Sofa help

sarahdaisy22

Hi, looking for some advice please. I bought a 2 seater & a 2.5 seater sofa from Sterling furniture on 2/5/24 & paid for it all (£3000) using my credit card & I’ve since paid the balance on my credit card in full.

Sofas arrived 28th July & the 2.5 seater cushions are saggy & not as firm as they felt in store and not as firm as the 2 seater cushions. 
I specifically went shopping for a firm sofa due to back issues. I went into Sterling furniture 5 times before committing to buying the sofas as I had to make sure I was buying the correct ones to support my back. Each visit into Sterling, I spoke with the same sales advisor who spoke to me in-depth about my back issues and always told me to go for the sofas I eventually bought as they were Firm sofas that would give great back support.
I had this conversation with her on 5 different occasions & when I finally agreed to buy the sofas she told me she’d have to warn me that they would arrive feeling firmer than they do in store but would eventually loosen a bit but they’d still be as firm as the sofas in store. I told her that wouldn’t be an issue, the firmer the better.

when the sofas arrived the 2.5 seater didn’t feel as firm as the store sofa, never mind firmer!  it was the exact opposite. It is extremely soft & the cushions are sagging. It doesn’t support my back, it’s making it worse. I can’t sit on it at all. I feel like I’m sitting on the floor, the sagging is so bad. 

I complained & Sterling sent a technician out from the manufacturer who told me the sofas I bought are a soft line sofa range and were never going to be firm.
I was gob smacked given that I went shopping for a firm sofa & the information the sales advisor gave me about the sofa was false.
he also told me that the top layer of the cushions are filled with feathers and down. I was shocked even more because as an asthmatic I’m allergic to feathers & down & had I known this I would never have considered the sofa at all.

I believe I have been mis sold a sofa, been given wrong information when being encouraged to buy it.
& I also wasn’t  told about the feathers and down which now pose a health risk to myself.

the technician doesn’t see any issue with the sofa as he states it’s a soft line sofa.

what Can I do?

thanks 

Aylesbury_Duck

Go back to the store and say you want to reject the sofas because one of them isn't firm as they said it would be and is from a soft line.

Ignore the stuff about the content of the filling.  If you didn't mention your allergy/condition or ask about it, they haven't done anything wrong on that point, they're not mindreaders. If you make a fuss about that, it diminishes what looks like a case of mis-selling, if what the technician has told you is accurate.

The trouble you have is that if there's just a problem with that one sofa and if they do replace the softer sofa, you haven't got a legitimate case for rejection on the basis of the filling, because you didn't check that it met your allergy requirements.

PHK

Just to add Softline are an Italian manufacturer of sofas. It’s the name not a description. 

(That doesn’t mean your sofa isn’t soft) 

I am quite surprised that the sales person gave advice on suitability for what is a medical condition. Unless they are selling specific furniture designed for back issues (which would cost significantly more) then it would be madness to make such a claim. 

ThumbRemote

It sounds like you saw the sofa in store first. That should means it's possible to check that what you received matches what you saw. Does the in-store one have feathers in? 

Given that I suspect they'll make it very difficult to resolve this matter, I'd go into store and get some 'evidence' first. As many photos of the demo sofa as you can, showing how much it sinks when weight is put on it. Then you can repeat this with yours.