Faulty Garden Table from Very - Any chance of claiming money back?

GoonerByron

Hi,

I purchased a garden table / sofa set from Very last Summer so the item is around 18 months old. It was not cheap (by my standards!),  £800 for the dining set and £700 for the sofa set. It is a woven plastic design, looked nice out of the box but despite putting away for last winter and covering with covers the material has become extremely brittle and is just snapping on it’s own accord , it now looks a mess and is pretty useless.

Very of course refuse to take any responsibility but looking at the reviews of the item there are multiple people with exactly the same problem. Surely a manufacturing or quality issue rather than usage. These are the items/example reviews with pics -

https://www.very.co.uk/very-home-cotswold-6-seater-dining-set/1600801108.prd

What are my rights/options here? Am I likely to have a case to escalate with Very? Even small claims possibility? Or should I just be writing it off as a bad purchase?

Thanks

Aylesbury_Duck

It does look like a cheap and nasty implementation of what should have been a good product.  I'd definitely pursue it.  What I'm sure the problem is is UV damage to the material.  It's either a poor choice of material or it hasn't got sufficient UV protection.  One thing they'll almost certainly push back on is this, from their website:

We recommend you store all cushions in a shed, garage or other dry sheltered place when not in use.

Did you do this?  Not just for winter, but at any time the furniture wasn't being used?  Left outside in 12 hours of daylight for months on end is going to accelerate UV damage, whereas if it's literally only uncovered for the few hours a week you might use it over summer, it would last a lot longer.

They'll probably ask you to get an independent view.  

GoonerByron

Aylesbury_Duck said:

It does look like a cheap and nasty implementation of what should have been a good product.  I'd definitely pursue it.  What I'm sure the problem is is UV damage to the material.  It's either a poor choice of material or it hasn't got sufficient UV protection.  One thing they'll almost certainly push back on is this, from their website:

We recommend you store all cushions in a shed, garage or other dry sheltered place when not in use.

Did you do this?  Not just for winter, but at any time the furniture wasn't being used?  Left outside in 12 hours of daylight for months on end is going to accelerate UV damage, whereas if it's literally only uncovered for the few hours a week you might use it over summer, it would last a lot longer.

They'll probably ask you to get an independent view.  

Thanks for reply!

The cushions were always stored when not in use in an outdoor storage box.

Obviously not practical to store glass tables away through Spring + Summer but they were covered with a black outdoor cover overnight most of the time. During the nice weather though, they could easily be uncovered for day times for 12 hours + as you say and didn’t even consider sun damage, only bad weather or overnight.

From what you’ve said about UV I expect the glass on the table and small coffee table has made it worse alongside the poor material, that’s why the sofas and chairs are fine but the tables have both broken. 

Frustrating and guess I’m unlikely to get anywhere now.