Botched Leather Sofa Repair

baz8755

Several months ago the one of the seat pads on my leather sofa was showing signs of wear.

As the sofa is old I have in the past used services who replace the leather panel, however they are no longer trading so I had to find someone else.

I eventually found a company who claimed they could fix the seat by refinishing it (aka painting), I queried whether the finish would be durable and was informed it would be. The cost was over £400!!

The gentleman came out and spent many hours 'refinishing' the pad after which the pad did look OK.

After a few weeks the finish started to flake so he came out again and repeated the procedure with 'stronger' solution. He came out several more times and reapplied the finish due to it failing.

In his final visit he said he could do no more if it failed again......a few weeks later it did so I contacted them and said things had not worked, I heard nothing back.

I then managed to locate a company who could replace the leather panel. They came out and inspected the sofa and said they could do the work (for significantly less than the previous guy charged for painting), they did however point out that due to overspray/paint blending the back panel was damaged and the only way to correctly fix would be to replace that panel too, a total bill of around £800.

I have authorized the new company to do the work after the festive season and have a written quote.

My question is what rights do I have to re-coupe funds or receive compensation from the first company for the botched repair and the damage caused and what is the best way to go about it?

 

Aylesbury_Duck

You need to tell the first company what remedy you want, which given their own admission that they couldn't do any more if it failed again, would logically be a refund.  It's not compensation, you would be seeking a refund because you paid them to effect a repair and they haven't been able to do so.

Do you have an address for them?  If so, then I'd try again to contact them and if you still get no reply, send them a letter before action to say you'll take them to court if they don't respond in 14 days.

Don't let the second company do any work until you know the score with the first one.

MyRealNameToo

baz8755 said:
they did however point out that due to overspray/paint blending the back panel was damaged and the only way to correctly fix would be to replace that panel too, a total bill of around £800.

In what way was it "damaged" such that it had to be replaced if you hadn't even noticed?

Like when you replace a panel on a car and respray it the fact they blended into neighbouring pieces is generally a sign of a job well done rather than an issue as no colour matching is ever perfect and the blending stops the obvious difference. 

Obviously havent seen it to say it was or wasnt damaged but does sound more like an upsell from the new guy than necessarily an issue with the prior guys work. 

Do wonder what on earth you are doing to your sofa though, ours is over 75 years old and never need any panel replaced despite daily use. 

baz8755

MyRealNameToo said:

baz8755 said:
they did however point out that due to overspray/paint blending the back panel was damaged and the only way to correctly fix would be to replace that panel too, a total bill of around £800.

In what way was it "damaged" such that it had to be replaced if you hadn't even noticed?

Like when you replace a panel on a car and respray it the fact they blended into neighbouring pieces is generally a sign of a job well done rather than an issue as no colour matching is ever perfect and the blending stops the obvious difference. 

Obviously havent seen it to say it was or wasnt damaged but does sound more like an upsell from the new guy than necessarily an issue with the prior guys work. 

Do wonder what on earth you are doing to your sofa though, ours is over 75 years old and never need any panel replaced despite daily use. 

It is damaged as it appears that whatever was done as part of the 'blending' has caused not only the over spray to flake off but the finish on the leather underneath is damaged.

As you say you haven't seen the work so cannot comment

As to what I have been doing to it, surprisingly I have been sitting on it and it is a cheapish SCS Lazy boy sofa we often have to have a pad recovered about every 5 years.

sheramber

Can you see the damage on the back
panel or are they touting for work?

baz8755

sheramber said:

Can you see the damage on the back
panel or are they touting for work?

Yes I can see the damage

MyRealNameToo

baz8755 said:

sheramber said:

Can you see the damage on the back
panel or are they touting for work?

Yes I can see the damage

When the sofa is in use or just when you've taken the cushions off to look at them?

baz8755

MyRealNameToo said:

baz8755 said:

sheramber said:

Can you see the damage on the back
panel or are they touting for work?

Yes I can see the damage

When the sofa is in use or just when you've taken the cushions off to look at them?

When the sofa is in use, I saw it before the new contractor even came out and mentioned it

baz8755

Aylesbury_Duck said:

You need to tell the first company what remedy you want, which given their own admission that they couldn't do any more if it failed again, would logically be a refund.  It's not compensation, you would be seeking a refund because you paid them to effect a repair and they haven't been able to do so.

Do you have an address for them?  If so, then I'd try again to contact them and if you still get no reply, send them a letter before action to say you'll take them to court if they don't respond in 14 days.

Don't let the second company do any work until you know the score with the first one.

I took your advice giving them 14 days otherwise further action would be taken and they issued a full refund 😀