DFS Sofas - any good?
Discussion
whoami said:
Chinese made rubbish.
You are (as I'm sure you know), paying for the "special" interest free s
te and nothing-to-pay for a year flangeness, not the furniture.
You, are talking crap. They are largely made in south wales. My wife worked for them, we got 40% off and 4 years credit at 0% - now that's a deal!You are (as I'm sure you know), paying for the "special" interest free s
te and nothing-to-pay for a year flangeness, not the furniture.8 years later, the two sofas need replacing, both cream leather, both worn very well but need cleaning more often.
I have commented a couple of times on here about them. I have own my upholstery business for nearly 12 years now and the family has been in furniture for nearly 50 years (www.ub8.co.uk )
DFS sofas are made poorly compared to furniture of old, the padding they use is not quality but can last, frames are patched up with fibre board and card on curves which again isn't great but does work for a while. Some hard wood, but mainly soft and glue and stapled as oppose to screwed.
If you buy them at the rock bottom price of their double discount mega sale you are paying what they are worth plus a profit for the seller and I would say go ahead. anything else and they are selling you a very standard and basic product for too much money.
As for payment options, it is true they are great but they farm out the finance to another company, you miss a payment and the free interest rates goes.
I have made a living out of the quality of these types of sofa ( www.thesofadoctor.co.uk ) and have written many reports for court when people have had problems with the the sofa they bought, tried to get it fix by DFS and then decided to not pay the finance til it was sorted and then they get double screw, penatlies on finance and a sofa thats not what they thought they were paying for. End up in court lots of times.
We go to the trade shows and you see the buyers for them walking around the different suppliers, we get offered the same ranges ( before they get an exculsive deals so no one else can supply that sofa in the uk) a three piece suite, leather, modern styling etc sell with a minimum order of 10-20 pieces for £150-£300 each. Now imagine the buying power dfs has and what they are getting them for, these are the same sofas they offer out of sale for £2k plus, it is wrong when they are sold at that price but reasonable when they shift them at £600-700.
If you think ikea medium to low range then thats the level of quality you are getting.
DFS sofas are made poorly compared to furniture of old, the padding they use is not quality but can last, frames are patched up with fibre board and card on curves which again isn't great but does work for a while. Some hard wood, but mainly soft and glue and stapled as oppose to screwed.
If you buy them at the rock bottom price of their double discount mega sale you are paying what they are worth plus a profit for the seller and I would say go ahead. anything else and they are selling you a very standard and basic product for too much money.
As for payment options, it is true they are great but they farm out the finance to another company, you miss a payment and the free interest rates goes.
I have made a living out of the quality of these types of sofa ( www.thesofadoctor.co.uk ) and have written many reports for court when people have had problems with the the sofa they bought, tried to get it fix by DFS and then decided to not pay the finance til it was sorted and then they get double screw, penatlies on finance and a sofa thats not what they thought they were paying for. End up in court lots of times.
We go to the trade shows and you see the buyers for them walking around the different suppliers, we get offered the same ranges ( before they get an exculsive deals so no one else can supply that sofa in the uk) a three piece suite, leather, modern styling etc sell with a minimum order of 10-20 pieces for £150-£300 each. Now imagine the buying power dfs has and what they are getting them for, these are the same sofas they offer out of sale for £2k plus, it is wrong when they are sold at that price but reasonable when they shift them at £600-700.
If you think ikea medium to low range then thats the level of quality you are getting.
Tyre Smoke said:
whoami said:
Chinese made rubbish.
You are (as I'm sure you know), paying for the "special" interest free ste and nothing-to-pay for a year flangeness, not the furniture.
You, are talking crap. They are largely made in south wales. My wife worked for them, we got 40% off and 4 years credit at 0% - now that's a deal!You are (as I'm sure you know), paying for the "special" interest free s
te and nothing-to-pay for a year flangeness, not the furniture.8 years later, the two sofas need replacing, both cream leather, both worn very well but need cleaning more often.
When you have seen seamstresses making £100K worth curtains for one house, a 60 year old upholsterer make a chesterfield out horse hair, or a cutter and upholsterer get together with a seamstress and try and work out a way to design a new chair for BA business class, using lastest materials, you realise that not what goes on at most stages with a dfs sofa, it is a skill and a art, but it costs, Quality normally does.
The actual upholsterers ( trained and experienced ) who work for them are the repair guys, but it can be soul destroying for them, after years learning a trade and skill, to basically "bodge" each call to get the thing fixed quickly and to a cost level. To fix inherent problem in certain models would mean essentially remaking the sofa from scratch with new materials. They get paid well though and get a company van.
The bulk of the sofas are imported, some are made in the uk but not the majority, it is impossible to compete on price here, even the top end stuff we sell is almost half the price when manufacturing gets shipped out to china and 30% off when done in poland ( they do make nice well made stuff I have to say ).
I am not against chinese sofas, cheap sofas, or dfs, what I am against is them being sold as quality items, or as bargains when they aren't, you buy a nissan micra for £9k it is a fair price, you buy it for £6k you have a bargain, someone wacks a ad in your face telling you it is not £30k, not £20k but for one weekend it is under £10k at th low low price of £9500, you don't have a bargin. The quality sometimes get pared down too much, where a webbing strap and 3 minutes per arms would make it last 5 years as opposed to 1 I personally think it is not with the customers satisfaction that the decision to leave it off is made.
Total loss said:
b&b italiaEasy Tampon lad! She worked in the sales office of a branch. It was about 8 years ago.
I never once said it was quality stuff did I? It is built to look impressive and is easy for the masses to buy. Not a bad business model if you ask me.
Would I buy from them again (at full price) ? Unlikely. But with a shed load of staff discount it was worth it at the time.
Now calm down dear.
I never once said it was quality stuff did I? It is built to look impressive and is easy for the masses to buy. Not a bad business model if you ask me.
Would I buy from them again (at full price) ? Unlikely. But with a shed load of staff discount it was worth it at the time.
Now calm down dear.
We've had a leather suite from DFS for the last 5 years or so. It's probably time to replace it now, but given that we have 3 kids under 10 and my wife's evil fking felines have shredded the upright sections, you could probably say the same of any brand not made of titanium!
The thing that amazes me is seeing people posting internet suppliers on here. Are you seriously suggesting you'd buy something you're going to be sitting on regularly for the next few years without trying it out first?
king felines have shredded the upright sections, you could probably say the same of any brand not made of titanium!The thing that amazes me is seeing people posting internet suppliers on here. Are you seriously suggesting you'd buy something you're going to be sitting on regularly for the next few years without trying it out first?
JABB said:
If you still have it by the time you finish paying for it, it will be a miracle.
Finished paying for it. Still got it.It's only really the cat damage that would probably prevent us getting another 5 years out of it, given that other than that (and the nail varnish all over one of the seats courtesy of our 3yr old) it's just like new.
Have you ever actually owned a DFS product?
Simpo Two said:
On the '0% credit interest' angle, it should be possible to pay in full and get a discount instead - but I bet you can't
No, it shouldn't be possible, as the law prevents it. If you could, then it wouldn't be 0% credit. I've never understood why people get so worked up by that. If you haven't got the £3k or whatever up front then be happy that you can spread the payments. If you have got it, then just stick it in a high interest (yes, I know, that's all relative these days) account, pay the monthly payments and take the interest received on your capital as your discount. Not difficult, is it?We got 2 sofas from dfs, both fabric and both the same, one for the lounge one for the conservatory.
Anyway, the reason we got them was because they were cheap, easy to buy and looked really nice. I was under no pretence we were buying quality.
Sofas turned up on the day they said they would, packaged well and sat in the garage for at least 7 months.
When i took the first one into the lounge i must say i was VERY impressed, it was very fat and puffy looking, with its big arms and styling it reminded me of a Bentley for some strange reason. It was very comfortable.
Fast forward a month and it was now getting saggy, not quite so much of a Bentley look any more.
I expect them to last maybe a year to 18mths which is not good really. The quality of the frame in the lounge sofa seems better than the conservatory one which has a slight creak in it already.
I do think though i may get the cushions re filled by an upholsterer (i cant spell) with something which will last a while though. I reckon if i did this then they would actually be really nice.
Either way i dont think i can complain, we got 2 sofas and a poofe for under a grand, what do you expect?
The problem for me is i just cant see myself ever spending thousands on a sofa. I like the modern look and with that the problem is that every few years they are going to look dated so dropping 7k or so seems crazy. Some people want their stuff to last a lifetime where as i don't.
Girlfriends parents bought ercol, the quality is outstanding, you can see why it cost so much, but then they want it to see them out, their last sofa lasted them 27 years!
Maybe next time i would spend a bit more, maybe 50% more but it seems that all thats out there is the dfs sort of stuff or the mega money stuff so it appears hard.
Whats Harveys stuff like? We got a very cheap dining table from them in one of their constant sales for about £400 with 6 chairs and imo its really nice, i would not have been gutted if i paid a grand.
Anyway, the reason we got them was because they were cheap, easy to buy and looked really nice. I was under no pretence we were buying quality.
Sofas turned up on the day they said they would, packaged well and sat in the garage for at least 7 months.
When i took the first one into the lounge i must say i was VERY impressed, it was very fat and puffy looking, with its big arms and styling it reminded me of a Bentley for some strange reason. It was very comfortable.
Fast forward a month and it was now getting saggy, not quite so much of a Bentley look any more.
I expect them to last maybe a year to 18mths which is not good really. The quality of the frame in the lounge sofa seems better than the conservatory one which has a slight creak in it already.
I do think though i may get the cushions re filled by an upholsterer (i cant spell) with something which will last a while though. I reckon if i did this then they would actually be really nice.
Either way i dont think i can complain, we got 2 sofas and a poofe for under a grand, what do you expect?
The problem for me is i just cant see myself ever spending thousands on a sofa. I like the modern look and with that the problem is that every few years they are going to look dated so dropping 7k or so seems crazy. Some people want their stuff to last a lifetime where as i don't.
Girlfriends parents bought ercol, the quality is outstanding, you can see why it cost so much, but then they want it to see them out, their last sofa lasted them 27 years!
Maybe next time i would spend a bit more, maybe 50% more but it seems that all thats out there is the dfs sort of stuff or the mega money stuff so it appears hard.
Whats Harveys stuff like? We got a very cheap dining table from them in one of their constant sales for about £400 with 6 chairs and imo its really nice, i would not have been gutted if i paid a grand.
I can recommend SofaSofa
http://www.sofasofa.co.uk/
I've had four sofas from them over the years, and the last ones (Soft leather) have been just about indestructible even with the best efforts of the cat. They also stock replacement cushions and other bits should the worst happen.
http://www.sofasofa.co.uk/
I've had four sofas from them over the years, and the last ones (Soft leather) have been just about indestructible even with the best efforts of the cat. They also stock replacement cushions and other bits should the worst happen.
TW said:
I can recommend SofaSofa
http://www.sofasofa.co.uk/
I've had four sofas from them over the years, and the last ones (Soft leather) have been just about indestructible even with the best efforts of the cat. They also stock replacement cushions and other bits should the worst happen.
Only problem is getting to South Wales to try them out! Anyone know anywhere similar near Surrey?http://www.sofasofa.co.uk/
I've had four sofas from them over the years, and the last ones (Soft leather) have been just about indestructible even with the best efforts of the cat. They also stock replacement cushions and other bits should the worst happen.
Kermit power said:
Simpo Two said:
On the '0% credit interest' angle, it should be possible to pay in full and get a discount instead - but I bet you can't
No, it shouldn't be possible, as the law prevents it. If you could, then it wouldn't be 0% credit. I just object to paying for a facility I don't want. I like options and the seller *should* prefer getting £x all in one go than 0.01x every month for years. All it means is that finance companies get fat.
Simpo Two said:
Kermit power said:
Simpo Two said:
On the '0% credit interest' angle, it should be possible to pay in full and get a discount instead - but I bet you can't
No, it shouldn't be possible, as the law prevents it. If you could, then it wouldn't be 0% credit. I just object to paying for a facility I don't want. I like options and the seller *should* prefer getting £x all in one go than 0.01x every month for years. All it means is that finance companies get fat.
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