Any decent Sofa stores?

[snerkler]

We’ve been looking for a new Sofa and have visited the common national stores (Sofology, DFS, SCS and Furniture Village) and like a couple of sofas at Sofology, however when you look online and real reviews (not trustpilot that just review sales) there’s a hell of a lot disgruntled people complaining about the aftercare for defective items saying that they weasel out of any claims and are very dismissive.

On further searching the reviews for all the other stores are similarly as bad. Are there no decent Sofa companies or is it just a case of only those with complaints will post online? We’ve looked elsewhere such as Next, IKEA, John Lewis but none have anything along the lines of what we’re looking for.

Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on this please?

 

[lindsay]

We bought a couple of sofas and armchairs from Furniture Village about a year ago. They do the job, but my wife now finds them a bit uncomfortable now, although at first ok. We also find that they looked fine in the shop but not so fine at home. My observation is that they seem to be made for smaller rooms, as they are not very deep - none of the furniture there was very deep. Our old sofas were from Saxon (made to order leather chesterfields) - not cheap, but very very good quality and really comfortable. Sadly the new cats two years ago destroyed them, otherwise I think they would have lasted many more years beyond the 15 we had already had them. We do intend to order more from Saxon though when we've moved next year (hopefully) and can shut the cats out of the sitting room! Highly recommended.

 

[MickC]

We’ve been looking for a new Sofa and have visited the common national stores (Sofology, DFS, SCS and Furniture Village) and like a couple of sofas at Sofology, however when you look online and real reviews (not trustpilot that just review sales) there’s a hell of a lot disgruntled people complaining about the aftercare for defective items saying that they weasel out of any claims and are very dismissive.

On further searching the reviews for all the other stores are similarly as bad. Are there no decent Sofa companies or is it just a case of only those with complaints will post online? We’ve looked elsewhere such as Next, IKEA, John Lewis but none have anything along the lines of what we’re looking for.

Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on this please?

SofaSofa® Official Site | British Sofas, Chairs, Footstools & More

British made fabric and leather sofas, sofabeds, chairs and footstools delivered direct from our workshop at direct from the manufacturer prices.

sofasofa.co.uk

Bought from these, the only company i could find where their 2 seaters weren't as big as a 3 seater. I ordered a foot stool but looked too big for the room. They took it back no qualms.

 

[troutfisher]

Take at look at Vale Bridgecraft cheap it ain,t but our is 12 years old and shows no wear
Vale Bridgecraft |

Vale Bridgecraft

www.valebridgecraft.co.uk

Vale Bridgecraft |

 

[snerkler]

We bought a couple of sofas and armchairs from Furniture Village about a year ago. They do the job, but my wife now finds them a bit uncomfortable now, although at first ok. We also find that they looked fine in the shop but not so fine at home. My observation is that they seem to be made for smaller rooms, as they are not very deep - none of the furniture there was very deep. Our old sofas were from Saxon (made to order leather chesterfields) - not cheap, but very very good quality and really comfortable. Sadly the new cats two years ago destroyed them, otherwise I think they would have lasted many more years beyond the 15 we had already had them. We do intend to order more from Saxon though when we've moved next year (hopefully) and can shut the cats out of the sitting room! Highly recommended.

SofaSofa® Official Site | British Sofas, Chairs, Footstools & More

British made fabric and leather sofas, sofabeds, chairs and footstools delivered direct from our workshop at direct from the manufacturer prices.

sofasofa.co.uk

Bought from these, the only company i could find where their 2 seaters weren't as big as a 3 seater. I ordered a foot stool but looked too big for the room. They took it back no qualms.

Take at look at Vale Bridgecraft cheap it ain,t but our is 12 years old and shows no wear
Vale Bridgecraft |

Vale Bridgecraft

www.valebridgecraft.co.uk

Vale Bridgecraft |

Thanks all, will take a look

 

[stevewestern]

Another disgruntled sofology ex-customer here.. Finally got them to remove it and refund us. Not a good recommendation here.

 

[snerkler]

Another disgruntled sofology ex-customer here.. Finally got them to remove it and refund us. Not a good recommendation here.

Thanks, what was the issue?

 

[the black fox]

Got dfs electric recliners in leather .. moderately good quality leather but sitting too long makes you feel uncomfortable,. Also took out a insurance when purchased ,one of the usb built in ports went last year after trying to get them out for a repair they eventually sent someone from homeserve to look at it, he spent a hour or so looking at it ,taking photos etc … and told us he would order one after saying they were cheap Chinese units ..
few weeks later got a phone call to say the part was in but they wanted £60+ to install it as it wasn’t covered by there insurance .. totally useless company .. avoid if possible ..

have you tried marks and spencer there sofas are made in deeside wales .know that for a fact

 

[stevewestern]

Thanks, what was the issue?

Within a few weeks a couple of springs popped out so a guy came out to repair it. He told us he was doing the same thing all day every day. Bear in mind that I weigh under 85k, my wife and grown-up kids are around half that.
A week later the same thing happened in 2 places. He came again, fixed it, said he'd see us soon and sure enough it happened for a third time, all within about 4 months.
They wanted to send him out again but we refused and over many hours had a series of calls(and you know how hard it is get through to any helpline...) but finally they agreed to collect it.
The guys who came said they were collecting more returns than delivering, at least on that day....

 

[snerkler]

Got dfs electric recliners in leather .. moderately good quality leather but sitting too long makes you feel uncomfortable,. Also took out a insurance when purchased ,one of the usb built in ports went last year after trying to get them out for a repair they eventually sent someone from homeserve to look at it, he spent a hour or so looking at it ,taking photos etc … and told us he would order one after saying they were cheap Chinese units ..
few weeks later got a phone call to say the part was in but they wanted £60+ to install it as it wasn’t covered by there insurance .. totally useless company .. avoid if possible ..

have you tried marks and spencer there sofas are made in deeside wales .know that for a fact

Thanks for the info. M&S don't do recliners unfortunately

Within a few weeks a couple of springs popped out so a guy came out to repair it. He told us he was doing the same thing all day every day. Bear in mind that I weigh under 85k, my wife and grown-up kids are around half that.
A week later the same thing happened in 2 places. He came again, fixed it, said he'd see us soon and sure enough it happened for a third time, all within about 4 months.
They wanted to send him out again but we refused and over many hours had a series of calls(and you know how hard it is get through to any helpline...) but finally they agreed to collect it.
The guys who came said they were collecting more returns than delivering, at least on that day....

That's shocking, can you remember which model that was please?

 

[stevewestern]

Thanks for the info. M&S don't do recliners unfortunately

That's shocking, can you remember which model that was please?

Sorry, no idea. I'm just going out but will try to have a look on their website later to see if I can identify it.

EDIT - think it was the Richmond range

 

[Peter123]

The Long Eaton area of Nottingham is where most of the upmarket manufacturers are located.
I‘ve been out of this trade for a good number of years, so can’t recommend any specific firm.

One good thing to do when buying, is to sit on the item for at least 10 mins. Also, as we all get older, high backs suit us better.
The seat suspension springs (there are different types) and the seat fillings make a lot of difference.

Good luck.

 

[snerkler]

Sorry, no idea. I'm just going out but will try to have a look on their website later to see if I can identify it.

EDIT - think it was the Richmond range

Ok, thanks

 

[Mr Perceptive]

Duresta - buy once - will last a lifetime - can always get re-upholstered further down the line

 

[snerkler]

The Long Eaton area of Nottingham is where most of the upmarket manufacturers are located.
I‘ve been out of this trade for a good number of years, so can’t recommend any specific firm.

One good thing to do when buying, is to sit on the item for at least 10 mins. Also, as we all get older, high backs suit us better.
The seat suspension springs (there are different types) and the seat fillings make a lot of difference.

Good luck.

Thanks for the advice, I do spend time sitting on them when in store, and it’s the high backs that’s causing us the issue as I’m 6’4 and trying to find something that’s high enough to rest my head back but not look like a monstrosity is proving very difficult

 

[snerkler]

Duresta - buy once - will last a lifetime - can always get re-upholstered further down the line

Thanks but they don’t do recliners, which is a must

 

[Box Brownie]

Thanks for the advice, I do spend time sitting on them when in store, and it’s the high backs that’s causing us the issue as I’m 6’4 and trying to find something that’s high enough to rest my head back but not look like a monstrosity is proving very difficult

Perhaps rather than a sofa.......for your specific needs a recliner chair such as the Ekornes brand (if they are still about?) combined with their footstalk, I recall that being very comfortable. IIRC @5'10" the top of the back was a few inches above the top of my head.

 

[snerkler]

Perhaps rather than a sofa.......for your specific needs a recliner chair such as the Ekornes brand (if they are still about?) combined with their footstalk, I recall that being very comfortable. IIRC @5'10" the top of the back was a few inches above the top of my head.

Thanks but we're looking for a corner sofa with recliner function

 

[Box Brownie]

Thanks but we're looking for a corner sofa with recliner function

Sounds like you need a bespoke made sofa

 

[snerkler]

Sounds like you need a bespoke made sofa

Would be nice

 

[Anthony.Ralph]

My Brother-in-law just purchased a small sofa and chair from the Cotswold Company. https://www.cotswoldco.com/ We visited their showroom in Stow-on-the-Wold and were very impressed with the quality of their furniture.

Anthony

 

[andybod]

be careful with dfs customer services absolutely appalling. We wont use them again after taking around 10 months to repair an arm chair they damaged (dropped down a wall) whilst delivering our furniture it was an absolute battle to get a satisfactory repair carried out

 

[snerkler]

Thanks all the replies, we’ve actually ordered a Sofa now. The only one that we found that fit our needs was from Sofology so we’ve just had to take a punt and hope we’re one of the lucky ones