Rip in "leather" suite

kkontour

Hi,
we bought a 3 piece reclining suite form a local furniture retailer
It has leather seats, back and arms but the sides and behind are PVC. The PVC has ripped where its stitched to the leather, between the side and arm and between the back and behind.
The rips are small but noticable. The furniture shop took a look but say 'these things happen', insisting we have to pay for the repair.
the furnature is 8months old. and cost €2000
There are no children in the house and the suite has not been abused in any way.

So, my question, is this considered normal wear and tear, or should this be repaired buy the shop under the consumer rights act.
"Goods must be of merchantable quality – goods should be of reasonable quality taking into account what they are meant to do, their durability and their price"

Dizzyblonde

I'm no expert but I've bought a fair amount of furniture over the years. That doesn't sound like normal wear and tear to me. It mustn't have been made properly, sounds as though the PVC might have been too tight or something.
Even if you did have children you'd expect your sofa to last much longer than this.
I'd go back to the shop and threaten them with a trip to the small claims court.

Try this link for information on your rights as a consumer;

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/consumer-affairs

kkontour

Thanks Dizzy,
I like the store and we have bought quite a bit of stuff from them over the past two years, over €6000 worth, and they have allways been good to deal with, good quality stuff and we have more furniture to buy. So im a bit disapointed with this purchase. I;ll see how I get on and only threaten the small claims court as a last resort
Thanks again.
KK

foggy_lad

normal wear and tear should mean it will last a bit longer than 8months before the stitching tears and this could easily be a manufacturing flaw? be fair but firm with them and ask that they arrange a repair as a sofa/armchair should have a longer lifespan

Dizzyblonde

kkontour wrote: »

Thanks Dizzy,
I like the store and we have bought quite a bit of stuff from them over the past two years, over €6000 worth, and they have allways been good to deal with, good quality stuff and we have more furniture to buy. So im a bit disapointed with this purchase. I;ll see how I get on and only threaten the small claims court as a last resort
Thanks again.
KK

Of course I didn't mean to threaten them with the small claims court unless you got no joy out of them. It shouldn't be a problem anyway as it's the manufacturer who's responsible. Just be careful of a repair job as it'd mean they might have stretch the PVC even further to stitch it again, which would cause a weakness. And if they replace the PVC it'll probably be a slightly different colour.
My parents bought a leather suite last year, and when one of the chairs sagged badly the retailer just ordered a new suite from the manufacturer and sent the old one back, no questions asked.
Good luck with it, I hope they do what's right especially as you're a regular customer.

thefinalstage

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

Of course I didn't mean to threaten them with the small claims court unless you got no joy out of them. It shouldn't be a problem anyway as it's the manufacturer who's responsible. Just be careful of a repair job as it'd mean they might have stretch the PVC even further to stitch it again, which would cause a weakness. And if they replace the PVC it'll probably be a slightly different colour.
My parents bought a leather suite last year, and when one of the chairs sagged badly the retailer just ordered a new suite from the manufacturer and sent the old one back, no questions asked.
Good luck with it, I hope they do what's right especially as you're a regular customer.

No its the responsibility of the shop she purchased from.

EKRIUQ

3 piece suite material and leather change every couple of months so the likely hood of getting the same chair is near impossible unless they have the same production batch available to the furniture shop.

Judging by the materials used PVC joined to leather it could be argued that it is wear and tear, but should should get more that 2 years and it depends on the life expectancy of the suite. Most furniture stores will tell you that the life expectancy of a suite of furniture to be around 5 years

kkontour

Thanks for all the replies.
I now have a good argument for them to do the repair. I did think they should last longer without showing this kind of wear. Good to get a second opinion.
KK

kkontour

To close this thread, I threatened Small Calims court and retailler said go ahead. Several months later, the day before court hearing the retailler, without admitting fault, aggrees to repair sofa. Sofa now repaired and all is well.
Im sorry we have fallen out with the store though as they have some nice stuff, their loss too I suppose.