Man refused sofa refund because he's too fat

Updated
Mr Henson with the receipt for the sofa bed.
Mr Henson with the receipt for the sofa bed.



A Bristol man says he's been refused a refund for his broken sofa bed - because the store says he's too fat.

Twenty-stone Jan Henson, 55, bought the Sleeper RHF Sleeper Chaise Including Bed for £1,500 from SCS in December. He was soon to get married, and wanted a sofa bed to put up relatives when they came to stay.

But, he says, the cushions quickly became flat and there were 'issues' with the sofa itself, prompting him to call and complain.

The store sent out an upholsterer to investigate.

"When he got here, he told me there was a 17 stone weight limit on the cushions, which was why they had gone flat and the sofa had issues - it's ridiculous, we spent hours in the shop looking around, sitting on all the sofas to try and find the right one and nobody mentioned at any point that these sofas had a weight limit," he tells the Bristol Post.

"I just don't know why we weren't told this at the time of purchase - it seems very unfair that we were not given all the information and now we can't get our money back."

SCS has since told The Daily Mail that Mr Henson has been contacted and is 'happy with the resolution'.

The sofa in question - currently half price - is described by the company on its website as 'offering maximum support and comfort', and has a ten-year warranty on the frame - though not the cushions. There's no mention in the online description of a weight limit.

It's a tough one to call as to whether Mr Henson could insist on a refund. The fact that he wasn't warned about a weight limit isn't in itself an issue; if shops had to list every design tolerance of every product to customers beforehand, shopping would become effectively impossible.

Customers do, though, have a right to a product that's 'fit for purpose', and the question here is whether that purpose includes seating people that weigh 20 stone. And with more than half the UK population classified as overweight, that's certainly something that could be argued.

Being Overweight Increases Your Risk Of Cancer
Being Overweight Increases Your Risk Of Cancer



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