woodworm in my new piece of furniture!

[FuriousGeorge]

Arghh! I bought a lovely solid oak sofa table and had it delivered in October.It sits in the hall,where there is no other furniture.I happened to look underneath it with a torch today [looking for lost dinner money] and was horrified to see a support underneath,made of very cheap wood,similar to the sort pallets are made of,which had crumbled away and left a little pile of dust.I had a good look right underneath and there are several chocks and supports all made of inferior wood,which has woodworm holes in it.You can poke holes in it with a fingernail.

I rang the company and was told that it couldn't be woodworm as their furniture is all solid oak,so I pointed out that not underneath it wasn't,and that additional struts/supports made of untreated wood had been fitted.She said she'd get someone to ring me back when he got on,but there's been no phonecall a yet and no answer when I ra ng at about 3.30pm.

What are my rights-the company is based about 150 miles away,so I'm guessing they will be reluctant to come out.Can I insist they exchange it for a non wormy one?.It cost £500,so wasn't cheap.
Thanks for any advice.

Yes you can insist on this, and you should do so. The Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) states that goods must be of "satisfactory quality" and free from defects.
The company sound as though they are pants.
I would call Consumer Direct www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/, they will give you a reference number after you have told them your stuff. They will also tell you what action to take to get a replacement. If all your efforts fail, you can go back to them with the reference number and they will step in.

Thankyou so much DillieTantie,that is very useful.

I have taken some photos of the problem and emailed them to the company,explaining that I am not happy and that I expect a phonecall tomorrow to rectify matters.If they don't ring or prove unhelpful,I'll contact consumer direct.

I knew MN would have the answer.

They'll probably try saying the woodworm has come for your house, but that sounds like a serious infestation, and no way would that have happened in a couple of months.

I'd be livid!

This is something I genuinely don't know the answer to, but how fast/far can a woodworm infestation spread? If they have sold you a piece of furniture with a woodworm infestation I'd be making it their responsiblity that the wretched things hadn't spread anywhere else in the house...

Hope I'm being paranoid and you can get it resolved without too much grief.

Thanks both-I've done some research and the beetles emerge between May and Sept,so they should have been long gone by mid Oct when the furniture was delivered.

They rang me back yesterday to say that it didn't look like woodworm,but that they didn't want an unhappy customer so are going to take it away and bring me a new one next Wednesday.I'm damn sure that they will be checking it very thoroughly before it leaves their depot.TBH the wormy bits don't look like they actually belong to the furniture,more like chocks put in to hold it straight whilst it was constructed,and possibly someone forgot to remove afterwards.Anyway I'm happy with a new one,it fits a very awkward space,so I'd have been gutted to not have a replacement.

Glad they're sorting it out for you. I tend to figure that mistakes can happen to the best of us - I'd rather deal with a company that will resolve them well .