Cost Plus Sofa's Warranty and fake leather

lotas

We bought a Sofa and 2 arm chairs last year from Cost Plus Sofas. They where the fake leather type, and at the time, i was kind of skeptical of their ability to stand up to wear and tear... we have had real leather sofas in the house for 8-10 years and have never had any problems. the guy who sold us the sofas told us they would be as hard wearing as real leather, so we took his word for it.. We where wrong...

Anyway, we bought them last May, and in the last few weeks, we noticed that there are tears happing on the kick board of the Soft... the 2 end seats of the sofa are recliners, as are the arm chairs.

Now, cost plus sofas are telling us that the warranty for these is up... supposedly, 1 year is all you get... We dont have kids in the house, we dont have pets. we dont jump up and down on the sofas... its just sit down, pull out the recliner, sit back... nothing major. So, since they are starting to get cut and torn, is this a case of "not fit for purpose"?

Riesen_Meal

Sorry to hijack your thread but I have a similar issue with ours, not from cost plus, it seems when you recline that there are 4 springs coming up on it, mind you, we do have kids, and the cat likes to dig his claws here and there, it is under warranty still, but I am unsure if we have comeback with the cats scratches on it....

Im wondering do I have rights to a repair?

kippy

lotas wrote: »

We bought a Sofa and 2 arm chairs last year from Cost Plus Sofas. They where the fake leather type, and at the time, i was kind of skeptical of their ability to stand up to wear and tear... we have had real leather sofas in the house for 8-10 years and have never had any problems. the guy who sold us the sofas told us they would be as hard wearing as real leather, so we took his word for it.. We where wrong...

Anyway, we bought them last May, and in the last few weeks, we noticed that there are tears happing on the kick board of the Soft... the 2 end seats of the sofa are recliners, as are the arm chairs.

Now, cost plus sofas are telling us that the warranty for these is up... supposedly, 1 year is all you get... We dont have kids in the house, we dont have pets. we dont jump up and down on the sofas... its just sit down, pull out the recliner, sit back... nothing major. So, since they are starting to get cut and torn, is this a case of "not fit for purpose"?

There are a few threads here (usually about electronic goods) which outline a few laws which state that the warranty may be good for as long as 6 years (look through a few threads) and if you are not happy with the seller (make sure you keep all correspondences with them) you may open a case through the small claims court if value is less than 2000 euro.
(Again, look through a few threads here where this has been documented, I am rather sketchy on the detail)
I suspect if you go back to the seller with the right information that you have learned here, threatening a small claims action, they might change their stance.
Kippy

P. Breathnach

Forget about warranty. Set aside fitness for purpose. Your claim should be based on the concept of "merchantable quality". See Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act, 1980, S10:

14.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and of any statute in that behalf, there is no implied condition or warranty as to the quality or fitness for any particular purpose of goods supplied under a contract of sale.

(2) Where the seller sells goods in the course of a business there is an implied condition that the goods supplied under the contract are of merchantable quality...

There is no reasonable way that a suite of furniture should deteriorate significantly in less than two years.

Procrastastudy

The only way you'll get any joy is the Small Claims Court in regard to Cost Plus Sofas.

dudara

kippy wrote: »

There are a few threads here (usually about electronic goods) which outline a few laws which state that the warranty may be good for as long as 6 years

\

I think you may have a slight case of crossed messages here. Consumer law says that goods must last a reasonable amount of time and that you have up to to 6 years in which to claim redress for faulty goods.

kippy

dudara wrote: »

\

I think you may have a slight case of crossed messages here. Consumer law says that goods must last a reasonable amount of time and that you have up to to 6 years in which to claim redress for faulty goods.

As I said, I didn't have the full detail, so thanks for the correction.

Procrastastudy

kippy wrote: »

As I said, I didn't have the full detail, so thanks for the correction.

To be fair I, personally, would expect furniture to outlast the statute of limitations. Given I'm in the same situation as the OP with a sofa from these cowboys I suppose I shouldn't comment as my bias is obvious. I can claim unfortunately as we do have pets an the cat has has a good go at the bottom of it. The seems going on the cushions is nothing to do with a 7Kg cat! (Maybe the >100Kg me)

lotas

thanks for the reply and information lads! Very handy!

Quick update: I was on to them yesterday evening, and it took them about 20 min to figure out how to spell my name, who i was, and get the order correct... Anyway, after the guy on the other end of the phone insisted about 20 times that he could do nothing, i mentioned the small clams court... no matter how many times i mentioned it was unfit for purpose, that it was a 1500 quid suite of furniture, and that it should last more than 14 months before falling apart, he would accept no responsibility. finally, when i mentioned the court, he said he would escalate it to the head office and i should hear something today... lets see how that goes!

Procrastastudy

The drill with a fair few retailers is;

1) Chance their arm that you won't actually go though with it
2) Insist they'll fight it
3) Not bother to turn up on the day
4) Require the Sheriff to be sent round - had this happen to me (company not personally) can be quite satisfying to know he's stood there, oh so politely, eying up things he's going to take in front of lots of customers as you try to explain to your UK head office that "no he says he won't wait for a cheque!"

Enforcement is something I don't have much experience with beyond one guy and an Xbox360 - the rest is a fairly frequent set of circumstances both here and in the UK. How they'd actually defend furniture going after 14 months would be one I'd like to see.

Good luck OP and let us know how you get on.

Joey the lips

Firstly, if anyone believes you can buy a complete room so cheap and its going to be of good quality then you really need to be life educated.

"If its cheap and quick its not going to be good" It means it high volume low cost goods. This is a fact

However i suggest you contact the consumer association. They have a long list of complaints(I am led to believe) against this company for quality and misleading advertising.

Best of luck.

Procrastastudy

At €1400 for some wood leatherette and some foam it should last longer than 14 months!

I've a chair from Argos I've been happily plonking my bum on for the last 5 years still going strong. I think it cost €50.

lotas

Joey the lips wrote: »

Firstly, if anyone believes you can buy a complete room so cheap and its going to be of good quality then you really need to be life educated.

"If its cheap and quick its not going to be good" It means it high volume low cost goods. This is a fact

However i suggest you contact the consumer association. They have a long list of complaints(I am led to believe) against this company for quality and misleading advertising.

Best of luck.

It wasent "cheap" and it wasent the full room... the real leather was about 200 quid more, and at the time, we though 200 quid towards a proper TV (again, not the full room, we only bought the sofa and chairs) would be better suited, especially when the salesman told us it would be as hard wearing. We are in the process of taking this further. Advertising was not an issue, as such, but the salesman's advice was...

Joey the lips

lotas wrote: »

It wasent "cheap" and it wasent the full room... the real leather was about 200 quid more, and at the time, we though 200 quid towards a proper TV (again, not the full room, we only bought the sofa and chairs) would be better suited, especially when the salesman told us it would be as hard wearing. We are in the process of taking this further. Advertising was not an issue, as such, but the salesman's advice was...

That was not an attack on you. apologies. I just expressed an opinion but they second part was for you. Contact the consumer asssociation

lotas

Joey the lips wrote: »

That was not an attack on you. apologies. I just expressed an opinion but they second part was for you. Contact the consumer asssociation

No problems man... i am a bit pissed at the whole situation, and seem to be taking it out on everyone else...

The latest update is that head office wont talk to me. The support centre has sent them on details, asking to call me back, and they just replied that it was out of warranty and therefore would not call me back. I am in work at the moment, but the parents are going down now, armed with the mammy's walking stick... I am either expecting to get something sorted, same deal, or have to bale the parents out... next step, if its the latter 2, is to call the consumer advice people...

Thanks again.

disco girl

Hi there,

Unfortunately my parents bought a suite off this shower 2 weeks ago. It was delivered on the 13th. Within a day the back of one of the recliner chairs had come away and under the sofa where the recliners are the material is all ripped.

My Dad rang them on the 16th and was told no one could help until the 23rd as the technician was on holiday and was told that someone would ring him. No one rang.

Today the whole side of the other recliner chair has now become loose.

So my Dad rang them twice today and was told that the technician would definitely ring him......of course no one rang.

They have the suite for 10 days now, have only been able to use 1 chair (which is also now broken) and haven't been able to use the recliners on the sofa (they were told not to use the broken one and not to use the recliners on the sofa).

What are the options here?

I feel they are being given the run around and now have a suite of furniture that is not fit for purpose...

Procrastastudy

Registered letter explaining if the situation isn't rectified within ten working days you will be taking it to the Small Claims Court. Then knowing this lot - you'll be going...

slimjimmc

Send a written complaint by registered letter to the branch manager telling them you rescind the contract as per your statutory rights and expect a full refund of your purchase price within 10 working days. If the furniture is that bad after a few days there's no way I'd accept a repair.

disco girl

Would enough time have passed, with them being completely unhelpful and not even ringing back, to be able to do a chargeback?

Procrastastudy

You could try it - Section 14 of the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act makes the 'finance house' liable as well as the seller. That said no one has ever been able to give me a satisfactory answer to whether credit card companies are considered finance houses.

This is getting a bit legalese waffle but the credit card co will likely tell you to sort it out with the seller.

disco girl

GCDLawstudent wrote: »

This is getting a bit legalese waffle but the credit card co will likely tell you to sort it out with the seller.

Yeah that's what he was told by his CC company when he rang them on the 16th, she told him to give the company a chance to rectify things.

Procrastastudy

In all honesty just probably best to write a letter - don't get into any legalese some words don't mean what would on the face of them - explaining if the situation isn't resolved in X time frame you'll have the matter dealt with by the SmCC.

disco girl

Hi lads, I posted this here on the 24/7:

Hi there,

Unfortunately my parents bought a suite off this shower 2 weeks ago. It was delivered on the 13th. Within a day the back of one of the recliner chairs had come away and under the sofa where the recliners are the material is all ripped.

My Dad rang them on the 16th and was told no one could help until the 23rd as the technician was on holiday and was told that someone would ring him. No one rang.

Today the whole side of the other recliner chair has now become loose.

So my Dad rang them twice today and was told that the technician would definitely ring him......of course no one rang.

They have the suite for 10 days now, have only been able to use 1 chair (which is also now broken) and haven't been able to use the recliners on the sofa (they were told not to use the broken one and not to use the recliners on the sofa).

What are the options here?

I feel they are being given the run around and now have a suite of furniture that is not fit for purpose...

Finally on the Aug bank holiday Monday the technician came out and said that the suite couldn't be repaired, he would send his report to Cost Plus Sofa's and he would email one to my Dad (never got one).

Cost Plus Sofa's eventually rang my Dad and said they would offer a replacement. My Dad politely declined and asked for a refund, saying that he had no faith in the quality of the furniture supplied by them when his suite had started to fall apart after one day.

The bloke on the phone said he wasn't authorised to issue refunds! That he would get someone else to ring my Dad. Again no one rang.

My Dad rang today and was given the same BS, offered replacement, couldn't authorise refund but wouldn't give an address, or phone number or name so my Dad could speak to someone who could. Reluctantly after being asked repeatedly he gave an email address, so my Dad is going to write a letter.

My Dad has already written to his CC company about the issue and is waiting to hear from them.

So what does he do from here? Does he have to accept a replacement of what is essentially crap goods? Or can he insist on a refund?

All help/opinions appreciated.

dudara

Threads merged

dudara

Procrastastudy

disco girl wrote: »

Hi lads, I posted this here on the 24/7:



Finally on the Aug bank holiday Monday the technician came out and said that the suite couldn't be repaired, he would send his report to Cost Plus Sofa's and he would email one to my Dad (never got one).

Cost Plus Sofa's eventually rang my Dad and said they would offer a replacement. My Dad politely declined and asked for a refund, saying that he had no faith in the quality of the furniture supplied by them when his suite had started to fall apart after one day.

The bloke on the phone said he wasn't authorised to issue refunds! That he would get someone else to ring my Dad. Again no one rang.

My Dad rang today and was given the same BS, offered replacement, couldn't authorise refund but wouldn't give an address, or phone number or name so my Dad could speak to someone who could. Reluctantly after being asked repeatedly he gave an email address, so my Dad is going to write a letter.

My Dad has already written to his CC company about the issue and is waiting to hear from them.

So what does he do from here? Does he have to accept a replacement of what is essentially crap goods? Or can he insist on a refund?

All help/opinions appreciated.

The accepted logic here seems to be repair, replacement or refund. That may or may not be the case. My reading of it is they have a reasonable time to 'sort it out' (in my mind this is repair or replace but I am open to correction.) Beyond a reasonable time though you have the option to reject the goods and repudiate the contract.

A month for fairly new goods in my opinion is going becoming unreasonable. I would suggest you find out how long it's going to take to get a replacement; add this time to the time you've already waited and then write a letter (don't email) stating that unless you receive a refund within ten working days you will proceed to the small claims court.

EDIT: Sorry go though your CC company in the first instance - let the CC co know you're giving CPS ten days to resolve the issue.

disco girl

Thanks Procrastastudy, he's ringing the bank tomorrow to see what they have to say.

My Dad is concerned that if he did accept a replacement, should something happen to the suite in 6 months time he has to go through all this bs again!

If it went to SCC and Judge was told that a replacement was offered and refused could that go against my parents?

Procrastastudy

disco girl wrote: »

Thanks Procrastastudy, he's ringing the bank tomorrow to see what they have to say.

My Dad is concerned that if he did accept a replacement, should something happen to the suite in 6 months time he has to go through all this bs again!

If it went to SCC and Judge was told that a replacement was offered and refused could that go against my parents?

Don't accept a replacement - Just find out how long it would take to get one so you have the info ready. I'm not qualified to offer specific legal advice but I can't see how it would go against them. Worst comes to worst the registrar says ' they've offered a replacement take it' and you end up with a new sofa.

My understanding is they are fairly quick to side with the consumer and many retailers dont bother to show up. Which results in a judgment against them. The issue may be that you have to get the sheriff to collect - which would entail a fee - that said you get the fee back if they are successful in claiming.

Having been on the receiving end of a sheriff call I would send them into the shop it self. Preferably when you can be there with some popcorn.

slimjimmc

disco girl wrote: »

Thanks Procrastastudy, he's ringing the bank tomorrow to see what they have to say.

My Dad is concerned that if he did accept a replacement, should something happen to the suite in 6 months time he has to go through all this bs again!

If it went to SCC and Judge was told that a replacement was offered and refused could that go against my parents?

I wouldn't think so, not when the judge is made aware of the appalling quality of the first sofa and the trouble in even getting someone to look at it. Your parents have been reasonable in their dealings with the company but there's a limit to what a reasonable person should accept.


"repair, replacement or refund" is not a sequence of events, they are just a list of options and you don't have to use them all.

disco girl

Thanks lads, I'll give him the info and I'll keep ye posted

disco girl

Small update on this, CC are requesting some things from my Dad, one of them being a letter from CPS outlining their offer of a replacement (they are refusing to budge on this) Anyway my Dad spoke to CPS again, asked for their offer in writing and CPS have refused to provide it.

Can they do this?

Procrastastudy

disco girl wrote: »

Small update on this, CC are requesting some things from my Dad, one of them being a letter from CPS outlining their offer of a replacement (they are refusing to budge on this) Anyway my Dad spoke to CPS again, asked for their offer in writing and CPS have refused to provide it.

Can they do this?

If they like - just tell the CC, CPS have with drawn the offer and the CC should contact CPS directly.