Is a John Lewis sofa worth it?

greensalad

Myself and my partner are moving and in need of a new sofa and possibly an arm chair to match.

We've been looking at DFS etc but I'm concerned about the quality and the customer service, this will be one of our most expensive purchases ever so we don't want to go for something shoddy!

We've always liked JL for their good customer service, I just wondered if their furniture is up to scratch? It's considerably more expensive but I do feel safe with JL.

Or are there any places to go for higher quality sofas that we can view? (Don't want to buy unseen).

dominoman

I have same question.

We want to buy a Chesterfield. They're cheap on eBay, but I expect they're not great quality.

Where can we buy a good quality sofa without being ripped off.

JP08

Depends on where you are, but being in the Cambridge area we've had a several items now from a very reliable company with a very dodgy sounding name - Hi Sell Direct.

The name sounds fly-by-night but the firm have been going since 1983, and I can vouch for them being in existence when I moved here in the early 1990's. Again despite the name, they are showroom based - IMHO the Gamlingay showroom is nicer, but harder to find, than the St Ives one. The last item we had from them was a Parker Knoll sofa - the only people who matched the price were (of all people) House of Frazer, though they would have charged for delivery.

greensalad

Hmm, we're in Surrey but we'll be up in Huntingdon to visit my partner's mother in a few weeks time so we could drop in if it's close.

Do they do delivery? It's about 2hrs.

Edit: How funny, it's 20 mins away from their house!

richy999

John Lewis do not manufacture their own sofas. Like most of the big retailers, they get their stock from a variety of manufacturers.
You pay extra with John Lewis for the perceived higher quality customer after care. John Lewis also claim to be 'backing british manufacturers'... this may or may not make a difference to you (http://www.johnlewis.com/inspiration-and-advice/products-we-stock-that-are-made-in-the-uk)

My last sofa was from DFS and did last well. My current sofa is from SCS but I haven't had it long enough to comment on it's durability.

Head_The_Ball

What is your budget?


When we bought two new sofas 5 years ago we looked at John Lewis but didn't see a style that we liked.

We looked in a number of independent furniture stores and eventually chose sofas made by Alstons, a British Company.

We purchased a 3 seater and a 2 seater, listed at about £1,800. We offered £1,500 and that was accepted.

Five years on we are very happy with them.

There are plenty of good sofas out there. There is also plenty of rubbish so be careful and do lots of research.

Don't buy too cheap as you will almost certainly be disappointed.

cattie

You could consider Mulityork, great British built quality furniture from a long established company. They have their own shops & don't sell via other stores.

It might be wise for you to familiarise yourself with some of the high quality British built manufacturer's of furniture, as the majority of them do sell via high street stores, such as John Lewis. Apart from Mulityork there is Duresta, Collins & Hayes, Bridgecraft, Parker Knoll, Peter Guild, Thomas Lloyd, to name a few that spring to mind.

I have some Alston's bedroom furniture, which is the manufacturer mentioned by the previous poster, & agree that their furniture is well made too.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Very happy with my sofa from sofa.com but you'll need to go to Chelsea to visit their showroom. We made the journey, it was worth it.

victor2

Look for an ex-display sofa you like in a store you like. Our last one came from Laura Ashley and was over 60% off. Only condition was that we arranged for a man in a van to collect it a few days later before their new stock came in.
That can work if you have time to wait/look around until you see one you like.

greensalad

Thanks for all your advice guys! It's all new to me. We've been IKEA-buying graduates for too long.

I'm thinking we'll make the rounds of some independent places. Multiyork rings a bell as I used to walk past a store on my way to work when I was a teenager and always oohed and aahed at their expensive looking sofas (growing up we always had secondhand!) I did have a look on sofa.com but it's such a varied amount of brands that I didn't know what the quality would be like. We don't want to go cheap. We want something that'll last at least 8 years or so. We're hoping to buy a house in around 2 years time so we want to be able to move house and already have expensive things like sofas purchased so we don't have to worry about spending tonnes on furniture.

Our budget is max £1600 for a 3 seater sofa + arm chair. Ideally matching set.

lloydr_2

I have a JL Sofa, its ok, however it is a sofa bed l shaped sofa, used mainly as a sofa (never as a bed, although it was not advertised as an occasional sofa). I have in the 7 years I have owned it had it replaced free of charge after 3 years due to it loosing shape, and then after a further 3 years getting a 50% refund on the price as they replaced the model due to the same fault. The sofa is exactly the same now just with a different name. I suspect its because of issues similar to mine. I would say though that for £1k sofa to have issues every 3 years with it loosing shape in the fixed seat area where you cannot replace the padding your self, it annoying. JL Customer service has been excellent however so would buy one again just for that reason.