WTF? My bed is made of cardboard

[donquixotedelamancha]

Bought an ottoman divan bed about 2.5 years ago from a company with excellent reviews. It's been well looked after, but the top surface sank completely on one half of the bed (it comes in two haves).

I contacted the company and they initially wanted to charge me for a replacement but (after a rather blunt email) we settled on them sending a new top piece and me fitting.

Before fitting I cut the fabric off the old one to see what had gone wrong because I presumed I was lying on plywood and figured I might be able to add an extra support without pulling the new one apart much once I'd seen inside.

• It only has 3 slats supporting the solid sleeping surface.
• They run lengthways rather than the usual widthways, so you are lying between them.
• The top surface of the bed is made of 3mm cardboard, stapled to the frame- so between the wide gaps has completely given way.

I am agog. Surely this isn't normal? I don't know whether to laugh or scream.

I knew this, sadly it's true

Have also bought some crap furniture , such as a sofa that had the fabric stapled instead of stitched, and stitched leather panel furniture which was glued plastic pleather

....so I bought a wooden bed and separate mattress!

Thanks OP

Note to self

Don’t jump on bed!

Surely cardboard beds are not up to trading standards - people leak and spill stuff in bed. Imagine waking up in a pile of disintegrating cardboard one night.

Does anyone remember that episode of Changing Rooms when a packet of custard creams were spray painted gold, then glued onto a chair as decoration? I bet they didn't last either.

We had some wardrobe door backs type of thing for our ottoman bed but in our instructions they were to go on top on the floor stop storage being on the floor. We didnt put ours in. Are you sure your putting it in the right place?

My Argos sofa (Charlotte I think - washable covers) collapsed. I took it apart for the tip and the ARMRESTS are made of cardboard! One spill and it would have disintegrated. €800 down the drain, Argos ignored my complaints for so long I just gave up.

Are you sure your putting it in the right place?

I didn't assemble this bed, it's delivered right to your bedroom by two blokes. If I did I'd have seen the issue. The visible ottoman floor (which holds less weight) is made of wood.

Surely cardboard beds are not up to trading standards - people leak and spill stuff in bed.

One would hope not. Cardboard will absorb moisture from the atmosphere anyway.

My Italian leather sofa looked like it was made of old pallets underneath

My Italian leather sofa looked like it was made of old pallets underneath

That's normal. That's what I was expecting, not something off Blue Peter.

This happened with my daughters divan bed, the base went through and when I checked it the base it made of cardboard help up by some wooden slats, but there is only about 4 of them holding it up

I used to always have wooden beds with foam mattresses but DH persuaded me to go for a divan base with an expensive sprung mattress when we bought our most recent bed for our new house.

I wasn’t overly impressed and felt it might not be very strong so before using it, I bought a piece of plywood cut to the right size and fitted it onto the base and placed the mattress on top.

After reading some of these comments it seems like I made the right decision.

I bought a double divan online. I liked the company because you could customise the base and drawers how you wanted them and a good choice of colours.Good reviews of the company. Husband was putting the headboard on, knelt on the base and his knee went through it. I was absolutely gobsmacked when we realised it was crappy cardboard covering the base.
Complained to the company, also complained as the mattress had a dirty mark on the corner and they replaced both. The new base has a thin plywood top which although not great is better than cardboard.
I have since looked at other beds while shopping, some in reputable established brands and it seems a lot of them do this now.

We have a very long, expensive, four seater sofa from DFS. Didn't realise until the middle started to bow that they hadn't put a central supporting foot on, so basically cheap Pine frame with a foot at each end holding it up and it's about 8ft long. It's the kind where the feet are hidden by a valance and the feet are plastic things that can't cost more than a quid. It's now supported by a brick, wrapped in an old tote bag, but despite us doing this eons ago the warp in the frame won't straighten back out.

That's awful Op
Saying that my DS managed to break not one, but 2 metal single bed frames (by having several of his teenage friends sit on the bed at the same time). In the end I bought a new metal bed frame from a company that make extra strong beds for fat people, no problems since then.