Carpet Warranty Fine Print

Carpet warranties in New Zealand have some of the biggest traps in the building industry when it comes to selecting your next new carpet.

Flashy point-of-sale branding, warranty claims of up to 15 years wear and 15 year colour fast warranties all sound great - but you must dig deeper to get the real facts on the carpet’s life expectancy.

A client came into our Showroom the other day with a carpet sample (not one of our’s) and asked if we had a similar-looking carpet offering a similar wear warranty as that sample, ie 15 years. I asked  her what exactly was covered in that 15 year wear warranty.  She explained she wasn’t entirely sure, as she hadn’t read all the details in the warranty document she was given (as I’m sure is the case with most consumers). After a quick read of her carpet warranty it stated that the carpet she was considering was indeed warranted for 15 years against wear.  However, the manufacturer’s acceptable tolerance for wear was stated as being able to lose up to 40% of its face fibre over this period before it was considered eligible for claim against warranty.

We were both quite shocked that a warranty statement which sounded so compelling actually transpired to mean that a new carpet could lose almost half its carpet fibre over 15 years before it was deemed to fall within the terms and conditions covering the warranty. 

Compare this with our Irvine International Floors premium solution dyed nylon carpet (PSDN) that this customer prudently decided to purchase:  PSDN carpet also comes with a 15 year wear warranty, however our fine print states the carpet will not lose more the 10% of its face fibre over this period, ie 30% more margin extended to cover wear than the manufacturer of the original carpet sample brought into our Showroom by that customer.

Carpet stain warranties are another trap for the uneducated carpet buyer, many have been stating at15 year stain free warranty, but again the fine print excludes stains from foods that contain food colouring ( how many foods don’t have food coloring these days?)also exluded tea, coffee and even red wine arguably the most common causes for staining a carpet are excluded, so really how good is this carpets stain free warranty? I will post more detailed information on carpet stain warranties shortly.

For more information visit: www.irvineinternational.co.nz or call 0800 367 773