To warn you all that Laura Ashley painted furniture is total crap and the company couldn't give a shit

[mycatlikestwiglets]

I bought nearly £3k of bedroom furniture from Laura Ashley last year (the "Clifton" range). We researched carefully what to buy and as we have loads of LA stuff we thought we were buying quality and the huge outlay would be worth it. After a debacle over damaged furniture being delivered the last items, a dressing table and stool, were finally delivered last September. So far so ok, until I noticed last week that the paint was cracking and peeling on the legs of the dressing table and stool.

I sent pictures to Laura Ashley last week after notifying them over the telephone of the issue (and surprise surprise, they tried to make up reasons immediately as to why it might have happened, asking if the furniture was near a heat source or a window - which it isn't). I received an email earlier this week saying the pictures had been referred to their "technicians" for analysis, and today I had the following message:

"I am now in receipt of our Technicians findings following the
inspection of the photographs that you have submitted.

I have been advised that they consider the issues that you have raised
as treatment after purchase and the legs look like they have been
saturated and this has resulted in the wood and paint cracking.
Whilst I do sympathise, unfortunately, Laura Ashley is unable to accept
responsibility on this occasion, as your furniture is not considered to
be at fault."

I am utterly fuming. The furniture has been sitting on my bedroom carpet, the wood is not split in any way and it certainly hasn't had a sniff of water. I'll be taking this to court if necessary because there's no way they're getting away with this. DO NOT BUY THIS FURNITURE

I've loads of painted furniture in my house, some inherited, some painted by me, a few bought pieces. The pieces that are well over 100-150+ years old look better than that LA furniture.

Hold on a second. Pre action protocol normally gives 28 days for a response. Is there a reason you've issued before the 28 days? (totally agree you should issue - I won't be buying from Laura Ashley and will tweet this thread for you!)

Freckled you can choose the deadline to give for a response under the pre-action protocols, 14 days is considered reasonable (although 28 is often used and may be required under individual protocols which aren't applicable here). Either way they have to at least acknowledge within 14 days, which they haven't bothered doing.

I gave them 14 days in my letter because they'd already taken plenty of time coming up with their ridiculous excuse for denying liability and I didn't want them to waste more of my time than is necessary.

Gobsmacked by this shocking customer service. Just wanted to add I will NEVER buy from LA after reading this!

Good luck mycat.

Good luck!

I've not caught up on all of this yet but have you obtained an independent report? If not it will help your case massively and you can reclaim the costs from LA when you win

I love this thread.
So many companies sell shoddy & insubstantial products then make it so tricky for the average customer to return or replace that we just lose the will.
But Laura Ashley have picked the wrong customer this time.
Go Op.

No report done yet SistersofPercy simply because there's a cost involved which I don't want to incur unless absolutely necessary. I'm still hopeful (maybe naively!) that LA will see sense and sort this out properly.

Ideally you need something in court to prove that the furniture is faulty. 2 of us on here have said it looked like hoover knocks, and whilst I fully believe you when you say they aren't a Judge might not.

If you go in there with a report stating the furniture is faulty for X reason there is very little LA can do to argue with that. You can add the cost of the report to your claim and if LA do settle out of court they should pay this expense as well.

Good luck OP, It's shit that you have to go down the legal route after giving them every chance to do the right thing.

I'll now never order from LA after reading about, not only your dodgy furniture but also your treatment by them.
My mil spends a lot on LA stuff and has complained recently about a rug and a lamp but she just accepts what they say - I'm going to tell her about their treatment of you and Fil so he can cut her LA card up

Again, best of luck.

I know I may need a report at some stage Sisters, but whether I do, and what it will need to cover, will depend at least in part on Laura Ashley's defence if they file one so I'm not going to incur the cost at this stage. It was £60 just to issue the claim and LA will hopefully realise that costs (which obviously I'm claiming from them) will soon become disproportionate if they continue with their ridiculous position.

Thank you for the updates - I can't work out whether it is sheer arrogance or the signs of a company sticking its head in the sand, possibly about to go into administration. Actually, I reckon it's arrogance. Complete bastards

To put their ridiculous position into perspective, I had a kitchen worth over 10k peel like this in the cornices, and the company replaced all the fronts without question. They recognized that there must have been a fault in the way the primer had been applied (or not) so supplied a new one. When the same thing happened with the second kitchen within a year, I asked for another replacement, and they upgraded me to the superior finish which cost 50% more than the kitchen I had originally purchased.

That is what a respectable company who understands that customer is king, and that customer service is what builds your reputation, would do.

Any update?

Oddly enough I was thinking about this thread today too as I walked past a LA shop.
How's it going OP?

Hi. I'm not an expert, but I think the way the paint is coming off in segments suggests it hasn't bonded to the wood properly. That means either the surface wasn't clean (i.e. had oils or other substances on it) or was too smooth (it's normal to sand a surface down to not-quite-glass-smooth before painting it, to give the paint something to "grip" onto.

Saturation would also cause similar peeling, but would be accompanied by other signs (e.g. staining, swelling etc). HTH

I know someone said it up thread and that this is a few weeks ago but definitely contact Watchdog. They love to pursue snooty companies with shite service and standards. They'll wet themselves over LA. :o

Hi all, quick update to let you know there's no real news . Laura Ashley have acknowledged my claim to the Court and iirc have until next week to file a defence. They haven't made any attempt to contact me, which I'm quite surprised about as my first step in dealing with any claim (professionally speaking) would be to contact the claimant to ask for more information and try to work out what might have happened. I am assuming this means they'll file a defence which enrages me completely so I look forward to sharing it with you all .

Well done, mycat - that 'response' from head office was absolutely enraging. Another one here who won't even be considering LA in the future, on account of the dismissive customer service, let alone the craptacular goods.

UPDATE for anyone still interested

Laura Ashley have finally filed a defence to my claim which, as predicted, is pretty outrageous. It's full of basic factual errors (even down to the date they delivered the furniture, which they have out by several months) and claims (among other things) that the furniture has been "subjected to excessive neglect and mistreatment after purchase". They have also made a basic error of law in stating their obligation was simply to provide furniture showing no signs of fault on delivery. It's exceptionally badly drafted.

Probably the most outrageously stupid thing about it is that they've attached their quality assessor's report, which doesn't support the crazy assertions in the defence at all, but simply states the damage "may" be down to saturation. It's totally inconclusive. The fight is on

Excellent - a shite defence like that will help you no end!

Good luck and hope you get the right outcome, but is it wise to keep posting on here? Don't want to give them too much info seeing as they have been made aware of this thread (I think?).

I think they'll be sorry they took you on, and seeing as I'm not a lawyer and wouldn't feel comfortable going to the same lengths that you are for resolution, I shall be erring on the side of caution and not buying furniture from there.

It sounds like they simply don't care - not even enough to get the basic facts right.

Take them down, mycat!

Don't worry Spindarella, there's nothing on here that I wouldn't want them seeing. If they are reading the thread they ought to be ashamed of themselves as their response to this is shockingly bad.