Rejection of bed frame under SoGa, what's realistic?
Discussion
Afternoon all!
Just after some thoughts on what I should realistically expect before I go to town on a certain bed supplier following the 2nd failure. No, i'm not some kind of superhero in bed, it's an Ottoman bed with a hinged frame and gas struts. Unfortunately the materials used to support the frame when raised are woefully inadequate, which had now resulted in the frame breaking for the 2nd time.
The bed frame is now around 18months old, and each time the hinged section has only lasted a few weeks. The first time it broke, they sent us replacement sections, but it took me a few months to refit. Now 8 weeks after refitting, the other side had failed in a similar manner. The manner of failure is in itself inherently dangerous as it's when the bed frame is lifted into it's hinged state, the base frame has failed, allowing the frame to drop suddenly, i.e. when you're most likely to have your head/arms placed in the storage area
Here's the mechanism:
And here's the useless bit of wood that they deemed appropriate for holding up the entire frame and mattress:
Both failures have been in exactly the same place, but on opposite sides of the bed.
So, what can we realistically expect, and what's the best way to proceed, i.e. should we now be doing everything in writing?
What i'd like is for a full refund, and for them to come and collect the old bed? Or should we be given the bed one last chance and ask for a full replacement and for them to come and dismantle/build the new one?
Just after some thoughts on what I should realistically expect before I go to town on a certain bed supplier following the 2nd failure. No, i'm not some kind of superhero in bed, it's an Ottoman bed with a hinged frame and gas struts. Unfortunately the materials used to support the frame when raised are woefully inadequate, which had now resulted in the frame breaking for the 2nd time.
The bed frame is now around 18months old, and each time the hinged section has only lasted a few weeks. The first time it broke, they sent us replacement sections, but it took me a few months to refit. Now 8 weeks after refitting, the other side had failed in a similar manner. The manner of failure is in itself inherently dangerous as it's when the bed frame is lifted into it's hinged state, the base frame has failed, allowing the frame to drop suddenly, i.e. when you're most likely to have your head/arms placed in the storage area
Here's the mechanism:
And here's the useless bit of wood that they deemed appropriate for holding up the entire frame and mattress:
Both failures have been in exactly the same place, but on opposite sides of the bed.
So, what can we realistically expect, and what's the best way to proceed, i.e. should we now be doing everything in writing?
What i'd like is for a full refund, and for them to come and collect the old bed? Or should we be given the bed one last chance and ask for a full replacement and for them to come and dismantle/build the new one?
Wow....
That's poor. Most likely, you are not the only person this has happened to.
Everything in writing, because anyone you'll be able to speak to won't have the authorisation to do anything.
Explain what's happened, that this is the second repair, and it is easy to see that this will happen again and again. The fault is in the design, and not only does it not work, it is dangerous and liable to cause injury.
I'd push for a full refund, and stand firm on it. You may have to threaten legal action, but with the facts as they are it would be a simple claim.
That's poor. Most likely, you are not the only person this has happened to.
Everything in writing, because anyone you'll be able to speak to won't have the authorisation to do anything.
Explain what's happened, that this is the second repair, and it is easy to see that this will happen again and again. The fault is in the design, and not only does it not work, it is dangerous and liable to cause injury.
I'd push for a full refund, and stand firm on it. You may have to threaten legal action, but with the facts as they are it would be a simple claim.
I thought ours was weak.
We have a divan but its essentially 2 singles screwed together. So we have 4 hinges. But no failures yet.
We were advised after purchasing the thing by the staff thats its best not to use it too often.
I also had to assemble it properly after they delivered and installed it.
Dreamsis where we got ours.
I doubt SoGa will be much help, you have criteria to meet such as stop using it immediately and so on.
We have a divan but its essentially 2 singles screwed together. So we have 4 hinges. But no failures yet.
We were advised after purchasing the thing by the staff thats its best not to use it too often.
I also had to assemble it properly after they delivered and installed it.
Dreamsis where we got ours.
I doubt SoGa will be much help, you have criteria to meet such as stop using it immediately and so on.
Ask the supplier to confirm what standard it has been tested to
FIRA ( Furniture Industry Reasearch Association) may have a standard , weight, cycles etc.
we tested beds to what was considered 10 years of wear and tear BUT still gave 12 months warranty.
I think on this you will be out of warranty and difficult to show that is a failure of design.
FIRA ( Furniture Industry Reasearch Association) may have a standard , weight, cycles etc.
we tested beds to what was considered 10 years of wear and tear BUT still gave 12 months warranty.
I think on this you will be out of warranty and difficult to show that is a failure of design.
I'd say its pretty clear that the thing isn't of satisfactory quality within the meaning of the act. And probably not fit for purpose either, but you shouldn't need to rely on that too much with the first being so obvious - remedies aren't affected.
Unfortunately though, you probably have have lost the right to reject under the act by now, in a technical sense. You lose the right to reject once you have 'accepted' the goods, and you're deemed to have done that if you haven't told the supplier of the rejection within a reasonable amount of time after the performance of the contract. You might have been able to argue the first time (if it was 8 weeks) was not too long but 18 months on I'd say it would be tricky.
Doesn't mean you can't push for it though - the remedy available legally would be damages, so the cost of going and buying a replacement somewhere else - that is your right. Hopefully if they're sensible they'll just give you the refund anyway because 1) it's the simplest practical way out of it for everybody and 2. won't result in any damage to their reputation for selling such a substandard product (which I'm sure you'll remind them of a lot when you're discussing it with them
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Unfortunately though, you probably have have lost the right to reject under the act by now, in a technical sense. You lose the right to reject once you have 'accepted' the goods, and you're deemed to have done that if you haven't told the supplier of the rejection within a reasonable amount of time after the performance of the contract. You might have been able to argue the first time (if it was 8 weeks) was not too long but 18 months on I'd say it would be tricky.
Doesn't mean you can't push for it though - the remedy available legally would be damages, so the cost of going and buying a replacement somewhere else - that is your right. Hopefully if they're sensible they'll just give you the refund anyway because 1) it's the simplest practical way out of it for everybody and 2. won't result in any damage to their reputation for selling such a substandard product (which I'm sure you'll remind them of a lot when you're discussing it with them
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