Poor quality
Complaint
Joe Trombetta
Country: United States
I purchased a sofa and chair from a furniture store about 18 months ago. I chose the England brand furniture because I was told about their exceptional quality. Unfortunately, the fabric and cushions are wearing pre-maturely. The fabric is tearing and the cushions are loosing their shape. England refuses to acknowledge the tearing because the 1 year warranty has expired. They are looking into the cushion problem. I never had this problem with any other brand of living room furniture I purchased over the last 35 years.
Comments
"Oswald" thinks we should be "thankful" England replaces cushions that fall apart in 6 months or less. Gosh, wouldn't it be nice if England just made a decent cushion to begin with?
"Sales Staff" thinks we should have known that some fabrics offered by England are not suitable for use on couches and will wear out in less than one year. Gosh, shouldn't England only offer fabrics that stand up to use on furniture?
"Skidmore" cautions that couches only be used for "normal sitting", tries to blame the weather (LOL), and hurls a whole string of personal invective: "[***], [***], [***]...con artist...people can't even write or spell..abuse the furniture..."
These are the guys England sends you to deal with when your new couch starts to fall apart after 3 months.
As purported retailers, all three should be aware of a little thing known as a Warranty of Fitness for a Particular Purpose; i.e., if you sell a couch, it should function reasonably well as a couch. Of course the sellers know, and England knows, that in practice most people don't have the time or the energy to pursue a lawsuit over a couch. We resort to vowing to never buy from the Manufacturer or retailer again, and we tell our friends and family members the story as they sink into our defective couch.
Clearly England hasn't been threatened by the cost of this bad word of mouth; there is, after all, a gret big pool of unsuspecting buyers out there ready to be lured in by a product that looks good on the showroom floor.
But maybe, just maybe, England didn't count on the Internet, and its ability to spread that word of mouth just a little bit further than they calculated.
I took the cushions off the couch and am sitting on the springs with a foam pillow for support. The cushions were no longer supporting my spinal column and were causing the pain. I have never had this problem with any other couch or sofa I purchased over the last 40 years. The fabric usually wore out before the cushions did. What an inferior product for the money I paid. Never Again. I see that requesting replacement pillows is a waste of time and effort.
It is nice to hear you are concerned with your product and it's heritage but after reading all these complaints it's clear you aren't making money by repeatedly repairing/replacing cushions. In this day of instant communication,your reputation is quickly going down the drain. Why don't you bite the bullet and work on bringing back your customer satisfaction level, and therefore increased repeat and word of mouth purchases, by making a quality affordable piece of furniture. Lets make that the American way instead of stiffing as many people as you can hoping they won't complain.
Never again will I buy something from England. I'm telling you, if you're considering a England find something else.
have found it to be good quality. What most people dont realize is that England makes all their furniture in the USA while other companies import theirs. Fabric wear and tear is not really England's fault as they buy the fabrics from a fabric mill who may or may not have the integrity to stand behind its construction. I have found that England will stand behind their construction and that their customer service is very helpful. I love my sofa, it has worn well and still looks good. I flip and rotate my cushions regularly, so maybe that is why it still looks so good, but it is a good product and more importent it is made here in the USA!
It was delivered sometime after February 19, 2009.
Late April 2009 the cushions flatten down about 5 inches, we put furniture leg lift under the sofa legs to compensate for the cushions flatting.
6/10/2009 we asked for someone to come out and look at our sofa cushions due to the fact they were flatting, about half way. You said no, you would order us new cushions. Arm of sofa had wrinkles.
7/16/2009 talked to Robert Gavigan. Told him the new cushions are bad.
7/21/2009 talked with owner David Gavigan. Said he would call us back. (No one called)
Called him back and he said the reps from England Furniture would be there all next week and would let us know something.
7/28/2009 Went to Gavigans to let them know the sofa was no good to us because the sofa cushions were sinking down almost half way. Asked David Gavigan to come out and see the sofa cushion. He declined. He said that the sofa cushions were perfect and that the way the sofa cushions were made to sink down after 2 or 3 month break in period to half the original height.
7/30/2009 went back to Gavigans and asking for a full refund.
Have a number of pictures of us sitting on the sofa with the cushions sunk down over 4 inches when sitting on them. Plus arms had wrinkles in the cloth materials.
I told David Gavigan I would give him a copy of all 21 pictures, but he would have to sign our copy of all 21 pictures. David Gavigan declined to sign for the pictures.
Called England Furniture Company and talked to Donna Frost the same day. Explained how the cushions were flatting down half way when sitting on them, also told her that the cushions were flatting so much that the front edge of the frame was hurting our legs.
1.800.251.9125
Donna.frost@ englandfurniture.com
8/5/2009 talked to Donna Frost about the cushions and wrinkles in the cloth arms of the England Sofa. She was going to call Gavigans and have them fix our problems.
8/11/2009 Gavigans came out to fix the wrinkles in the arms of the sofa, only
8/12/2009 Called Donna Frost about the problems we were having with Gavigans fixing our England sofa cushions on our sofa.
8/12/2009 Gavigans called and said that England Furniture was sending Gavigans new cushions and a foam pad for under the cushions. They were going to check the sofa springs and make sure nothing was wrong with them. They also said that that the furniture leg lift were causing the part of the problem.
8/12/2009 Donna Frost called and told us that Gavigans were going to replace the foam cushions, foam pad for under the cushions and check the springs.
8/19/2009 Gavigans called and said the new foam cushions were in and for us to pick them up. We told them that Mrs Donna Frost told us that Gavigans were suppose to replace the foam cushions, insert a foam pad for under the cushions and check the springs.
Gavigans said they didn’t know anything about the other things (the pad and springs) and would call us back.
If this doesn’t fix the problem we want Gavigans to take the sofa back and give us a full fund.
Thank you,
OUR NAME AND ADDRESS
Sent to Gavigans 8/2009
Gavigans called and said they found the foam pad and it would cost us $100 service call fee for the cushions, foam pad and check the springs. We asked Gavigans if they would take our credit card number over the phone. They said no. We had to go to the store and pay for it.
8/25/2009 Went to Gavigans to pay for the service call. Upon arrival, David Gavigan asked how the arms were. I said my side was good and my wife said her side was starting to wrinkle again. We told him we were there to pay for the service call and it was a bad thing that they wouldn’t take our credit card over the phone and we had to make a special trip there to pay for the service call.
David Gavigan said I tell you what I’m going to do. I’m not taking your credit card and you can call England and have them fix it. It was their responsibility. My wife said we wanted to return the sofa and get our money back. He said to get out of his store and don’t come back. All we do is complaining. My wife said we wanted to return the sofa and get our money back again. David Gavigan told us again to call England and have them fix it and to get out of his store and never come back or he would call the police.
We called Dona Frost to find out what we can do about the England Sofa cushions flatting. She said we had to speak with Bill Woods. Talked to Bill Woods about the problem and he said he would call us back.