Can anyone offer any advice on how to go about complaining about my peeling sofas........

Order placed end of December 2013, paid just over half of balance by debit card

Remaining balance paid April 2014, by cash

Delivery of sofas around June 2014, all good, happy with new sofas.

After a few months noticed a slight cracking in the leather, by 12 months old the leather had started to peel, mainly on the armrests and the backrests, with one thing and another, a family bereavement and usual stresses and strains, I haven't had the head nor the energy to fight this but it is getting much worse and I feel that my new sofas should last much longer than this, after all they are from a range called 'endurance' which claims to be 'an exclusive high performance range' with 'advanced technology', 'increased durability', 'more enduring than normal leather'.

The sofas are used by 2 adults only, no kids, no pets and for only a couple of hours each evening, due to us being mostly either at work or sleeping!! Not exactly high usage at all.

I still have the tags attached to the sofas which boast 'virtually child proof', 'designed to withstand the pressures of a busy family life' and 'improves with age, guaranteed to stay looking good for years to come'.

It really is getting worse every day and I'm ashamed to let anyone see it now.

I really feel that it is not fit for purpose and wish that I hadn't paid upfront in full for it, if it was on credit I wouldn't give them a penny more.

I would like to attach photos but can't as I'm new

retailer?

Whoops sorry, its SCS

There was a court case a few years back regarding a very similar issue, where the Judge actually visited the claimants house, because the store were denying there being a fault. The store were claiming it was badly looked after, a child had repeatedly had a nappy changed etc. They claimant won against the store and got a full refund, plus their costs back.

What you would have to do is to get it inspected by companies that provide such reports. If you look at the furniture ombudsman site, there are details of inspection reports which i think cost £130. If the report is in your favour, then you can pursue this with SCS and if they don't provide an agreeable resolution, you can issue a court claim against them. If it gets to that stage you can come back for more advice and there are people on here with the know how.

I doubt that SCS would carry out an inspection at their cost or if they did it might not be independent. Hence why you might want to get your own report first and then pursue SCS.

Thanks for the advice, i believe that scs charge £75 to look at an out of warranty product. Not sure how i stand on this, on the bottom of the receipt it says '10 year warranty....to register visit http://www.scs......', something i did not do unfortunately.

I really wish I could post photos for everyone to see:frown:

I think you are better getting your own report done.

I have seen reported too many store obtained inspection reports blaming the homeowner and the truly independent reports come to an entirely different conclusion.

The problem with many of the leather suites is that they are imported on a massive scale from China and some of the quality is rubbish. Some stores even give them italian sounding names, inferring they were made in Italy with quality materials.

Thanks for the advice, i believe that scs charge £75 to look at an out of warranty product. Not sure how i stand on this, on the bottom of the receipt it says '10 year warranty....to register visit http://www.scs......', something i did not do unfortunately.

 

I really wish I could post photos for everyone to see:frown:

you can upload

I agree, thank you

sorry dx, it won't let me click on it

how did that happen ?

I moved it

Thanks dx, must be a gremlin in the works on this thread as it works on my other.........

Anyway, there's my peeling sofas, what do you think?

My brother has an SCS leather suite bought years ( probably 15+ years) ago and there is no such damage. They have loads of animals, older kids/adults, several house moves.

I thinks this is just poor quality material that has been used that is not hard wearing. It could just be the surface that was leather and the rest is synthetic. In the court case i mentioned, it was found that the material was a combination of leather and synthetic, when the store advertised it as leather. So they won, as the suite was not what was sold to them.

Is there any update for the original issue, please ?

UPDATE -

I refused to pay the company to come and inspect the sofas and asked them if they'd rather me return them to the store I purchased them from, after a few phone calls and emails providing them with photos, they have invited me to return to the store and choose replacement furniture. I'm pleased that they agree with me on the condition of my furniture and look forward to choosing replacements, at the moment I haven't seen anything I like so I'll hang on a little longer.