DFS insists my sofa is brown but I see Tin Man silver - it's so shiny it gives me a headache

Daily Mail​

06-05-2025

A woman was left disappointed after the 'brown' sofa she ordered from DFS turned out to be 'Tin Man' silver - but the retailer is insisting otherwise, she has claimed.
Veronica Byrne, 52, purchased two sofas and a footstool after viewing the furniture online, but was dismayed when the sofas appeared to be a completely different colour when they arrived.
The sofas were advertised as having a 'metallic sheen' due to being upholstered in 'plush, opulent velvet' - but Veronica says what she saw on the website does not match what was sent to her home.
Her order was made up by two Harlech pillow back grande sofas and a footstool in the colour Chocolate Combination - all for a total of £4,513.
But when she went to the re store in Paisley, Renfrewshire, to complain she had received the wrong hue - she was 'told it was actually correct'.
Veronica claimed that staff told her to take the fabric swatch outside the showroom in order to look at it in natural daylight, to confirm it was the colour advertised.
DFS said that the 'perceived colour of an object can change depending on the light source within a room'.
But Veronica insisted that the sofas she received do not match the in-store swatch or the advert online, and demanded a refund from the store.
She added that the sofas are so bright and shiny that they give her a headache, and also have a 'strong chemical smell'.
Veronica also claimed she wasn't able to view the sofas in the colour she wanted because the only sample the store had in stock was cream-coloured.
'I don't know if cream hides the sheen, or people have sat on it and touched it, but it doesn't look half as shiny as it does in store as it does in my house,' she said.
'I found it hard to decide what it was going to look like with a sample, so the girl said I could see it online.
'I saw it on the iPad. I saw this photograph of a brown sofa so I said, "That'll be fine".'
But when the sofas were delivered, Veronica immediately raised her concerns with the delivery men.
'I immediately said, "I don't think this is the right sofa lads, hold on, because it's supposed to be chocolate". They checked the label and they said it was.
'A metallic sheen? I couldn't believe when they took it out of the packaging how shiny it was, it was like tin foil with a sheen of brown, rather than a chocolate sofa with a metallic sheen.
'I've got huge covers over it to protect it. I have a look at it every few days and think, "Maybe I could live with it?" and then I go, "No".'
'You wouldn't believe how shiny it is, it's like the Tin Man. I can't believe anyone has chosen that sofa and not been surprised by how shiny it is.
'It's like a 3D shine, it's horrible looking and also gives me a headache.'
Veronica added that she was told by staff to take the swatch outside in natural daylight to see its true colour.
'I said, "Nobody sold me a sofa by telling me to go outside with the colours, if your showroom can't show the colours correctly then how can you have expected me to buy a sofa in good faith?"
'I told him, "I can assure you I'm not keeping that sofa, it's like tin foil".'
She got in touch with DFS to try and cancel the credit agreement and have the sofas removed - but claimed that the sofa giant only agreed to take them away if she pays £1,353.
Part of Veronica's complaint is that the sofa was not accurately described online and the colour on the website appears very different to what is in her house.
'If you look at the photograph it looks like a chocolate sofa - I like the colour on the website.
'I want them to take away the sofas, I'd love it if they gave me the sofas that are on the internet. I just want what I was sold.
'This is against my consumer rights, it's been mis-sold, it's not as described.
'The fact the guy even said to me, "If you take this outside you'll see the same colour as it is in your house". Why are the lights not showing what this colour is inside the store?
'Head office said I can return it if I pay 30 per cent of the total cost. I'm now disputing the charge and have also done a Section 75 claim through the finance company.'
A DFS spokesman said: 'At DFS we take customer service extremely seriously and we are sorry to hear of any occasion when a customer is disappointed with the colour of the sofa selected.
'As the perceived colour of an object can change depending on the light source within a room, ranging from direct sunlight through to artificial light, the same sofa will look subtly different in every customer's home.
'It is therefore the customer's responsibility to choose the right colour for their home and fabric swatches can be ordered before purchasing to help with this decision making process.
'The type of fabric selected also plays a role in how the product looks in someone's living space. In this instance, the body fabric of the sofa Ms Byrne chose is advertised as having a metallic sheen, which will reflect light differently depending on the direction of the light source in the room, and therefore affect the colour.
'According to our records, and Ms Byrne's own account, she visited the store to view the sofa in person and she chose the Chocolate combination from the fabric swatch book for this range.
'When she expressed her concern that the wrong colour had been delivered, we visited her home with the same fabric swatch book from the store, and confirmed a perfect match - the colour she ordered is the colour she received.
'There was no manufacturing fault found and we're confident that the product is as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality, therefore it doesn't meet the right to reject criteria.
'Like Ms Byrne's order, the vast majority of our sofas are made-to-order and not stock based products.
'Occasionally, customers may not like the sofas they have chosen, or have a change of heart once they're delivered, and in these instances we try to work with the customer to find a mutually beneficial resolution as a gesture of goodwill.
'In this instance we have offered a reselection with a fee of 20 per cent of the order cost.
'This fee covers the cost of picking up the sofa, checking and processing the item back through our central distribution network, and the cost of selling the item at a reduced price within our clearance stock.
'This offer remains open and we would like to work with Ms Byrne to help her find a sofa more suitable for her home.'