Next Sofa Very Uncomfortable and not happy with resolution

[DBD1975]

Purchased a Next sofa and very unhappy with how uncomfortable it is.

Technician has been out and told me I need to take the cushions out of the covers and replump on a regular basis. Seat cushion covers are very tight and this is hard work and time consuming.

I was not happy with this and I have spoken further with Next who have advised they will resend new seat cushions as a goodwill gesture but the new seats will require regular plumping.

Apparently because I haven't been plumping regularly the seat cushions have 'impacted' and are now 'damaged' and will always be uncomfortable.

I just want a comfortable sofa I can sit on without having to regularly maintain it!

I have never had a sofa before which has needed to be treated in this way and I didn't realise this was a thing.

Am I being unreasonable to think this is unacceptable?

I had a Next sofa a couple of years ago. They had two comfort categories then, I think called firmer sit and relaxed sit? The website said the relaxed sit sofas needed plumping regularly, but firmer sit sofas didn't. We made sure we bought a firmer sit sofa because we couldn't be arsed fluffing it every day.
They should be clear at some point that you need to plump it though. I think it says this on the product info on the website?

How long have you had it?

I would return it. I bought a sofa online without trying and sent it straight back it was so uncomfortable. Current rental sofa is uncomfortable as well, some just are.

Thanks, we ordered in store and were not advised of this information at the time of purchase.

Ten months but it has only been as a result of discussing with friends and family over Christmas, who thought it was so uncomfortable we ended up sitting in the dining room, it has made me think the situation is not acceptable.
The opinion was the maintenance is ridiculous and nobody else had a sofa where this was necessary.

Ten months is quite a long time to now change your mind. I imagine Next will say they have no idea if you have been plumping and how often, and so you contributed to the firmness of the sofa (not saying you did, just that I expect them to say that!).

I thought it was going to be brand new. If it's 10 months old I think the offer of new cushions is pretty exceptional customer service, and it doesn't seem likely to me that you're going to get any more. It isn't actually broken/not as sold, you just don't like it.

My argument is it is not fit for purpose and it is unreasonable to expect people to plump actual sofa cushions regularly.

Not at all unknown but agree it may be more uncommon nowadays.

We had a beautiful suite from The Furniture Workshop (now defunct unfortunately).
All cushions were feather filled and while being superbly comfortable, it was necessary to plump them up & turn them (the plumping was actually quite physical work, we would turn them on edge and literally flail our arms and punch the cushions).
Was quite fun and really good exercise.😆

Plumping cushions is a common expectation. I vividly remember the sales lady demonstrating what we had to do!

I had some success with this previously. Will update later.

I personally wouldn't describe something impractical as not fit for purpose, and I'm not sure that it legally is. For instance, there are lots of counter top or floor materials I would never ever buy because they require, to me, entirely unreasonable maintenance levels or far too much care to be taken in their use - but I don't think that means that, say, wooden counter tops can't be sold because they're not fit for purpose. I think some types of sofa do need loads of plumping (e.g. feather). I agree that they should have been clearer at the point of purchase, but I think agreeing to replace them after 10 months is very adequate compensation for that.

We had a similar thing with a sofa we bought from DFS. There were two different fillings, one which required regular plumping (cheaper) and one which didn't. Obviously my husband insisted on the cheaper one.

Anyway it was a pain the arse and very quickly uncomfortable. We found a local company who specialise in replacing the 'plumping' fillings with regular fillings and my husband paid for this himself. Lesson learned. 😂

(The sofa has been great since.)

After 10 months it seems to me that they are being more than reasonable . Have you complained to them in the intervening 10 months ?

Are they feather? Feather sofa cushions are a giant PITA.

Can you ask for a different style cushion instead? Or for the equivalent refund and then put that towards foam cushion replacements?

I had issues with a cushion on a new sofa, the leather (faux) had worn and crinkled incredibly quickly. I made a complaint and they sent a furniture inspector who said it was because I hadn't correctly plumped the inside, causing the fabric to crease.

I didn't agree but this was in late 2019 and COVID happened so I had other priorities. In 2021, I had resigned myself to buying a new sofa but decided it was worth contacting Next again.

I highlighted that I wasn't happy with the outcome and that the result was I would need to purchase a new sofa and due to my experience I wouldn't chose Next again and wouldn't recommend them to friends and family.

They reviewed the case and agreed to give me £1300 credit (value of the original sofa) plus 20% off.

So I would write again to their dedicated complaints department to exhaust that process. Most people won't bother and they will have an element of loss costed in.

We had a next sofa. Never again.

I work in the upholstery trade OP, and we never advise taking the inners out of the covers - that's a whole load of tosh.

Go to a local upholsterer and get some decent cushion inners. We buy ours trade from a UK supplier and a cushion inner can vary from £6 plus VAT to £600. There are a LOT of options, and you've just got the wrong ones.

We also had one once and although I cannot go into details, I can honestly say it was the worst 2 weeks of my life

Thank you, much appreciated 👍.

This is a great idea. Do you have any advice on choosing cushion inners?

Every time I've bought a new sofa I've been made aware of the difference between feather filled cushions and foam cushions, which is why we've always gone for foam cushions because no one wants lumpy seats!!

I'm quite surprised they didn't try to upsell you on this in store because it usually costs more, it's the one time I will gladly pay more for something because it's worth it.

An upholsterer told me that with those sort of cushions you need to put them upside down on the floor once a week and trample all over them in your stockinged feet.

You need to regularly beat them. My next sofa i’m going back to a traditional back after 10yrs of the plump ones as they are a pain. Didn’t they tell you in the store? I got mine from SCS and they made it clear i’d have to plump it regularly.

Next didn’t have to send you new cushions as sure there would have been info in paperwork about it. Nothing you can do apart from sell it if still not happy.

I’ve had a feather sofa for five years and never fluffed it. It’s super comfy! So all this plumping stuff sounds mad to me, who could be bothered with that?

Which sofa is it OP? I’m about to buy one!