I think that is the wisest step. Before I send it back I will list the faults and ask them what action they will take to remedy each fault. Then if it is returned to me and the faults continue I have concrete reasons for rejection having given them the opportunity to repair before refund.

Thanks for your reply. I've found a courier for £30 so that's only a minor issue. It's more about what the retailer can realistically do to improve the chair if I send it back, if they're not willing to replace substandard materials. I'm worried they'll just tidy it up by cutting off a few threads so visually it seems fine then sending it back to me. When the problems reoccur as they are ever likely to if that's all that is done then it becomes a farce to send it back to them at the cost of another £30 only for them to presumably do the same and send it back ad infinitum until the warranty runs out! Or I end up spending the cost of the chair again. What rights do I have to specify how I want the problems to be rectified?

I bought an arm chair in December 2014 which due to supplier delays arrived in Feb 15 but we didn't start using it in the nursery till baby arrived in June 15. Just prior to using it we discovered the wrong bolts had been sent for the feet so had to get that sorted. Fast forward 4 months and the fabric and seat are showing big signs of wear and tear and I have only used it lightly because baby is still in our room. The seat foam is all dented/compressed and the fabric is pulling threads out both at the seams and on the footstool in the middle of the material. It's clear to me substandard materials have been used. I've contacted the retailer who wants me to return it at my cost (in the T&Cs so fine it'll cost me but it's a £260 chair) They say they'll do remedial work but when I questioned whether that would be recovering it and replacing the foam they said no there's only so much they can do. In my opinion what needs to happen is the substandard materials need to be replaced but if that's not going to happen what remedial works could be done and what rights do I have to accept the action or not? I'm not keen to spend a fortune sending the chair back only for them to cut a few threads off, plump up the cushion and send it back only for more threads to appear and the seat to dip again!

Well it's run by 3 brothers and the letter referred to the screen leaving their factory. I filled in the blanks for myself.

Yep tried that last autumn and received a reply months later from their personal liability insurers rejecting liability. It's a small family run company so hoped I'd have some luck.

Still in a dispute and getting no where annoyingly!! Manufacturer claims it can't have been faulty when it left them or it would have broken sooner. Interesting to hear Trading Standards say it can't be fitting if it's lasted that long. Who's right?? Trying to get somewhere with the retailer now without luck. I've given them weeks since the last correspondence so will be calling Trading standards on Tuesday I think.

The photos were taken while the cuts were still bleeding so whilst not digitally dated they are fresh photos. You can also see blood in the bath with the shattered glass and a footprint shaped hole. The pictures show the injuries in an accurate light. Lots of superficial ones on my legs and feet, deeper ones on my hand. I did write to them both, with a cc'd to other party at the bottom with those requests (although I thought I'd start at £1000 and negotiate down ) That's when the manufacturer wrote to me without prejudice and offered the screen. Before that they said they weren't giving me anything, hence I took legal advice. I've not heard of the furniture ombudsman. Will Google that. So the shower screen comes under 'furniture'? I'm keen to flag this up to someone who can investigate whether this is a one off or if anything can be learnt. Given the seriousness of what occurred and what could have occurred I do think manufacturers should be held to account for learning from spontaneously combusting screens. I would think they would be keen to make sure it doesn't happen again rather than shirking responsibilities. Thanks for your help slick. All advice is very welcome

Thanks for your advice slick. I guess it is difficult to say how long a shower screen should last but should it explode within 4 years? I can't think of anything I/we did to cause it so I'm concerned if the manufacturer doesn't investigate the blame will lie with me and nothing is learnt from this event. It did have the rubber seal keeping it away from the bath top. The good news is I took photos of my injuries before I mopped them up and I did send 3 of those photos, along with 3 of the screen shattered to the manufacturer and the retailer. One last time so I can put this to bed please could you explain why I'd be wasting my time pursuing anything other than screen replacement and potentially fitting contribution? Is there no way I can hold them liable for the scratched bath or the cuts to me? I kind of feel a bit annoyed I'm out of pocket for something that I believe was not my fault. Or will I just have to suck it up

Hi slick. The bath is plasticky so I presume acrylic out of those two choices. There was a plastic windscreen wiper type thing that came with the screen which was touching the bath. Yes it probably was may rather than definitely have a claim. By 'shot themselves in the foot' I meant all I wanted in the beginning was a new shower screen so if they'd offered me that to start with I wouldn't have taken legal advice and realised they could be liable for more such as replacing the damaged bath and my cuts. It was made without prejudice as a gesture of goodwill. However my concern is that if they do not accept responsibility for the defect then they won't be checking their other stock so it could happen to someone else with worse consequences. In my very limited consumer experience manufacturers deny there is a widespread problem until there is either an overwhelming volume of evidence from lots of people with the same problem or if legally they are made to investigate. Why do you say SOGA is more likely than negligence? Knowing little about either I'd appreciate your perspective. I didn't seek medical attention as whilst the cuts were numerous none of them was deep enough to require stitches. Having said that I have a scar where one of them was so maybe that one should have been looked at. Thank you!

Just reading through other posts and this happened to me too! On August bank holiday. I was in the shower at the time but didn't touch it. My bath has deep cuts in it too so I agree the glass would be able to cause it. This is my story if you're interested http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?403587-Shower-screen-exploded-unsatisfactory-resolution

on August bank holiday Monday my shower screen exploded. Whilst having a shower it genuinely spontaneously combusted. At no point during the shower had I touched it. I'm covered in little cuts and my bathroom literally looks like a bomb site (literally not just literally) We spent most of bank holiday clearing it up and I called both the manufacturer and the retailer when they opened on the Tuesday. Manufacturer tells me to call the retailer (fair enough Sale of Goods Act etc) but I wanted to know if it had happened before. Receptionist when I mentioned what I was calling about said "oh yeah that's happened a few times. I think it's the weather". Speaking to the customer services bloke he insists it's never happened on my model apparently, although very rarely (but not never) on other models. Retailer asks me to send photos which I do. No acknowledgement by email of having received them or what kind of refund/compensation they will offer I bought a new screen and had it fitted (paid the plumber £45). Since then I've cleaned the bath several times and it has lots of little rough jagged bits where the glass has scratched it. Plumber has quoted £550 to refit the bath as it has boxing at the end. That's before we buy a new bath. He has tried to 'wet and dry' it to smooth it out but it's still rough. Retailer called to me to say the manufacturer says it's out of its 12 month warranty so no refund although they'll sell me a new screen at trade price. I think that shower screens should never explode whether within 12 months or 12 years! I decided to call my home insurance legal advice line who advise I have a claim under Sale of Goods and negligence. I write a letter before action to the manufacturer and retailer and get a letter from the manufacturer today saying without prejudice they'll offer me a new screen replacement. Now the way I see it they've kind of shot themselves in the foot because I would have settled for that before getting legal advice. The advice says the manufacturer has been negligent and is therefore responsible for the damage to property (screen and bath) and personal injury (my cuts). My letter before action set out the costs for the new screen, fitting it, new bath, fitting it and personal injury compensation. They've obviously been frightened that I've got legal backing and are offering the minimum to shut me up. Their letter says "In very rare circumstances we do occasionally get defective pieces of glass. However these, as well as being rare, are very fragile; most of them have already broken by the time we unload the goods in our warehouse. I would consider it beyond the bounds of possibility for a screen with an intrinsic defect to survive being shipped to our warehouse, being picked and loaded in our warehouse, being transported to the retailer, unloaded and handled at the retailer, transported on to site, installed and then used for four years. For a screen to shatter the way yours has would need some agent acting on it after it was installed. In view of all of the above I would say the screen has shattered for some other reason than an intrinsic defect" Some clear facts only I can verify. It was fitted by an experienced plumber. No one was touching it at the time of the explosion. The conditions in the bathroom at the time were no different from any other day. What reason other than a defect is there? It's never been knocked or hit hard and certainly not at the time of explosion. My concern is twofold. Firstly I want to know why it happened so it doesn't happen to me again and secondly if there is a hidden problem it should be found so other people are safe. By fobbing me off in the manner above it suggests the case is closed as far as they are concerned. There's no defect therefore no problem. But I know I didn't touch it! So I know it could happen to someone else! I've posted to ask for advice about pursuing it further. Obviously I can call my legal advice line but I wanted other consumers' experiences of chasing companies based on defective goods issues so I know what lies ahead in reality rather than the clinical version I will get from the legal line. Thank you in advance.

They did finally get back to me agreeing to 1) reskim but not repaint - why only agree to reskim when the need to repaint is caused by the same damp issue the reskimming is?? 2) They've agreed to extend the wall to our property boundary but not rebuild. I've taken advice and apparently our wall is showing signs of "spalling" which means excessive flaking due to the bricks not being suitable for the purpose (holding back a bank of soil i.e. our garden so they've deteriorated due to too much moisture for the type of brick used). So I can't see why they're not agreeing that it was incorrect quality bricks used in the first place. 3) They're going to ask the bloke who did the work if he thinks he damaged the floor and if he says yes then they'll replace. To be fair to him there was so much dust he may well have not realised but it's annoying they're not taking my word for it or at least coming out to have a look. 4) No mention of compensation for 4 months without use of conservatory (we only have a kitchen and living room downstairs otherwise) So I've written one more letter to the senior installation manager with a CD of photo evidence to support the need to repaint - the rest of the paintwork is fine apart from the big damp patches. We're not trying to get a free paint job; if it wasn't for the damp patches there's absolutely no need to repaint To support the brickwork spalling/flaking on top of the wall - pretty much 1 in 3 bricks on the top layer. And to support the fact the scratches are only where the skirting board has been installed. If that doesn't get me anywhere then I'm heading for the top. Fed. Up!

Cheers for that email address. I will be using it shortly! I did inspect a few times but to be honest sand coloured scratches on light laminate when the dust is very thick and still falling makes things a bit difficult to make out on first inspection. However, they haven't come round to fix the other things which they've known about for 4 months so a couple of weeks to report the scratches feels like a drop in the ocean. Appreciate the advice to go to the top.

I'll try and make this brief whilst covering all the key points. Conservatory was built in 2005 whilst previous owners owned our house. We moved in in 2007 and from 2009 onwards there has been damp rising up the walls all over 3 of the 4 walls (all brick walls sparing only the patio door "wall" attached to the house). It's steadily been getting worse to the point where we got round to calling Anglian in April 2012. They asked us to pay £49 to transfer the guarantee from the previous owners' name to ours. So far so good. The initial site visit by, let's call him "Derek" (not his real name), was on 10th May. As we understood it, this was to scope the work which needed to be done and to determine if it fell within the guarantee. Derek just looked at the inside of the conservatory on this visit. Then Derek called to do an additional site visit on 7th June. We didn't really understand why this was necessary in addition to the 10th May visit but this time Derek accessed our next door neighbour's garden which was not something he did on 10th May. An appointment was made with the Installation team to carry out the works identified in Derek's report on 26th June (we were not told what that work would be). Two installation lads came round and through discussions with them, it was decided that the work recommended in Derek's field report was not consistent with the damage seen in the conservatory. Derek had told the lads to put in a membrane on the outside of the wall to stop the damp from the outside. I believed that the damp was mainly coming from the floor up and this would only solve the problem if there was a build up of soil all the way along the neighbour's side of the wall. There wasn't, it was only in one corner - so where was the damp coming from 2 metres away? The lads reported this back to Derek and another appointment was made on 13th July for Derek to reinspect the damage. Following this, on 6th August, one of the installation lads again attended our property and completed the work to the walls to create a gap between them and the floor to prevent damp rising. This work was completed to our satisfaction except a couple of weeks later when I'd mopped the floor a few times (plasterboard is very dusty) I spotted damage on the flooring in at least 9 places where it appears the angle grinder caught the flooring leaving deep scratches. Damage is parallel to the walls about an inch away from the walls. So outstanding work which we believe needs to be done includes skimming & repainting the walls in the conservatory to make good the damage done by the damp and also rebuilding the external brick wall installed as part of the original work. This wall's purpose is to hold back the soil from our neighbours' garden to prevent damp in the corner of the conservatory. Currently the wall does not extend to the boundary of our property so there is future risk of damp issues in that corner. As we understand it this was an oversight on the part of the original installers as it could be foreseen that the bank of soil in our neighbours' garden would need holding back from our conservatory wall. If the wall was extended by between one and two feet the potential damp issue would be stopped. As there is 3 years left on the guarantee, time spent putting this right now saves further costs to Anglian in future. Realistically the entire wall needs rebuilding as it was not built to a sufficient standard given the large degree of brick flaking across the whole wall. And of course there's making good the damage caused by the angle grinder! So to chase up the outstanding work I sent an email to Derek on 16th August to which no reply was received. I therefore made a verbal complaint to Head Office on 22nd August with a response promised in 16 working hours. A follow up phone call was made on 29th August to Head Office as no response was received within 32 working hours (assuming 8 hour working days and excluding weekends and bank holidays). At this point I was told the complaint had been passed onto Derek but he was the person who had failed to respond to our concerns in the first place! On 29th August I was told to expect a call within 16 working hours so called AGAIN on 31st August to be told that finally they were escalating the complaint and I would receive a call on Monday 3rd September. In the meantime I received a letter on 1st September addressed to Mr & Mrs (previous male occupant's initial) Oursurname dated 30th August saying our details have been forwarded to their Central office so "he" is aware of the issues we have raised and we will be hearing from our regional office (again this is Derek) without delay. BUT NO PHONE CALL TODAY!!! Things I want Anglian to do 1) Tell me what work they think is outstanding 2) Tell when they're going to complete it by 3) Tell me what they're going to do about the new damage 4) Tell me how I'm going to be compensated for having no conservatory for 4 months What I'd like the forum to advise on is what I do next? I feel I've exhausted all Anglian avenues and have got nowhere. I understand poor service happens but it's the fact that I feel there are no internal routes left to actually act on this poor service & communication that really frustrates me. 16 working hours seems to mean nothing! There's not actually going to be any summer left by the time this is sorted and with a baby on the way in February I could really do with a) no stress and b) an actual usable room without damp. All advice welcome!

Glad to hear it would be a hassle for them over such a petty thing! I've continued to park there and continued to leave the note so we'll see if anyone takes it and reads it. Perhaps they were just having a bad day... Thanks dw190 for the advice about dummy camera domes. I've bookmarked one and may well consider it even if this doesn't come to anything as it looks a remarkably realistic fake!