Two years ago we placed an order for a £1,500 sofa at our local Furniture Village store. After being delayed for more than three months, it arrived with a large, noticeable scratch on one of the sofa arms, and various holes and marks across the back of the sofa, and the firmness of the seats did not match. We reported this to the company on the same day it arrived.
Since then, the company has sent out five technicians, and each time they have sent the wrong replacement part for the scratch on the arm. They haven’t even attempted to try to resolve the other two problems.
The company promised to give us either a replacement or refund if they failed to repair it on the fourth attempt. It is now refusing to do so, claiming it has already cost too much. Please help.
SL, Northampton
What a ridiculous story, and I am amazed that you put up with this for as long as you did.
In your shoes, I would have rejected the item right at the start. The Consumer Rights Act gives you a clear early right to reject goods for up to 30 days that are of unsatisfactory quality, unfit for purpose or not as described, and get a full refund.
To be then told after five failed fixes that you were not entitled to a refund because they had spent too much trying to fix it is laughable.
Happily, after I raised the matter with the Furniture Village head office, the firm had a swift rethink.
The company has now “sincerely apologised”, refunded you in full, and will come and get the errant sofa in the coming days.
“This is the last thing we would want our customers to feel. His story has been shared with the customer experience team so that we can fully understand where we went wrong, ensure it doesn’t happen again and do our best to put things right for him,” it says.
If you are thinking of heading to this store, I would urge you to read some of the reviews. They suggest your experience was not an isolated one.
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