Raw Deal: Distress to impressed as we resolve Moira’s struggle with sofa firm

WHEN Moira Forbes set out to buy a new sofa for her home in Cambuslang, Glasgow, she took her time to find exactly the right one.

After spotting a model she liked in Instyle Sofas in Uddingston, she visited the store twice more before making her decision.

She eventually chose the store’s Logan corner sofa, in Mustang Dove Grey, which she had made to order to fit her room.

But when Instyle delivered her new furniture at the end of November, Moira said she was shocked by its condition.

She told Raw Deal: “I was expecting a brand new sofa – this looked like it was a secondhand one. I noticed a lot of heavy scratches and marks all over the leather, some of which were very thick and deep and unsightly.

“There was also a small hole in one of the cushions and to be honest to me it just did not look like a brand new sofa.

“I have come to the conclusion that the sofa that they had sent out was actually the display model.

“The PVC stoppers on the bottom of the silver legs were worn virtually flat and certainly not new, and the part that would have been altered is actually stitched up with two different coloured threads.”

Moira, an administrator, said the sofa, which she had ordered with wooden feet, instead arrived with chrome ones.

She said she contacted the store to explain her concerns and the firm then sent out a technician to examine it.

“They told me it was distressed leather and it was the way it was supposed to be, and the hole was an insect bite. They agreed to fix the hole on one of the cushions but I was told they would do nothing about the scratches.”

Four of the eight feet were also replaced.

She said that over Christmas she then found a water stain on the base and the bottom of the cushions.

The firm responded, pointing out that the technician would have spotted the stains had they been there at the time of his inspection – and that they would have been obvious to her too from the day of delivery.

Moira then contacted Raw Deal and also paid £150 to have her own report prepared by the Furniture Ombudsman.

We contacted Instyle, a family-run firm. Initially the company insisted Moira’s complaints were unjustified. It said that the leather she had picked was deliberately left untreated to allow marks on the hide to be visible. The bite mark was a natural characteristic of the hide, and not a defect.

And they categorically denied her claim that the sofa she received was a reworked display model, supplying Raw Deal with the paperwork for Moira’s order which went to the factory to prove this.

But after Raw Deal got involved, and the Furniture Ombudsman report found in her favour, Instyle has now agreed to either replace Moira’s sofa – or refund her money – as well as paying her the £150 report cost.

Company director Sandy McRobbie said: “We hope Miss Forbes enjoys her new corner group and that it gives her years of comfort.”

Last night, Moira said: “I am delighted. Thanks to Raw Deal, three months of aggro is now sorted out.”