It seems that most people buy things in the expectation that they will be fully entitled to get their money back by way of a full refund if there are any problems, if the item isn’t suitable or they just change their mind. You would probably be surprised at how many common scenarios there are that you would expect entitle you to a refund...but in fact don’t.
If you're unsure whether your specific situation entitles you to your money back, you can quickly check your legal position using our free Refund Rights Checker.
The Sofa Won’t Fit in the House!
Oh dear. If you buy a sofa, a bed or anything else that needs to be a certain size to fit where you want it to go, the responsibility is on you to make sure that the item will fit through the door, or will go up the stairs. Or fit into the place in the kitchen where you wanted it to go, in the case of appliances like washing machines or dishwashers.
If the furniture doesn’t fit, you have a big problem and will have to do some serious negotiating with the retailer as the law doesn’t say that the goods you buy have to be fit for your purposes, just that they must be fit for the purpose which they are commonly intended – unless you specifically request something.
So, if you are told by a furniture retailer that a sofa is four feet long, and you have a space four and a bit feet long intended for it, you would be within your rights to complain if it didn’t fit because the sofa was longer than it had been described. But if you don’t measure the space and just assume that it will fit, you will have to fall on the mercy of the retailer and you may have to accept a credit note. By law, the retailer doesn’t even have to give you that, let alone a refund. The moral of the story is always, always measure up if size is crucial. The same applies to curtains, bed covers and carpets.
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Try our Refund Rights Checker free, here on this site →The Dress Doesn’t Fit Me!
When you buy clothes without trying them on, always check first whether the store has a policy that allows you an exchange or refund if you are not happy or change your mind. The Sale and Supply of Goods Act only entitles you to a refund or any kind of redress if the goods that you buy are ‘not of satisfactory quality’ and if there’s nothing wrong with the dress or shoes that you’ve bought – except that it doesn’t fit you – you are legally entitled to absolutely nothing. Most stores are lenient with their policies but it pays to check, as anything over and above your legal rights under the Sale and Supply of Goods Act is at the discretion of the shop.
Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.
It’s Gone Wrong and I’ve Only Had it Six Months!
The Sale and Supply of Goods Act does say that if an item is faulty, and it’s less than six months old, as a rule you should be entitled to compensation from the retailer as it’s judged to have been faulty when you purchased it.
The entitlement to compensation has to be reasonable though, so if you have bought something perishable, or something you wouldn’t usually expect to last for six months, you can’t rely on this. Even if you buy something that you would reasonably expect to last more than six months, and it goes wrong, a refund isn’t the obvious answer.
If the item becomes faulty very quickly, or has never worked, you would be fully justified in demanding a refund. But if you have had a television for five months before it develops a problem, you’ve had five months use from that set and can’t reasonably insist on your money back – although it never hurts to try for a refund first. In that scenario, you may have to accept a repair – or a replacement television if the set can’t be repaired.
The material is now saggy and stretched the retailer have said it’s my fault as I should smooth it out everytime I sit on it I’ve asked for a different sofa or a refund NO I’m in the wrong for not looking after it ???
Option 1 they can try to fix it again with stronger foam and webbing
Option 2 I can choose a new sofa from their store, I will be charged a usage fee for my useless and uncomfortable sofa.
The store has no sofas to my liking so I have requested a refund as I have seen another elsewhere. They refused!!!
My question is am I entitled to a refund
We have tufts of carpet coming out quicker than a cat melting, we have holes appearing all over the carpet and the fitting is awful. So our now 7 month old carpet looks 7 years old. Ulster claim their tests show that there is no manufacturing fault. Bradbeers are not happy with Ulster so in the new year want to send an independent carpet tester out, however they have admitted there is clearly a fault in the carpet, so Nearly 2 months later, numerous phone calls to Bradbeers, also been over to see Bradbeers in person they have reluctantly decided to replace.
We do not want another Ulster because of the poor quality of this one. We have chosen a carpet by a different manufacturer which is costing us more, and as the underlay needs to be different we are having to pay for that too. So it has come to nearly £1000 we are going to pay Bradbeers. We have never seen any return terms and conditions, we cannot find any on their website, we have no paperwork with any policy on. All we have is them saying to us "we won't give your money back we will only replace "
So we are having to replace due to major defects in this Ulster carpet, that is through no fault of ours. Yet we are having to pay for it. Can someone advise please.
I emailed Sharps with the problem and asked them what they plan to do about it. Today I received a phone call to tell me there's nothing they can do and that it's a life style problem. They advised that I should get a small heater or put air vents in the wardrobes and admitted that this is what they have advised other customers to do in the past and it seems to work. We do have a fitter coming out in a few days to fix the doors and were told if we buy the vents he would fit them.
We do not have a damp problem in our home or a condensation problem, the house is dry. The only issue we have is condensation in the wardrobes.
We have asked Sharps to remove the wardrobes and to give us a full refund, they have refused. Can anyone advise if we are entitled to a refund? I believe we are as the wardrobes are not fit for purpose and at no time were we advised this could be a problem either from the visit from their salesman, the visit from their surveyor or their fitter.
Thank you
I have a normal hallway and you only have to walk 10 feet before my living room. I have sofas now that were delivered easy enough, I didn’t expect there to be any issues.
The delivery men turned up today and said they couldn’t get it in. It didn’t come apart like I would have thought . The only way to get it in was to take my window out.
I had to pay £45 for the delivery men to deliver nothing. I was then told I would have to pay £50 for them to try again to deliver it as well as paying someone to remove my window!
I have asked for a refund (apart from the delivery fee which I accept I have lost now) they are flat out refusing and now telling me I have to pay storage costs until I collect them.
I paid with a credit card so am I entitled to a refund seeing as I haven’t even had the goods.
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