Damaged sofa

A question about : Damaged sofa

About 12 months ago I purchased a sofa and chair from one of the main players. It was ordered on credit and so far we are about 12 payments into a 36 month plan. On delivery it was noticed that there was a tear on the sofa leather. The company came out and accepted responsibility and after a failed attempt to glue the tear together (?!?!) offered to order a new leather panel. This came but was noticeably different in colour so we refused to accept. Another panel was ordered and the same happened. After about 6 months the company contacted us and offered a replacement. Great....

The new items arrived and amazingly there was a tear in the leather (in a different place than before). The company has since been out and glued the tear and whilst this time it is a better job, it is still a damaged item and has the potential to reopen (even though the company say not).

The company has offered to order a new panel (unlikely to match from previous experience) or Ј350 to be paid at the end of the credit period or a new sofa / chair from the current range (ours is now out of production but we were told second time around that a replacement was not an option).

The set cost approx Ј3200 with the sofa costing about Ј2200.

What are my rights? Is the offer reasonable? Can I ask for a full refund? Should I contact the finance company - do they have any responsibilities?

Any help would be appreciated - thanks

Best answers:

• You have the exact same rights with the finance company that you do with the retailer (providing the retailer didnt supply the credit themselves - and by this I mean themselves and not just that they have a third party company who provide it). This is a right afforded to you by the consumer credit act - section 75.
  This equally applies when you pay by credit card - even if you only pay a small amount by card, you're covered for the full amount - providing the goods cost more than Ј100.
  When did you first contact the retailer to make them aware of the issue? It may be possible to argue for a full refund if the length of time that has passed has been due to them (not you) and that you contacted them within a reasonable time to inform them the goods were in breach of contract.