dfs furniture - very poor leather suite - even poorer service

oldoakey

I haver run/owned a furniture store for 20 odd years now and to me it sounds like they have supplied a bicast type leather which is not really leather at all and in my opinion is not suitable for sofas and chairs.

I would ask what type of leather it actually is and then you could possibly get them on misrepresentation.

As to re-covering the pieces the average re-upholstery of a suite would cost around the £2,000 plus mark with a decent quality leather and finished to a good spec. I would be wary of this!

Good Luck

DamnedFrustratedwithSofa

oldoakey wrote: »

I haver run/owned a furniture store for 20 odd years now and to me it sounds like they have supplied a bicast type leather which is not really leather at all and in my opinion is not suitable for sofas and chairs.

I would ask what type of leather it actually is and then you could possibly get them on misrepresentation.

As to re-covering the pieces the average re-upholstery of a suite would cost around the £2,000 plus mark with a decent quality leather and finished to a good spec. I would be wary of this!

Good Luck

Our leather sofa is stretching so much it looked baggy within a couple of weeks, could it actually be a lower quality of leather than they state? I almost can't believe that what we have is meant to be fully aniline leather. It isn’t smooth, it is textured and did smell like leather when we first took delivery, but there was an overriding sickly sweet smell which turned my stomach. I am genuinely worried that what we have might not be what it is supposed to be, which was high quality leather.

EssexGirl

DFS stands for Dog's First Sofa.

DamnedFrustratedwithSofa

EssexGirl wrote: »

DFS stands for Dog's First Sofa.

Well it could be the new market for DFS if they keep p1ssing off their customers, at least dogs cant talk back, bullies prefer that don't they!

TICKLED_PINK_3

After having problems with a suite purchased from D F S,I have been informed that I can now have a new suite.Good news in the respect that I can have a new suite,the problem I face now is which is a good quality suite from their shop,I just want a suite that will last.

DamnedFrustratedwithSofa

TICKLED_PINK wrote: »

After having problems with a suite purchased from D F S,I have been informed that I can now have a new suite.Good news in the respect that I can have a new suite,the problem I face now is which is a good quality suite from their shop,I just want a suite that will last.

I have just spoken to consumer direct, they say even if you allow DFS to fix, replace etc.. you are being reasonable and allowing them to rectify issues. If your new sofa or fixed sofa is still not fit for purpose you can pursue getting your money back. Don't feel you have to accept substandard furniture, even if you take delivery of a replacement. We will be taking DFS to the small claims court if the next lot of issues are not addressed, an expert report will be sent to their head office with a request for our money back. If they refuse, it will go to court. This is what consumer direct advises and we know we have enough evidence of the faults.

In your case as they have offered you a replacement, I would ask which suites are made in the UK and make sure you record conversations when you buy the next one. If the shop display model is firm and well made, make a point of this when purchasing it, get the sales person to get technical and explain every little detail. If they say it just needs a little plumping once a week or once a month and then you end up being told to smash hard down on cushions every day by a service rep, you have been miss sold the suite and you should ask for your money back. Same if you receive the next suite with faults, do not let them fob you off, ask for your money back, or take them to court. The small claims court isn’t expensive and you can claim back any money which you have had to spend getting any reports done.

They have already inconvenienced you, twice would be unforgivable and I doubt any court would rule in favour of DFS.


Good luck.

DamnedFrustratedwithSofa

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/42005830#Comment_42005830

If anyone has taken out a credit agreement to purchase DFS furniture, this link should be of interest to you.

pjear

I purchased a leather suite in 2007 for about £2500, 2 x arm chairs, 1 x 2 seat sofa and 1 x 3 seat sofa, I also paid about £250 for a warranty that I was led to believe covered all eventualities. After 1 year I had to dispose of one of the arm chairs, the chair I normally used. The unremovable cushions became so squashed and miss-shapened that the leather started to fold and tear, I tried to claim on the warranty but was fobbed off by dfs, and was told that my children had damaged it. I then started to use the other arm chair, this also deteriorated at an alarming rate. The reason for this is because the materials used in manufacture are not robust enough, and the leather is paper thin, I am not small, about 6 foot tall and weigh about 17 stones. A bit over average. I have a landrover Discovery with leather seats, its 11 years old, i drive it every day, the seats are slightly worn but obviously manufactured to a higher standard and in no way show the signs of deterioration that the dfs chairs have shown. During the purchase I was led to believe the furniture was the best quality money could buy, and the warranty would cover all eventuallities, I was lied to. The other items of the suite are normally used by my children who range from 6 to 17 years, none of these items have deteriorated in the same way, however, there are now signs of small tears happening.

DON'T buy from DFS,

sindamoo

I brought a corner group from dfs, there are 5 sections and we only haveever used 2 sections as there is only 2 of us in the house. The sofa is comingup to 19 months old and one of the sections we dont use, whilst cleaning it, inoticed that the arm top was not as firm as the other arm on the part we use.dfs came out and when looked, the wood board on top on the arm frame was split.very strange as this has had no use at all and is clearly unused as thecushions on the 2 seats we use have sunk in and the other 3 seats are still aswhen delivered. They proposed to glue some cardboard over the split and thenglue a split of wood across the cardboard. They say this is an acceptable fix.When i said i dont think so, this must of clearly of been a fault when it wasmade as we have never used the seat, i was told it could of been but i need toprove it and this was the repair method. My problem is it feels like they arejust bodging the arm up and it is not what i paid for as the arm was made withwood and not cardboard. The manager rang and refused to do anything other thanthis cardboard repair, spoke to customer services at head office who was justrude and told me thats all that would be done and tough if i dont like it. Howcan they get away with such poor repairs and service. what else can i do aboutit.

In follow up to the previous post above, I had a secondvisit from the local store manager who now wanted to totally remove the leathercover to repair the arm, would they ever it get it put back the same way. Ihave since found out from the manager of the stoke store, that the nice Italianleather sofa we brought ( well thats what the sales advisor Jamie Wetton )toldus when we order the sofa is infact inported from China and nothing to do withItaly like we were told. How can DFS expect to get away with poor repairs andlying to customers just to get a sale.
Well i have enventually spoken with the area manager of DFStoday, Adam Hankingson, Still have not resolved the issue, He claims itsacceptable that we can not clean the leather with the leather kit they sold usand that we may of wiped the leather to hard to cause the black marks and thehard circle patterns that happened last time we used them. Never have i hadthis problem with previous leather sofas i have had and cleaned. On the subjectof the faulty arm, they will still do a repair but wont guarentee the work. Asthey need to remove the entire leather from the sofa, mend the arm and thenrecover it with the leather. He has refused to cover the work with anyguarentee, so if they do not refit the leather proberly, it will be on myselfto get it fixed again. How can they get away with this and all he can say istake us to court if you are not happy as the judge will rule in our favour. Healso said that you do not use the chair so the leather wont move on it.
The subject of the sales advisor that told us that the sofa was made in italywhen actually it was made in china, he basically said that this did not happenand i was lying. Well as i was there and asked this question when i placed theorder, i know what was said and as he was not there, how can he say what wassaid without asking the sales advisor. I said i would go myself and speak withhim. When i got to the shop, Adam had rang ahead of me going and told themanager to ring the police if i raised my voice as they did not want a scene inthe shop. What does that tell you about them. Jamie Wetton could not recallwhat he had said despite remembering that we had made a template to get thecorrect measurements. He sat their quite smuggly and refused to answer thequestion about why he told me it was made in italy when it was made in china.If you do go to DFS in stoke avoid this sales advisor as he will say anythingto get a sale. we would not of paid £3000 for a chines peice of poor qualityfurniture and would of choosen something else had he of told the truth. I guessthe problems will carry on as this is still not resolved. Their customerservice is very poor as well as they promise to ring you back and then dont.They seem only too happy to take your money but are not so good when problemsarise and how they are sorted out.
The manager is now coming out ( Dave Marshall ) for thesecond time to look at the problems again. His area manger Adam Hankinson istrying to get out of doing the repairs from how he was talking.
The customer services are useless and i am still waiting forthem to come back to me 2 weeks later. They lie on the phone and refuse to putanything in writing so you have nothing in the form of evidence against them. Iam now furious that for the 3rd time i am being made to wait in forthem and its not even got to the repair yet. I am also furious that they threaten with the police when you go to thestore, what company uses this type of behaviour when you try to get yourfurniture repaired under the guarantee. The footstool still has a black mark from the cleaning kit they sold with the furniture and they claim this is fine along with the hard circles they sprayed to try to hide them. Dont buy from dfs if you want a decent sofa.