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Best place to buy Sofa

Hi, 

Just wanted some recommendations on best places to buy sofas? :) I know some big known brands, but wanted some personal experiences.
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Comments

  • I’ve always used DFS, and you get what you pay for. They’re fine for the money, but the cushions are always squashed within a few months. I’ve never had build quality issues with them, just poor seat cushion life! 

    Last time we found a set we loved in FW Homestores (I’m not sure how national they are) and it’s been a year so far and the cushions are in the same condition as new. Pretty much DFS money too so I’m really impressed. 

    We have kids and animals though and only expect a sofa to last 5 years before it’s time to change, if i wanted quality that would last I’d buy John Lewis, my mum has had some lovely stuff from there that lasts and lasts. 
  • We used john Lewis for a small sofa and found it good. The quality is great and we love it so far and it's been about 10 months. We got the bigger sofa from sofa.com and again these are brilliant. The service was also impeccable with them and delivery a breeze. We are going to get a new sofa for our extension and will go back to sofa.com for it.



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  • JGB1955
    JGB1955 Posts: 3,733 Forumite
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    How about M&S?  Their furniture comes with a 10 year guarantee.
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  • Rosa_Damascena
    Rosa_Damascena Posts: 6,770 Forumite
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    edited 24 August 2020 am31 8:33AM
    JGB1955 said:
    How about M&S?  Their furniture comes with a 10 year guarantee.
    I'd wait until M&S has a promotion. It's usually only 20% off but the prices are extortionate and the sofas are not going anywhere. I can't fault JL on quality or service.

    When buying a sofa I have a brand and style in mind and then see who can sell it at the best price. The last one I bought was Stressless and although not cheap I did get it at a lowest price, but did a bit of haggling to get there.

    If you're close to a warehouse you might want to give TradeSecret a go. I've never used it but I understand that they are a clear8ng house for unsold BN furniture.
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  • ka7e
    ka7e Posts: 3,113 Forumite
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    I have 2 Tetrad chesterfield sofas that cost a small fortune about 17 years ago. But they are still sound and comfortable - no loose cushions to go flat. I got them recovered as the original material was like a chenille and looked tired after being abused by kids and dogs. They are a bit big for the house we now live in but I can't justify replacing them with something less robust. They were definitely worth the expense.
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  • I like IKEA , they are reasonably priced too
  • jimi_man
    jimi_man Posts: 1,291 Forumite
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    A lot depends on how long you want to keep it for. If you are planning to keep it for 20+ years, then you need to spend a bit of money and it's unlikely that IKEA or DFS will fit the bill; you'll need to go upwards in terms of price and quality. If not, then nothing particularly wrong with DFS or similar.

    Bearing in mind that there is virtually no resale on second hand sofas - they go for a few pounds or often given away free, so no point in spending a couple of grand on quality then changing it in five years, thinking you can resell it. 

    Also, whilst you can get stuff recovered, again that costs a small fortune.
  • jimi_man said:
    A lot depends on how long you want to keep it for. If you are planning to keep it for 20+ years, then you need to spend a bit of money and it's unlikely that IKEA or DFS will fit the bill; you'll need to go upwards in terms of price and quality. If not, then nothing particularly wrong with DFS or similar.

    Bearing in mind that there is virtually no resale on second hand sofas - they go for a few pounds or often given away free, so no point in spending a couple of grand on quality then changing it in five years, thinking you can resell it. 

    Also, whilst you can get stuff recovered, again that costs a small fortune.
    Excellent advice. I noticed DFS got a real caning on here but most of the posts were 15 years old. I'm guessing their customer service, like most firms, has improved in the last few years?
  • theoretica
    theoretica Posts: 12,685 Forumite
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    jimi_man said:
    Bearing in mind that there is virtually no resale on second hand sofas - they go for a few pounds or often given away free, so no point in spending a couple of grand on quality then changing it in five years, thinking you can resell it. 

    Which makes a strong case for looking to see what is available second hand.

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  • We recently ordered two sofas from DFS, really can't fault their customer service as we had to change our order, reading reviews I thought we'd be stuck with a sofa not fit for our purpose. 
    Don't take too much notice of their headline offers, that really is for their cheapest options. 

    We only went to DFS as we wanted something relatively cheap to last us 5 years, I'd be looking elsewhere for our eventual forever home. 

    We did consider looking for 2nd hand, but we really didn't fancy traipsing the shops on the off chance we found something we like. 

    The only thing I would say is that sofas seem to be much bigger now than we bought our last one 18 years ago. One couple walking round DFS said that there was nothing that would fit in their home and we would have struggled with a lot
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