Buyer's Remorse?

Ok, so this may be trying to close the door after the horse has left the barn. But I wanted to run this by this group. We purchased an Elran Leather Recliner Sofa last night. The main drivers included the fact we bought from a very reputable dealer in our area known for carrying only items of good quality and who stand behind the products they sell. We also truly loved the comfort of the unit, and it will fit incredibly well in the Living Room slot we have for it.

Note that we traditionally have been Bob's Discount Furniture people in the past. With 4 daughters, it wouldn't matter what we bought as they grew up, they would break down a unit of any level of quality. Since we pretty much were going to replace a sofa every 5 years or so, it made sense to spend less.

Now the girls have gotten to the point where they don't kill things as much. Our style is shifting from throwing together whatever we could afford to a traditional/country blend. We've switched from carpet to hardwood floors, plastic bins to wooden win racks, etc. We're growing up (but not old!).

Anyway, the point is after purchasing the Elran unit I read online reviews last night. I'm seeing a real split. Either people love their unit or wish they had never known the company. It doesn't look like the frame or mechanicals are the issue - those issues don't seem to surface. The main issue I'm seeing is their leather having bonding issues.

What has been the recent experience of this board's members with Elran? Do you feel we'll be ok knowing we liked the comfort of the foam used, the spring support structure, etc.? Or did we just make a costly mistake? The only other unit we came close to liking was the Madison line with Ethan Allen.

While I can't comment on the build of that brand because I'm not familiar with it, I will say that my thinking has always been that the family room pieces get the most use in the house by the entire family, and therefore they should be the highest quality. Living Room and Bedroom pieces get little use, so that's where you go downmarket. High quality builds will take the torque laid out by busy kids, year after year without failure. My wife and I raised all our kids from toddler on Bradington Young leather (they are now 22 and 20 years old) and we still have those pieces and they are still in good shape, approaching the Quarter Century mark.

The best made leather upholstery in the USA is Hancock and Moore, there is very little disagreement on that in the trade. I have sold thousands of pieces of H&M over the years as a dealer (and own it myself). In my stationary pieces, I have not had one single frame, webbing or spring failure necessitating replacing the piece (a few recliners have had broken mechanisms, but less than a dozen in as many years). The point being - you can buy a $ 900 every 5 years or a $ 3,000 sofa once. After 30 years, which was the best bang for your buck?

If that is a bonded leather sofa (the Elran) then you will likely be unhappy with it over time, however. Bonded leather is NOT real leather and is actually more related to vinyl or plastic, and its likely to fail in that 5 year period you mention. When shopping leather upholstery, always - always - always get top grain hides.

drcollie - I wanted to thank you for your reply, and my apologies for letting so much time go by in responding. Just wanted to let you know that your information was very helpful. Doing some further research, it appears that many of the complaints involving Elran products were indeed using bonded leather. I confirmed with our store (one who has a strong reputation for quality of both product and service) that our fabric is indeed top grain hide. I suspect this will give us a higher level of satisfaction with the piece than some of the online reviews have shared. We also did have the opportunity to look at the way the pieces are manufactured, and combined with strong warranties we're anticipating this should be a good experience.

Now if only we could fast forward to all the kids being done with college and the funds freeing up to add some more pieces to the collection :)