I have emailed Mr Burns with a possible solution ? Dear Mr Burns, May I suggest a possible solution ? From my point of view, this situation has arisen due to a difference in the interpretation of your instructions regarding checking of the goods upon delivery, and signing for, if damage was found. My argument is that the goods were checked upon delivery whilst in the foam wrapping, and as no damage was found on the wrapping it was assumed there would be no damage to the goods inside, and therefore according to your instructions, in my opinion, the goods were checked properly. Your argument is that the goods were not checked properly upon delivery, and I assume that you would expect customers to know they should remove the foam wrapping to check for internal damage, and record this whilst the courier waits. It seems that neither you, nor I, can prove where the damage occurred. I can categorically assure you they were not damaged whilst in my possession, the foam wrapping was checked as described upon delivery, and it was not damaged, whilst you insist it could not have occurred at your warehouse. We could continue arguing our positions regarding this point forever, without agreement. If I may suggest, from a customer perspective, a possible solution would be to amend your instructions to make it clearer to your customers how and what should be checked. i.e. removal of all outer packaging must be done prior to signing at delivery. I'm sure that if you agreed to amend/improve these instructions in order to clarify what exactly the customer should be checking and signing for at delivery, and place this on the CAG thread, along with agreeing to replace the damaged goods on this occasion as a one-off goodwill gesture, I believe this would not damage the reputation of your company as it would be see as goodwill on your part, and that you are willing to listen to customers improvement suggestions, it would be seen as good customer service, and also solve the your concerns to avoid any potential future issues of this nature from other customers ? Does this sound like a possible/satisfactory solution ? Regards, Carl Holland

Hi, Progress so far. I emailed this morning stating what you informed me regarding removal of the thread as follows:- Dear Mr Burns, I have contacted the site team at CAG informing them that I would be prepared to accept your offer (as that is all I requested in my original email to you), providing you can arrange for delivery of the replacement items to be made on a Thursday, to a different address in Chesterfield. Unfortunately, I have been informed by CAG that they do not remove threads. Once an agreement has been reached, the thread is updated with the result of the agreement. Please feel free to contact site team member silverfox1961 at CAG, as your email response to the forum last night has been hidden due to the fact you failed to register with them as a company (which I have been informed is required in the forum rules). I await your response. Regards, Carl Holland. Mr Burns has responded with the following email:- Hi Carl This is unfortunate. Even if we rectify the situation for you , this thread remains. This can only aggravate the situation because if we are publically seen to bend to this pressure and this fact is then published, then anyone else who has an issue even if they are at faulty will potentially take the same route and this could potentially do our business serious harm. I have requested to be allowed to post on the forum , but they have not yet granted this yet, despite someone from the forum sending me an email asking if we would like to engage and our registration email used being of the same domain. I am not sure what they need to verify still. Unfortunately for you , the law states that once the goods are in your possession , then they are your responsibility and i simply cannot change that fact. There is simply no way for anyone to prove that the goods were not damaged while in your possession, where it could have been proved that they were not if the goods had have been checked correctly upon, or even straight after, delivery. The law also makes a specific reference to “non conformity” by the consumer of which we feel that this is also a case of. We asked that the goods are examined upon delivery, where it was 15 days before they were in fact examined. The CAG are incorrectly telling you that you can return goods up to 30 days for any reason.This would not be the case if they are damaged. No shop has to accept the return of damaged goods unless it can be proved that they were delivered damaged, which of course we now cannot do because they were in your possession for 15 days before reporting it to us. We are having a meeting about this later today and i will let you know the outcome. Kind Regards Darren Burns Technical Director

I have just emailed them formally requesting they collect at their cost, and provide a refund of the damaged items:- Dear Mr Burns, Having been in contact with the Consumer Action Group regarding my Consumer rights, I have been advised to formally reject the goods I ordered as not fit for purpose due to the damage and request you to collect the damaged items (3 boxes of laminate and zigzag bar as detailed below), at your cost, and for you to fully refund the cost of these items. I believe the Consumer Action Group have been in contact with your company, and invited you to join the group and apply to have the right of reply. According to the Group, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 I have 30 days to reject the goods as they were received in faulty condition which I am now formally invoking, and the terms and conditions on your website do not override this law, of which the Group state you should already be aware. The cost of these damaged products, for which I request a refund is:- 3 packs of Garrison Oak laminate flooring SKU code MF4565 = £44.19 1 Gold Zig-Zag bar 900mm SKU code TCM13 = £5.13 Shipping Charges = £27.45 Sub-total = £76.82 VAT @ 20% = £15.36 Total refund requested = £92.18 Please let me know when you wish to arrange collection of these damaged goods. Regards, Carl Holland.

Ok, thanks, I'll now put in the email to formally reject the goods.

No problem. Have they chosen to reply ?

Many Thanks for the advice. I'll get in contact with them to ask them to collect and refund, and update you of any response. Should they still refuse, do you have any advice on further action ? Small claims court ? I'm happy to keep the 2 boxes that were not damaged as I've cut/used them when I started to lay the floor (I opened and laid the 2 good boxes before opening the last 3 which were the damaged ones !!), and only want a refund for the 3 damaged boxes and the zigzag bar, so I'm trying to be fair with them. Also, would it be okay/advisable to point them in the direction of this website to let them know where I am receiving my advice, or better not to ?

I responded to his previous email in great detail in an attempt to resolve this amicably by simply sending replacements for the damages items, and to explain how the goods were checked and the outer packaging was not damaged, which is why they were signed for at delivery as ok. I also explained that in my opinion, as there was no damage to the outer foam packaging, the damage to the laminate and zigzag rod must have occurred prior to packaging and shipping. He flatly refused to accept this was even a possibility. He then replies with the following, saying he can see external damage to the packaging after examining my pictures:- Dear Mr Holland We do not believe that these goods could have been damaged so extensively without some form of external damage to the packaging. When i inspect the pictures i can see packaging damage. The goods were in your care for 15 days without notifying us of any damages so we are unable to help any further. Kind Regards Darren Burns Technical Director My final response was:- Dear Mr Burns, Yes, I agree, these goods could not have been damaged so extensively without some form of damage to the packaging, UNLESS they were already damaged prior to packing, which is what I've been stating all along. And as stated, many times, there was NO damage to the packaging upon delivery, otherwise they would NOT have been accepted upon delivery, as per your instructions. I have already explained why they remained unwrapped for 15 days, the room was being cleaned, carpet removed, skirting removed and painted prior to laying the flooring, and they were left in the packaging for protection. Of course you can see packaging damage on the pictures, this was done my myself when I opened the packaging to lay the boards, how else am I supposed to get the laminate boards out without removing the packaging, that's when I discovered the damage. Unfortunately, as it appears you are not prepared to accept any responsibility for the damage or to resolve this amicably by replacing the damaged goods, and having been advised of my rights under Consumer Rights Act 2015, you leave me no choice but to take further legal action. Regards, Carl Holland

After a few emails regarding what they described as 'my responsibility to check the goods prior to signing', they say I didn't do it properly, I said there was no damage to the outer packaging, therefore I had checked it properly. I asked them for either a replacement of 3 boxes and the zigzag bar or a refund, they still refused, so after taking advice via this thread, I said they left me no choice but to take legal action to recover my costs. I received the following in reply:- Dear Mr Holland We did not and would never send you damaged goods. Everything is checked and wrapped by hand in our warehouse. We have informed you of your responsibility to check the goods before signing for them numerous times and this was not carried out until 15 days after the goods were signed for. We can no longer claim from the insurance company for you because you have neglected your responsibility. If the goods were checked properly and signed as damaged we would have ben able to claim and replace the damaged items for you. Unfortunately because the goods have been in your possession for such a long time before reporting any damages to us, it will not be possible to prove that the goods were not damaged while in your possession and legal proceeding would very likely amount to nothing but wasted time and money for everyone concerned. Should legal action be taken against Wood Floor Warehouse we would have no choice but to counter claim against you our full the costs in defending this. I am genuinely sorry that your goods were damaged, but you have failed to check the goods correctly until 2 weeks after delivery. We are still willing to supply 3 new boxes at cost price to you as a good will gesture but we cannot do any more than this in this case. Kind Regards Darren Burns Technical Director After attempting to blame the courier service initially, he now attempts to shift the blame to me, simply because I didn't open the outer packaging for 15 days (which I already stated were left in the packaging until I was ready to lay them, for their own protection !) Some pictures attached of the damaged items.

Hi All, I ordered 5 boxes of laminate flooring and a zigzag bar online, which were delivered by courier to my fathers address, as I work full time. Once I had paid for the items (via PayPal), I received an email with the delivery date and an invoice stating :- "It is very important to check your order for signs of damage before accepting your delivery. If you spot any damage or missing items, please accept the delivery and mark this on the delivery docket detailing what is damaged or missing and how many packs are missing or damaged. We can then replace these items quickly. Regrettably, we are only able to replace any damaged items that have been signed for as damaged.” “By signing for any delivered goods you are also confirming that you have received those goods in acceptable condition. Woodfloor Warehouse ltd can not accept responsibility for any goods damaged in transit that the customer has signed for unless signed as damaged.” I therefore asked my father to check the goods when they were delivered, and refuse to sign for them if any were damaged. The laminate flooring was delivered by UPS and each individual box was covered in flimsy foam underlay and taped with sellotape, as was the zigzag bar. My father checked each box and saw no damage to the covering, therefore assumed the laminate was fine, and signed that all was ok. When I got the flooring home and opened the boxes, I discovered that 3 of the 5 were severely damaged, and the zigzag bar crushed beyond use, and completely unusable. I have emailed the company requesting replacement of the 3 boxes and the zigzag bar. They told me to fill in a claim and send photos, which I did. The company then replied stating that because they were signed for, there is nothing they can do, but as a good gesture will would send 3 more boxes and zigzag bar, and charge at cost price if I paid again. I stated that the items were checked and no visible damage was found and the flimsy outer packaging was undamaged, therefore the goods must have been damaged prior to wrapping and delivery. They stated this was not possible, staff would lose their jobs, and they must have been damaged during delivery, and they would not replace or refund as they were not signed for as damaged. By stating the above, I feel like they have relinquished all responsibility for any damaged items they send out, and placed it either onto the delivery company or the customer. If I had unwrapped and signed as damaged upon delivery, the company would blame the courier and get their money back. As my father didn't unwrap all 5 boxes and inspect each of the 50 boards individually on delivery, the blame then falls on the customer. Either way they still get money for damaged goods. In my opinion, they have wrapped the already damaged flooring in flimsy covering, therefore hiding the damage from the courier and the customer, sent them out, and then covered themselves with the above statement. Does anyone know if they have legally covered themselves with the above (as it is apparently in their terms & conditions also), or do I have any rights for a refund/replacements ? Thanks in advance.