Mis-Sold Sofa - what are my rights please?

biffbulliedmetoo

Help please!

I'm looking for some advice. We have taken delivery of our new sofa today which we have waited 8 weeks for. We attended the store, with a diagram and sizes in hand as we were looking for a corner unit that didn't meet the standard sizes on offer. We were helped by an assistant who agreed we'd need a modular sofa and directed us towards one which we had actually pointed to as we walked past. great start. 

We explained what we were looking for, showed him the diagram and he set to work on his tablet and advised that the sofa came in a corner unit and we could add an additional seat on each said leaving a 1 inch clearance on the sizes we had provided - perfect. 

He asked if we wanted to proceed with the order, however the cost was slightly higher than we expected so I said we would need some time to discuss. He stated that the sofa was currently on offer and would end the following day but he could send us everything we've discussed in a link to order directly through. He was very specific in requesting we ordered through his link as this is how he would make the commission. 

Roll on to today when taking delivery of the order, i could see instantly something was wrong. The individual seat unit can only be inserted on one side of the sofa and its not the side we need it to be. in addition to this, the feet on the different parts of the sofa are different colours. I contacted the company and explained the situation and they advised me to contact the store directly as i ordered through their link. 

The sales rep we dealt with promptly returned my call, confirmed what we had discussed and reverted back to the notes he had taken during our call and confirmed everything I said. I then explained the issue and he asked was it not possible to insert the individual unit on both sides, when i said no, he flipped and said 'yeah you wanted it on that side.' When I said that he had agreed to what we had discussed at the start of the call, he backed down and said he agreed there had been an error on his part but as we ultimately ordered online, he can't do anything.

I'm now waiting on someone calling me back from the web team, but where do we stand under consumer rights?

can I asked them to take the sofa away and cancel the contract as we have been mis-sold something that doesn't fit our space or have i forfeited that by finalising the order online and not in store?

i'm so sad as, if the individual unit would insert into the section we were advised it would, it would be the perfect size. 

Any advise would be very much appreciated. 

Aylesbury_Duck

biffbulliedmetoo said:

Help please!

I'm looking for some advice. We have taken delivery of our new sofa today which we have waited 8 weeks for. We attended the store, with a diagram and sizes in hand as we were looking for a corner unit that didn't meet the standard sizes on offer. We were helped by an assistant who agreed we'd need a modular sofa and directed us towards one which we had actually pointed to as we walked past. great start. 

We explained what we were looking for, showed him the diagram and he set to work on his tablet and advised that the sofa came in a corner unit and we could add an additional seat on each said leaving a 1 inch clearance on the sizes we had provided - perfect. 

He asked if we wanted to proceed with the order, however the cost was slightly higher than we expected so I said we would need some time to discuss. He stated that the sofa was currently on offer and would end the following day but he could send us everything we've discussed in a link to order directly through. He was very specific in requesting we ordered through his link as this is how he would make the commission. 

Roll on to today when taking delivery of the order, i could see instantly something was wrong. The individual seat unit can only be inserted on one side of the sofa and its not the side we need it to be. in addition to this, the feet on the different parts of the sofa are different colours. I contacted the company and explained the situation and they advised me to contact the store directly as i ordered through their link. 

The sales rep we dealt with promptly returned my call, confirmed what we had discussed and reverted back to the notes he had taken during our call and confirmed everything I said. I then explained the issue and he asked was it not possible to insert the individual unit on both sides, when i said no, he flipped and said 'yeah you wanted it on that side.' When I said that he had agreed to what we had discussed at the start of the call, he backed down and said he agreed there had been an error on his part but as we ultimately ordered online, he can't do anything.

I'm now waiting on someone calling me back from the web team, but where do we stand under consumer rights?

can I asked them to take the sofa away and cancel the contract as we have been mis-sold something that doesn't fit our space or have i forfeited that by finalising the order online and not in store?

i'm so sad as, if the individual unit would insert into the section we were advised it would, it would be the perfect size. 

Any advise would be very much appreciated. 

An interesting one in that it's the store that's trying to suggest it's an online order.  Had you ordered online without all the pre-sale stuff in the store, it's quite clearly an online order and therefore what used to be called a "distance sale". You could cancel the order within 14 days of receipt in any case, but if the sofa is not what you ordered then it's even clearer that you can reject it.

Having been into store and fully discussed everything, I don't think this qualifies as a distance sale, so you don't have the change-of-mind option (unless they have a policy that permits it).  But, what you do appear to have is a "faulty" order.

Can the unit be switched around?  Is it simply a case of them sending the correct other-handed part?  I suspect the feet are removable and that it's pretty easy for them to find matching feet.  There was a very lengthy (and quite amusing) thread on here a few months ago where a customer had mismatched sofa feet, and the retailer (which I think was DFS) were absolutely comical in their attempts to sort it out.

Grumpy_chap

biffbulliedmetoo said:

Help please!

I'm looking for some advice. We have taken delivery of our new sofa today which we have waited 8 weeks for. We attended the store, with a diagram and sizes in hand as we were looking for a corner unit that didn't meet the standard sizes on offer. We were helped by an assistant who agreed we'd need a modular sofa and directed us towards one which we had actually pointed to as we walked past. great start. 

We explained what we were looking for, showed him the diagram and he set to work on his tablet and advised that the sofa came in a corner unit and we could add an additional seat on each said leaving a 1 inch clearance on the sizes we had provided - perfect. 

He asked if we wanted to proceed with the order, however the cost was slightly higher than we expected so I said we would need some time to discuss. He stated that the sofa was currently on offer and would end the following day but he could send us everything we've discussed in a link to order directly through. He was very specific in requesting we ordered through his link as this is how he would make the commission. 

Roll on to today when taking delivery of the order, i could see instantly something was wrong. The individual seat unit can only be inserted on one side of the sofa and its not the side we need it to be. in addition to this, the feet on the different parts of the sofa are different colours. I contacted the company and explained the situation and they advised me to contact the store directly as i ordered through their link. 

The sales rep we dealt with promptly returned my call, confirmed what we had discussed and reverted back to the notes he had taken during our call and confirmed everything I said. I then explained the issue and he asked was it not possible to insert the individual unit on both sides, when i said no, he flipped and said 'yeah you wanted it on that side.' When I said that he had agreed to what we had discussed at the start of the call, he backed down and said he agreed there had been an error on his part but as we ultimately ordered online, he can't do anything.

I'm now waiting on someone calling me back from the web team, but where do we stand under consumer rights?

can I asked them to take the sofa away and cancel the contract as we have been mis-sold something that doesn't fit our space or have i forfeited that by finalising the order online and not in store?

i'm so sad as, if the individual unit would insert into the section we were advised it would, it would be the perfect size. 

Any advise would be very much appreciated. 

If the Retailer is suggesting this is an online fully remote purchase, then you can use that to your advantage and cancel under change of mind for any reason or none.  Usually 14 days to do that.

It might be worth trying that cancellation.

If that is refused, so not accepted as a fully remote purchase (which it does not sound like it was), you can pursue your rights for item not as described.

The Retailer (or different parts of the Retailer) cannot claim it was not a store purchase and not an online purchase - you have to have the rights afforded by one route or another.

Mark_d

You ordered the sofa online, so what exactly did you order?  Sofas are often made to order so you can't simply change your mind and return it.  The best you're likely to get is feet of the same colour

biffbulliedmetoo

Aylesbury_Duck said:

biffbulliedmetoo said:

Help please!

I'm looking for some advice. We have taken delivery of our new sofa today which we have waited 8 weeks for. We attended the store, with a diagram and sizes in hand as we were looking for a corner unit that didn't meet the standard sizes on offer. We were helped by an assistant who agreed we'd need a modular sofa and directed us towards one which we had actually pointed to as we walked past. great start. 

We explained what we were looking for, showed him the diagram and he set to work on his tablet and advised that the sofa came in a corner unit and we could add an additional seat on each said leaving a 1 inch clearance on the sizes we had provided - perfect. 

He asked if we wanted to proceed with the order, however the cost was slightly higher than we expected so I said we would need some time to discuss. He stated that the sofa was currently on offer and would end the following day but he could send us everything we've discussed in a link to order directly through. He was very specific in requesting we ordered through his link as this is how he would make the commission. 

Roll on to today when taking delivery of the order, i could see instantly something was wrong. The individual seat unit can only be inserted on one side of the sofa and its not the side we need it to be. in addition to this, the feet on the different parts of the sofa are different colours. I contacted the company and explained the situation and they advised me to contact the store directly as i ordered through their link. 

The sales rep we dealt with promptly returned my call, confirmed what we had discussed and reverted back to the notes he had taken during our call and confirmed everything I said. I then explained the issue and he asked was it not possible to insert the individual unit on both sides, when i said no, he flipped and said 'yeah you wanted it on that side.' When I said that he had agreed to what we had discussed at the start of the call, he backed down and said he agreed there had been an error on his part but as we ultimately ordered online, he can't do anything.

I'm now waiting on someone calling me back from the web team, but where do we stand under consumer rights?

can I asked them to take the sofa away and cancel the contract as we have been mis-sold something that doesn't fit our space or have i forfeited that by finalising the order online and not in store?

i'm so sad as, if the individual unit would insert into the section we were advised it would, it would be the perfect size. 

Any advise would be very much appreciated. 

An interesting one in that it's the store that's trying to suggest it's an online order.  Had you ordered online without all the pre-sale stuff in the store, it's quite clearly an online order and therefore what used to be called a "distance sale". You could cancel the order within 14 days of receipt in any case, but if the sofa is not what you ordered then it's even clearer that you can reject it.

Having been into store and fully discussed everything, I don't think this qualifies as a distance sale, so you don't have the change-of-mind option (unless they have a policy that permits it).  But, what you do appear to have is a "faulty" order.

Can the unit be switched around?  Is it simply a case of them sending the correct other-handed part?  I suspect the feet are removable and that it's pretty easy for them to find matching feet.  There was a very lengthy (and quite amusing) thread on here a few months ago where a customer had mismatched sofa feet, and the retailer (which I think was DFS) were absolutely comical in their attempts to sort it out.

Unfortunately not, the section where the individual seat unit should be inserted is a solid piece. The sales person said on the phone it didn't give him the option to select a side but he thought it was a corner piece then two, two seaters at either side so the individual seat could go either way. He realised this wasn't the case when on the call to me and he went back to check the order/his notes. 

biffbulliedmetoo

Mark_d said:

You ordered the sofa online, so what exactly did you order?  Sofas are often made to order so you can't simply change your mind and return it.  The best you're likely to get is feet of the same colour

The link the salesman sent was a "here's what we discussed in store, click here to purchase" link which was a one button click and then it took me to payment details. So it's not that I've changed my mind, it's that the salesman has made a mistake by providing misinformation and admitted this on the phone. 

The feet are nothing to do with it as the individual seat unit cannot be inserted into the sofa as it is a solid piece. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Mark_d said:

You ordered the sofa online, so what exactly did you order?  Sofas are often made to order so you can't simply change your mind and return it.  The best you're likely to get is feet of the same colour

This isn't necessarily correct.  The precise status of the order isn't clear (from the retailer's perspective, anyway) and if they do believe it's online, OP absolutely can change their mind and return it.

You're correct if the retailer realises it's an in-person sale completed online and OP has made a mistake in the order.

CardinalWolsey

Mark_d said:

Sofas are often made to order so you can't simply change your mind and return it.

Of course you can change your mind and return it, if you ordered solely online, albeit with a caveat that the retailer may charge you for shipping cost to return it. Sofas may well be made to order, but that doesn't make them custom or despoke, especially when selecting from fixed options online. You can refer to the DFS T&Cs, specifically 12f (Right To Cancel) for confirmation.

daveyjp

You explained what you wanted and provided this information to a member of staff employed by the seller for their product knowledge.  

This member of staff then used that knowledge to order a product which met your requirements. The seller made an error and they are therefore required to rectify the situation at no cost to yourself.

Aylesbury_Duck

daveyjp said:

You explained what you wanted and provided this information to a member of staff employed by the seller for their product knowledge.  

This member of staff then used that knowledge to order a product which met your requirements. The seller made an error and they are therefore required to rectify the situation at no cost to yourself.

I agree.  Now we know that OP didn't compile the online order, they simply paid for an order that was already compiled by the salesperson, it's clear its the retailer's error to sort out.

Okell

@biffbulliedmetoo -  who is the retailer?  (There's no reason not to say - it can't affect your rights)

Is it a big organisation like DFS or Sofology etc or is it some small, local retailer?

Don't suppose you recorded the conversation with the store assisitant when he admitted his error?

Do you have anything on paper specifying what you ordered?