There are two main types of traders on the Net – those, like us, with substantial bricks and mortar businesses, and those with little other than a site. It is often difficult to know which is which. I hope you feel that our site looks good and shows a well-run, substantial company. The truth is that this site costs us less per year than 2 days normal trading though the store. A nice looking site does not necessarily mean that the company behind it has any substance.
All Internet Traders are required to give details of who they are, their VAT and Company Registration numbers. Unfortunately many traders don’t. We carry details of every Limited Company and every Company Director in the UK but even then often can find no information on Internet businesses.
According to a report on Internet trading in the Cabinet Maker (20/03/2008), “fewer than one fifth of furniture retailers are complying adequately” to protect their online customer’s rights. An Office of Fair Trading report revealed that nearly a third of companies failed to offer customers a full refund on returned goods.
So please beware. If in any doubt contact the manufacturer to see if the company is a genuine stockist. Many manufacturers dispose of faulty goods through auctions and these goods can end up on the Internet
The law says that to offer a sale price a product must be on sale for 28 days at the original price. This “original price” is set by the retailer and will be the price that he will base his discount on. It is in his interest to make this price as high as he possibly can. If the sale price is then reduced for another 2 days a “Double Saving” can be offered. So if a sofa is placed in the back corner of a shop for £1,000 for 28days, reduced to £750 for 2 days, it can then be sold for £500 and advertised at a Double Saving, Half Price or Save £500. For a 75% discount, just make the original price £2,000
Any Company selling at these discounts, if they were genuine, would be bankrupt. The reality is that the sofa should have been priced at £500 to start with and there is no real discount.
This method is legal, but is misleading and we think immoral.
The Furniture Barn shows discounts against the manufacture’s recommended price. This is the normal price at which the items are offered in other shops and is the price the items are made to sell at. The manufacturer does not inflate the price, as he would lose sales.
Comes under the same heading as free lunches. In reality the costs are added to the basic price of the sofa.
The following are some of the tricks used by sales people.
1 Some firms reduce the sales person’s commission if they give the maximum free credit period. To increase their commission they try to tie in the sale of a guarantee. See under guarantees.
2 They tell you that the total you are spending is not sufficient for the interest free, and suggest you add other items.
Remember, the sales person may have a financial incentive to get you to reduce the interest free period or increase the total you spend
Typically you are given a 6-month period before you have to pay. You will be asked to sign an agreement. Check the interest rate on this agreement carefully and the period that you have to pay. The actual interest rate, if you do not pay in full before the end of the period, will be very high – up to 30% per annum. In some cases you may find that you are also liable for the interest on the first 6 months as well. At worst you will pay more in total interest than the cost of the goods.
The reason some shops like to offer this scheme is that it can costs them nothing. The companies supplying the scheme make their profit from the customers who forget to pay on time. For that reason, the companies providing the credit will not look favourably on you if you miss by just one day.
The Companies who supply the finance know that they are statistically at greater risk of non-payment by customers using these schemes. To cover their potential losses, they charge more. This means that an even greater part of the price paid by the customer is for finance charges and less is for the product.
If a company offers interest free credit, it is illegal for that company to offer a lower price to someone paying cash. Even if you do not want to make use of the credit arrangement, the price you are paying will still have been inflated to cover the free interest costs other people are receiving
We sell our furniture at the real price. If our customers want credit we charge them no more than the costs of providing it, we make no profit. This way you know exactly what you are paying for
How it is decribed
Solid, as applied to furniture, means made entirely from the wood mentioned. This is the Trading Standard’s description. Very little antique furniture was made this way, with the exception of pine. Often the term is followed by an asterisk, pointing out that some parts, particularly backs and drawer bases, are made from other materials. Sometimes this fact is “hidden” in the text or not mentioned at all, even by large multi national companies.
Veneer can be used for a number of reasons.
In high quality furniture, it is often used where the wood is so expensive that used in the solid it would be prohibitive, for example with burr veneers. This method was used on the best antique furniture.
Veneers nowadays are paper-thin. This means that a good clear piece of solid oak will produce many square metres of veneer.
Veneers are glued to an inert sub frame. This can be chipboard, MDF etc.
This means that the item is not oak but made to look like oak. It may be a different wood that is stained to an oak colour.
Where a paper is printed to look like oak and then stuck to a base material, it will be described as “oak finish”.
Isn’t what it sounds. The timber trade definition is that hardwood comes from a tree that loses it leaves in winter and softwood from a tree that doesn’t. So Balser wood is a hard wood.
If you want to know how strong a wood is, try putting your nail into a part that is hidden
The problem with buying sofas is that you cannot see how they are made. What is underneath the cover will affect the comfort and how long the sofa will last.
or what some sales people really don't want you to know!
The sales person is not going to mention these. You need to ask. The factories producing these sofas will be asked to make to a budget price. I have seen these in some of the factories we use and will not buy them. The following are some of the methods: -
1 Cheaper foam or fibre infills. Greatly reduces the life of the cushions and comfort level.
2 Taking the guts out of the sofa. Using pine or chipboard instead of hardwood for frames. Hardwood has huge strength and so will last many years without creaking or coming lose. Chipboard has little strength but is heavy so the sofa may still feel solid.
3 Using wire staples instead of screws. These are easily pulled out.
Customers sometimes tell me that as they only want to use a sofa for 5 years and then will change. The problem is that a sofa made to last 5 years will be half way through its life after 30 months. You wouldn’t buy a car with a 5-year life expectancy even if you only intended to keep it 5 years.
These are things that sofas in different price brackets should have. Do not assume that because the price is high or because the maker had a good name, the sofa will automatically have these features.
Many manufactures have down graded their products in recent years.
Price ranges are based on the normal price of a 3-seater sofa.
High End.
Sofas with a genuine price of £2,000 plus. Examples: - Duresta, LeatherTrend, David Gascoine. Also our own brand, The Shires Collection (even through we sell for much less)
1 Dried hardwood frames, glued, screwed and dowelled.
2 Coil sprung bases.
3 Serpentine metal sprung backs or coil sprung were there is room.
4 Pure Chinese duck or Quafoil fibre filling.
5 Good fabric matching.
6 Full aniline leather with colour matched hides.
7 Generous size.
8 Large sofas made in 2 parts for ease of movement.
9 Scatter cushions included in price
Upper Middle.
Price range £1,200 to £2,000 Examples: - Henderson Russell, John Sankey, Derwent, and Tetrad.
1 Hardwood frames glued, screwed and dowelled.
2 Serpentine metal sprung bases.
3 Serpentine or webbed backs.
4 Reflex foam or combinations of good materials for infills.
5 Full aniline leather
6 Generous size
7 Scatter cushions included in price
Middle
Price range £900 to £1,200 Examples: -
1 Hardwood frames glued and screwed.
2 Serpentine or webbed base unit.
3 Webbed back.
4 Foam covered with combinations of good materials for infills
5 Semi Aniline leather.
Lower Middle
Price Range £500 to £900
1 Hardwood frame.
2 Webbed Base
3 Webbed Back
4 Foam infill
5 Corrected grain leather with pigmented colour or good quality by cast leather.
6 Sizes generally smaller.
Lower
Up to £500
1 Frame made from non load bearing materials, i.e. chipboard
2 Frame stapled together with the cover material providing some of the structural strength.
3 Foam seat directly onto chipboard base.
4 Foam back.
5 By cast on leather or faux leather (PVC)
For explanations of the above terms, please see appendix.
Fabric
The cost of fabric varies tremendously, the more expensive being often well over 10 times the price of the cheapest. As this is the part that shows, the fabric used is normally dependent on the price range.
The price of the fabric does not necessarily equate to the time it will last. Cheaper synthetics may last much longer than more expensive materials in the same way, as a nylon shirt will outlast a pure cotton shirt.
Rub Tests
These are used to determine the length of time a fabric will last. They are also important where a customer feels that the fabric on their sofa has not lasted as long as it should. In these tests, a machine rubs the fabric. The number of rubs is then compared with the quantity expected for certain uses. Fabrics to be used for upholstery are normally tested before release and these figures can be obtained. Normal domestic is around 17,000 rubs. As a general rule if a fabric has a test of this number of rubs and wears out quicker than expected, then the problem is likely to be the use the upholstery has had. If the rub test were 10,000 then the retailer would need to show that he had pointed out that the fabric was suitable for light use only.
The Furniture Barn only supplies fabrics suitable of at least normal use. Where heavier use is expected, we can supply fabric with rub tests of 60,000 and above.
If you want to supply your own fabric for one of our sofas, please ensure the rub test number is suitable. We can often help you with this.
I hope that the above is of help. If you would like to know more about our sofas, please ask. It is very important to us that you buy the sofa that is best and most suitable for you. We live on personal recommendation.