Peeling And Flaking Of Leather Sofa

[Newlywedcouple 0]

Hi all,

Recently my husband and I bought a new leather sofa from LUSH. However, less than 2 months of infrequent usage (and we even conditioned the leather with leather care), the leather has some small cracks / tears on it. My husband called the customer service to inform them of the cracks on the leather sofa. The CSO asked him to take photo of it and email them so that they can investigate and get back to him. After investigating (using just the photos) for more than a week, they got back to him saying that the cracks are actually cuts. Apparently, they insisted they were not leather cracks because if it is leather cracks, it will be all over the sofa. They offered a special discount to change the leather...but we were wondering how can the leather have cuts so easily and at so many areas as we seldom use it and I thought that leather should be quite tough? The sofa is made for sitting on, so how can it be damaged so easily right? Moreover, we were told before buying that the leather is scratch resistant, the sales lady even demonstrated scratching on the sofa to show us. They did not even send anyone here to see the condition of the leather except the photos my husband sent. In fact, they told us we will be charge $100 if we want them to come down to check our leather.

Anyone has any similar experiences to share with us? We are currently waiting for them to get back to us, which apparently takes a long time

[cybermirage 0]

Hi, is there anywhere I can have the leather sofa checked to certify what kind of leather is it?

Does anyone have any experience to share, do we have to just accept this is a bad buy and do nothing about it? Thanks

[Newlywedcouple 0]

Hi Cybermirage,

Do you think you can get the people you bought from to come down and verify?

For my case, LUSH finally gotten back to us and they will be coming down next tuesday to check. Will let you all know what's is the outcome and the details next week.

[solution 0]

Hmmm .... I was told by my mattress salesguy that PU leather is better/higher grade or superior to PVC for fake or faux leather

In my mind PVC is something like "Plastic" - thick/hard shiny type of 'inferior type material'

Oh dear .... which is correct ?

Hi you are rite, PU is better than PVC. Please understand that what is PU and PVC.

[cybermirage 0]

Hi Cybermirage,

Do you think you can get the people you bought from to come down and verify?

For my case, LUSH finally gotten back to us and they will be coming down next tuesday to check. Will let you all know what's is the outcome and the details next week.

Living Instinct has already verified from the photos I've sent them. Just that the warranty is over and the options were given to me as per my first post. To them it's just natural wear and tear. I'm trying to see if I can establish that they have sold me a "fake" product and hence accountable for compensation. Under normal usage, a real full leather sofa would not deteoriate within 2 years and during the sales it's definitely not PU or PVC that they claimed to be selling me...

[joyp 0]

the conditions of your sofa seem terrible after using for such a short period of time, you may like to take a look at yesterday's sunday times (pg 17)...there was a case on leather sofa complaint...

[wj888 0]

Ya.. better buy from proven companies like HTL and Lorenzo.

[cybermirage 0]

the conditions of your sofa seem terrible after using for such a short period of time, you may like to take a look at yesterday's sunday times (pg 17)...there was a case on leather sofa complaint...

joyp, can roughly tell me what the article is about? any contacts, etc? I don't have sunday times.... thanks

[edenstrauss 3]

I am not a fan of leather sofas & seats. It just feels so hot and uncomfortable to sit on especially during a hot day (when room is not airconditioned).

But I was told that genuine leather products would cost $5k & above and comes with at least 5 years warranty. The higher the percentage of animal's skin they use for fabricating the material, the more expensive, supposed to be more durable.

[joyp 0]

joyp, can roughly tell me what the article is about? any contacts, etc? I don't have sunday times.... thanks

the article was about complaints against companies for false claims (full leather v half leather v synthetic leather), bug problems etc... there was a case about a sofa with cracks appearing after 2 months of use...they seem to be able to sort out their problems after complaining to the Consumers Association of Singapore.

The name of the editor is Goh Chin Lian, his/her email address is also stated there.... chinlian@sph.com.sg, u may want to contact her to find out more....

[powder blue 0]

My leather sofa from HTL started peeling after 1.5 yr had to throw away after 3 yrs, my previous set from a unknown shop,the leather lasted 7yrs but had to throw it away as the kids jumped on it till it broke. So beware when buying leather sofa even from branded names.

[cupidth 0]

Hi Cybermirage

have u started your claims against Living Instinct?

I am still waiting for the Order deadline to run out. It seems they have not filed an appeal to the High court cos I have not received any document. I have checked that they would need to fork out at least $1600 to lodge an appeal.

It would be fun when I go down to their office at IFC to seize goods with a bailiff should they not pay me back the cost of the sofa.

[manutd1972 1]

whether branded or not branded, genuine leather also need maintenance.

genuine leather is skin, animal skin. nw when that skin is still on an animal, eg. a cow, it does not need oiling as the animal's fats underneath the skin naturally oils the skin. but when that skin is taken off the animal, processed and wrapped around a piece of furniture, it will need regular oiling to maintain its condition, its luxurious feel, shine, and comfort.

hence, applying leather care cream or oil every 2-3 months onto a genuine leather sofa shld be sufficient to ensure that your genuine leather sofa lasts for years to come. if u dun do it, den no matter what brand of leather it is, no matter how high grade the leather is, it'll still break down sooner or later.

As for PU or PVC, dun ask me how to take care of it. i dunno. didn bother to find out how to cos i wun buy them as far as sofas are concerned. for sofas, i will only use either fabric, or genuine pure leather. its just my personal preference.

[romy77 0]

Hi,

the sofa you bought are actually PU leather, it is the kind of fake leather normally used by mass imported furniture.As the fabric or leather material is the main cost of manufacturing the sofa, this material is used in order to reduce substantially the cost price of manufacturing.

A higher grade of leather will be synthetic leather (also know as PVC) this type of leather do not peel and last longer.it will definitely crack or tear after some time.

The highest grade of leather of course is genuine leather.

Do contact the link below, they are our local upholstery co. of sofa with their own workshop here.

They will explain and show you the material they used before re-upholstering your sofa.

http://kmtradingamk.blogspot.com/

Cheers

jjli wonder if you know what you talking (( A higher grade of leather will be synthetic leather (also know as PVC) this type of leather do not peel and last longer.it will definitely crack or tear after some time.)) ===> you telling the readers here that synthetic leather is a better leather because they wont peel ?? don`t mislead the reader here .

and i notice that most of the post u place in forum here, you will recommend a link to re upholstery leather sofa, guess you running a bussinese here but base on the knowledge you given to reader, i doubt many will find you .

[romy77 0]

Ya.. better buy from proven companies like HTL and Lorenzo.

im very sure they have same problem too .

People loves to complaint stuff when things goes wrong but they don`t ask themself have they done the neccesary things to avoid leather damage ?? ask yourself.

Cheers

Edited November 14, 2010 by romy77