I have a very quick legal question... Two, actually...
I bought an item a month ago, a LoveSac. It's basically a giant beanbag that costs $400. They are filled with foam and shrunk down from 8ft in diameter to about twice the size of a computer monitor and it fits in a duffel bag. When you get it home, you fluff it up and it's 8ft in diameter. There's a lifetime warranty on the foam inside, and a 1 year warranty on the cover.
When I bought it, they told me that I would be able to shrink it back down by vacuuming the air out. They never told me that there were two bags of material that were put in one giant cover. They never informed me about the return policy or the restocking fee, and there were no signs in the store indicating this policy. The restocking fee was mentioned on the receipt, but I didn't get the receipt until AFTER I made the purchase and they had my money.
Well, when they brought it out to the car, I saw that it was in two duffel bags, so it's two pieces that go in one giant cover. When we got it home and fluffed it up, we realized that the bag had no vacuum seal on it, so we couldn't vacuum the air out. Come to find out, they don't have vacuum seal-able bags, the girl just lied to us. Basically, the thing was so big that it takes up our entire van, which is a big deal when you consider that we're supposed to move home in a week, and we have an entire apartment full of stuff, plus the lovesac, that we're supposed to take home.
The two inserts is a big deal, because instead of being a giant beanbag, it's two beanbags in a giant bag. When Janelle and I would sit on it, she would be 6 inches higher than I was, when we're supposed to be level. That's because of the two inserts...if it were just one, we'd be level. Their website says "insert," not inserts.
In the store, the sacs are very comfortable, when you sit down, the pieces of foam are very small and it feels almost like gel. When you get up, they spring back to where they were, and you only have to fluff them once a day. Our lovesac was very very lumpy, when I would sit in it, I would be just a couple inches from the ground. You had to fluff it every hour or so, and the consistency was like a feather pillow instead of the gel bag in the store. Very very uncomfortable.
Well, last night, the zipper broke on the cover. Broke off. We decided to take the thing back to the store, since the entire thing was defective and we had been lied to.
When we got there, they offered us a refund, but told us that there was a 25% restocking fee. The manager admitted that both the insert and the cover were defective.
Is this legal? Can they charge a restocking fee on a defective item?
Also, Janelle paid for it, and she is leaving for a wedding tomorrow, so she wanted the money then. They gave us the option of leaving it in the store while we took the issue up with customer service, because the manager refused to budge on the policy (he even got mouthy, then screamed at Janelle and I, to the point where she broke out in tears...). Janelle decided to take the refund, minus the 25% restocking fee, and we are going to call the corporate office tomorrow.
What I want to know about that is did we screw ourselves out of the possibility of getting the rest of the refund, the restocking fee, if these people did indeed violate the law and we would otherwise be entitled to a refund?
I already looked at the Uniform Commercial Code, and it seems that they are guilty of false advertising and fraud, but I am obviously not a lawyer.
Thanks for any advice you can give!
EDIT: If you missed the joke here, search for Ex-Wolverine and read an all-time classic thread
I bought an item a month ago, a LoveSac. It's basically a giant beanbag that costs $400. They are filled with foam and shrunk down from 8ft in diameter to about twice the size of a computer monitor and it fits in a duffel bag. When you get it home, you fluff it up and it's 8ft in diameter. There's a lifetime warranty on the foam inside, and a 1 year warranty on the cover.
When I bought it, they told me that I would be able to shrink it back down by vacuuming the air out. They never told me that there were two bags of material that were put in one giant cover. They never informed me about the return policy or the restocking fee, and there were no signs in the store indicating this policy. The restocking fee was mentioned on the receipt, but I didn't get the receipt until AFTER I made the purchase and they had my money.
Well, when they brought it out to the car, I saw that it was in two duffel bags, so it's two pieces that go in one giant cover. When we got it home and fluffed it up, we realized that the bag had no vacuum seal on it, so we couldn't vacuum the air out. Come to find out, they don't have vacuum seal-able bags, the girl just lied to us. Basically, the thing was so big that it takes up our entire van, which is a big deal when you consider that we're supposed to move home in a week, and we have an entire apartment full of stuff, plus the lovesac, that we're supposed to take home.
The two inserts is a big deal, because instead of being a giant beanbag, it's two beanbags in a giant bag. When Janelle and I would sit on it, she would be 6 inches higher than I was, when we're supposed to be level. That's because of the two inserts...if it were just one, we'd be level. Their website says "insert," not inserts.
In the store, the sacs are very comfortable, when you sit down, the pieces of foam are very small and it feels almost like gel. When you get up, they spring back to where they were, and you only have to fluff them once a day. Our lovesac was very very lumpy, when I would sit in it, I would be just a couple inches from the ground. You had to fluff it every hour or so, and the consistency was like a feather pillow instead of the gel bag in the store. Very very uncomfortable.
Well, last night, the zipper broke on the cover. Broke off. We decided to take the thing back to the store, since the entire thing was defective and we had been lied to.
When we got there, they offered us a refund, but told us that there was a 25% restocking fee. The manager admitted that both the insert and the cover were defective.
Is this legal? Can they charge a restocking fee on a defective item?
Also, Janelle paid for it, and she is leaving for a wedding tomorrow, so she wanted the money then. They gave us the option of leaving it in the store while we took the issue up with customer service, because the manager refused to budge on the policy (he even got mouthy, then screamed at Janelle and I, to the point where she broke out in tears...). Janelle decided to take the refund, minus the 25% restocking fee, and we are going to call the corporate office tomorrow.
What I want to know about that is did we screw ourselves out of the possibility of getting the rest of the refund, the restocking fee, if these people did indeed violate the law and we would otherwise be entitled to a refund?
I already looked at the Uniform Commercial Code, and it seems that they are guilty of false advertising and fraud, but I am obviously not a lawyer.
Thanks for any advice you can give!
EDIT: If you missed the joke here, search for Ex-Wolverine and read an all-time classic thread
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