Has anybody any experience of S C S furniture?
The last couple of weekends we have been looking at suites, our current 3 piece is just 4 yrs
Old and was purchased from DFS and is carp, the cushions has lost firmness and the back cushions have collapsed and is now very uncomfortable.
Our previous suite was also a DFS and after 8 years was still very comfortable and wore well but was replaced because it didn't go with decor when we moved.so another DFS is out.
Seen one in sofology and 2 at S C S, just done some googling and found out that DFS owns sofology so that purchase is out of the question, S C S has poor reviews but so does Furniture village, Harvey's and all other furniture shops.
We live in the southwest so don't really have much variety of shops to choose from accept the normal run of the mill that I have mentioned.
Previous 2 have Been fabrics we are now looking at leather any advice would be appreciated.
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More unhappy than happy customers will post reviews!
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I think all sofas are made in the same giant sofa factory, and sent to all the different chains.
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Any company that offers four year interest free credit on its products is selling overpriced crap.
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That rules them all out then. This will be a cash purchase so will try for a discount or some free treatment or cleaners.
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Where I live, we have an excellent consumer affairs program on local radio (BBC3CR if you're interested 11:00 - 12:00 weekdays). Guess what furniture sellers come up frequently?
Lots of current furniture uses cardboard for armrests. I've teenage sons, who would jump up and down on any furniture. I suggest you do the same and see how the sales staff react.
The last furniture I bought, I looked at closely (and peered underneath) to find the manufacturer. I found their website and asked what they'd charge to provide. I then went to the retailer and asked for their best price!
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Stressless. Expensive but properly made. We have two of their armchairs, love them
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I was shocked to find recently that the two sofas and a chair written off in our house fire last year were 18 years old!
They were leather covered and from JLP. Not exactly like new, but still comfortable and serviceable. Hardwood framed IIRC.
It was fairly trad looking dark brown. The new house will be modern inside as as we have a lot of furniture to buy it will probably be IKEA, plus a few nice pieces from other places if we can afford them.
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In my last job with the hospice, we sold a lot of furniture from our charity shops.
Within a minute you can tell if the suite is a DFS type one or a traditional manufacturer. Usually the weight is a give away.
Have you considered second hand? You would be surprised how many suites we had donated that were less than a year old. House clearances when folk pass away, marriage break ups etc etc. You might find yourself a bargain and you will get next day delivery rather than 8 weeks or whatever from the DFS types.
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Beat me too it Bobby. Our local ‘Seek & Sell’ sites on FB have daily postings of furniture at silly cheap prices. People downsizing, croaking and estates to clear etc. Some might well be cheapo manufactured stuff, but other stuff less so.
Our local Age UK had so much furniture given they’ve opened a specific second hand furniture shop in Settle.
I’m not ashamed to say that I have several pieces of second hand furniture....my best settees were bought from someone who got them in Harrods sale. She showed me the original receipts and they cost thousands. Still like new, superb quality leather 2 & 3 seaters with my own wool throws chucked over them.
Last edited by: legacylad on Sat 18 Jan 20 at 23:29
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We have two of these.
www.darlingsofchelsea.co.uk/knightsbridge-range?___SID=U
Two seaters in semi aniline leather. We've had them about ten years and the only signs of age are slight scuffing on the arms. I treat them to a wipe down with leather food every couple of months to keep the leather supple and stop it drying out.
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Helped out an sofa manufacturers years ago. Wish I could remember their name.
Had a tour of the factory and it was most impressive. All frames were hardwood. All leathers were sourced from herds kept on farms without barbed wire (so no nicks in the cattle's skin).
There were no pointed knifes in the factory. Though some retailers still tried to claim that holes in the leather were there on delivery!
DFS are carp. One sofa a mate had sagged and the repair man they sent round looked him up and down and told him that he was too heavy for the sofa at about 16st.
Problem was that was his 8st wife's spot!
Charlatans!!!
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If you want quality you need to be prepared to pay for it. GPlan and Parker Knoll are two that come to mind and you will pay £2500+ for the typical 2 chairs + settee.
My sisters father in law was a traditional upholsterer. He used to reckon that the typical 3 piece would use around 25 yds of material for the cover.
A (say) £1000 set is probably includes about £250 for the cover (+£150 frame and foam, £250 manufacturing, £100 shipping, £250 retail margin, overheads and profit)
You are quite simply not going to get furniture of any lasting quality at this price - cheap materials, chipboard, cardboard and nails will be the order of the day. It will not become a family heirloom but a fixture on the local tip within 5-10 years (less if there are kids around)
This is not a criticism as such - as we live our lives expectations and needs change - at 30 we just want somewhere to sit, at 60 we may aspire to comfort and quality. And furniture is a little like cars - as soon as it exits the showroom it loses 30% of its value - so 2nd hand may be worthwhile if you have the inclination.
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I'm going against the general grain but we have 2x2 seater settee's and a chair from D.F.S (Preston), the type with the big floppy back cushions, they are extremely comfortable, and despite them being abused by 2x G/children and 3x dogs and being professionally cleaned only once, they still look almost new (colour has faded slightly from new) and they were purchased in 1996! back then they cost £2500 the set, but have been worth every penny, and will last the rest of my lifetime at least! - can't say fairer than that!
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Stressless leather is very thin and doesn't stand up to much wear. The arm of one of our pair of their chairs showed cracking after abut 4 years. A restorer referred by the dealer said he could repair it - for several hundred pounds.
I think furniture may be supplied KD and assembled in a workshop behind the showroom. As regards wood items, the one you get won't be nearly as well assembled and finished as the show example and have more odd bits of comb-jointed timber. The drawers will likely be loose. Ask to buy the show item and you will probably be refused, as will preliminary inspection of your item in the showroom before despatch (and you would in any case have to mark it in some way to ensure it is not switched).
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I was very dubious about buying a DFS sofa a few years ago, but to be fair, it has lasted very well. However, it is very heavy so I suspect we bought an expensive model built to last.
You get what you pay for.
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Cheap stuff can be very heavy when it's made from sheet material that is 50% glue. Our son's £500 IKEA sofa feels as if it's made from depleted uranium. On the other hand quality framed furniture needn't be heavy, our recently written off stuff wasn't and neither are the show-wood Ercol ones we rescued from the conservatory. I'm not sure you can go by weight.
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>>If you want quality you need to be prepared to pay for it. GPlan
My G-plan suite required two visits for repairs. One when the castors kept breaking and the other when a twelve stone guest had a chair collapse under them. The first was a materials problem and the second an assembly problem.
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www.thomaslloyd.com/
Sitting on my leather Thos LLoyd chair - 25 yrs old & still comfortable
Modern styles as well as older /traditional styles.
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We bought three leather sofas from costco online, 5.5 years ago.
When the motor went in one of them at 5 years old, we dug out the paperwork, which said a 10-year motor guarantee. They sent a chap out and he changed it.
Costco rang the following day to make sure we were happy.
Last edited by: James T on Sun 19 Jan 20 at 17:52
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>> When the motor went in one of them at 5 years old, we dug out
>> the paperwork, which said a 10-year motor guarantee. They sent a chap out and he
>> changed it.
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Blimey, I didn't know you could drive them now.
Progress, eh?
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I like Costco. A few years back I spent c £1000 on a garden table and chairs. Within months the table surface was lifting a little (ceramic style tiles). They gave me a full refund and let me keep it. Last year it got bad enough that I decided to fix it - not perfect but pretty invisible.
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I like Costco and their after-sales is outstanding. It's just the art of buying what you actually want, not something you didn't want because it's on offer.
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If he was after a DFS bargain he's missed the boat. The sale finished today :)
Any experience of Barker and Stonehouse anyone?
We bought a Multiyork suite. Had a factory in Thetford. They went into administration.
There are still businesses out there tapping into the name for comparative bespoke build quality or refurbishment.
www.thedesignersofa.co.uk/blog/multiyork-sofas-chairs-2018-07-08
mysofacovers.com/10-facts-multiyork-convince-sofa-recovered
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"If he was after a DFS bargain he's missed the boat. The sale finished today :)"
Definitely the Final Sale as we used to quip.
We bought a DFS 3 Piece back in 1998 - it replaced a Parker Knoll which I'd had since we married in 1984...in fairness the DFS lasted quite well and was finally donated to a charity - who actually wanted it !
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We spent over 2 years on and off looking for a replacement 2 seater settee and armchair that was getting tired.
Not happy with anything DFS, Harveys, Sofa Workshop, and countless others had to offer.
DFS seemed to be the worst for customer service. No matter who we spoke to, they didn't seem to give a toss and were less than helpful.
We even considered just getting the settee and armchair re-upholstered instead as the main frames were still solid, as were the springs. It was just that the material itself was getting very threadbare.
Anyway, along come another bank holiday last August, and we popped into Lee Longlands in Abingdon. Straight away it put all the other shops to shame that we'd previously visited. A very helpful salesman who spent ages with us. Ended up placing an order with him, and the furniture was delivered approx. 4 weeks earlier than the pencilled in delivery date of December. Not sure how true it is, but he said all their workshops are in Singapore.
The only negative experience was the 2 monkeys they sent out to deliver it. Less said about that the better.
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Thanks for advice we bit the bullet and bought a leather 3 seater and 2 seater from S C S .
They also had a sale on which was ending a 5pm yesterday we paid just over £1.200 for them
a supposed saving of £1.300 on normal price. Sales man was good not pushy which suits are buying
Needs delivery is quite long tho not due till 2nd week of April.
Not much to add at moment will have to see what happens when they arrive.
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"and the furniture was delivered approx. 4 weeks earlier than the pencilled in delivery date "
Classic Scotty. Tell them we'll have warp engines online in 4 hours when he always knew he could do it in two.
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James Doohan had the worst Scottish accent ever to be mangled on screen. It was about as bad as Dick Van Dyke's attempt at cockney.
He was Canadian I think.
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He had a missing finger, too. Imagine how quick he could've got those engines online with eight fingers and two thumbs?
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>> Imagine how quick he could've got those engines online with eight fingers and two thumbs?
Unfortunately ye cannae change the laws of physics.
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Lt Uhura is 87.
Makes me feel quite old.
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Shatner's 89 this year.
They're all cracking on a bit.
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"Lt Uhura is 87"
And doable.
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I worry about your criteria. You insist on a pulse, right?
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Sulu is 82, Chekov is 83 and Spock is deid. Patrick Stewart is 79.
Depressing isn't it?
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>> Sulu is 82, Chekov is 83 and Spock is deid. Patrick Stewart is 79.
>>
>> Depressing isn't it?
>>
....I don't think even Dave..........................
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...and Bones would have been 100 this year.
Edit - and Scotty
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Mon 20 Jan 20 at 15:58
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>> ...and Bones would have been 100 this year.
>>
>> Edit - and Scotty
I hate this nananah would have been xxx this year. They wouldn't they died. Where do you draw the line - "king harold would have been 998 this year"???
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Doh! You're quite right I calculated from his death.
Sorry, complete idiot having a senior moment.
As you were.
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>> Was he in Star Trek?
No but Abraham Lincoln was
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Maybe it was Dr Who then.
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>> Maybe it was Dr Who then.
>>
No he wasn't in startreck either
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good things dont happen to royal harry's
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Patrick is about to reappear as Picard in a new Star Trek,on Amazon. It might even be today, in fact, or this week at any rate.
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I heard that.
Anyway, what about Bonanza? Where are all those guys now eh?
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All pretty much the same place.....
Lorne Greene died 1987
Pernell Roberts died 2010
Dan Blocker died 1972
Michael Landon died 1991
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>> Hoss is dead?
Even Hoss's hoss is dead. Though it probably out lived him.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Mon 20 Jan 20 at 16:25
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>> Hoss is dead?
>>
>> Wow...
Nope. He's alive and well in Devon running and old tractor and trailer without lights on a dimpsy night hoping to ruin the lives of unsuspecting motorists. Over the years he's been most productive.
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Dixon of Dock Green ( Jack Warner) would have been 124
Evening All!
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Victoria Principal is 70 and Sue Ellen is 79
Settle down Dave...
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Mon 20 Jan 20 at 16:30
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Kirk Douglas is still alive and kicking (As I write this anyway) at a mere 103.
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Honor Blackman is 95
I are depress.
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>> Kirk Douglas is still alive and kicking (As I write this anyway) at a mere
>> 103.
Alive at any rate, dont think he is doing much kicking.
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>> Felicity Kendal is 73...
Now that has upset me.
:-(
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>> Felicity Kendal is 73...
Whereas Richard Briers is dead.
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"Whereas Richard Briers is dead."
I used to love The Good Life, many decades ago, or I thought I did. I caught a few episodes earlier this year, what an obnoxious git he was in that program. Pompous, overbearing, selfish twut. Dunno how she ever put up with him.
Of the two, I'd have gone for Margo. I'd like being someone's bit of rough, and she certainly wasn't getting any.
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>>
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>> Alive at any rate, dont think he is doing much kicking.
>>
No, but he's edging closer to the bucket...
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and Jenny Hanley is 72 and Susan Stranks is 81
Last edited by: No FM2R on Mon 20 Jan 20 at 18:17
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>> and Jenny Hanley is 72 and Susan Stranks is 81
>>
Susan "No bra" Stranks. She caused a few nights of adolescent shame...
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Mine was Barbara Flynn (71) as the milkwoman in 'open all hours' and the Beiderbecke trilogy.
Last edited by: bathtub tom on Mon 20 Jan 20 at 19:29
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>> Mine was Barbara Flynn (71) as the milkwoman in 'open all hours' and the Beiderbecke
>> trilogy.
Or as Dr Rose Marie in A Very Peculiar Practice which also featured Amanda Redwood and Joanna Kanska.
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>> >> Mine was Barbara Flynn (71) as the milkwoman in 'open all hours' and
>> the Beiderbecke
>> >> trilogy.
>>
>> Or as Dr Rose Marie in A Very Peculiar Practice>>
I think her character was best described as "...needing a very good rogering...". I tried to volunteer....
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>> I think her character was best described as "...needing a very good rogering...". I tried
>> to volunteer....
Diagnosis of Dr (it's Robert you bars tard) Buzzard I presume?
At about same time my branch head was a Senior Principal who thought it amusing to suggest to me same prescription might be effective for a young woman in my unit who was off with depression......
We've made some progress since 1990.
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I've set up a "wishlist search" on the Virgin TiVo box.
It's simply called "The girls", and a couple of times a month it finds me something tucked away in some obscure channel at 3am that features one of Jenny Agutter, Hayley Mills or her older sister, Juliet.
Isn't technology wonderful.
Mind you, I instantly delete "Call the midwife" and "Murder she wrote", which appear every other time.
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youtu.be/AXG1kCHoN6Q
There you go Crankcase. Enjoy Jenny talking about going naked in Walkabout....17 years old supposedly at the time.
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That scene is about 3 minutes in...
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I found this one a bit more interesting, though considerably longer.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JHjmTXbc3w
Last edited by: No FM2R on Tue 21 Jan 20 at 13:33
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Thanks - I do have that interview, as it's lifted from the DVD of Walkabout which inevitably I own.
Not seen it for a long long time; perhaps I should again, but it's a bit uncomfortable to watch, arty film or not. But there's about 99 films out of a hundred where Ms Agutter disrobes. That, however, isn't her appeal for me, though I couldn't tell you exactly what it is.
I also can't watch The Railway Children, as the reuniting scene at the end causes unmanly lip quivering and copious inner spectacle moistening.
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I met Ms. Agutter once. Well, more accurately I was in the same room as her and she said hello.
I mumbled, stuttered and wandered off blushing. She has quite the presence.
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>> I also can't watch The Railway Children, as the reuniting scene at the end causes
>> unmanly lip quivering and copious inner spectacle moistening.
Daddy - my daddy - VOMIT
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>> Patrick is about to reappear as Picard in a new Star Trek,on Amazon. It might even be today, in fact, or this week at any rate.
24th everywhere.
premieres January 23rd, only on CBS All Access
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 20 Jan 20 at 19:50
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In its day I loved Star Trek; a a kid with TOS and in later years; when I was a windsurf instructor in Portugal; TNG. In both cases a part of my life important to me and reruns bring back fond memories.
But I can't help but think it's had its day. [see the apostrophe usage, Duncan, are you proud?]
Thought and film production leading though it was at the time, it has long since been overtaken.
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>> Thought and film production leading though it was at the time, it has long since
>> been overtaken.
No its still good, you just have to switch your time period viewpoint. Its now tomorrows
world historical drama.
Computers you talk to, that talk back
Personal communicators.
Doors that go swooosh.
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I do like doors that go swoosh. All doors should go swoosh.
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Won't be much Picardian swooshery in this new Amazon one. The two conditions on Patrick's return of the character were "no uniform and no Enterprise".
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>>The two conditions on Patrick's return of the character were "no uniform and no Enterprise".
Both of which occurred within the first 5 seconds.
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And Will Riker & The Borg at the end.
But best of all, Jeri Ryan. Absolutely the hottest female ever to appear in any Star Trek.
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>> But best of all, Jeri Ryan. Absolutely the hottest female ever to appear in any
>> Star Trek.
Wrong end of the blonde/brunette spectrum for me but life would be boring if mileage didn't vary.....
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>> But best of all, Jeri Ryan. Absolutely the hottest female ever to appear in any Star Trek.
Nah, that honour goes to Marina Sirtis. And no doubt BBD would fancy her mother too ;)
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Shirley ;-) its horses for courses...
Jeri Ryan for the sports rubdown.
Marina Sirtis for the relaxing hot tub.
Now where is my =-O to whizz them away on!
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All nicely parodied by the HHGTTG of course.
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We bought a three seater settee, a lady's chair and a gentleman's chair from SCS, some 7 years ago..
We looked at the offerings from DFS, shuddered and walked away. Ever since DFS has stood, in our minds, for Diabolical Flipping Sofas.
SCS sells some better known brands: we chose GPlan and we negotiated a deal for a cash purchase. Free credit (!) is always a cost borne by the vendor, of course.
The retail experience was fine.
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SCS - Bobby
