Unsure if my new furniture fails the Consumer Rights Act 2015

BornSoul

I ordered a matching sofa and chair in January in person for £1200. When I was in the showroom, I was shown the type of model I wanted but in a different fabric and I was shown a similar but different model covered in the fabric I wanted by a salesperson. The sofa and chair were delivered 2 1/2 weeks ago. When the delivery men had gone I noticed that both pieces of furniture seemed to be made from 2 different colours of fabric. One was the grey colour I ordered but on any place where there was decorative quilting, the fabric was a darker blue-grey colour. I contacted the showroom the next day by e-mail, sending photos showing the difference, and they said they would contact the factory to find out why this happened.

I've recently heard back from the showroom. They say that the fabric for the quilted areas needs to be treated to allow this, which makes it look different. While I was at the showroom the salesperson did not mention this at all and the model I looked at did not appear to be two different colours. While the furniture is technically made from just one type of fabric, if you choose one type and colour of fabric then you would reasonably expect the entire piece to look like that colour. The difference is slight but noticeable under artificial light but it becomes very pronounced under bright light or sunlight where the treated and untreated fabric meet.

The showroom has offered me cashback, a future discount or they can have the furniture remade, however they say that the furniture could be two different colours again. Since I wasn't told the furniture would end up being two different colours and being two different colours is not something someone would reasonably expect when ordered furniture in one choice of fabric, would I have a claim under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 that my furniture is not as described or of satisfactory quality?

Manxman_in_exile

Can we see the photos showing the difference?

tightauldgit

It's interesting that they are claiming its a result of the manufacturing process while at the same time offering to remake it. 

I suppose it might come down to whether the colour differences could be described as reasonable natural variations in the material but if it's an obvious mismatch then I'd say you probably have a good claim. 

Are you happy with the sofa otherwise? How bad is the issue? 

If I liked the sofa I'd probably be tempted to go back to them and say you are rejecting this sofa and willing to give them the chance to replace it with a remade one if they are confident it can be done but if that one turns out the same then you will be asking for a refund.  

Alderbank

BornSoul said:

The showroom has offered me cashback, a future discount or they can have the furniture remade...

By 'cashback' do you mean they will take the furniture away and refund what you paid?

If so, you would not get better than that under CRA.

Alternatively you could agree for them to attempt to repair the furniture. If successful, that's fine. If it is still not satisfactory then under the CRA you can ask for a refund. They are not entitled to keep making any more attempts to fix it.

Grumpy_chap

BornSoul said:

I ordered a matching sofa and chair in January in person for £1200. When I was in the showroom, I was shown the type of model I wanted but in a different fabric and I was shown a similar but different model covered in the fabric I wanted by a salesperson. The sofa and chair were delivered 2 1/2 weeks ago. When the delivery men had gone I noticed that both pieces of furniture seemed to be made from 2 different colours of fabric. One was the grey colour I ordered but on any place where there was decorative quilting, the fabric was a darker blue-grey colour. I contacted the showroom the next day by e-mail, sending photos showing the difference, and they said they would contact the factory to find out why this happened.

I've recently heard back from the showroom. They say that the fabric for the quilted areas needs to be treated to allow this, which makes it look different. While I was at the showroom the salesperson did not mention this at all and the model I looked at did not appear to be two different colours. While the furniture is technically made from just one type of fabric, if you choose one type and colour of fabric then you would reasonably expect the entire piece to look like that colour. The difference is slight but noticeable under artificial light but it becomes very pronounced under bright light or sunlight where the treated and untreated fabric meet.

The showroom has offered me cashback, a future discount or they can have the furniture remade, however they say that the furniture could be two different colours again. Since I wasn't told the furniture would end up being two different colours and being two different colours is not something someone would reasonably expect when ordered furniture in one choice of fabric, would I have a claim under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 that my furniture is not as described or of satisfactory quality?

How much cashback is being offered?
Compared to the original purchase price.

BornSoul

For the cashback they have offered me £100, which is just over 8% of the price. Apart from this 2 colour issue I'm OK with the furniture. The issue is quite bad for the chair since it's near the middle of the room so you can get a 360° view of it and it's in good daylight which makes the colour difference more pronounced. On the sofa it is noticeable but not as strongly as on the chair since it's away from the window.

I do have photos in both sunlight and with flash photography. The quilted parts do look a little bit more blue in person. The normal fabric is at the top of each photo and the treated quilted part is at the bottom.

screech_78

I wouldn’t be happy with that either. 

I’d got with another poster’s suggestion of having them re-make it, but if it’s the same again, you’ll be rejecting for a full refund. 

BornSoul

I ended up e-mailing the company saying that I would accept a remake if the right colour on all of the furniture was possible, otherwise I would be rejecting the whole order. Over a week has gone by with no response so I have e-mailed them again saying that I'm rejecting the goods as not described under the CRA.

I believe that if returning goods because they are just not wanted anymore, the buyer would have to pay for returning the goods. Since the goods are being returned because they contravene the CRA, would I still be liable for the cost of returning the goods or would the company have to pay?

DullGreyGuy

Ultimately they'd have to pay however you may need to pay up front and add it to what you are attempting to recover from them

Manxman_in_exile

BornSoul said:

I ended up e-mailing the company saying that I would accept a remake if the right colour on all of the furniture was possible, otherwise I would be rejecting the whole order. Over a week has gone by with no response so I have e-mailed them again saying that I'm rejecting the goods as not described under the CRA.

I believe that if returning goods because they are just not wanted anymore, the buyer would have to pay for returning the goods. Since the goods are being returned because they contravene the CRA, would I still be liable for the cost of returning the goods or would the company have to pay?

"20   Right to reject...

...(7)From the time when the right is exercised—

(a)the trader has a duty to give the consumer a refund, subject to subsection... and

(b)the consumer has a duty to make the goods available for collection by the trader or (if there is an agreement for the consumer to return rejected goods) to return them as agreed.

(8)Whether or not the consumer has a duty to return the rejected goods, the trader must bear any reasonable costs of returning them..."

Consumer Rights Act 2015 (legislation.gov.uk)

Apologies if I've missed it, but what's the timescale?  Are you still within the short-term right to reject window?  (The relevant dates are when you took delivery and when you told the retailer you were rejecting). 

And how did you pay? 

sheramber

OP's first post on 4 April

The sofa and chair were delivered 2 1/2 weeks ago.