Garden Furniture - Section 75

Cheillie2020

Hi,
im after some advice please. 

I’ve never done a section 75 claim before so I’m a bit lost as to if I’m entitled to make one or what the process is.

I have a M&S Mastercard Credit Card which I purchased some garden furniture on last Feb (12 months ago). 

It was £3000 in total, so not cheap. 

The furniture itself has a wooden table top and wooden side tables. 

Anyway, it’s been covered for the winter with the correct fitting covers. 

Anyway I took the covers off to discover that the wood is completely destroyed. 

It’s flaking away and gone really dark and patchy, looks nothing like it should. I’ll attach photos of before and after. 

Anyway, I contacted the garden centre I purchased it from online and they said they’ve been in touch with the manufacturer who have said that they advise to treat and clean the wood with special solutions.

1. I was never made aware of this when I purchased. If it is actually indeed even necessary. 

2. Ive since seen reviews of people having the same problem and saying then even after treating/cleaning it’s not gone to the original look and still looks completely ruined. 

So my question is…

1. Does this seem a valid claim? 

2. Should I contact M&S bank now even after contacting the garden centre.

3. who would decide the outcome? M&S or the garden centre? My worry is that if M&S go to the garden centre surely they will dispute it and that’ll be the end of it? 

Does the garden centre lose out in the even of a successful claim? 

4. If M&S agree then can the garden centre come to me and dispute it? 

Just wondering if I’m causing a massive headache but I’m really disappointed. 

Thanks 

Cheillie2020

 Hopefully you can tell which is before and after. 

eskbanker

Cheillie2020 said:

3. who would decide the outcome? M&S or the garden centre? My worry is that if M&S go to the garden centre surely they will dispute it and that’ll be the end of it? 

Does the garden centre lose out in the even of a successful claim? 

4. If M&S agree then can the garden centre come to me and dispute it? 

The basis of section 75 is that you're holding the card provider jointly liable with the merchant, so M&S would decide the outcome based on the strength of your claim, and if they accept it then they pay you out of their own pocket - they are unlikely to reclaim the cost from the garden centre, and so the latter is unlikely to come after you for it.

DullGreyGuy

Where did you buy the covers for? You say correctly fitting which suggests they are not the same brand as the table itself?

What is the table top/finish supposed to be?

Assuming the surface is some form of real wood then it is realistic that maintenance work is required on it. I am not one to opine on how frequent that should be but I know from past experience that poor covers accelerate the need for maintenance rather than reduce it. 

M&S is likely to ask you to get an independent expert's report on the table and this is where many claims stop because people cannot find someone to do one or dont want the risk of funding one as its only refundable if it supports your case that its unreasonable. 

I'm not a wood expert, as already said, but I dont know of any light woods that are naturally weather resistant. Personally we bought out furniture and BBQ stand in Iroko because it has a very high natural water resistance and so 5 years on and never covered it still looks like new (other than a few metal components).

MEM62

Covers that are not breathable will cause condensation build up and that can affect the wood.  I cannot see from the second photo that the top is "completely destroyed".  It looks like you would be able to sand it back and recover the finish.      

Cheillie2020

It’s teal wood though. Can that be sanded? I have no idea. It’s not ideal. 

Yes the cover was the official cover. 

MorningcoffeeIV

Cheillie2020 said:

It’s teal wood though. Can that be sanded? I have no idea. It’s not ideal. 

Yes the cover was the official cover. 

Do you mean teak? The colour wouldn't make a difference.

Teak is very easy to sand.

Cheillie2020

Sorry haha yes, teak!
and you wouldn’t expect those marks to penetrate all the way through? 

DullGreyGuy

Presumably you mean teak?

Teak isnt the colour of the "before" photo and so clearly it has some form of finish to it. Teak is naturally very weather resistant however it does go a silver grey colour if its untreated. The same thing that makes it weather resistant also makes it hard to stain etc 

Cheillie2020 said:

Can that be sanded? I have no idea. It’s not ideal. 

Yes it can be sanded

Given you've used the official covering it does seem excessive wear for one season but as previously stated I'm not an expert and your card provider can request you get an expert opinion if they want to

HillStreetBlues

If I  spend £3k on garden furniture and the table looked like that in a year, I would not be a happy bunny.

User_101122

Without seeing the other furniture £3,000 seems excessive for garden furniture even when shown in the before photo.

That said regardless of what you have paid, you’ve bought a wooden table and it will need regular maintenance otherwise it will eventually rot, and fall apart.  The £3k price ticket isn’t going to negate this fact.

Put the table somewhere dry for a good few days, sand it back and refinish it with some teak oil.  Get used to doing it as well because you’re going to be doing this every year to keep your furniture maintained.