanism is both misaligned and poorly assembled (rivets that are too small for the holes which allows excessive movement of the frame).

Technician advised to wait 24 hours for his notes to be uploaded onto the system and then for me to report back to FV to arrange the repairs...

Just to add:  I think the above is all that FV need to know now.  The technician who was sent out to repair it has advised you to contact FV to arrange further repairs.  Isn't that confirmation that the repair he attempted hasn't been successful?

Saver-upper

RS2OOO said:

FV got back to me.

At this speed of progress the pausing of the 30 day rejection period will be least of my worries..... the 25 year frame warranty will have expired!

 
This did make me laugh out loud. 

I have been following your thread. Such a nightmare- I am sorry. You have done so well keeping your patience! 

RS2OOO

tightauldgit said:

RS2OOO said:

FV got back to me.

To proceed with rejecting the faulty pieces of the suite they need to commission another inspection.

The reports from the original inspections and the report provided by the Technician who couldn't fix all the faults are apparently not adequate as they were written on the pretence of further repairs being carried out and not total rejection for replacement units.

Inspection number 3 now booked for 5th May.

At this speed of progress the pausing of the 30 day rejection period will be least of my worries..... the 25 year frame warranty will have expired!

This seems like BS to me. The supplier gets one attempt to repair it. All they need to know is that the first repair attempt didn't fix it and faults remain. Which if they are admitting further repairs are required is already confirmed. There shouldn't be any need for any further inspection. 

I'd be pushing back on that as it's just going to lose you another 2 or 3 weeks. 

I explained exactly this over the phone.

The lady said their supplier will not exchange furniture without this report.
I said you've already got reports from the previous technician visits so why can't you use those.
She said because a repair has been attempted since those reports, therefore a new report is needed.
I said as long as you are aware I will no longer accept further repairs, only replacement of the chair and faulty sections of the suite because I have already given you one chance to repair as permitted within my consumer rights and this was not done.
She said yes this report is required only to approve the replacement, not for further repairs.

So I accepted.