faulty sofa from Thomas Lloyd

I need some advice on my rights regarding a faulty piece of furniture forming part of an internet order of three leather Chesterfield items purchased from Thomas Lloyd Mail Order Ltd. The purchase was made on my credit card

The order confirmation came through by post as expected and I was duly contacted to advise me that my furniture would be delivered on the evening of Tuesday March 5. The furniture was delivered and appeared to be fine in artificial light however next morning ( 6 March)when looking carefully at one of the sofas I noticed a problem with the stitching in one place on the arm of the sofa and telephoned the company immediately to report the flaw and ask what they were going to do about it. I was advised that I had to put my complaint in writing either by post or email.

I photographed the area of damage and tried unsuccessfully to send the pictures with an email complaint on that evening but their system refused to accept the email as the photograph attachments were evidently too bulky, so after speaking again to their customer service dept the following morning (7 March 2013) I sent a first class letter which included copies of the photographs, a description of the flaws in the sofa and in that letter I stated quite clearly that I needed them to ".....collect and replace the faulty sofa as soon as possible as I consider it to be defective and am rejecting it on that basis..." The following morning their customer service team telephoned me acknowledging receipt of my letter and said that a letter was on its way explaining what was going to happen, when they could arrange to collect the faulty item etc. I have now received a letter dated 8th March which says that they intend dealing with the issue under the terms of their 2 year manufacturing guarantee and that the plan is to collect the faulty item after which they will "..inspect and undertake any remedial action as required...." There is no mention of a replacement, nor any compensation for the inconvenience of them taking it away for an unspecified period.

My point is this - my letter to Thomas Lloyd made it clear that one of the sofas supplied was less than perfect when it was delivered not that a fault had developed after I had started using it so I fail to understand how that can be a guarantee issue. Also I clearly stated in my letter that I was rejecting the faulty sofa and why, yet they seem to be saying that the plan is to take it away, look at it at their leisure, undertake "any remedial action required" and return it when it suits them leaving me with no sofa in the meantime. I expected to be offered a replacement which I assumed would be exchanged for the faulty sofa especially as this company prides itself in its advertising about offering a full 21 day from date of delivery money back guarantee if you are unsatisfied with the furntiure for any reason and I do not see why they are simply offering to take the faulty item away and fix it. The company's letter apologies for the fact that I have needed to contact them about the problem so presumably the photo evidence I have supplied was enough for them to accept that it was not perfect when it was supplied to me so I am really not comfortable with being inconvenienced by being deprived of the use of a sofa because they delivered an imperfect item which needs remedial work. This is even more frustrating as I have bought from them twice before and was very pleased with their service.

The question is can I insist on a replacement? If so, is it not reasonable to expect to keep the faulty one to sit on until the replacement is made and delivered? If I am not entitled to insist on a replacement, and I therefore decide to insist on a refund under their 21 day satisfaction or refund terms, can I simply return part of the order ie the damaged piece as I am very happy with the other pieces and naturally disposed of the furniture it was replacing beofre the delivery was due.

Hi
Thanks for answering. No, it was not "a suite" - there was no requirement upon me to buy a set of any kind because Thomas Lloyd market all their furniture as seperate pieces. The idea is that you decide on the style and colour etc. and then order whichever pieces you want to suit your room etc. My order was for 2 two seater Chesterfield sofas and one Chesterfield club chair and the order was placed as one transaction via their website ( ie there was one delivery charge and one credit card fee).

You order online, by post etc. ( I think you can do it over the phone too), they then write to confirm the order details, and at a later point someone from their factory telephones you to say approx. when the items will be delivered so that you can have the space cleared ready for the item (s) to arrive. They initially quote a two day delivery window and you are then contacted a day or so before those dates by the delivery team who then say you when it will come giving a 4 hour delivery timeslot).

This firm ( part of the Sofa Sofa group) advertise that they manufacture the furniture in their workshop in Wales so I really cannot see that bringing a replacement and swapping it over with the faulty one is a big issue for them - it certainly seems far easier and much less hassle than coming from South Wales to pick it up, take it back to fix it then deliver it back again to South London. Also, they do have a factory showroom where I am sure the piece could easily be sold on once they have touched it up!

Just to add to the info below, I have just phoned the firm and they confirmed that they are planning on collecting the item, doing anything necessary to it ( she said that they do NOT patch things up- if necessary the whole piece will be reupholstered) and then sending it back to me probably a couple of weeks later. I mentioned that this would leave me without 40% of the seating in my sitting room and that it was not a fault that had developed in use - it was there from the begining so why can they not just replace it? I was told that I had signed for the delivery and no mention was made on that delivery note of any flaws identified at that point - I said that the furniture is dark brown, it was 7pm at night and it all looked fine under artificial light and that it is unreasonable to expect anybody to go over every button on three chesterfields with a fine tooth comb whilst the delivery men were wanting to get on but I was told that this is how they work and the sofa has to go back so that if it needs re-upholstering it can be colour matched to our other pieces. I was told that I can ask for my money back on the piece and keep the other two items but that any replacement ordered later on may not necessarily match ( and this would leave me out of pocket as the original order was on a special promo AND I would need to pay a new delivery fee)

Thanks again ALewis

Can you advise me on the "you signed for it as acceptible -therefore we are not going to replace it" argument -does this affect things and if not is there a specific piece of legislation to quote ?

Just to update anyone who may be following this thread

After further contact with the customer service team at Thomas Lloyd, I am pleased to report that the company decided to bring me a complete new set of furniture thus avoiding the possibility of a problem with any colour mismatches etc. if only part of the order had been replaced or reupholstered.

The straight swap over of three new pieces was made on Friday 12th April and meant that I had furniture to use throughout the period that the company were sorting out the problem and at no time did I have the inconvenience originally envisaged of having part of my order taken back to the factory for inspection before any repair/replacement was agreed.

Following an initial misunderstanding of the action to be taken, full marks for Thomas Lloyd for keeping me updated on the progress of the production and delivery of the replacement pieces.