Nice People 12: Nice in Nice

michaels

Our Spanish student turned up with gifts from her mum which incuded some local parma style ham and two squirty cans of olive oil that she squirted on any of the food we made that looked too suspicious...

PasturesNew

Re garden table/chairs ... not had a call yet. This person is notoriously unreliable though....make any arrangement and they go off the radar, or cancel at the last minute (most times) .... so, in a way, not holding my breath that I'll get a call and will have it this morning. If it's not this morning it won't be the rest of the weekend as I know they have two sets of visitors over.

PasturesNew

michaels wrote: »

...squirty cans of olive oil that she squirted on any of the food we made that looked too suspicious...

Sounds like a Brit parent sending their kid off with some tomato ketchup in their case

Doozergirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

No, they're mail order. I'm only small so don't make much of a dent in regular cushions, so probably wouldn't ever get to a point where I realised I was sitting on a bit of wood.

The trouble with ebay is it's hit and miss - and hours/weeks of looking .... and I don't know what "quality" feels like as I've never sat on a quality sofa

I am a simple person, with simple needs

With ebay, too, it's difficult to go and see any sofa before you buy it (distance, it's an auction site) .... then there's the cost of the delivery and arranging that. So it's a bit of a faff.... also, things like that work best in areas where things are in huge supply - you live near the Midlands, where most things are available, easily, in great volumes.... lots of central distribution depots, lots of huge cities.... so stuff's more likely to come up, more often, more conveniently. It doesn't work like that everywhere.

That's not true about where I live. I live in a cultural wasteland. It is hard to find things that I like, but patience pays off. Birmingham is a wasteland when it comes to having good taste and good taste that you don't mind selling.

PasturesNew

I'll do a search for the firm on MSE... see what's been said. First one's short, but positive. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4174287 although that last post looks like a "plant"

Doozergirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

I don't have the time for patience.... many things to source and I need one.

I'm still short of: sofa, bed, wardrobe, fridge freezer, kitchen table/chairs, curtains, blinds, new TV, TV unit, new PC, washing line, ironing board/iron, saucepans, swing top bin .... and a 101 other things. Some things I've got an item identified, but not bought yet.... others are an idea of what I want.

Time's passing... fast ... and I'm not making headway.

It was an idea, there are also cheap sofas out there from shops where you don't have to pay for a funky compromise of a design that is made to fit in a problem area that you don't own.

This was the first thing that popped up when I put in a totally made up postcode from something like your part of the world.
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/271572175520?nav=SEARCH
I even found a used Philippe Starck sofa which is unheard of in these parts. You have affluence around you, and therefore quality.

vivatifosi

I'm always wary of when someone has only made one post on MSE and they do it to say how good a firm is. Most people make a first post to ask a question, or to complain about goods or services, that's the nature of MSE. Often they'll go on to make other posts. One post, in isolation, to bump a thread from two years prior about the sofa manufacturer is dubious imo.

Did you try any sofas on your day trip to Ikea? As you say, there's only one of you and they are little, so it isn't as though it is going to get a lot of wear and tear.

Doozergirl

vivatifosi wrote: »

I'm always wary of when someone has only made one post on MSE and they do it to say how good a firm is. Most people make a first post to ask a question, or to complain about goods or services, that's the nature of MSE. Often they'll go on to make other posts. One post, in isolation, to bump a thread from two years prior about the sofa manufacturer is dubious imo.

Did you try any sofas on your day trip to Ikea? As you say, there's only one of you and they are little, so it isn't as though it is going to get a lot of wear and tear.

10 year guarantees at Ikea anyway. It's certainly where I'd go for cheap and cheerful but with an element of quality.

I don't believe that that a two year guarantee holds any kind of confidence on the part of the manufacturer in their own product. If flat pack was the best way to build a quality sofa, Ikea would be doing it on massive scale. Not my sofa, not my business, admittedly, so I'll shut up.

PasturesNew

Doozergirl wrote: »

This was the first thing that popped up when I put in a totally made up postcode from something like your part of the world.
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/271572175520?nav=SEARCH
I even found a used Philippe Starck sofa which is unheard of in these parts. You have affluence around you, and therefore quality.

Philippe .... er... never heard of I'd not know a "name" from 10 paces.

I'll look on ebay

P.S. I'm about 15-20 miles east of where you guessed.

vivatifosi

If I was buying furniture at the moment, unless their reputation was extremely well known (eg Ikea or John Lewis), I'd go for one that's a member of the Furniture Industry Ombudsman scheme. That way if something does go wrong, you always know that there is someone there willing to listen.