Hi Folks

I am posting for information as the elderly couple next door don't have internet never mind a PC.

They bought a three seater sofa and two reclining chairs from World of Sofas just over a year ago.

Two weeks after taking delivery there was a problem, a four inch strip of leather at the side of one of the cushions was cracking and peeling so they contacted World of Sofas who sent someone out to repair it, three times.

Since then World of Sofas has went to the wall but the problem persisted, thinking that they would use the 5 year warranty, that they paid £200 for, to get the sofa repaired or replaced, they contacted Creations Consumer Finance Ltd as instructed who said to contact Homeserve Furniture Repairs Limited and have an independant report done but this would cost them £36.

Homeserve sent out a technician and they received a letter today stating that a satisfactory repair could be carried out in their home.

But they want £280 + vat to do it.

On the Homeserve Care Plan 5 Year Policy Coverage it states they are covered for "Lifting & Peeling of Leather", so why doesn't the warranty they paid £200 for not cover the repair.

To be honest this sofa should have been replaced after two weeks, it's obvious that there was a manufacturing fault from the start and that the three failed attempts to repair it previously should convince them that another repair isn't going to wok, how many chances do they get, is it until the five year extended warranty runs out and they can say it has nothing to do with them.

The crazy thing about it is that they want this 80 year old couple, one of whom has dementia to allow a technician access to their home for five hours to do a repair and then only if they pay over £300 to have it done after paying for an extended warranty which in my opinion and their own printed words should cover this.

I don't think I mentioned before but they use the two chairs, the sofa is very seldom used unless they have visitors, which is very rarely.

If there is anything that makes me angry, it's a company exploiting our older community and bleeding them dry after that.

I am in the process of writing another letter to them, explaining the situation and that if something is not done soon that the next avenue I will take is Trading Standards, the FSA and every review website on the internet.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

How did they pay for the sofa ? Was any form of credit used ?

Have come across a similar post from someone who bought a 'leather sofa' from The Range. It turned out that the material was not real leather after close inspection. The Range then argued that the did not say it was 'real leather'. Anyway to cut a long story short they took the retailer to court and the judge actually heard the case at the claimants home which they won against the retailer. If the sofa was bought on credit, they can take action via the credit company, as the retailer is no longer trading.

If they did not use credit and the retailer is not around so no viable claim can be made via that route, then make a complaint to Homeserve using their complaints process and if after 8 weeks they cannot resolve, the complaint can be passed to the FOS. The FOS process can take 6 months or more. You really need to read through the Homeserve policy from front to back, to see why they want £280 +vat. Homeserve have to explain why this is the case.

Have a read of the FSA handbook on claim handling that Homeserve should be observing.

http://fsahandbook.info/FSA/html/handbook/ICOBS/8

sadly homeserve are renound for pulling these stunts.

ScS use them and they wriggle out of it everytime. and then charge you.

i had a friend that had a sofa that was in the LIVING QUARTERS of a BnB

they refused to repair it as it was in a business establishment.

he did what BG is suggegsting and got Visa involved.

oh and while i'm at it, World of Sofas were featured big on watchdog some moons ago.

i think they are mentioned here too

same guys, just ditch and run every 2yrs.

dx

http://blog.emap.com/shop/2009/03/17/land-of-leather-morphs-into-world-of-sofas/

dx