Consumers right act/ appeal small courts decision

[Manisha0203]

Has anyone had experience in appealing small claims courts decision?
We had a faulty kitchen delivered to us. It did not appear brand new had scrapes,chips, edging exposed / peeling. I brought it up to the attention of trader same day and he advised me the external defects would get covered under panels. Any internal defects would be replaced. I initially naively accepted offer for replacement as I was not aware of my rights. Next day I spoke to CAB, who advised on right to reject goods to seek a refund. I had lost trust in company as all units arrived unpacked which were delivered by trader himself. Also he tried to mislead me into thinking it was acceptable standards and also common state of units under panels.
Therefore upon reslising my rights, I decided to reject the goods which he collected the next day I.e within 3 days of delivery. However he won't give me a refund ! I manged to get 2k from bank which I paid on debit card but rest just under 5k I went to small claims. We were self represented and he had a barrister. Judge said she was not familiar with consumers rights act and that she would be lead by defendants barrister. They pinned me down on the fact that I had initially accepted replacement therfore I should have given him opportunity to replace and repair. Therefore I lost the case! I dont have a kitchen..also lost my money ! I feel judge has made an legal error as I am within my 30 days to reject the faulty goods. She also deemed the goods were satisfactory given that he was going to cover them ( which is not the point) and replace what was needed! I understand appeal can be expensive but I cant relax but think how can someone who is not familiar with the law was allowed to make a decision !
Thank you if you have read this far ! attaching few of many pictures for an idea*

Under the Consumer Rights Act section 23(6) and 23(7), once you have requested a repair or replacement you cannot exercise the right to reject the goods until you have given the supplier a reasonable time to repair or replace them unless you can show that doing so would have caused you significant inconvenience. I am not saying you don't have grounds for appeal, but it isn't quite as clear cut as you seem to think. If you want to take this further, you should consult a lawyer.

Judge said she was not familiar with consumers rights act and that she would be lead by defendants barrister

Are you sure she said this? And not something like she accepted counsel's explanation of the act?

I'm sure I read you can't appeal.unless it's a point of law? And to really argue a point of law you need a lawyer to do that.

I also had a disastrous small claims experience. The judge didn't know what he was talking about and made wild assumptions. We had paid for a survey and the judge rejected it as evidence based on a point of law neither we or the surveyor could have been aware of. So we had no evidence. It's supposed to be easy for lay people but it's not. That judge cost us £9000 and the cowboy builder walked away laughing.

This. Also if you want to reject within the first thirty days, the onus is on you to prove that the faults were inherent. Did you specifically address this in court?

I'm sure I read you can't appeal.unless it's a point of law? And to really argue a point of law you need a lawyer to do that.

Not quite. You need to show that the judge made a legal mistake. This could be the judge getting the law wrong, but it could also be a serious procedural error that disadvantaged you, or the judge making a decision that was not supported by any evidence (i.e. there was no evidence at all for the judge's conclusion, not that you don't think the judge should have arrived at that conclusion on the evidence presented). You can also appeal if you have new evidence, but that would be unusual for a small claim. Evidence you had at the time of the hearing but didn't produce is not classed as new evidence.

I obviously can't comment on your case but if the judge rejected the survey incorrectly or based his decision on assumptions that were not supported by any evidence, you may have been able to appeal.

You don't have to answer this, but I'm intrigued to know the point of law on which the survey was rejected.

The surveyor put the wrong date on the survey. We spotted it and asked him to change it. He put a note saying it had been changed and once again signed and said tge survey was true. Apparently this was wrong so the survey was not admitted as evidence. It had loads of photos in it, our solicitor had told us not to provide any extra photos as the judge wouldn't look at so many. So no evidence.

The judge did make loads of assumptions. It was a badly built shepherds hut and he said " I assume a shepherds hut is just meant to be rough and ready so the things you are complaining about fit with a rough and ready camping type structure".

So I guess we coukd have appealed based on that. If was 4 years ago now, we are still paying to put things right.

It was such a horrible experience.

Yeah she said it quite clearly that she was not familiar with the exact law.

Yeah but he mislead us into thinking the defects were normal and it was standard practice to cover them up. The units appeared terrible. Then he got his wife to scream down the phone at me that my only option was replacement. If he was honest , applogetic and behaved professionally, I would have accepted a replacement.

I am so sorry about the experience you had. It sounds like a total nightmare ...so frustrating that he got away with all that money!
Yeah you are right regarding grounds of appeal.. as the judge did not consider that we had right to reject as per law which is why we were considering appealing.. but not sure of costs, implications especially if we get lawyer. Most lawyers I have contacted have said their costs would outweigh the winnings. It just feels unfair that the system encouraged cowboys to carry on operating!

Yeah we had loads of images taken prior to collection. Screenshots of WhatsApp conversation where those images were shared with the trader.

During CMC prior to hearing, We asked court for permission to obtain expert report but the trader declined therefore we were not able to get a report.

I don't dispute any of that, but I'm afraid his behaviour is not relevant unless you were able to convince the judge that you were coerced into accepting the offer of a replacement. Once you had accepted the offer of a replacement, your 30-day right to reject the goods was suspended. Unless it was going to cause you significant inconvenience, you had to allow him a reasonable time to replace the faulty units. The 30-day clock would then have started ticking again once he had done so, so you could have rejected the replacements if you were not happy. I'm afraid the judge did not make the legal error you think he did.

Ah okay.. I see what you mean. Thanks it really helpful. So we have lost money.. goods and court fees. Goods I am sure he would have sold on and made further profit !