Saturday, October 01, 2011

Friends Don't Let Friends Buy La-Z-Boy.

Lousy La-Z-Boy
Dear La-Z-Boy:

With dreams of reclining comfort, we set out to purchase couches from you. No more low-cost disposable couches from Levitz, no more build-it-yourself from Ikea, we were going to Do It Right and buy grown-up furniture. Wads of money in hand (since your product does not come cheap) we set out for your Pleasanton store.

After much sitting and reclining, we decided on a couch and loveseat so new they weren't even in stores yet. Their lines were clean and pleasing, and we were assured they were practically identical to a chair we tried in store. Looking forward to many long years of happy lounging, I special ordered a sturdy fabric of chocolatey-brown loveliness and waited excitedly.

We repainted and scrubbed and organized in anticipation, and finally, two months later, they arrived. And just 2 short months after that, the cushions were breaking down and the mechanisms squawked and swayed. The previously fluffy back cushions were flat and the fabric hung loosely, the seat cushions were flattening uncomfortably. Hopefully a one time "mistake" at the factory, perhaps workers who decided to start their weekend drinking early?

Many emails and phone calls and photos and a service call later, you agreed to replace our couches with a different model. Back to the store we went--the store, I might add, that decided they would no longer carry the Braxton model we had purchased, due to its low quality.

Torn between the desire to have the fabric color of my choice or having somewhere comfortable to sit sooner rather than later, we decided to pick something readily available in your warehouse. So only 3 months after delivery of our first couches, we were sitting pretty on some different caramel-colored goodness. And we all lived happily ever after, right?

Wrong. We've had these couches for less than a year, 7 brief months to be exact. One entire seat cushion has needed replacing. The cable pull that releases the foot rest where my hubby sits broke off. His end of the couch slopes to the back corner. The back cushion in the same seat has flattened more than the rest of them.

Service calls take anywhere from 1 to 2 months to happen, parts take another 2 weeks to the more likely 8 weeks to receive, and not till those parts are received do you set up a visit to do the repair.

I've welcomed a variety of La-Z-Boy service technicians into my home. They've all been lovely people, but I don't want to meet the entire staff of the La-Z-Boy service department. I just want my thousands of dollars worth of couches to do their job and last longer than their much less expensive Ikea counterparts.

Yesterday I sent photos of the end of the couch where I sit and the end of the couch where my husband sits, to show the obvious difference between them. Your technician's advice was that we should "rotate" where we sit and not always sit the same place. Perhaps if the product you've designed for seating cannot be used for sitting, you should rename it "magazine rest" or "decorative flat area."

My friend Linda tells me that she and her hubby have the best La-Z-Boy recliners ever. Now this is beginning to feel personal. Have we somehow offended the La-Z-Boy gods? Could I perhaps sacrifice a young chair and break the curse? If you can help me please let me know.

Beleaguered in the Bay Area,
me.


Skimmer's recap: Having hoped that throwing large amounts of money at the La-Z-Boy gods was sacrifice enough to get a sturdy, working couch, julie begins to feel desperate. And don't even get her started on why she trusted someone who can't even spell "Lazy" correctly.



9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh thank God we were just saved from this kind of experience. Mostly because LaZBoy employed the classic bait and switch on us...

We've been looking for a specific footprint, set of elegant wing-back recliners. We ended up at LaZBoy and found a perfect fit...on sale. We asked about alternate fabrics and were provided the "code" that we needed to stick with to keep the price the same. We found the perfect fabric in that code, and sales lady let us take the sample home to be sure.

When hubbie went back 2 days later to place the order...a) she jacked the price up by 50% because the fabric was not in the same code (gee, it's the code you gave us on Sat and you, personally confirmed it) and b) she doubled the cost of delivery.

Hubbie walked out the door and we will NOT go back. I HATE dealing with unscrupulous people.

julia said...

YUP! i'm with you on that feeling. At least they finally did fix ours...3 tries later...but i won't be going back there again!

Rosie said...

Hello... We are from Perth Australia, We bought La z boy Cannington, we exactly like you did, we tried to sit on the chairs in the store, and found the comfy one. After 3 months the back support were flat, we got a bad neck ache after rang the store, and they sent someone to repair them. But after 1 month ... they went bad again. This time they were telling us there's nothing they can do.

We were and still are very upset, we paid a lot of money and in the end we got a crap quality sofa and very bad customer service.

10 year warranty doesn't mean anything... BEWARE!!

julia said...

AMEN AND AMEN, Rosie in Perth! Sorry to have gone soooo long without responding! Yes, we are less and less happy with our sofas. i wish i had all that cash back....

Nancy said...

So wish I would have read this before purchasing two Braxton Recliners in 2011. Both are broken, one failed within a month after the other. Plastic parts that are the key factor to the chair leg rest functioning properly. Check warranty, you deliver or pay for pick up and delivery to and from home to store. at least $100.

julia said...

Oh Nancy I feel ya!! We have finally given up on our La-z-boys and purchased new couches ELSEWHERE this past weekend. My husband's recliner mechanism broke a second time and our necks have been sore from their awkward cushions....

La-Z-Boy, RIP.

Jo Beth said...

The customer service sucks. My recliner arrived damaged. It took several weeks before a service man could come to assess the problem. Said he would order a new seat for me. It's now 2 months later and it hasn't been done. Customer service said they would call me when it comes in. I'm not holding my breath. Buyer beware!!!

julia said...

Amen.

Thomas said...

Have we somehow offended the La-Z-Boy gods? Could I perhaps sacrifice a young chair and break the curse? If you can help me please let ... ilazyboyrecliners.blogspot.com