Consumer Rights surrounding Furniture Village Sofa delivered faulty/damaged

tightauldgit

RS2OOO said:

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.

And what their supplier accepts or doesn't accept from them really isn't your concern at that point. The correct thing for them to do would be to collect the sofas and do any paperwork they need to do at their own facilities but hey ho. At least things are moving, albeit slowly

RS2OOO

Today's Update....

Day off work to be home for the Castelan technician, and nobody turned up. Eventually established he'd called in sick. Not happy about losing a day's annual leave for this.

Phoned FV who despite every piece of previous correspondance being between me and them (phone calls, emails and texts, plus I ordered the furniture and paid the deposit), they refused to speak to me because the Direct Debits (interest free installments) are coming from my wife's account.

Wife phone up to emphasise we are rejecting the furniture under our paused 30 day rejection period, and whilst lady was very polite, she said the 30 day rejection period has expired because the faults at the time of delivery were all closed out after the first round of repairs, and then the unrepaired faults were opened as new faults under their "After Care Service"

Wife explained they are the same faults, not new faults, and FV insisted its ok, the faulty sections of furniture will still be replaced but they have to be inspected again and reported on by a Castalan Technician first.

So now waiting for Castalan to get in touch again with a new appointment date.

HampshireH

RS2OOO said:

Today's Update....

Day off work to be home for the Castelan technician, and nobody turned up. Eventually established he'd called in sick. Not happy about losing a day's annual leave for this.

Phoned FV who despite every piece of previous correspondance being between me and them (phone calls, emails and texts, plus I ordered the furniture and paid the deposit), they refused to speak to me because the Direct Debits (interest free installments) are coming from my wife's account.

Wife phone up to emphasise we are rejecting the furniture under our paused 30 day rejection period, and whilst lady was very polite, she said the 30 day rejection period has expired because the faults at the time of delivery were all closed out after the first round of repairs, and then the unrepaired faults were opened as new faults under their "After Care Service"

Wife explained they are the same faults, not new faults, and FV insisted its ok, the faulty sections of furniture will still be replaced but they have to be inspected again and reported on by a Castalan Technician first.

So now waiting for Castalan to get in touch again with a new appointment date.

May be worth trying to get some help

https://www.fhio.org/members/furniture-village-plc

I took my complaint to the FHIO for a carpet dispute and had a very swift resolution. Others report back they aren't so good but it's worth a try maybe?

You're very patient but sometimes the more patient you are the less likely the shop will be too fussed to sort it 

Manxman_in_exile

Put aside for the moment the question of the 30 day short-term right to reject and whether or not that window is still open.  You're the only one who knows the precise dates and what happened when.

Read again the two posts I made on 20 April at 9:13pm and at 9:18pm.

Have you actually put to FV s24 of Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk) that I quoted and linked to in that first post?

It clearly says that a trader is only allowed one attempt either to repair or to replace faulty goods.  If the repair does not succeed or if the repalcement is faulty, the consumer can exercise their final right to reject, and if within 6 months of delivery the consumer is entitled to full a refund.  There is no mention of the trader being given a second chance to repair "new" faults.

Think about it.  If that was the case the more faulty an item was the more chances the trader would be given to fix it.  that obviously is not what the law intends.

In my second post on 20 April I point out that if the technician sent out by FV to carry out the repair has advised you to contact FV again to arrange further repairs, then that is evidence that FV's own agent believes that his attempt at repair has failed, and that therefore you are entitled to reject the sofa for a full refund.

Whether or not FV require further inspection reports for their own supplier is their problem, not yours.

How you want to deal with FV is up to you.  You can give them more opportunities to fix it if you want to try to keep the sofa.  Or try the furniture ombudsman as suggested by @HampshireH

But if I were in your position I'd put the above argument to FV by email, giving them both the link to the legislation and the quote I gave in my first post on 20 April.  If I got no satisfactory response from them I'd send them a letter before claim.

[Edit:  I'd stop talking to them on the 'phone and tell them you'll only deal with them further by email or on paper]

RS2OOO

Manxman_in_exile said:

Put aside for the moment the question of the 30 day short-term right to reject and whether or not that window is still open.  You're the only one who knows the precise dates and what happened when.

Read again the two posts I made on 20 April at 9:13pm and at 9:18pm.

Have you actually put to FV s24 of Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk) that I quoted and linked to in that first post?

It clearly says that a trader is only allowed one attempt either to repair or to replace faulty goods.  If the repair does not succeed or if the repalcement is faulty, the consumer can exercise their final right to reject, and if within 6 months of delivery the consumer is entitled to full a refund.  There is no mention of the trader being given a second chance to repair "new" faults.

Think about it.  If that was the case the more faulty an item was the more chances the trader would be given to fix it.  that obviously is not what the law intends.

In my second post on 20 April I point out that if the technician sent out by FV to carry out the repair has advised you to contact FV again to arrange further repairs, then that is evidence that FV's own agent believes that his attempt at repair has failed, and that therefore you are entitled to reject the sofa for a full refund.

Whether or not FV require further inspection reports for their own supplier is their problem, not yours.

How you want to deal with FV is up to you.  You can give them more opportunities to fix it if you want to try to keep the sofa.  Or try the furniture ombudsman as suggested by @HampshireH

But if I were in your position I'd put the above argument to FV by email, giving them both the link to the legislation and the quote I gave in my first post on 20 April.  If I got no satisfactory response from them I'd send them a letter before claim.

[Edit:  I'd stop talking to them on the 'phone and tell them you'll only deal with them further by email or on paper]

Many thanks for your continued help.

I have put exactly the points you made in writing (email). In the first email (Dated 20th Feb) I referenced Section 22, but did not directly link to it. FV followed up by phone (around 8 days later) and when asked, confirmed they would honour my pausing of the right to reject until satisfactory repairs had been completed.

I followed up on that email early April referring back to my original Section 22 text stating because repairs were not satisfactory completed I wish to keep the the 30 day right to rejection paused.

No response received so I followed up on the same email again on 12th April, not specifically referencing Section 24, but stating I now wish to reject the faulty sections of the furniture.

No response received so I followed up by phone and FV explained their requirement for the furniture to be re-inspected before  they could process the rejection.

Then as per my last post, after technician failed to turn up to re-inspect, my wife called FV on 5th May (because they'll suddenly no longer speak to me due to GDPR) and was told the faults had been closed out and then re-opened in their "Aftercare" department, but not to worry the right to reject still exists but can only take place once the inspection has been completed.

So as far as we understand based on all communications, our 30 day right to reject is still paused since 2 of the original 8 faults at time of delivery are still outstanding, and FV are honouring this right but cannot process until furniture is re-inspected by their (Castalan's) Technician.

RS2OOO

Castalan technician arrived today.

Identified the faults as manufacturing faults (as per previous technician). 

I asked what exactly had he been asked to do, and he said to report on what repairs are required. I explained we were rejecting the furniture and asked whether this inspection was normal practice. He wasn't sure, but has not had to do inspections before on furniture that is being rejected, only inspections to furniture where a warranty repair has been requested.

I've emailed FV asking when we can now expect the furniture to be replaced.

screech_78

RS2OOO said:

Castalan technician arrived today.

Identified the faults as manufacturing faults (as per previous technician). 

I asked what exactly had he been asked to do, and he said to report on what repairs are required. I explained we were rejecting the furniture and asked whether this inspection was normal practice. He wasn't sure, but has not had to do inspections before on furniture that is being rejected, only inspections to furniture where a warranty repair has been requested.

I've emailed FV asking when we can now expect the furniture to be replaced.

That’s rubbish. We use Castelan too. They do reports and repairs. Very often, I instruct them to go out and compile a report so that we have proof of a manufacturing fault. The technician will also advise in the report if a repair is possible. It’s not Castelan’s job to let you know what will happen going forward. All they will do is submit a report to FV and you’ll hear from them. 

RS2OOO

screech_78 said:

RS2OOO said:

Castalan technician arrived today.

Identified the faults as manufacturing faults (as per previous technician). 

I asked what exactly had he been asked to do, and he said to report on what repairs are required. I explained we were rejecting the furniture and asked whether this inspection was normal practice. He wasn't sure, but has not had to do inspections before on furniture that is being rejected, only inspections to furniture where a warranty repair has been requested.

I've emailed FV asking when we can now expect the furniture to be replaced.

That’s rubbish. We use Castelan too. They do reports and repairs. Very often, I instruct them to go out and compile a report so that we have proof of a manufacturing fault. The technician will also advise in the report if a repair is possible. It’s not Castelan’s job to let you know what will happen going forward. All they will do is submit a report to FV and you’ll hear from them. 

I'm not sure which part you are referring to as rubbish.

I can only post what I said and what the technician said, and what I posted is exactly that.

His understanding was that he was writing a report to identify what repairs were required.

My understanding (from FV conversations) was that they require a technician inspection prior to my rejecting the furniture as faulty.

Both are potentially one and the same thing, but with me making the assumption the only reason this inspection could be required is for confirmation I've not damaged the furniture. After all, the faults have been there since the furniture was delivered and are 2 of the 8 faults reported on delivery day, with the other 6 having been repaired by the first technician.

screech_78

RS2OOO said:

screech_78 said:

RS2OOO said:

Castalan technician arrived today.

Identified the faults as manufacturing faults (as per previous technician). 

I asked what exactly had he been asked to do, and he said to report on what repairs are required. I explained we were rejecting the furniture and asked whether this inspection was normal practice. He wasn't sure, but has not had to do inspections before on furniture that is being rejected, only inspections to furniture where a warranty repair has been requested.

I've emailed FV asking when we can now expect the furniture to be replaced.

That’s rubbish. We use Castelan too. They do reports and repairs. Very often, I instruct them to go out and compile a report so that we have proof of a manufacturing fault. The technician will also advise in the report if a repair is possible. It’s not Castelan’s job to let you know what will happen going forward. All they will do is submit a report to FV and you’ll hear from them. 

I'm not sure which part you are referring to as rubbish.

I can only post what I said and what the technician said, and what I posted is exactly that.

His understanding was that he was writing a report to identify what repairs were required.

My understanding (from FV conversations) was that they require a technician inspection prior to my rejecting the furniture as faulty.

Both are potentially one and the same thing, but with me making the assumption the only reason this inspection could be required is for confirmation I've not damaged the furniture. After all, the faults have been there since the furniture was delivered and are 2 of the 8 faults reported on delivery day, with the other 6 having been repaired by the first technician.

Apologies. I meant that what the technician had said about only doing reports for repairs required was rubbish. They do reports only too, although it does depend on what FV advised them to do. 

The bottom line is that if there is a fault, you have the right to reject. 

RS2OOO

No response to my email dated 12th May as described above, so I phoned and have just come off a 33 minute call to FV.

They said the technician report states the faults have been caused by the customer and are not manufacturing faults.

I was physically shaking with rage / disbelief, but obviously kept it polite.

After demonstrating all the evidence, including photos from delivery day plus the first technician's report that clearly refers to a serious manufacturing fault to one section of the sofa, plus a manufacturing fault to the chair that he attempted to repair, I was put on hold for 15 minutes.

The final conclusion was that they will be replacing the entire suite and somebody will be in touch with me no later than Wednesday next week to firm up the arrangements.

I asked if it was possible just to replace the faulty modular units because the rest of the suite following the original repairs is now perfect, but they said no, the entire suite has to be replaced. 

Considering the number of faults with this suite we are hoping the replacement suite comes fault free, and both myself and wife will book a day off work for delivery day to ensure we have the opportunity to thoroughly check over the new suite before the delivery drivers leave.

Whilst a lot of advice on this thread was to reject altogether for a refund, the fact remains there are no alternative suites within budget that we like as much as this one, hence going down the route we've gone. Its a simple case of wanting the exact suite we have, but in the same condition as the suite demonstrated to us in the showroom at the time of purchase.