DFS sofa complaint

Sabdel2

Hello

I purchased a sofa from DFS on 15 March 2018 does not hold it's shape when I sit on it for any length of time. I contacted DFS 3 days after I took delivery of the sofa (18 March 2018), to advise them that I was sinking into the sofa when I sat on it for a period of time and it was causing me a lot of discomfort. A Service Manager came out to look at my sofa on 27 March 2018 and took photographs and inspected the sofa. He said that he could replace the cushions but I did not want replacement cushions that might not have made any difference. I also did not want to have to contact DFS again if the cushions they replaced them with were also of a poor quality too. I advised I wanted a refund.

The Service Manager advised he would call me back with a decision that evening. When he returned my call that evening he told me the Assistant General Manager now wanted to inspect the sofa. I said that was why he had come out the first time and sending somebody else out to inspect the sofa was inconvenient and unnecessary. He said he would call back in 5 minutes but instead I received a call from the Assistant General Manager.

The Assistant General Manager - who would not give me his name - said that his Service Manager had reported there was no manufacturing fault with the sofa and insisted that he had to see the sofa himself or there was nothing he could do. I had however been promised of a decision that evening by the Service Manager and felt that they were wasting my time and delaying the process, so I said that I did not want another person coming to my house to tell me that there was no manufacturing fault with the furniture but that I wanted a decision to be made. I believed the fault was with the discomfort I felt when I sat on the cushions that sank after a period of time and that I had a reasonable expectation that the sofa cushions should hold their shape and support my fairly light weight without sagging only 3 days after delivery and causing me a lot of discomfort . It was not what I had paid almost £1000 for.

I am very unhappy with the way I have been treated. I am also very unhappy with the sofa. The sofa I bought is uncomfortable and I contacted DFS three days after it was delivered to advise them of this. They are refusing to give me a refund despite the fact that the sofa is causing me pain and discomfort and it is not of the standard I would expect. However, the Assistant General Manager said that if a sofa is uncomfortable that is not a fault with the sofa, and he is only concerned with faults. However, as the sofa is sinking in the middle of the cushion when I sit on it, only 3 days after I took delivery of it, then surely this is a fault with the sofa.

Can anyone advise if they have had similar experiences and what they have done to resolve them?

Thank you

Fosterdog

They are correct, comfort and discomfort are very subjective, what causes you discomfort I could find incredibly comfortable. You finding it uncomfortable is not a fault.

It sounds like you have fibre filled cushions, they will always sink every time they are sat on, for more support you should buy foam filled. Fibre cushions need plumping a minimum of once a day, sometimes several times a day, again that is not a fault but the nature of the product and the reason lots of people choose to pay the extra to upgrade to foam.

To me it sounds like the service manager found no fault but felt sorry for you so tried to convince the manager to do something out of good will, the manager would only do that upon seeing the issue himself, you have now treated the manager quite badly considering what they were offering was good will and have now most likely reduced your chances of them doing anything for you to zero.

Your only hope now if you really believe it is faulty is to pay for your own independent report, if that sides with them you have nowhere left to go. If it sides with you, you can then reject the sofa, but they may refuse your experts report over their own leaving you needing to take them to court where a judge would decide which expert is correct and who is in the right.

Another option, if they are willing to do it is offer to pay the upgrade to get the foam cushions instead.

Sabdel2

Hi and thanks for your reply, I actually thought the manager treated me quite badly but once again subjectivity perhaps makes people see things differently. The sofa already has foam cushions - I would not have got fibre cushions - I wanted foam cushions and was advised that my sofa came with foam cushions. Also, they are stitched on so I cannot turn them or plump them. I didn't take the offer of refilling the cushions because I wonder what they would refill them with i.e. more foam? But then the same problem would occur. I do think though that you buy a sofa to sit on and if you can't sit on it without it sinking in the middle (and only after 3 days!) and causing you back and leg pain and discomfort then the sofa is not fit for purpose.

MariaH19

Hi
Did you get anywhere with this?
I am having the same issues, DFS are fobbing me off. My sofa is 1 week old but looks 2nd hand. They have told me there is nothing they can do.

flashg67

I've been disappointed with sagging (foam) cushions on my DFS sofa. After being fobbed off with the 'within the allowed sag tolerance' (whatever that is - is there an agreed international standard?), I took the covers off, measured the cushions & bought some new foam with dacron wrap & netting already fixed online which has proved much more resilient.

To be fair, they did replace a broken base spring quickly with no quibble.

dickibobboy

A bit of a thread resurrection so apologies but i have a similar issue and just wondered how people got on?


I've only had the suite in place and used for a few months and it looks like its at least a couple of years old with the dips where i have sat. I plump as per the instructions and follow all the advice on the website however they just don't seem to want to go into any shape to look like they should.


Someone from DFS came out around a month ago to take a look and said it is how the fiber filled cushions are and showed me the effort that has to go into them. I literally have to take each one off and wrestle with it to keep them in shape. The second suite that has only been used for around 6 hours max by visitors also looks the same.



After an evening sat watching TV for just a couple of hours each time the last thing i want is to do that each night. I've actually not sat on it for the last few weeks as i just can't be bothered with the effort.



Spoke to customer services and they gave me a price of £360 to replace them with foam and because the covers are cut differently it would be another £350 to replace them making the total price half of the original cost!


Waiting for a phone call back from a manager that was due today to see if they will do anything about it but i am not holding my breath

cono1717

I'm not sure where you are based but you can get independent manufacturers of foam interiors and they will cut to your existing size. One such option is Clomac: https://clomac.co.uk/about/

They are correct about fibre filled cushions though you do have to basically beat the stuffing out of them, the reason they look so good in the shops is because that's precisely what the sales staff do every night.