Hi, We ordered a corner sofa £1500 on 28-12-08 and was told it would take 4 weeks for delivery.

We then heard a week later that they were in administration we rang the store we ordered sofa and was told our sofa would be delivered as specified in the timescale. We then had a letter from administrators saying they woudl be intouch. I rang them and asked about the situation and when we would receive sofa we were told to wait for a letter from them.

The next letter stated they would inform us when order was ready. It had already passed the 4 weeks delivery slot and we then rang administrators and told them we wanted to cancel the order, they asked us to email the finance company and administrators and this would be done. I then received a letter stating they cannot fulfill the order at this time and no timescale given for when it would all be completed.

I rang again and said we wanted to cancel and was told that we could and it would take a few days to process the cancellation. We then went out and ordered a new sofa from scs because of now not having one. We have received an email today saying we cannot cancel and they will let us know when they can fulfil our order. Where do we stand now, as we don;t want two sofas and certainly are not going to pay for the one from land of leather as there are no guarantees with this product if something goes wrong.

We took out finance on this sofa from land of leather buy now pay later, but the finance company won't allow us to deal with them direct and will only deal with land of leather so they will need to inform them of the cancellation, but they are now saying we cannot cancel. Please help what are our rights????

It is only a personal opinion, you understand, but I would have thought that if they cannot deliver within the time stated, they have breached the contract and you are perfectly entitled to cancel. Why should you pay out for something you have never had. Do you have it in writing anywhere what the delivery date with be? I recently bought sofas from Land of Leather and stated that I didn't want them for at least four weeks. They wrote that on the order.

I didn't know that they had gone into administration. My sofas arrived two days before christmas so I suppose I was lucky, even though they are dark blue and not black as ordered.

I once had dealings with LOL some years ago. They promised delivery of the new suite on a specified date in October 2006. One week before the delivery they rang to say that the suite would be delayed due to import reasons and it would be another mopnth before it arrived. I telephoned the manager saying as they could not get the suite to my house in the alloted time they had broken the contract and as i result I no longer wanted the suite and please do not attempt to deliver it. The manager said he understood and could I put it in writing to confirm. This I did and got a letter back saying I could not cancel the contract. I immediately telephoned their head office and spoke to a snotty woman who said I had no rites of cancellation. I explained as they were making me wait another month they had broken the terms of the agreement so I was cancelling. I also informed them that they could attempt to deliver this suite any day they liked but did not have my permission to put it on my property. It would be left on the front street and the council would be informed of who left it there. I also wrote a letter to the finance company telling them I was refusing delivery of the suite and they had to cancel the agreement. Sent by registered post!!! LOL telephoned a few days later to tell me they had found me one and I told them to shove it.

This company are a shower of sh*te.

You need to contact Trading standards and your local CAB. Get as much information as you can. Send a letter to the finance company by recorded post and keep a copy. Surely you cant enter into a financial agreement if you havent had the goods.

Surely when a company goes into administration all the rules change. If they are in administration how can they still be able to fulfill any orders?. Either they are trading or they are not.

Look on the debt forum on this site and see if you can get any reference to LOL - you may pick up some interesting pointers...

Good luck.

Hi, We also ordered furniture from Land of Leather and thought that as we had not paid any money we would be OK when the company went into administration.

We ordered a brown three piece on New Years Day and were told it would have to be ordered specially as it was not a stock item.

We too had the letter from Land of Leather saying that they did not have our goods in stock and would not be able to fulfil the order at the present time.

We have spoken to the hotline on three occasions and last week 3rd February was told that the furniture had not been ordered from the supplier and although it was anticiapted that an order would be placed in the next twelve weeks they could confirm nothing.

We have today, after having spoken to Trading Standards and sent a second round of Recorded Delivery letters to the Administrators, Land of Leather and the Credit company stating we wish to cancel the order, received a letter from Land of Leather (In Administration) stating that until such time as it is known if your order can be supplied, I regret that you are unable to cancel the order. The Adminstrators are working as a matter of prioity to clarify the position and expect to have a response in the coming weeks.

The credit company said a credit agreement could not be enforced if delivery is not made...but they are contacting us again 20 working days from 21st January 2009.

We too have ordered other furniture subject to our order with land of Leather being cancelled but at the moment we are not happy. There have also been comments from perople not happy with their furniture from LOL which is the same as we ordered. Great!!

Speaking to Trading Standards again tomorrow and probably hotline to see if any orders have been placed!!!!

Will post more as we get information.

Spoke to Land of Leather 'AJ' yesterday and also to the credit agreement company.

Still not able to cancel order as they are hoping to fulfill all orders. It was very unclear with LOL whether an order had actually been placed with the supplier as AJ said we should get delivery to the warehouse in two weeks when they will contact us re delivery. This does not make sense as it is not a stock item and would not be ready in two weeks. He then said to phone again in two weeks to see if LOL had funds available to obtain stock...then he was not able to confirm that we would actually get any furniture so think he tied himself up.

The finance company are not able to cancel any orders it has to be done through LOL.

Spoke to Trading Standards who suggested writing a letter regarding time is of the essence ref Sales of Goods Act 1979 and said that the contract would be breached jointly if goods not delivered to date specified on order.

Anyone else had any different progress??

We ordered a 3 piece suite from Land of Leather on 2nd November 2008 (in excess of £3000) on a buy now pay later. We intend paying this off in October this year, assuming we get it!!!

The delivery date was 14 weeks, and it's gone over that, as it's now 15 weeks since we ordered it. Since the business has gone into administration we've heard from the administrators but that was a month ago. Quite frankly after reading so many letters from customers unhappy with the quality of LOL furniture I don't think I mind if it doesn't arrive!!!

Incidentally we have a leather suite we bought about 10 years ago from DFS, paying £3000 then for a 3, 2, 1 combination plus matching foot stool, and it's still in perfect condition, it's just not really as comfortable as we'd like, and it's jade green.

We're really worried now, as if we do get our new suite and the electric recliners fail, or the leather is faulty who do we go back to if LOL is in administration, can we cancel our order? Any advice please?

Hi Bonnie and Toby

As the delivery date is now over what was in the agreement contract when you ordered the furniture would it be worth speaking to Trading Standards and getting their advice as LOL are now in breach of contract in your situation as they have not fulfilled their obligations.

Certainly in our situation as the Administration happened so close to our order being placed we have to wait a while before they say we have grounds to cancel.

Apparently Deloitte will be covering some part of a guarantee but it is not clear how long for and who covers the excess where the goods should be suitable for the purpose for which they were sold which should cover for up to six years. We had past experience of this on a cotton suite ordered years ago and did get some recompense via advice from trading Standards, it was a battle though.

Hope you get some results soon...it is so frustrating ..we did think we would be having two lots of furniture as we have ordered furniture from a different supplier as we do not believe we will get the LOL furniture and this is subject to the LOL order being cancelled...therefore if we get the LOL furniture OK see what hapens if not we have furniture on its way...trouble is we prefer the second lot...keeping our fingers crossed !!

Hello to all 'Land Of Leather' refugees!

As in a couple of posts above; myself and the missus purchased a 3-seater & 2-seater package on new years day on the 'buy now pay in a year deal'. My estimated delivery date is 8-10 weeks.

Let me cut to the chase -

I recieved a letter from Land Of Leather today (18/02/2009). I do not have a scanner but i will type what it says word-for-word (obviously without account info ect..)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

16 February 2009

Dear Mr 'X'

Land Of Leather Limited (IN ADMINISTRATION)(THE "COMPANY")

Order number: 301/XXXXXX

Following our appointment as administrators to Land Of Leather Limited, we are pleased to confirm that we are in a position to fulfil your outstanding order for delivery in 10-12 weeks.

Further, in recognition of any delay or inconvenience that you may have experienced i am also able to offer you a free delivery (value £69) OR a 5% discount on the value of your furnature, whichever you prefer.

To confirm your acceptance & to enable us to expedite your delivery please arrange to pay your deposit, if applicable, as soon as possible through your furnature store or warehouse, and return the reply paid envelope to indicate the form of discount you would prefer (delivery or 5%). The attatched form should be returned within seven days of the date of this letter.

If the revised delivery date is problematic please do not hesitate to call the dedicated helpline number on UK: 01474xxxxxx, to discuss the options available to you.

Yours sincerely

For L A Manning

Joint administrator

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've tried the dedicated hotline several times and nobody answers - you get an option to leave a answer-phone message; which i have several times today.

*** I personally would be happy to recieve the products if it was 10-12 weeks from my original order on New Years Day 2009, but this letter is unclear weather it is from the date of the letter they have posted to me (16/2/2009), (In which case, they can kiss my ***).***

In regards to the above posts, i am sorry but i probably know as much as yourselves about the situation we're in currently. I thought that this knowledge may help somebody out (Not much but its info all the same).

I, in turn will post about any information in regards to this post as i can't find a damn thing about this situation anywhere.

Any information regarding this matter would be seriously appreciated,

Kindest regards -

SR

Hi Kamase, thanks for your reply it's all very frustrating isn't it? I've just read another post and the administrators have written to say they'll receive their furniture in 10-12 weeks on top of (by the sound of it) the 6 weeks they've already waited!

In our case we expected delivery in 14 weeks, it is now 15 1/2 weeks. I hope the administrators don't write to us in a few days, having already waited 16 weeks and say they expect us to wait a FURTHER 10-12 weeks! That'll be over half a year! They are in breach of contract, so it's time to cancel, not just because of the delay, but the worry about who will guarantee the furniture should it be faulty (we've ordered electric recliners). Good luck with your order...

Hi SimmyShyne, thanks for your interesting post. I read your letter to my husband and commented you'd obviously already waited 7 weeks for your furniture, and by the sound of it, the administrators just expect you to happily wait for ANOTHER 10-12 weeks! In our case the original expected delivery was going to be 14 weeks, it's now been 15 1/2 . I hope they won't write to us in a few days by which time we'll have waited 16 weeks telling us it'll be a further 10-12 weeks, in other words 6 months!!

I wrote another post (Land of leather cancellation rights) and one person replied saying we should write to LOL, and the finance company saying LOL are in breach of their contract, and send by recorded delivery, keep a copy of course, so we plan to do that.

We are not just fed up with the delay, we're also worried about who will actually guarantee the furniture if is was faulty. The one we ordered has electric recliners, what if it fails 2 weeks after we get it? It's all very frustrating isn't it?

I've trawled the net for information, as I can't actually work out whether LOL being in administration gives us the right to cancel due to the guarantee aspect.

Good luck to a fellow refugee! Regards.

Hello

We are in the same situation as SimmyShyne, and have received a letter with similar wording although ours contains a veiled threat - "The attached form should be returned within 7 days from the date of this letter. If you do not respond within this period then paid deposits may be at risk" (bit of a nerve!) The attached form asks us to tick one of 2 boxes to accept either free delivery or 5% off the original order, and sign to say that we accept the revised delivery date. We would definitely prefer to cancel, not just due the timescale but as other have already said, what if there's something wrong with the furniture when it arrives.

Anyway, I've just spoken to Trading Standards (or Consumer Direct as they call themselves) and they were very helpful. They have advised that since LoL are still intending to honour the contract, we are not yet able to cancel it, however we should write to them (I'm using their prepaid envelope with the unsigned form) and use the following wording which will stand up in court should it ever go that far:

++++++++++++++++++++

Further to your letter of 16^th February 2009, I am now making time of the essence and I MUST take delivery of the goods by dd/mmm/2009, which is the latest delivery date stated on our original contract, signed on dd/mmm/yyyy.

If you are unable to deliver the goods by that date then the contract is cancelled and you must repay our deposit of £xxx.

Please respond to this letter within 14 days.

++++++++++++++++++

The key phrase is 'making time of the essence'. I'm really hoping that they will not be able to deliver by then and we'll get our deposit back from either LoL or the credit card company. Come to think of it, I'll also send a copy of the letter to the Administrators at Deloitte, and a copy to the credit card company.

I hope that helps anyone in the same situation.

Hi SimmyShyne, well guess what, we received the same letter as you today from LOL, and like yours, they said they could deliver our furniture in 10-12 weeks. As we've already waited nearly 16 weeks that could make it 28 weeks! Over half a year! I rang consumer direct who said they are in breach of their contract and to send letters recorded delivery to administrators and finance company to cancel. Incidentally I then rang the Deloitte number to see exactly where the furniture was, after all I suppose it's possible our furniture is sitting in a warehouse in England. It was quite difficult speaking to the person in the call centre, however he said 'I'm sorry but we have not got your furniture in stock' so it might not even have been made in China yet, who knows! Even if we went ahead it might take more than the newest quoted date. Are you going ahead or will you cancel?

Regards Bonnie & Toby

Hi All

This is sooo frustrating isn't it?? We had a letter from Creation Consumer Finance yesterday in response to our letter stating that we wished to cancel the order. We sent the same letter to the Adminstrators and land of Leather and e-mailed Deloitte as well.

The letter from Creation Consumer Finance reads as follows:

I should like to acknowledge receipt of the compaint made by you in relation to the above account.

With reference to the non-delivery of your goods, the administrators have confirmed they are trying to fulfill all of the orders made. I would like that the agreement is non-cancelable and therefore it is not possible to cancel (Great English...this is my comment!) I can confirm however that if your goods are not received the above account will not be activated and therefore no payments will become due.

If you have any queries regarding this please contact the administrators on (wrong number given great!!) 08800 496 0868 or email lol AT deloitte.co.uk

I then spoke to the proper number for the hotline and again found it very difficult, as you all have, to understand and be understood by the call centre operator.

I then did what I had not really wanted to do but contacted the store where we made our ill-fated purchase!

I spoke to a chap and he could see on the computer that we had requested our order to be cancelled and said that as we had been informed that the administrators were running the company, were in constant contact with suppliers and they were still being supplied by the manufacturers of the furniture and were still expecting to fulfill all orders.

I must admit this is the first time I have spoken to the store as they themselves are in a very difficult situation regarding jobs etc... but we all want some furniture this year!!!

I said we were concerned as we had problems that we had to involve Trading Standards with years ago as we had a cotton type of material suite that developed thin patches that then became holes after less than eighteen months and we had to fight to get it sorted via Sale of Goods Act and pay part towards another suite of furniture as we had to forego some of the usage and yes anything else we liked was more expensive...that was eight and a half years ago!

He said that if there were any problems that the furniture is damaged to reject the furniture on delivery(all very well but everyone would have cleared their house of their old furniture). If it becomes faulty in the first year the Administrators will be responsible..(another fight then) and if you got the extended warranty the third party Regency will sort it out! Hope the administrators and Regency will still be around then!

We did have a response from the Administrators on 11th Feb as well just stating the Category G information that was on the website....and where has that gone...the one that was keeping everyone up to date and on tenterhooks!!!

That e-mail also stated that we could not cancel the order.

Therefore think we need to get in writing the "time is of the essence bit". Our order ws 14-18 weeks which we did think was a long time but it was being "specially made" hmmm! We are therefore looking at 9th April (Easter weekend) or 7th May really before we can action anything.

One positive is that the order we have placed from a separate company (on 17th January 2009 when we thought that as we had not paid a bean that nothing could be enforced and everyting could be cancelled !!!) will not be delivered if the LOL turns up as it is clearly marked "Subject to Cancellation" and the Sales person has reinforced that there are no worries there, we just want to know what is happening.

These threads are becoming marathons aren't they but at least joint info will give everyone additional ammunition!!!!

DO NOT SIGN THIS LETTER!!!!!!!!

Do Land of Leather assume their customers are complete idiots? By signing this letter you are:

1) Agreeing to continue with the order - and when it all goes wrong they will say "Well you agreed to continue with the order - sorry can't help you".

2) Agreeing to a new delivery period/date, thereby voiding your opportunity to cancel the order based on them breaching the contract by not delivering on time.

Oh! and just for good measure they have added a "sweetner" of free-delivery or a 5% discount to get you to sign it. Doesn't that just ring alarm bells in itself?

If you sign it, you will be no better off (in fact worse) than before you did so. They still cannot guarantee that you will ever see your goods, no company in administration can do that. Also if it develops a fault once you have it, there will be no-one to rectify this.

I am taking the advice of Trading Standards, as are many people on this foum and cancelling on the grounds of "essence of time". LOL know you are entitled to do this, hence the "sweetner" to get you to sign away your rights.

Let's all send back these "offer letters" with a big line line through them and see if they LOL.

Hello again

Just a quick bit of information in case anyone has not already found it.

Obviously the LoL website is down (presumably the administrators have not paid whoever hosts and maintains it...but who knows!) If you want up-to-date information there are notices on the Deloitte & Touche website regarding LoL. Go to www.deloitte.com and select the UK site. Then search for "Land of Leather". The latest notice was dated 11th February.

By the way, has anyone managed to actually speak to someone on the number given in 'the letter'? The number is always either engaged or pops me through to an answerphone. I left my name and number but will not hold my breath waiting for a return call!