SCS - Guardsman - Shocking Experience

[myworlduk]

Good Afternoon

 

We purchased a 3 piece leather suite from SCS (Clydebank) store in August 2008, we took delivery in December 2008. Total cost excluding insurance £1795.

 

We've had no real reason to complain until now 4 years later we've discovered an issue with one of the cushions, the leather appears to be stretching/peeling away and has now resulted in a 2cm hole.

 

We are dog owners and the dogs do get to sit on them, however are very well behaved and never damaged the leather in anyway, we thought perhaps one of them had however been rubbing this particular cushion.

 

As we had the Guardsman insurance which cost a whopping £427 for 5 years cover, we decided to claim pet damage.

 

The upholsterer visited and claimed the leather on this particular cushion to have been overly processed during manufacturer and that this would not be covered. He did note that there was 2 minor scratches that could be covered, one on each of the 2 sofas and he'd submit the report on this basis.

 

Guardsman have accepted the claim and even agreed to cover the cost of re-upholstering the 5 cushions to ensure a colour match - great I thought !

 

4 months since we've received word that the leather can't be souced from the manufacturer, so a cash settlement will be made but we've to wait 7 weeks for this to be reviewed and confirmed in writing.

 

The written confirmation is now in hand for a whopping £187 which is what Guarsman claim the repair would have cost if it could have gone ahead.

 

At the point of purchase we were informed that the Guardsman insurance covered replacement in the event repair was not possible. Having just discussed this with their claims handlers, I'm told that this is discretionary, a blemished seat cushion would not consitute them paying out for a replacement suite.

 

Now forgive my ignorance, but how can companies get away with this ?

 

What are my next steps ? , I could obtain a copy of the report and claim from SCS for manufacturer defect, it just seems ridiculous that I have to go these lengths.

 

Any advice greatfully received - I feel conned by both SCS and Guardsman !

Edited January 8, 2013 by myworlduk

[Helen_ScS]

Hello Myworlduk,

 

I work for the ScS Online Team and would really like to help you with this.

 

Please could you send your account number and post code to either our 'ScS Customer Support' Facebook page or our @ScSCustomerCare Twitter account so I can look into this further.

 

Many thanks,

 

Kate, The ScS Online Team