Upheld: Goods and services under S75 complaint against V12 Retail Finance Limited
Financial Ombudsman decision DRN-5861538 of 2025-11-28T00:00:00+00:00. Goods and services under S75 complaint against V12 Retail Finance Limited. Outcome: Upheld.
Decision detail
| Reference | DRN-5861538 |
|---|---|
| Decision date | 2025-11-28T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Firm | V12 Retail Finance Limited |
| Product | Personal loan |
| Claim type | Goods and services under S75 |
| Outcome | Upheld |
| Remedy | V12 must: (1) Allow Ms K to reject the sofas and end the agreement with nothing further to pay; (2) Collect the sofa set at no cost to Ms K; (3) Apply a 20% deduction from the total cash price (£5,087) and refund any amount Ms K paid above this; (4) Upon receipt of invoice, refund Ms K the cost of the independent report obtained in December 2024; (5) Pay 8% simple yearly interest on all refunded amounts from the date the claim was rejected (October 2024) until settlement; (6) Remove any information regarding the item from Ms K's credit file. |
Summary
Ms K purchased sofas through a fixed sum loan agreement with V12 in August 2021. The sofas developed multiple defects including headrest misalignment (repaired in January 2022 as a manufacturing defect), leather peeling, inadequate foam support, and stitching errors. When Ms K complained in October 2024, V12 rejected her claim. An independent third party report in December 2024 confirmed the sofas were not of satisfactory quality due to manufacturing faults. The ombudsman upheld the complaint, finding V12 liable under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act for the supplier's breach of contract. V12 must allow Ms K to reject the sofas, collect them at no cost, refund payments above a 20% deduction for use, reimburse the inspection report cost, pay 8% interest, and remove adverse credit file information.
The Ombudsman's reasoning
The ombudsman found that despite V12's disputes regarding the independent report, V12 provided no independent evidence to contradict its findings. The report identified multiple manufacturing defects including inadequate foam support, misaligned seams, and stitching errors. Critically, S's own January 2022 inspection had already identified and repaired a manufacturing defect, corroborating the later findings. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, goods must be of satisfactory quality, and given the multiple issues identified and one previous repair attempt, the sofas were not of satisfactory quality. V12 is liable under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act for the supplier's breach of contract. A 20% deduction for use was applied as fair and reasonable, given Ms K had approximately four years of use and the sofa's expected lifespan of 15-20 years.
How this compares
| Group | Decisions | Uphold rate |
|---|---|---|
| V12 Retail Finance Limited, all decisions | 35 | 27% |
| Goods and services under S75, all decisions | 19,153 | 37% |
| Personal loan, all decisions | 22,762 | 30% |
Source
Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website