Rated 1 out of 5 stars
Recliner sofa. Convinced to buy based on "superior quality"
Radley sofa with dual manual recliners, not working as demo'd in store, but apparently "they work", so tough.
From the start, I nearly bought the Foster power recliner from DFS at hundreds of pounds cheaper than the Radley manual recliner I ended up buying with Sofology. The sales assistant in Sofology was amazing, so knowledgeable and friendly, an absolute credit to the company who went on to let his hard work down. I was sold on the superior quality of fabric with sofology and above all else, the build quality. Although not a power recliner, the manual recliners in store were super easy to use, so the in store demo model, combined with "the sell", quality of the build and fabric convinced me to pay more for a manual recliner.
Delivery day came and the driver was the worst. I cleared an easy open run through my open plan home from the back garden right through the house to make their lives easier than trying to squeeze through a narrow hallway, the drivers attitude the entire time was terrible "mate, I can't be bothered to take it round the back, we'll drag it through as I don't have time for that".
His demeanour and attitude was really intimidating and made me uncomfortable. He build the sofa up and shoved the handheld signature device in front me and left.
The second he left I went to try the new sofa but it still had cable ties holding the recliners down. So I cut them off. One side of the recliners wouldn't pop open and needed you to reach down and pull it out and the other side, popped open but wouldn't close.
I called him 1 minute after he pulled off and he huffed down the phone at me and said "mate, I haven't got the time, you need to call it in".... And that was that.
I immediately called up customer services and had to book a technician to come out.
When he came a week later, I noticed my sofa didn't have the sofa glides on it which I'd paid for, so had to call customer services to arrange a set.
The technician couldn't fix anything and needed to order a brand new mechanism for the one side, but told me the other side that wouldn't pop open was fine, I just need to hold me legs out horizontally in front of me before pulling the button. I disagreed, as I've never heard of that being the case with a recliner and it certainly wasn't the case on the store version. He disagreed and that was that.
Customer services arranged a new date for a new technician to come and install the new mechanism, whilst in the meantime I went back to store just to 100% confirm I didn't need to hold both legs up in the air before reclining. I spoke with a senior sales advisor and he laughed and told me the technician was talking absolute rubbish and that's the funniest one he's heard so far! And went to tell his other colleagues about the nonsense I'd been told. Demoing the sofas again in store, they were perfect, as I expected.
Technician comes back out (same guy) and installs the new mechanism. Now, it closed, but you need to boot it in to get it to close, so I said I wasn't happy with that. He advised it could take months for it to settle as it's a new mechanism. This made me wonder, when sofas are made in the factory, does it take 3 months to deliver because someone it just opening and closing the recliner for 3 months to get it to settle? .... I don't think so.
The other side, no change and he stood by the horizontal legs out solution. Even though, the other side he just worked out popped out fine without the "legs out" fix. It literally makes no sense as a conversation.
I called customer services again to say I wasn't happy still and they sent a 3rd independent technician. He altered the spring resistant settings on the back which made the one side of the sofa A BIT easier to close, but I feel like Im still giving it a sofa boot closed, and the other side still doesn't open properly every time. He advised I'm not sitting on it right, that I'm sitting too far forward, even though I'm sat exactly the same as I am the other side which opens fine, with my back and bum right back on the sofa. However, because it "worked" more than it didn't when HE tried it, that's the end of the conversation and I should keep using the mechanism daily for 3/4 months to get it to settle.
I'm yet to call customer services again as I'm losing the will. I absolutely resent this sofa and the total experience. They're speaking to my like I'm a mutant with utterly stupid reasons as to what's happening with my sofa (as confirmed by their own store assistants), and I'm a pretty well educated and switched on individual.... This isn't how it should be, or how it's sold.
I feel like I was conned out of getting the cheaper DFS power recliner, based on sofologys quality of fabric and build (ha! joke's on me!). So disappointed. It's an expensive buy and I just feel completely ripped off. I'd love nothing more than a refund to wash my hands of this sofa and experience.
I must now apparently wait the 3/4 months for it to settle in
AVOID