en Passant

Update - Sept 22, 2008:
Still shaving my furniture after 2 years of use, I decided to file an official complaint with LA-Z-Boy furniture.

I am disappointed with the performance of my sofa and love seat. For years, my wife and I had been looking into furniture for our home. In 2006, we had finally decided on a sofa, love seat and ottoman. We worked for over an hour to pick out material we loved, and the Sales Associate swore that was kid friendly, easy maintenance and good for a family with pets. 3 months later (July 2006) our furniture arrives and all looks good.

2 weeks later, after daily wear, we started noticing the material was beading up. Small irritating beads that made sitting on the sofa like sand paper. We called Customer Service, a tech came out and he created an incidence ticket. When he got back to the office, his manager told him this is "because of the density of the fabric, it will bead up for a few times, just purchase a shaver and it will go away."

Now 2 years and $50 later in shaver purchases, we are still shaving our furniture monthly. We absolutely HATE these pieces! Not only do they nat up, every piece of lint sticks to them. This means you cannot simply wipe them off, you have to scrub them with the Dyson vacuum to hope to get them clean. Great way to spend the time before company comes over.

As I requested last time, I want La-Z-Boy to fix the furniture. The regular shavings have caused the material to fade unnecessarily fast. 2 years old, and the sofa's look like they've been in the house for 10. I fear the day when the shaving wears down the material, till there is a hole in the top of the sofa.

La-z-boy's response: Too bad, it's over the limited 1 year warantee. Call your local service center and hope and prey they'll do something about it.

Originally posted: 2006-08-28 15:07:24 -0700
Just last month, we finally took delivery of a brand new La-Z-Boy sofa, love seat and ottoman. After 3 years of looking and deciding, we finally put money down on the set. It was the material on our previous set which started ripping to force us to finally decide. We chose the Elliott with Ultrasoft Blue Suede fabric. We were delighted when they arrived! They matched several other blue pieces in the house perfectly and replaced the dying sofa and love seat nicely.

Unfortunately after only 15-20 days of light use, the places were we sat, started to nat up. We called the Service Center and left a voice mail to find out what to do?? 2 weeks later, furious, I called our sales person and complained to their voice mail. Within 2 hours, we had an appointment for Service to visit our house. (about time?!?!)

Service showed up last Friday and took a look at the pieces. Astonished, this new field tech, took pictures and wrote up work orders to have the material replaced and the pieces recovered. Great!! Unfortunately after he got back to the office, and spoke with his manager we learned a different story.

"This is normal for this grade of fabric. Because you bought such a 'high grade' of fabric, it contains extra fibers. These fibers will nat up after normal usage and need to be shaved 3-4 times before it stops natting up. Sorry, your sales agent should have informed you of this and you will need to go out and purchase a fabric shaver. No we won't send out a field reps to fix this. No we don't provide shavers. blah blah blah"

SHAVED?? No way! These 3 pieces cost us $$$$! (more than my first car) Like a sheep, I have been shaving my sofa, love seat and ottoman. Yes, it has returned the sofa (almost) to it's former beauty, but what a pain! The $10 shaver at Linens, requires Karate Kid patience "fuzz on, fuzz off".

I only wish La-Z-Boy had generously offered or included this shaver with purchase of the fabric. "Oh, you got the Ultra-Suede, with the 10 year warantee! Here's your free sofa shearer!".

Checking my referrers , I noticed that someone else's Google search turned up this site.

If you are thinking about buying a La-Z-Boy recliner, think twice, says ConsumerAffairs.com, after hearing from customers who bought one. ~ Mercury News