Sofa Retailer

Maharic1111

I was looking to buy a 3 & 2 sofa from a local retailers. I saw a corner sofa but was unsure if it would fit, the owner came to my home to measure up and said it would fit.
I paid him £1500 cash, when he delivered the sofa it was too big to fit in the living room he told me he would have to pick it back up in a couple of days as he had a lot of deliveries to make.
when he called back he stated he would only refund me £1340 as he was charging me £160 for pick up.
what can I do about this and where do I go for advice please? I am absolutely furious 

Grumpy_chap

Maharic1111 said:

I was looking to buy a 3 & 2 sofa from a local retailers. I saw a corner sofa but was unsure if it would fit, the owner came to my home to measure up and said it would fit.
I paid him £1500 cash, when he delivered the sofa it was too big to fit in the living room he told me he would have to pick it back up in a couple of days as he had a lot of deliveries to make.
when he called back he stated he would only refund me £1340 as he was charging me £160 for pick up.
what can I do about this and where do I go for advice please? I am absolutely furious 

Was the sofa too big to fit in the living room in an absolute sense - i.e. the length of the sofa was longer than the length of the wall?

Was the sofa too big to fit in the living room simply because it would not pass through the door?

Or, was the sofa too big to fit in the living room in the sense it could be placed there but simply looked ridiculously large and out of place?

sonearandyetsofa

Do you have anything in writing from them? Does your receipt or invoice state that it will fit, or does it come with terms and conditions stating that it's your responsibility to check that? Even a text confirming that he attended the property to check it would be helpful.

If he told you it definitely will fit. and on the delivery day you found out it definitely will not physically fit (i.e. won't go through the doorways, or is longer than the space it's going in), you have a good argument that he should refund you in full. In practice you might have to go through small claims court to get the delivery cost refunded. In this, the sofa retailer would be considered an expert and it's not unreasonable for you to rely on his expert opinion and decide to order the sofa based on that. If you don't have anything in writing it may be hard to prove, but even a trail of texts discussing it would do the trick.

If, on the other hand, he only said "it'll probably fit", or it does physically fit but it looks too big in the space, you're stuck with whatever terms and conditions they gave you when you paid. If they didn't give you any paperwork or there's no terms and conditions on it, then you're not automatically entitled to return it at all.

Either way I'd recommend letting him collect and refund you minus the delivery charge first, then once you have your £1340 back argue for the rest to be refunded.

Grumpy_chap

It is not usual, in my experience, for a sofa retailer to visit to do a measure - sofas are usually standard products with data sheets providing the dimensions and the average customer would be considered able to measure up based on that information.

I am also curious as to where the sofa is now.  It is too big to be in the OP's living room and not taken back by the retailer.  What other space in the house does the OP have to store the sofa in the meantime?

Also, what is the OP using to sit on at present and what will the OP use to sit on once the too big sofa has been collected?

user1977

I would say it’s pretty commonplace for retailers to be able to check whether there will be any delivery problems. The basic dimensions don’t necessarily help with the geometry of getting something up stairs etc, and some items will disassemble in useful ways.

Perhaps “not as described” if the sofa was sold as something which could be transported into the room following the retailer’s inspection.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP if you paid whilst he was at your house this would be an off-premises contract with the right to cancel.

As a sofa can't be returned via normal post the trader has to provide the cost of return, this must be given on a durable medium (paper, email, messenger, etc), if not provided the trader is to bear the cost of return. Proof of info given falls on the trader. 

If you paid any time after he left then you could argue under not as described. 

Best bet is to have it collected, get the £1340 and then chase the rest. Once you have the £1340 if you wat an draft email explaining the right to cancel as per my first paragraph please pop back here   

Grumpy_chap said:

It is not usual, in my experience, for a sofa retailer to visit to do a measure 

Not for DFS, local retailer might. Many years ago when I purchased from Carpet Right the guy came (a rather long way) to measure the room, it's two basic measurements and one is a standard width (i.e even if your room is 3*3.5 you pay for a 3*4 carpet as they only cut one way).

The main reason they do is you are far more likely to purchase*, plus especially so if the sales person is good at their job, i.e the sales patter   

*When my wife had a food business we'd hand out free samples, the main hope was they'd love the food and buy but psychologically this also creates a feeling of obligation for needing to do something in return for being given something for free, same with coming out to measure up, free, personal service creating a greater sense of obligation, it can be very effective sales technique. 

Grumpy_chap

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

OP if you paid whilst he was at your house this would be an off-premises contract with the right to cancel.

As a sofa can't be returned via normal post the trader has to provide the cost of return, this must be given on a durable medium (paper, email, messenger, etc), if not provided the trader is to bear the cost of return. Proof of info given falls on the trader. 

If you paid any time after he left then you could argue under not as described. 

Best bet is to have it collected, get the £1340 and then chase the rest. Once you have the £1340 if you wat an draft email explaining the right to cancel as per my first paragraph please pop back here   

I agree on the pragmatic next steps to get the bulk of the money back before challenging further.

I still think the OP's rights for cancellation / not as described might still depend on the detail which has not been confirmed:
 - If the sofa cannot fit into the room (through the access point) or physically will not fit in the room once it is there, the OP's position seems stronger.
 - If the sofa has been delivered to the room and physically fits in the room, but just simply looks absurdly too large, the OP's position seems weaker.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Grumpy_chap said:

I agree on the pragmatic next steps to get the bulk of the money back before challenging further.

I still think the OP's rights for cancellation / not as described might still depend on the detail which has not been confirmed

With cancellation that would be unequivocal (assuming it applies). If the trader has given the info stating collection upon cancellation is £160 then that is such (assuming direct costs). 

Mention of £1500 in cash tips me towards no info but of course I could be wrong, OP may have even done the deal later in store, hopefully they'll post back to clarify