Faulty sofa from furniture village.

A question about : Faulty sofa from furniture village.

Hi all,
We are currently in a dispute with furniture village over a leather sofa we purchased 4 years ago.
About 2 years into it's life the leather started to crack, but we thought nothing of it. then a piece of the leather started to peel off.
At this point we rang funiture village and they sent somebody out to look at it out of courtesy, even tho it is still under warranty. Their guy painted where the leather had peeled and glued down the surrounding areas.
The peeling continued but furniture village refused to do anything about it. We got in touch with trading standards who supplied us with letters to send off to furniture village, who eventually sent out the same guy. all he did was take pictures.
We requested an independent upholsterer to look at it and they sent somebody out who was at great pains to stress that he was independent - but paid for by FV - (but we cant find any details about them on the net / yellow pages - SEFTON UPHOLSTRY). From the way he was talking it looks like he will try to put the blame on us saying we havn't cared for the sofa correctly.
We will be paying somebody ourselves to write a report on the sofa.
We have since found out the sofa isn't even leather, but bicast, and this peeling is very common. Had we known this we wouldnt have purchased it!
where do we stand here? the sofa cost us Ј1000 but is now 4 years old, how much should we settle for?

Best answers:

• Purchased Suite from furniture village Trafford Park Manchester together with 5 year insurance.
  After 4 years, even with proper care and cleaning, the top layer of the leather started peeling off.
  The product sales brochure stated that it was "Real Leather" (I have a copy). Found out that the leather was "Bicast Leather" i.e. reconstituted leather fibers with a PVC coating on top. It is this PVC coating that was peeling of the sofa in several places.
  Spoke to Manager who said it wasn't covered as the 5 year warranty only covers sofa structure not leather. Insurance is no help either as only covers accidental damage.
  Beware. The sofa you purchase may not last more than 4 years due to poor quality coverings and you will not have any recourse.
  Always ask what "real leather" is. Bicast leather is usually shiny and will scratch easily when you gently run your finger nails over it.
• Hi, was wondering if you had any joy with compensation for this? They ought to at least replace the sofa. One of my 2 Scala leather sofa's started to peel on just one seat. After much tooing and fro-ing I eventually got a replacement sofa. Now the second sofa has started to peel on the back of one seat, and i am waiting for an appointment for their upholsterer to look. I am of course expecting a new sofa if they are unable to repair it satisfactorily. I certainly expected a 'real leather' sofa costing nearly Ј1000 to last more than 4.5 years!
• Can I please ask what "range" of leather sofa you purchased, as we are experiencing similar problems, incidentally we have had our sofa's for 4 years in October.
  Thanks
• According to Wikipedia:
  "The use of the term "leather" in relation to this bicast treatment is considered a misrepresentation and therefore not permitted in the United Kingdom and New Zealand "
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicast_leather
  Don't know if that's true, though
• This is very improtant! We discovered the FV scam about bycast in 2009, when they sold us set of "genuine leather chairs" really made of bycast. We complained, they were horrible, and we applied to trading standards. Of course, the refund was then given tyo us, and Trading standards made them to withdraw "leather" description. Trading standards were, however, reluctant to use some of our evidence, and exercised very soft approach with FV. In fact, misdescription with the way to profit is a criminal offence punisheable by 12 months in prison, It is the same as selling fake gold as gold - a single rogue trader will be imprisoned for such actions. FV were misleading lots of people presenting the manmade material "bycast", made of some glued-together leather dust covered by plastic, as genuine leather.
  I have collected lots of evidence about FV and their actions, so if you want a full refund from them, there is evidence that their practice was unfair, and you are entitled to your money back!!!
• The offence FV committed deserves prosecution, not just refund.
• I think that there is a regulation or SI that defines when leather can be called leather and what some of the different types are. I forget what it is though. Contact the British leather technical centre - they'll know. Never heard of bycast - is this just another name for corrected grain to split leather (both being acceptable)?
• There is a standard to what can be called leather in the UK, it runs into several pages and can be found on the internet. There is also a company called "leather institute" (I think), they do testing.
  By-cast is not leather. It is a man-made material, where the top layer is PU, and the bottom layer - desintegrated particles of some leather, glued together. Sold by rolling meter. Cheap, nasty material. Cannot withstand high temperatures.
  Furniture Village were so arrogant - they sold it with leather hide symbol!!! And their salesmen told the whole load of rubbish about that they only sell real leather!
  Trading standards did not want to prosecute (why? guess?), but they stopped the unfair adverts. Now, if you look, for example, at Boston range of furniture, that by-cast is not described as leather any more. There was no recall, so people who bought prior to 2009 Trading Standards ruling, are at the moment using that furniture. They are all entitiled to their FULL refund for misdescribed goods. Obtaining money by deception or unfair description could be possible applicable criminal offences.
• The official definition by Leather Technology centre:
  In the early editions it was sufficient to distinguish between leather and products made from
  reconstituted leatherboard and patent leather. However, with the development of polymer technology
  the surface coatings applied to leather for decorative purposes, to protect the grain surface from
  abrasion, or to improve water resistance tend to become thicker. This raises the question of when does
  leather cease to be leather and become a composite of two or more laminates? There is no obvious or
  simple scientific answer. After much discussion and study of the types of products on the market the
  International Council of Tanners suggested certain arbitrary distinctions which were subsequently
  incorporated in the 1983 revision of BS 2780. These are reproduced as follows:
• I'm sorry, but I don't agree. You are mixing up different disciplines of law, a bit of tort, a bit of contract, a bit of crime. I'm not denying that there might be a claim, only that you won't get a full refund.
• Dear Member,
  We have the same problem with Furniture Village. I will appreciate it very much if you could send me the documents you have enabling us to fight the Furniture Village and get our money back.
  You can email me at:
  ashadrooh@yahoo.com
  Many Thanks for your help.
  Regards
  A.Shadrooh
• Please let me know where these sofas were made and the item number as I would like to get my money back from furniture village. Also I had a terrible Rash from these sofas. Do you know about this problem as well?? Were they Made in China??
  Regards and many Thanks
• Malchish - I think you were perhaps lucky. I'd be interested in the details of your claim and sight of your particulars of claim. I'm not aware that s35 runs from when you discovered the problem, it seems to me that s35, taken with cases such as jones v gallagher and clegg v andersson is fairly clear. Could you sight some authority to clarify this statement?
  I'm also not aware of many instances where a prosecution under, for example the Consumer Protection Regs, obtains a refund for those consumers affected, so I'm very interested in the ruling you refer to. Could you post details? I'm assuming that it isn't meant to be secret and that it was some form of judgment?
  Ash - FV did sell some furniture that was sourced from the same place as the itchy ones that argos etc sold. They dumped them a while ago though, so it might not be the same issue if this is a recent thing.