# Sofa's



## J306TD (May 19, 2008)

We're looking to purchase a new 3 seater and 2 seater sofa.

We've been the usual places and some more local places.

But we keep coming back to these

https://m.dfs.co.uk/vinson/von12deig

Does anyone have the above or experience of the Resilience range?

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## sharrkey (Sep 11, 2017)

I’ve no experience but I’m sure @straight6hatch can give you some advice as he runs a family furniture business 


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## J306TD (May 19, 2008)

sharrkey said:


> I've no experience but I'm sure @straight6hatch can give you some advice as he runs a family furniture business
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


Thank you

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## straight6hatch (Jul 17, 2020)

I HAVE ARRIVED!

thanks for the shoutout @sharrkey 

So, this is quite funny actually. At a trade show about 18 months ago I actually went to see a range that looked remarkably similar. I couldnt be sure 100% theyre the same without going for a real deep dig but based on the tech available im 80% sure theyre the ones I saw. Weirdly, unlike cars etc, tech in sofas is something thats still quite unavailable. I see the benefits of it but people just dont want it! 

From what I recall, theyre very comfy. I specifically remember the owner of the company showing off a feature about the feet on the recliner not trapping children and animals in a bizarre way :lol:

Im trying not to be too harsh when I say this so please dont take it badly. My thoughts on this kind of sofa are that DFS will sell plenty because they are 'cool'. I mean, cooled cupholders? Hell yeah! Unfortunately, the 'cool' factor is what will sell these, not the quality. If the additional features are what floats your boat, go for it. 

They're almost 100% likely to be a Chinese import which is a negative in some peoples books. For me, imports are better value for money but can sometimes suffer quite badly with quality issues. Consider that, unless DFS have these in stock, I am being quoted 20+ weeks for importing sofas so its going to be a looong wait for you. 

If you want my opinion (trying to be as unbiased as possible) then I would keep searching. Depending on your expectations, I know plenty of people who only ever own 1 Chinese sofa - make of that what you will. European (ideally even British) stuff will have less frills and gadgets but will focus their money on the frame, mechanism and covers. At the end of the day, taking this back to cars, its a bit like buying a car that has a bunch of gadgets but a questionable engine. 

I know that probably doesnt help you much but thats my 2p . Can I ask why you keep going back to that range? It might help me recommend something


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## Starbuck88 (Nov 12, 2013)

straight6hatch said:


> I HAVE ARRIVED!
> 
> thanks for the shoutout @sharrkey
> 
> ...


I'm not OP but I wondered what on earth you were talking about it possibly being a Chinese import from DFS.

I was under the illusion all of their sofas were British made, I stand corrected.

Thank you.


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## straight6hatch (Jul 17, 2020)

Starbuck88 said:


> I'm not OP but I wondered what on earth you were talking about it possibly being a Chinese import from DFS.
> 
> I was under the illusion all of their sofas were British made, I stand corrected.
> 
> Thank you.


Truthfully ive never done enough research into them to say categorically that they are *not* all british made but by golly id be surprised if they were. Quite honestly, there arent enough british furniture manufacturers. Also, even if they were 'all british made', it would more than likely be another one of those 'produced abroad, assembled in the UK' jobbies.

Its quite funny the whole imported furniture thing. Ive only been doing this 4 years, most of those in flooring, but its funny how you can spot the imported stuff quite easily. It has its own distinct style and the covers are always almost the same no matter which 'supplier' theyre from :lol:


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## Starbuck88 (Nov 12, 2013)

straight6hatch said:


> Truthfully ive never done enough research into them to say categorically that they are *not* all british made but by golly id be surprised if they were. Quite honestly, there arent enough british furniture manufacturers. Also, even if they were 'all british made', it would more than likely be another one of those 'produced abroad, assembled in the UK' jobbies.
> 
> Its quite funny the whole imported furniture thing. Ive only been doing this 4 years, most of those in flooring, but its funny how you can spot the imported stuff quite easily. It has its own distinct style and the covers are always almost the same no matter which 'supplier' theyre from :lol:


Well when you mentioned it, I never really noticed that on DFS website, they have a made in Britain logo at the top of the project page if they are and they just don't show that on some of the products so assume they are the imported ones per OPs item.


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## straight6hatch (Jul 17, 2020)

Starbuck88 said:


> Well when you mentioned it, I never really noticed that on DFS website, they have a made in Britain logo at the top of the project page if they are and they just don't show that on some of the products so assume they are the imported ones per OPs item.


Yeaaah, I have a bone to pick with most large home furnishing retailers marketing department. Sly dogs the lot of them :lol:


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

I've heard too many horror stories about the quality and customer care of DFS. Her sister is the latest one with a sofa that is falling to bits and DFS are making every excuse possible not to deal with it. 

DFS are another company that like to promote their Trustpilot rating. Their score reads excellent. With all their invited reviews they have 84% of customers saying they are excellent. Take away the invited reviews and they have 71% of customers who rate them as bad. 

I put more confidence in the uninvited reviews than I do the invited.


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## straight6hatch (Jul 17, 2020)

Kerr said:


> I've heard too many horror stories about the quality and customer care of DFS. Her sister is the latest one with a sofa that is falling to bits and DFS are making every excuse possible not to deal with it.
> 
> DFS are another company that like to promote their Trustpilot rating. Their score reads excellent. With all their invited reviews they have 84% of customers saying they are excellent. Take away the invited reviews and they have 71% of customers who rate them as bad.
> 
> I put more confidence in the uninvited reviews than I do the invited.


Quite honestly, I fully agree with this statement. I didnt mention too many bad things because I didnt want to urinate too hard on the OP's bonfire.....

I hear, almost daily, how poor the service levels are at the bigger companies. Truthfully, I applaud their lack of customer service and poor products because it keeps me in business. Anyway, enough of me patting myself on the back.

The whole review thing is problematic. Trustpilot dont do enough to root out fake reviews. Nor does any reviewing platform tbh. Ive had negative reviews from people who werent even customers and google refused to do anything about it. Anyway, lets not stray away from the original topic too much :lol:

My advice to anyone looking for home furnishings is this:

Find the oldest and longest established privately owned company you can to buy your items from. They will have the most important traits going: Customer Service, Experience, Knowledge of the good & bad as well as actually caring about what they're selling you. Yeah, sure, you might pay a couple of quid more for your items but you're getting the *right* product for you based on actual knowledge from someone who probably knows their stuff. Not from some oik who's paid commission to flog whatever he/she gets the most money for. Ive had job offers from some of the automatic Linkedin bots for the big boys offering me huge salaries always involving OTE (On Target Earnings). I dont know a single independent that uses a commission based system for good reason. Its not indicitive of customer service or providing customers with correct knowledge to allow them to make an educated and informed decision. Rant over.


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## J306TD (May 19, 2008)

Thank you for all the feedback.

We basically agreed on this one due to comfort and support. 

Would try a local company but after using one for a mattress which 1st developed a fault, 2nd was wrong firmness,3rd had same fault as 1st and 4th is fine so far. (British made too) 

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## straight6hatch (Jul 17, 2020)

J306TD said:


> Thank you for all the feedback.
> 
> We basically agreed on this one due to comfort and support.
> 
> ...


No problem. At that price, its got to be worth a gamble. As long as it feels comfortable thats half the battle.

Sorry to hear about your experience with an independent - sounds like a bit of a shambles! We arent all like that, I promise :lol:


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

straight6hatch said:


> My advice to anyone looking for home furnishings is this:
> 
> Find the oldest and longest established privately owned company you can to buy your items from. They will have the most important traits going: Customer Service, Experience, Knowledge of the good & bad as well as actually caring about what they're selling you....


Do you have any opinions on Natuzzi furniture? We have recently ordered a Natuzzi Sofa from a local independent store called Pondsfords, who have been around a long time. Delivery is 20 weeks!!!

The sofa wasn't cheap, nothing in that store is, but I knew I didn't want to purchase from a high street chain. I have no idea if Natuzzi sofas are as good as the claims made, but I felt I had done as much research as I realistically could.


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## straight6hatch (Jul 17, 2020)

LeadFarmer said:


> Do you have any opinions on Natuzzi furniture? We have recently ordered a Natuzzi Sofa from a local independent store called Pondsfords, who have been around a long time. Delivery is 20 weeks!!!
> 
> The sofa wasn't cheap, nothing in that store is, but I knew I didn't want to purchase from a high street chain. I have no idea if Natuzzi sofas are as good as the claims made, but I felt I had done as much research as I realistically could.


Truthfully, I havent had much experience with Natuzzi. I believe they were in with 'the big boys' and so we tend to steer clear. Simply put, the larger retailers can buy stuff much cheaper than we can and it makes stuff uneconomical for us to sell. Anyways, Ponsfords have been around foreeevveerrrr. Id have said youll be fine. You dont tend to find anything thats Italian and rubbish. Theyre proud furniture makers the Italians :lol:

20 Weeks delivery is pretty standard at the moment. Even at that, I wouldnt hold your breath truthfully. Ive been quoted 14 weeks recently and its taken well over 20. One manufacturer took 9 months! Dont ask...:wall:


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## RS3 (Mar 5, 2018)

Iv'e only ever owned 2 sets of Sofas over the last 20 years, both from DFS and the ones we have now for the last 6 or 7 years are in mint condition (OK, they where nearly £5k each) and have endured the wrath of my 2 sons, now teenagers.
So the next time I need another Sofa which I reckon will only be for a change of style rather than need it will be DFS I go to.
Having said that, there are at least 10 different Sofa manufacturers within 25 miles of me, all have shops where the wife loves to have a look around regularly and we do see some really lovely British made stuff. The Sofas we got from DFS last where made in Preston by a lovely Family run small business who where unable to match the DFS price which was weird (I did get about £1000 of each of them at DFS).


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## straight6hatch (Jul 17, 2020)

RS3 said:


> Iv'e only ever owned 2 sets of Sofas over the last 20 years, both from DFS and the ones we have now for the last 6 or 7 years are in mint condition (OK, they where nearly £5k each) and have endured the wrath of my 2 sons, now teenagers.
> So the next time I need another Sofa which I reckon will only be for a change of style rather than need it will be DFS I go to.
> Having said that, there are at least 10 different Sofa manufacturers within 25 miles of me, all have shops where the wife loves to have a look around regularly and we do see some really lovely British made stuff. The Sofas we got from DFS last where made in Preston by a lovely Family run small business who where unable to match the DFS price which was weird (I did get about £1000 of each of them at DFS).


I dont knock DFS too hard but I do really dislike their customer service if something goes wrong. Not experienced it first hand but obviously hear a lot about it from my customers :lol:

I think the part of your comment where you mention the price says it all to me. You get what you pay for. If you spend proper money, you get proper furniture its quite simple!

Unusual about the pricing though. Very strange. Something doesnt quite add up if the manufacturer cant match a retailers pricing


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

straight6hatch said:


> Truthfully, I havent had much experience with Natuzzi. I believe they were in with 'the big boys' and so we tend to steer clear. Simply put, the larger retailers can buy stuff much cheaper than we can and it makes stuff uneconomical for us to sell. Anyways, Ponsfords have been around foreeevveerrrr. Id have said youll be fine. You dont tend to find anything thats Italian and rubbish. Theyre proud furniture makers the Italians :lol:
> 
> 20 Weeks delivery is pretty standard at the moment. Even at that, I wouldnt hold your breath truthfully. Ive been quoted 14 weeks recently and its taken well over 20. One manufacturer took 9 months! Dont ask...:wall:


Thanks for replying :thumb:


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## kingswood (Jun 23, 2016)

RS3 said:


> Iv'e only ever owned 2 sets of Sofas over the last 20 years, both from DFS and the ones we have now for the last 6 or 7 years are in mint condition (OK, they where nearly £5k each) and have endured the wrath of my 2 sons, now teenagers.
> So the next time I need another Sofa which I reckon will only be for a change of style rather than need it will be DFS I go to.
> Having said that, there are at least 10 different Sofa manufacturers within 25 miles of me, all have shops where the wife loves to have a look around regularly and we do see some really lovely British made stuff. The Sofas we got from DFS last where made in Preston by a lovely Family run small business who where unable to match the DFS price which was weird (I did get about £1000 of each of them at DFS).


I reckon you'll be in for a shock when you look again.

as OP has said, most the sofa's in DFS where like that one, cup holders and recliners. lasting 10 years and being dear I assume yours where leather, they were next to none in DFS.

after paying £2k in 2007 for our last leathers ones we wanted similar but looked in all the usual places and 'traditional' normal sofa's aren't the norm.

we ended up getting some display models from barker and stone house for £2k off list at £2.5k. a few marks but nothing that wouldn't happen after a week of the dog climbing all over it!


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