DFS Sofa Faulty - Sagging after 18 months - they say this is normal

[MayDay007]

Hello, I am new to this so I hope I get my post right. We bought two DFS sofas 18 months ago - one large leather 'Oskar' and one smaller fabric 'Shout'. With perfectly normal use, the Oskar sofa has sagged quite significantly in the middle, by about 1.5 to 2 inches.

 

This looks odd and makes the sofa quite uncomfortable as it makes you lean in towards the middle when you sit on it. We were really unhappy about this so I telephoned the DFS store where we purchased it and they agreed to send a Service Manager to come out to inspect the sofa, which he did a few days later. He said that this wasn't a fault but is normal compression or softening of the foam.

 

He stuffed a few sheets of blue foam into the underside of the sofa and told me that he was doing so as a gesture of goodwill as apposed to acknowledgment of a fault in the product. He also told me that we should make sure we sit evenly along the length of the sofa. I disagreed but let him go on his way. I then telephoned DFS Customer Services to express my dissatisfaction and they told me that they would speak to the store manager and get back to me the same day.

 

The next week I heard back from the same store representative that had come to do the makeshift repairs to the sofa and was told again this was not a fault and that this happens with all sofas. I explained that the other DFS sofa we have (the 'Shout' one) hasn't sagged and that I consider this sagging on a sofa that we paid £2,000 for less than 18 months previously was not acceptable.

 

They told me I should take it up with the Ombudsman. I asked them to send me an email confirming that the sag of 1.5 to 2 inches is normal and not a fault. They did send me an email but did not mention the size, even though this was confirmed on the telephone.

 

I hasten to add that I recorded all of these telephone calls.

 

I am at a bit of a loss and feeling really unhappy with the quality of this expensive, saggy sofa and how they have handled this. I would be so grateful for any advise on what to do next.

 

Hope someone can help.

Edited October 30, 2015 by citizenB
formatting

[citizenB]

What utter rubbish. You pay £2,000 for a sofa and you should expect a darn sight longer than 18 months with normal use !

 

You only need to pop in DFS into the CAG search engine and see that we have had no end of people reporting complaints and the lack of customer service from DFS.

 

I think you need to send a formal complaint to their head/registered office.

 

I will also flag your thread for input from the site team.

[MayDay007]

What utter rubbish. You pay £2,000 for a sofa and you should expect a darn sight longer than 18 months with normal use !

 

You only need to pop in DFS into the CAG search engine and see that we have had no end of people reporting complaints and the lack of customer service from DFS.

 

I think you need to send a formal complaint to their head/registered office.

 

I will also flag your thread for input from the site team.

 

Thank you. I will take some time to craft a letter to their head office. I just wasn't sure I should bother as they have told me that was their final position. But maybe when it is in writing they will act more responsibly.

[citizenB]

Give it a while for those caggers who are at work look in on you to see what advice they can give.

[BankFodder]

Does it actually say in your email that this is normal for a DFS sofa?

 

Maybe you could copy the email into this thread for us.

 

If this is what DFS sofa is normally do then seems to me that one should avoid them.

 

You can try writing your letter and see where it gets you. However, you should be careful about being drawn into some protracted correspondence which simply fatigues you eventually make you give up.

 

Unfortunately it is more than likely that they will only respond if they realise that legal proceedings are on the way.

 

I suppose that you have taken photographs of everything. Well done on recording calls. That is very important. Read our customer services guide.

 

You can either write your letter and give them a chance or you can send them a letter before action. If you send them an LBA then you must intend to go ahead with your threat if they don't respond correctly. Don't bluff.

 

If you decide to bring a County Court action then you probably have an easy win on your hands – although they will probably cave in.

 

I think you will need to find out how long you would expect a sofa of this quality to last. You have had 18 months use from it so it might reasonably be expected that you wouldn't recover the full price of the sofa.

[citizenB]

I bet they didn't tell you when you purchased the sofa that one of the features of the product was that it started sagging after 12-18 months ?

[MayDay007]

Does it actually say in your email that this is normal for a DFS sofa?

 

Maybe you could copy the email into this thread for us.

 

If this is what DFS sofa is normally do then seems to me that one should avoid them.

 

You can try writing your letter and see where it gets you. However, you should be careful about being drawn into some protracted correspondence which simply fatigues you eventually make you give up.

 

Unfortunately it is more than likely that they will only respond if they realise that legal proceedings are on the way.

 

I suppose that you have taken photographs of everything. Well done on recording calls. That is very important. Read our customer services guide.

 

You can either write your letter and give them a chance or you can send them a letter before action. If you send them an LBA then you must intend to go ahead with your threat if they don't respond correctly. Don't bluff.

 

If you decide to bring a County Court action then you probably have an easy win on your hands – although they will probably cave in.

 

I think you will need to find out how long you would expect a sofa of this quality to last. You have had 18 months use from it so it might reasonably be expected that you wouldn't recover the full price of the sofa.

 

Thanks so much for your thoughts,that is really helpful. This is the email I received from them:

 

"I am writing with regard to your valued order for furniture as detailed above and the recent visit to your home.

 

As discussed I found no manufacturing defects with the furniture, instead finding some normal softening of the seat foam consistent with a sofa of this design and age.

 

I explained as above during the visit and as a gesture refreshed the seat foams to accommodate your requirements."

 

Perhaps foolishly I have yet to take any pictures, but I guess if I am pursuing action I could remove the extra foam they added as it was only stuffed in and not secured in any way. I would just need to remove the staples on the underside fabric. I do have recordings of the DFS Service Manager acknowledging the size of the sag at 1.5 inches.

 

I will do some reading on the LBA. Thanks.

 

*

[MayDay007]

I bet they didn't tell you when you purchased the sofa that one of the features of the product was that it started sagging after 12-18 months ?

 

Absolutely not! I thought that paying that for a sofa meant it would stand the test of time. Interestingly, the DFS manager told me on the phone that this sofa isn't a £5,000 Chesterfield and that I should adjust my expectations accordingly. He more or less said 'you get what you pay for'. Personally, I think £2k is quite a lot for a sofa and, even though they seem to have a lot of complaints online, DFS are a large retailer and one of the market leaders so I had expected quality.

[citizenB]

Absolutely not! I thought that paying that for a sofa meant it would stand the test of time. Interestingly, the DFS manager told me on the phone that this sofa isn't a £5,000 Chesterfield and that I should adjust my expectations accordingly. He more or less said 'you get what you pay for'. Personally, I think £2k is quite a lot for a sofa and, even though they seem to have a lot of complaints online, DFS are a large retailer and one of the market leaders so I had expected quality.

 

 

Well lets hope that anyone thinking of purchasing one of these or similar from DFS after being bombarded with their silly ads, takes the time to look round the internet and discovers the online complaints BEFORE purchasing from them.

 

IMHO, I wouldn't purchase from them a second time !

 

Your thread was tweeted through our twitter link when you posted

[citizenB]

Is there an update on this issue please ?

[HermanHessian]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?466479-Government-inaction-causing-sofa-deaths

[king12345]

Well, i was told by dfs that our 2k sofa sagged because I am too heavy.

I'm a 200 pound standard size bloke, if that's too heavy for a sofa, we should all go on a diet.

Bought another one from land of leather, much cheaper (£800) and after 5 years it's still as new despite the kids jumping on it daily.

[HermanHessian]

You might be surprised at just how cheaply made most sofas are. The cost differences between high and low tend to appear in the cover fabrics, which can range hugely. The main body of most commercial sofas is constructed from mdf, cardboard, hessian, all held together by glue and staples. They're also not designed to last these days since the industry's research indicates that on average people change their sofas every six years (and that's on average - many change sooner than that).