Furniture bought "as-is"

[domdifiore]

What is the name of your state? CT

Hello. My parents just bought a new bedroom set from Levitz. Levitz though , is bankrupt and clearing out all of there merchandise. We found a set that we liked and were told we get the set "as-is". There were VERY small scratches along the top of the footboard and other places of the set, which for the price, was acceptable because with light touchup work, it would look almost brand new.

Unfortunately, after they payed the price in full, Levitz had the bed dissassembled and brought to our house. During the dissassembling and/or moving process, the furniture was horribly damaged. After speaking to the person in charge at Levitz, he said there is nothing he can do because it was sold "as-is" and was paid for in cash and are for lack of better terms, screwed.

My parents think they have been screwed out of almost $2000. I feel that even though we bought "as-is", the damage was done after we payed for it in full. Is there anyway we could get our money back or are we "screwed"?

Please reply as soon as possible if you have any knowledge pertaining to this or a similiar situation. Thank you.

 

[justalayman]

So actually you are willing to take it "as was" but not "as is"?

Just kidding. The delivery people should be liable for the damages. If that was Levitz he Levitz is liable. If it was an outside contractor go after them. The problem obviously is you cannot get a replacemenent piece, unless Levita has another just like it. Other than that it would have to be repaired.

 

[Happy Trails]

So actually you are willing to take it "as was" but not "as is"?

Just kidding. The delivery people should be liable for the damages. If that was Levitz he Levitz is liable. If it was an outside contractor go after them. The problem obviously is you cannot get a replacemenent piece, unless Levita has another just like it. Other than that it would have to be repaired.

Good one!

The problem I see is how are they going to prove that the damage happened after the purchase?

 

[domdifiore]

It was a private contractor. The salesperson said they could not be associated with him because they (Levitz) don't deliver, but they wrote on the reciept all the delivey information showing that even though they weren't supposed to say anything about a mover, they did. They crossed out his name in one box, but forgot to do it in two other ones. Also, they setup the day and handled all the information because my mother never spoke to the mover directly (I know, not very smart). Wouldn't this also hold Levitz at least partly responsible even though it was a private contractor? Also, no contract was ever signed by my mother to the mover, and the movers were not paid by us and it was not included in the bill. I dont know if Levitz covered it or not afterwards because they spoke to them.

The problem I see is how are they going to prove that the damage happened after the purchase?: This is what I feel is the worst part of it. I can't think of anyway we could prove this if we needed to. What could be done if they just said, "That's how it was before." It would just be are word versus there's, right?

Thank you.

 

[Happy Trails]

It was a private contractor. The salesperson said they could not be associated with him because they (Levitz) don't deliver, but they wrote on the reciept all the delivey information showing that even though they weren't supposed to say anything about a mover, they did. They crossed out his name in one box, but forgot to do it in two other ones. Also, they setup the day and handled all the information because my mother never spoke to the mover directly (I know, not very smart). Wouldn't this also hold Levitz at least partly responsible even though it was a private contractor? Also, no contract was ever signed by my mother to the mover, and the movers were not paid by us and it was not included in the bill. I dont know if Levitz covered it or not afterwards because they spoke to them.

The problem I see is how are they going to prove that the damage happened after the purchase?: This is what I feel is the worst part of it. I can't think of anyway we could prove this if we needed to. What could be done if they just said, "That's how it was before." It would just be are word versus there's, right?

Thank you.

That is why I brought that up. It is going to be your word against theirs.

I had a small claims case, in August, 1986 (ahh, yes, I remember it well.) It is very similiar to yours in how the company handled the hiring of the contractor. They also had included the hiring of the contractor on the same bill of sale to me. I had no contract with the contractor, the company handled it all. I paid the store, the store paid the contractor.

It was a very large chain that did numerous things. I had purchased 5 rooms of floor covering. They had the contractor do all the work. Unfortunately, one of the rooms had defective carpet from the manufacturer. The store wanted to replace the carpet, but didn't want anything to do with the tear up, removal, and reinstallation of a comparable carpet. (Manufacturer would not reimburse the store for this.)

It got really ugly and I threatened a law suit. I had to do all the research the old way (library books). In my case, the contractor was ruled as an employee (because of what I mentioned before). I won the case and also was awarded the cost of court fees to get the a$$hole to do the right thing.

The company has lost a lot of business from me and others that I like to share the story with. Very dumb of the owner of this particular business.

The difference between my story and yours is the company I sued is still a running business and most likely will never have to file bankruptcy. I also did not buy my product "as is".

You have a difficult case to prove, unless you can prove the contractor was at fault for the damage that they did while the furniture was in their possession.