A Richmond furniture store finally got a turn of fortunes in the courts, after it won a dispute over an allegedly defective couch.
Yaletown Interiors, which has a showroom on Bridgeport Road, lost a pair of Civil Resolution Tribunals (CRT) last month – one about the wrong bed being delivered and one about a customer’s $5,000 deposit.
This time, however, the CRT ruled in favour of Yaletown after a customer complained about the condition of his new couch, which cost $3,336.
The customer, Casey Sheriland, said he and his wife ordered a custom couch from Yaletown Interiors more than two years ago, which was manufactured by Palliser Furniture.
According to the CRT ruling, which was published this week, Sheriland claimed the couch he received was not of the same quality as the couch displayed in Yaletown’s showroom, alleging that the “material was more wrinkled and the cushions were misaligned.”
He said that, after Yaletown’s “failed attempts to repair the couch,” Palliser provided a replacement couch with different material.
However, Sheriland claimed the replacement couch had the same defects as the first couch and subsequently demanded the $3,366 refund from Yaletown.
Yaletown, meanwhile, denied that the couch was defective and said it went “above and beyond to satisfy him,” adding that the contract includes a no-refund policy.
During the dispute, Sheriland told Yaletown that he was having to push the cushions back into alignment after sitting on the couch, which prompted a Palliser technician to assess the couch at his home in the summer of 2021.
He was told by the technician that the wrinkles were “normal”, but that the technician tried steaming the fabric to see if it helped.
However, Sheriland claimed that, while the steam marginally improved the wrinkles, it also discoloured the fabric.
Yaletown later advised Sheriland that Palliser would replace only the three seat cushions, before it later offered a complete couch replacement, but it wouldn’t be ready until May or June 2022.
However, when the new couch arrived in July of 2022, Sheriland said it had all the same wrinkle and misalignment issues as the first couch and, ultimately, requested a full refund.
In its evidence, Yaletown argued that the floor model of the couch in its showroom had similar wrinkles and alignment issues to the replacement couch Sheriland received.
The CRT tribunal member agreed and added that there is not enough evidence to support the claim of the couch being defective and ruled that the claim “must be dismissed.”
