Sofology sofas quality

[Thisismynewname123]

Has anyone bought a sofa from Sofology and if so, how was the quality after a year or so? We made an expensive mistake with our current sofa, and very wary about doing the same again. Has anyone bought a bespoke sofa, and could say how much more expensive it would be to get something made? Eg, a £3k sofa from a sofa store... how much for something similar bespoke? Do you think any chain furniture stores are better than any others for comfort and life expectancy of the sofa?

I’m an interior designer and have used sofology sofas in my designs before. One of my clients will have had hers for 4 years end of the year and it still looks fab. It does depend on the sofa selection though.

Some Sofology sofas are made in north wales and the company does create pretty decent sofas for their own line.

You can get bespoke for similar price to the high street stores.

If you look at sweet pea and willow, they have some beautiful sofas, made in great fabrics and they do have a showroom.

Friends bought there's from Sofology and I loved the designs. They warned me off them for the following reasons:

1. sofa arrived in a different colour and was 4 weeks longer than originally scheduled
2. new sofa was promised 6 weeks after and took 12 weeks
3. noone answered calls or emails when they chase for sofa
4. new sofa arrived with one seat the wrong colour and one seat was badly worn (not plump)
5. took another 6 weeks for replacement seats

All this headache and no apology or discounts as well.

Currently have a sofology sofa, inherited from family when they moved and couldn’t take it with them as it didn’t fit. It’s coming up for 7 years old and looks practically new, memory foam seat cushions large and comfy enough for 6ft plus person to sleep on, separate cushions for the back of the sofa. And I never want to replace it, it’s that good!

Equally my parents have a sofology sofa, 3 years old and they hate it as they bought one which needs constant plumping up (fibre filled cushions on seats, backs and arms) and it looks older than it is.

So I’m not sure it’s so much about the company as the type of sofa you buy!

We have one. The salesman dont work to commission they only get bonus on your reviews. We’ve had ours nearly 5 years and it still looks good. We had an issue where the front support bar broke but they had a repair man out within the week who replaced it not just in kind but with a to ensure it definitely wouldn’t happen again.

@BF888 thank you. How do I know if I'm picking a good one?? I'm getting a rough idea of a bespoke one so I'll see how that compares. It's a corner sofa, so they're not particularly cheap anywhere.

@Ardessa that's the kind of thing I'm reading in reviews which prompted me to ask. I was hoping that people who write reviews are usually those who are not happy, so I was hoping I could find balance by asking here, but it still seems like mixed reviews.

@babblingbumblingbandofbaboons those issues sound similar to the problems we have with our current 4 year old sofa (not from Sofology). Maybe it's best to get fixed back cushions rather than cushions that come off.

It's the Clerkenwell sofa we are considering
www.sofology.co.uk/sofas/CLERKENWELL?category=Corner Sofas&code=SKU000532929

The sofas I have that around around 7 years old don’t have fixed back cushions - they’re all separate large scatter cushions that I plump about once every week or so (takes about 10 mins or so). I think the key is what they’re filled with to be honest. The base cushions are firm memory foam type ones, meaning they don’t really go out of shape when you sit on them and don’t need plumped. The back cushions are large and fairly firm too, but do look better once plumped up. We joke that sleeping on the couch isn’t a bad thing in our house as it’s so comfy! I’ve attached a photo :)

My parents sofa is more like squishy cushions on the base, back and arms and it really has aged even though it’s half the age of mine.

M

The Clerkenwell sofa you linked to looks lovely, though if possible I’d make sure it was the firm type base cushions at least - For a start they’ll be more supportive to sit on and aesthetically they’ll look better as soft/squishy ones will just sag and look old quickly with not a lot of use.

Sofology are amazing when you're shopp ing there, but have quite a reputation for appalling customer service if things go wrong.

Here's a thread I started a couple of years ago. In fairness though, we did eventually succeed in swapping for my dream sofa and I still love it.

I've got one, it's 4 years old now and still looks fab. It's cream which with hindsight wasn't the best decision as you're not supposed to wash the covers, but I scrubbed mine and they've come up fine.

The only thing I would say is go to the store and try them as the one that I had originally seen online and was going to buy was shockingly uncomfortable.

Mine is actually the cream version of @babblingbumblingbandofbaboons

I think they are shite.

We had to threaten to take them to court over broken sofa due to crap manufacture that was less than 2 years old. We got an independent person to look at it. He said it was cheap and crap manufacture.

And all the leather is peeling off. But that is our fault according to them

@babblingbumblingbandofbaboons we actually saw it in store so have tried sitting on it. It's the reason why I would never buy a sofa from Loaf, Made.com and all those other popular online places. I wouldn't buy a sofa that I haven't tried sitting on first, and seeing in real life.

that last post should have been a reply to @MilkshakeandFries

Thanks @JesusInTheCabbageVan I'm going to read that thread, thanks. I have seen all the terrible reviews, which is why I asked on here, hoping for some more balanced opinions.

@TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince we're not looking for leather, but obviously I'm worried about terrible quality. But are they any worse than other high street sofas for quality?

Ours is 3 years old and has survived baby + toddler messes and jumping around remarkably well. I don’t know what fabric we got it in but it seems to be basically indestructible

@JesusInTheCabbageVan I'm part way through reading the thread you linked to. I'm surprised by all the outrage over spending £1800 on a sofa! How much less can you spend on a new sofa? We need a corner one, and the one in Sofology is £2500, but that's reasonable compared to others that I've looked at. I don't know how much less they could be. We need an armchair and footstool as well, so in all, I think we'll do well if it comes in at around £4000. If not second hand (which is very difficult if you need something to fit a very specific space) then how is it possible to spend much less??

There are loads of places to get well made sofas cheaper. The Sofa sofa group of companies are very good quality, made in the UK and very good prices.

Family have had 5 or 6 sofas from them over the last 22 years and still going strong. My mum gave her last pair to her niece after having them 10 years as it was cheaper to buy from them again rather than recover them. There are still in use 11/12 years later. As are the ones that mum bought on her second time around.

I bought mine in 2000, gave to a friend in 2004 in perfect condition. She still has it.
I currently have sofas from next and they are good quality in cotton velvet, which I will hopefully keep forever (I hate the cheap polyester type of velvet sofa.) But new sofas will be from the sofa sofa group as will need for my kitchen living area.

They trade under 4 or 5 different brands, each with different styles, I always check to see that the company address is viaduct works, Crumlin, South Wales. As there are similar companies trading online but this one is the best. Excellent customer service.

Marks and Spencer, John Lewis, next, furniture village all do great sofas if you want to sit on them first. The better ranges like ideal home at dfs are good too. Like others have said the firm memory foam cushions last better than filled cushions that need plumping.

But if low price is not that high a priority, at your price point, have you looked at heals, Wesley Barrett and Ercol?

I know! Given it's something you expect to have for years, I think the cost is reasonable. And I'm a tightarse normally.

We've got the Mazzini, by the way, which is enormous. It fills our entire living room, but it's well worth it. The base is a bit saggy in the place where it gets sat on most, but the leather still looks like new and it's extremely comfy. I think as long as you're 100% happy with the model you choose, you'll be fine (hopefully).

We have had ours 7/8 years, back when they were CSL. It's a leather sofa and armchair that recline. It's still as comfortable as the day we got it. Only showing signs of wear and tear due to a boisterous toddler, and only when you look closely, we will wait til DC2 is in school before getting a new one which is 4 years off. We've been really pleased.

Oh and we spent £2k+

Ours is 4 years old and considering its been battered by 2 kids and 2 cats it's not bad at all. Planning to keep for a long time to come. It's mega comfortable, cushions have been washed loads and come up clean. Can't remember how much it was but feel like it was comparable to others we were looking at from Next etc.

Also have DFS French Connection sofa in the other room and they are my favourite sofas of all time. They look beautiful and are so comfortable.

We had an expensive mistake with an online sofa company. It was like a brick and never softened, and there was no follow up customer service at all. I'd never ever buy a sofa now without trying it in the shop!

We've got a Sofology sofa - we've had it about 4 years I think it's held up pretty well actually. It's one of their cheaper ranges bought as a bit of a stop gap while we were thinking about moving, and I've been pleasantly surprised.

@flirtygirl I would love a Heal's sofa, but we are not in the price bracket at all, unfortunately. Like I mentioned above, we need a corner sofa, and they're just not cheap sofas. A Heal's one would cost minimum £4k for the size we need. When I said that I expect to spend £4k, that is for the sofa, armchair and footstool.

We have old sofas in our other room that are about 13 years old from Furniture Village, and still love them. They're very comfortable (and were much cheaper - it's easy to buy a 2 seater and a 3 seater sofa. Much harder to buy a corner one). Unfortunately, they don't have any at the moment that we like, that fit the space we need. The ones we're replacing are from Fishpools and we hated them from pretty much as soon as it was delivered, even though we tried it in store before we bought it. The cushions always look grubby and they fall off all the time. It needs plumping every time someone gets up off of it and it lost all of it's oomph within a month or so. I'm never buying a sofa from there again.

I've never really looked at M&S, Next or JL for sofas, so I'll have a look online to see if there is anything that fits the size we need.

I have

They’re both practically like new and I’ve had them nearly 3 years.

We have a sofa and footstool from Sofology. 5 years old and still in excellent condition. Slightly annoying as we bought it in antique leather with the advice that it would weather. It's still a bit too perfect for my liking! It's had 5 years of baby and toddler climbing plus gymnastics "practise" and is still going strong.

I'll get bored of it far sooner than it will need to be replaced. We had to have a window taken out to get it in the house so it really needs to last!

In contrast, the fabric love seat we bought from an independent furniture shop at the same time desperately needs it's cushions refilled and looks a bit sorry for itself.

@BF888

I’m an interior designer and have used sofology sofas in my designs before. One of my clients will have had hers for 4 years end of the year and it still looks fab. It does depend on the sofa selection though.

Some Sofology sofas are made in north wales and the company does create pretty decent sofas for their own line.

You can get bespoke for similar price to the high street stores.

If you look at sweet pea and willow, they have some beautiful sofas, made in great fabrics and they do have a showroom.

Do you know where either the Sofology Farringdon or Heritage sofas are made ?

Anyone here with this style of "full height" sofa in leather. How have you got on with it ?

Thanks