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

OP - we've had cause to email Mr Ng recently and got a swift response from customer services instead. It was the answer we were looking for - they ignored my tweets though.

We were about to purchase 3 sofas from LA but it's back to the drawing board after this thread.

Thanks for further responses. As their customer services don't seem to work at the weekend I'll give them until Monday afternoon to get back in touch with me (the elusive Ryan should be looking into it and I've also emailed the COO) but if I don't hear anything or if they insist on sticking to their ridiculous excuse I'll be sending a formal letter before action. The thing is though I don't want my money back as the furniture is part of a set. A refund would only be any good if it's for the full set - who wants mismatched furniture after spending all that money? I want them to replace the faulty items so that we have a complete bedroom again.

Icelollycraving there are some pics upthread if your DH wants to have a look.

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.

The technical people can't possibly diagnose the causes from photos. The causes will either be environmental at their end or yours (too high/low temperature, humidity etc; maybe the furniture was at the wrong moisture content when painted), or they could have used inappropriate/incompatible products to prime/paint, or they could have incorrectly applied the product(s) (e.g. not enough coverage, drying time; wrong environmental conditions for applying the product(s).

Were you given any guidelines on maintenance of the furniture at the time of purchase/delivery? Furniture not near any hotspots (e.g. from underfloor heating or a hot pipe)?

Section 75 looks like a good option. Worth telling them that in your Letter Before Action, as well as pointing out the deficiency of their technician's comments on your images. If it is a product failure, then they must have had a number of other complaints and be aware of the issues.

I bought a book case from LA a couple of years ago. paid £1200 for it. On delivery it was damaged. The delivery driver pointed it out to me but said that it would be quicker for me to accept it and then contact LA for a replacement.
I had to send photographs showing the damage even though the driver pointed it out to me and noted it on the form he left me with.
Then, LA agreed to replace and we arranged a delivery date (in about six weeks) at which time they would collect the damaged piece.
On the day of the delivery (I had to take leave) nothing arrived. I rang them and was told that they had nothing scheduled for delivery to me that day and that the item wasn't even in stock so couldn't be delivered.
The chap I spoke with wasn't even remotely interested in the issue, just kept saying, 'ok, moving on, when would you like us to redeliver'. It was bloody infuriating.
Again, another six week lead in for delivery. I told them to come and collect the damaged item as it had been taking up room in my living room for too long. They refused and said they would collect when they delivered the replacement item. I told them I would leave it outside my front door. He responded by telling me I would be breaking my sales contract with them and that they would hold me liable for it!!!!!!
I would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER buy anything from them again. And to top it off, I could have bought a better made product at Ikea for a quarter of the price.
Their customer service is atrocious.

I showed dh. He said it certainly looks like water damage. I said you hadn't got it wet,he then said you don't know how it was stored prior to delivery,was it a wet day when it was delivered for example.

I'm bemused that your DH thinks it looks like water damage Icelollycraving, there is no damage whatsoever to the wood . It's simply cracked/peeling paint which is flaking off. I don't recall it being a wet day when it was delivered so if water is the cause I guess it could have been painted while the wood wasn't totally dry. Does your DH think if that was the case it would have taken this long for the paint to start falling off? It's just under a year old (at least that's how long I've had it). Either way it's Laura Ashley's fault and not mine anyway!

fascicle, the maintenance instructions basically say wipe with a damp cloth only. That's all that has ever been done but only on the surfaces (not the legs, they haven't needed it). The dressing table is sitting on a carpet, in a bedroom, away from direct heat/light/moisture and I don't have underfloor heating (but tbh I'd dispute that it was of satisfactory quality/fit for purpose even if it were near a window or radiator because that's hardly atypical in a UK house). I don't have a damp house in any way and if environmental factors were the cause then surely the rest of my matching furniture would be the same . No hot pipe which would touch all (or any of) the legs in question either.

I showed him the pictures & he immediately said it was water damage. It reminded me of a chest we had that did it. I think a drink was spilled near it & although it was cleared up immediately it damaged the wood. It may be that it got damp in a warehouse & could well have then expanded in the heat of your home causing the paint to shed.

Looks like water damage to me too (non-expert). It looks like the items have been sat on a wet floor and the damp has wicked up the legs.

I would be furious too op if I had spent that on furniture for it to do that, don't give up,make sure you get this sorted, shocking customer services

Think it's not water damage.
Issue with primer or perhaps top coat too brittle to withstand weight and movement such as on the legs of furniture. Note the damage is only on the bottom of the legs where the pressure is at it's greatest.( think stiletto heals)
The paint should have some elasticity or it will easily chip/fall off.

A friend of mine recently had curtains made by LA, said they were terrible. Sewing was bad and they had threads hanging from them. It made us change our mind about buying curtains from them.

There are some damning reviews about LA on the 'tinternet. The customer services are rude and condescending; they must be taught to speak to customers like that, it cant just be the one arsehole who answers the phone.
I have painted lots of furniture in my time and it has never peeled or cracked off.

I said up there it's the primer. Water damage would have caused the same problem on all^ of the legs, and would have caused problems with the wood under the paint too. Peeling paint is usually down to poor primer (undercoat) as this is what sticks the paint to the wood.

Jack of all trades, me and they made me do woodwork at school

it's terrible. I have have had furniture for years' which has worn ok.

my fil painted an old chest of drawers from the 60s for my ds room and it was fine.

if you pay all that money you expect quality

Bloody hell I've painted cheap Argos furniture which has lasted better than that.

And surely if it was water damage it would have to be serious flood damage to cause the paint to just fall off.

Off to do some rl activities now but I'll post another pic later. I'd avoided touching any of the affected legs because the paint is falling off so easily but so that I can show better how the paint's coming off I've gently touched one of them and it's now almost bare . It shows clearly that the wood is not damaged in any way and the paint is just loosely falling off in large sections. I'm no paint expert but I'm pretty sure LadySybil is right. The issue isn't consistent with water/moisture damage IMO - there's no bubbling or marking on the paint or the underlying wood.

Small claims court. I had a similar problem with a bed this year and the company didn't want to know. gave them several chances and the best they could do was say they'd understand if I wanted to take my business elsewhere. So I took them to small claims for everything I'd spent, including the cost of my time filling out forms and emailing them, and the cost of my time off work for the day in court. They settled before it came to court. I think it's a cost saving thing - they'll do nothing and hope you go away, as most people will give up before it gets that far.

God I would be annoyed. I used to love LA too. My prom dress back in the 80's (am Canadian so not that weird) was Laura Ashley and it was sooo gorgeous.

OP I hope you get this resolved. But never come to mine because our whole house bedroom is a total mismatched hodgepodge of different styles and different furniture!

Well if they are water damaged, maybe it happened at the depot? Was the furniture completely plastic wrapped? I wonder if it was sitting in a puddle in some warehouse before delivery? Definitely a company to avoid.

My mil had a shit dining table from them. The extension bits didn't run smoothly. £600 too.

I hate LA now. All of their stuff is vastly overpriced, and their sofas are utterly dreadful (arms get threadbare with very little use). And this has happened to both my friend and I - sofas bought at different times, completely different sofas (friend's was custom-made), arms gave up the ghost in pretty much exactly the same place. Customer services didn't want to know, in fact, the person on the end of the telephone hung up on me because he couldn't be bothered to deal with it.

I've never bought another thing from them since. Ghastly, and most definitely a company to avoid!

Here we are, this is the worst leg after a very gentle prod. There's more just waiting to flake off too

The wood underneath is in mint condition,they haven't put primer on it.

That's dreadful. Get on to trading standards and take it from there.
LA are resting on their laurels and it's not acceptable to charge high end prices for such shoddy crap.
30 years ago I worked in a soft furnishings place. We used to dread having to work with the fabric as the patterns were never printed straight so impossible to pattern match. Also it was very flawed with slubs and the customers would often complain. The wallpaper was dire too. Our decorators wouldn't hang it as it was shaded, thin and would shrink when the paste dried,

I personally wouldn't bother with trading standards. They have no power in this type of situation (I worked for a large local authority TS for 6 months). Issuing a small claims after appropriate warnings is a much better bet.