Leather sofa not leather

[ChickenPieBumFace]

Hi, I'm after some advice if anyone can help please. We have purchased a leather sofa online and took delivery about 2 months ago. The website said only available in leather and the colour swatched had two grades of leather. We chose the standard grade. When manoeuvring the new sofa around we have slightly damaged the arm. I arranged for a leather repair man to come and quote to fix it and he has informed me that the sofa is actually more than 50% vinyl. All of the backs under and between the cushions, the arms etc. In fact the only bits that are leather are the tops and backs of the cushions. I called to complain and was told that it is "eco leather". However there is no mention of this on the order, website, terms and conditions etc. After a conversation they conceded that the information on website was not 100% accurate for the sofa we purchased. It does say eco leather on some of the sofas but not the one we purchased and honestly we didn't look at any of these. Even if we did we couldn't assume that the eco leather applied across the board.

Anyway does anyone know what our position is please? I think we have a case for not as described and a huge reduction. Or they can collect it and refund us in full. BUT, there is slight damage to the arm. Probably because it's vinyl and not leather. Does this effect our rights? It was nearly £5000 for the sofa and we wanted something leather to last a long time. They said that we should have known it wasn't 100% leather as full leather sofa would have been so much more! TIA.

Surely you're protected under the Trade Descriptions Act? A genuine company can't claim that you should know something about a product just because of its price.

That is not a cheap sofa!

I’d contact your local Trading Standards for advice.

Wow..that is expensive
I bought a pendragon, supposedly the rolls Royce of sofas at the time, a couple of decades ago..that was £1500 for top grade leather
I wouldn’t be happy paying £5k for something not all leather

It was meant to be a very long term purchase. The leather guy said that within 12 months the vinyl will run against itself and be knackered. He also said that he has seen better quality from Argos! . I'm gutted.
They called back this morning to say still no manager available to discus it with but that the website states eco leather. I said "not on the screenshot I've taken it doesn't" and he was shocked that I had that. The invoice says black leather. This is a legal document isn't it? Surely it would also have to say it in the invoice?

This is definitely one for Trading Standards. Everything that you have said points to them mis-selling.

Is it a multi national company or a smaller more independent company. You probably don't want to name them.

I would give them until next Friday to get this resolved and then i would be taking it further.

I spoke to consumer rights this morning and they have given me a process to follow. First step to try and resolve directly. Either a replacement with an actual leather sofa, a full refund or a partial refund and keep the sofa.

It's an international company but a small dealer in the uk. The sofa took 14 weeks to arrive from Italy. I really was expecting something amazing. I was disappointed when it arrived to be honest. But thought it was because we had gone for the standard leather and not the upgraded so took it on the chin.

Definitely pursue this. I bought leather arm chairs from a well known company about 12 years ago. Paid well for them. After about 5 years the 'leather' started to peel away. I had people in tell me that was not leather - it wouldn't behave in that way. I was gutted as expected them to last years. I checked my invoice etc etc it definitely said leather. Companies shouldn't be allowed to mis-sell. You are close enough to purchase to be able to do something about it. Good luck

Thanks mundiva. I was told by the company it was standard practice to use "eco leather". I asked them to define eco leather and it's vinyl basically. Still expect it to be mentioned somewhere on the website and order.
Your experience is what the leather repair man warned me about. Says the vinyl seams are weak points. I'm confident I have a strong case. Consumer awareness said we should also claim through the bank and they can refund us and pursue the company (as the balance was only paid 2 months ago just prior to delivery)

😧Absolutely Trade Descriptions Act. Wtf is eco leather?

Where did you get it from?

Definitely go through your bank if the company don't resolve it. Mine didn't go at the seams - it started to bubble then flake off the bubbles.....
I have never heard of eco leather before. (off to google it....)

A leather sofa would have cost more than £5000 I would definitely claim through the bank before it's too late. I've never heard of eco leather and how the hell can they use that term when it's not leather I don't think they have a leg to stand on! Cheeky fuckers

Just received a call that the manager is actually on holiday so I cannot discuss it until he returns on Tuesday. I hope they are not buying time for any reasons. I'm a cynic but imagine they are frantically changing their website as we speak 😳

Take photos of their website

Mines part leather part vinyl (I knew that when I bought it. The vinyl part has bubbled and peeled really bad...I’d never buy it again

Not sofas, but I’ve seen bags described as being made of “vegan leather”, which translates to polyurethane.

Make sure you take notes of what they say to you. With times and dates.
Also screenshot their website before they change it. Log all calls ect.

How is vinyl more 'eco' than leather? What a load of bollocks.

Hope you get it sorted you've been done imo

Wow, they are trying their luck.

I've just looked on Sofology and there are loads for under £5k.

It wasn't 5k, but my leather sofa is also another material on cushion backs etc. I paid quite a lot for it 12 years ago and didnt think much about it.

I should say for that price it is a big sofa. It came in modules you pick and choose and we got 2 corner pieces and extra seat. So it seats 10 people (snugly). But still wasn't the material described. I'm glad to read these experiences of eco/vinyl as it helps with our decision. Consumer rights say we can get a total replacement with actual leather or full refund. I'm dismissing the idea of keeping it now. We have 4 kids and a dog, it's not going to take long for vinyl to look crappy.

OP, definitely pursue this.
Get onto your bank to check your position.
As far as I'm concerned this is fraud.

There is no such thing as eco leather. Absolute bullshit.

It's vinyl. Vinyl is cheap and does not last. It wears, bubbles, cracks, and is a cheaply manufactured man made material.
Completely different to real leather.

Get a file together of all your paperwork and screen shots.

They have pulled a fast one.

Let them know you mean business.

Paying by credit card is wise. You should have some comeback, but get onto it asap.

💐

I paid 3k for 2 small leather sofas from CSL a few years ago. I checked they were definitely leather and was assured they were.

4 years on all the leather is peeling off. Turns out it’s made up of little bits of leather like sawdust which are mixed together, melted down and reformed.....I may have got the process slightly wrong but it’s something like that.

So I now have shitty sofas but they are technically leather. Apparantly other people have tried claiming against CSL and others and have got nowhere.

But if yours isn’t leather as advertised hopefully you have a better case.

We got a 50% refund yesterday. Transferred with apologies.

Delighted for you OP.

Well done. Hope it's softening the annoyance for you💐👍