Legal Advice for Complaints about Purchases

Questioner

Dear all. Client buys a sofa at XXXXX in 2009 for approx. €3,000. Now it turned out that a seat was a bit crooked. Client pointed this out to the store, but that would disappear with use. In the meantime, the complaint has worsened. The client has also purchased a guarantee from this bank, but based on this guarantee XXXXX does not want to reimburse more than 1/3 of the costs to repair this bank. Client has legal expenses insurance, but the insurance cannot do anything because the start date of the complaint is before the start date of the insurance.

Lawyer

The law stipulates that when purchasing, the goods are at the expense and risk of the buyer from the moment of delivery. The exception to this is that defects that were already present at the time of delivery and have not been accepted by the buyer, are at the expense and risk of the seller. If the defect occurs within six months, it is presumed that the defect was already present at the time of delivery and the consumer is entitled to repair, replacement or possibly compensation. If a guarantee has been agreed, then there is an additional agreement and action must be taken on the basis of that agreement. I do not know what the guarantee scheme is, but if it stipulates that there is a compensation of 1/3 and the problems have been discovered/reported after six months, then that is the starting point. Incidentally, it does show that the supplier acknowledges liability. Most furniture stores are affiliated with the CBW (or something similar) and you can report your complaint there (easily). Good luck!

Questioner

My thanks are great. May I come back to this case at a later stage if I suspect that my client does indeed have a case?