Advice please re faulty carpet

[Croissant]

Hi
We bought an expensive stair carpet because of its reputed durability. The shop manager measured the stairs and hallway and checked the underlay. After 6 weeks the carpet was badly worn on the stairs. There are only 2 of us living in the house and consider this to be unacceptable. The carpet manufaturer sent out their independent carpet inspector who reported back to the shop.

The shop sent us a letter stating that the carpet was not faulty.

Please advise what we should do next we have spent alot of money and can not understand how it could wear so quickly. I am writing to the shop for the full report but I supposed that they do not have to send it to me.

Any advice greatly received

Thanks in advance Croissant

 

[ALewis]

Hi there.
I am unsure whether there is a legal obligation to disclose the report with you, however regardless of the report, the carpet would fail under Section 14 of the Sale of Goods Act 'Satisfactory Quality' , whereby for goods to be considered as 'satisfactory quality' there are a number of factors to consider including 'durability' , where this carpet would fail. Satisfactory quality is the standard by which the 'reasonable man' would determine the goods to be satisfactory taking into account it's price.
For example the quality difference + durability of a £100 sofa would be expected to be less than a £1500 sofa, if this makes sense.
Youve not mentioned the price of the carpet, however even with the cheapest carpet it would not be considered reasonable to be in any bad way after 6 weeks of use.
Your next step should be to contact the retailer / whoever you paid, letting them know of the law mentioned above - SOGA S14(2) 'Satisfactory Quality' and state what you want done about it.
If they disagree, send a letter with your complaint and the law again, but this time put at the end that you will pursue legal action if they fail to get back to you with an agreement to sort it out, give a time frame of 10 days (10 days is reasonable).
Send the letter by a recorded means and also keep a copy for your own records.

If they further disagree, tell them that you will be taking them to the small claims court, and then pursue this.
If you get to the stage of pursuing legal action, get back to us and we'll talk you through the next steps.

Please note: you should NOT have to pay for the uplifting of the carpet or the relaying of a new carpet from this retailer.

Hope this helps.

 

[Croissant]

Thank you so much for your help.

I will follow your instructions and let you know how I get on

Cheers croissant

 

[Croissant]

Hi

We have just had the report back from the carpet shop head office. It states the following.

Conclusions

"The change in this carpets appearance can be attributed to pile flattening. While this is of concern to the owners it is not considered to be a manufacturing defect.

I believe that the pile flattening on the stair nosings is consistent with the frictional and twisting forces of the occupants soles, as they ascend the stairs.

Regarding the underlay, due to the concentrated wear on each step, particularly the nosings, the continued use of the existing underlay may also have a bearing on this problem; the previously underlay will have a weaker resilience, which will have an effect on the new carpets performance.

It is my opinion that the construction of the carpet is up to standard and I did not find any obvious manufacturing defect which warrants a claim against it."

It was the local store manager who came to measure our carpet and we replaced the underlay that he said would not be suitable. Therefore I believe that we were then ill advised if it is the underlay that is at fault. I have drafted the following letter and would like your advice.

Thanks again in advance Croissant

Dear Sir/Madam


Thank you for sending us a copy of the inspection report.

I understand that the carpet is not faulty and the only other possible concern in the report is the carpet underlay. The store manager attended the measuring at the property and we replaced the underlay that he advised us to do so. Therefore we believed on his advice the existing underlay to be satisfactory.

As the carpet showed sign of ware after 6 weeks, the carpet is not faulty and the underlay on your stores observations to be fine then we can only assume the following:

A) We were miss-advised regarding the suitability of the existing underlay or
B) The carpet comes under the Sale of Goods Act as not of reasonable durability given the price paid.

In fairness if you agree to (A) we are happy to pay the additional cost of new underlay on the stairs because we would have done so if we had been advised. Therefore we feel it only right that your company pays for the new carpet on the stairs section that is damaged and the cost of relaying.

If you believe (B) then we would require a full refund including the fitting costs.

Kind regards

 

[ALewis]

Yeah your letter seems reasonable, however I would consider adding that you accepted the contract on the basis that no new underlay was required, and that by the manager stating that you did not need the new underlay on this section, this was your security and the reason you took on the contract - obviously I've worded this terribly and you'd need to re-word it, but if you catch my drift, the manager has conducted in 'mis-representation'

 

[s67]

Hello does anyone know what happened in this case? I am due in court next week with the exact same carpet problem and I too am saying the quality/duraility is not good enough for the price i paid, my carpet looks 20 years old after 5 months.

 

[Croissant]

Hi

We dd eventually get our carpet replaced after writing to the Managing Director and badgering him. We just paid for underlay which we said we have had in the first place Good Luck I know it is a stressful time especially after spending a lot of money.

 

[tinkerbella]

Hi we have the same problem with our stair carpet bought from Carpet Right in Broadstairs Kent. We spent over £4000 for the best possible carpet for the whole of our house and just coming up for I year only the two of us in the house the stair carpet is faulty the pile in the centre of the stairs is coming out in some places there is a hole. The manager came up and said it was due to walking up and don the stairs! and also sent an expert round who came to the same conclusion. We have sent them a letter under the supply of Goods Service Act 1982 recorded delivery and am waiting their reply in 10 days. Also letter has gone to the Head Office. Next step will be the newspapers and small claims court. Not a good service at all from Carpet Right, never go to them again most condersending upstart young manager!

 

[RussellMPowell]

I'm having the same problem, too. Adding to my frustration is the company's lame customer service. I'll try what you did and see If I'll get the same response from them. This is very frustrating.

 

[MichaelCNichols]

I've encountered a similar problem a few months back. Tried calling them over and over. I guess I just gave up.

 

[GaryCSmith]

Same here. My wife was furious with them. We've already submitted a complaint. We're still waiting for their response.

 

[Janny]

Hi
I bought carpet for living room,bedroom and hall after a few months a big black line appeared in middle of living room and got a replacement now the carpet has the same fault the inspector came out the bedroom has it too but they are only willing to replace living room but I bought all carpets should they not all be replaced