The Chance Of Coverage Is Fading

(Like most I have a sofa in my living room. It isn’t the best quality or the most expensive thing, but I bought it just six months ago from a reputable store and it wasn’t the cheapest level either. So when the inner structure of the armrests (both of them) break, I’m pretty pissed. I contact the store who sends out a guy to do a damage assessment to see if it is covered by the store’s policy and if I will get it repaired or replaced for free. The guy arrives: a dismissive, middle-aged man. I’m a young 20-ish female, living on my own for the first time, and I have never dealt with anything like this before.)

Guy: “This damage is from someone who sat on the armrest. They aren’t made for that kind of weight, so we can’t replace it.”

Me: “No, that isn’t right. That side—” *points* “—is up against the wall, and this side—” *points to the other* “—is blocked by a cat scratching post. You literally cannot reach to sit on them. And I know that no one has done it.”

Guy: “Then it was someone who did it while you didn’t look. When you had a party and was in the kitchen or something.”

Me: “I haven’t had parties. I just moved here, I don’t even have any friends here to party with yet. The only people who has been in this apartment is my middle-aged mother and retired grandparents. They can’t even do something like that.”

Guy: “Well, one of your friends must have then. Someone sat on the armrests. And the fabric is all faded and ugly. You shouldn’t have put the sofa next to the window; the sun will fade the fabric. We won’t replace that.”

(It isn’t faded.)

Me: “I have NO FRIENDS in this town yet. And I never cared about any fading, and I have the blinds drawn most days. Meaning the sun doesn’t reach the fabric. I only opened them today so you could see better.”

Guy: “I get that you don’t think someone sat on them, but they did. I can see that.”

Me: “No one sat on them. I am the only one here. I don’t have people over.”

Guy: “Yes, well, someone did it anyway.”

(By this point I’m getting pretty pissed, since he has now repeatedly called me a liar to my face. Even if he thought I did lie, he can clearly see that you cannot sit on either of the armrests. My living room is also pretty small and the sofa can only stand as it does now, meaning I didn’t just move it to make it seem impossible. He has also been dismissive and talked down to me like I’m an imbecile for the whole conversation. And so he takes his leave after once again insisting that someone has impossibly sat on my armrests and broken them both. I’m pissed, both because of his demeanor and because I spent extra money to buy from a reputable store and apparently still wound up with a piece of s*** they won’t cover. But I also realize he did something utterly stupid by insulting my “ugly, faded fabric.” So soon after he left I contact the representative I spoke to before and expand on my issue — Now I want the whole sofa replaced or my money back, because good quality fabric, which they claim to use, shouldn’t noticeably fade within six months on indoor furniture. As I’ve found, there have been cases taken to court over this where the customer won and the items had to be replaced.)

Representative: “I’m confused; didn’t you just want the armrests replaced?”

Me: “I did, but then your expert was here.”

(I retell the story, with her confirming both that the fabric should NOT have faded in six months — especially since it was winter and we live in Sweden — and with her repeatedly apologizing since she too felt that the representative had behaved very rudely towards me.)

Me: “Now, I DON’T think the fabric looks faded. I would have been happy with just new armrests. But since your EXPERT says that is it ugly and faded, I have to insist that you replace the whole sofa because it must clearly be inferior materials you’ve used if it can fade in the Swedish winter sun, behind blinds, in only six months.”

(I received my new armrests. With free shipping right to the door and two guys who assembled them on my sofa. And the color was exactly the same on my “ugly, faded” sofa as it was on my brand-new armrests.)