Review of Hancock and Moore Austin Recliners

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We recently purchased an Austin High Back Sofa and 5 Austin Swivel Glider Power Wall-Hugger Recliners with battery power all made by Hancock and Moore, from a local furniture store. The High Back Sofa is gorgeous and I would recommend it to anybody. Unfortunately, so far, I cannot say the same for the recliners. We’ve had Lazy Boy recliners in the past, and quite frankly, although they were relatively cheaply built, became a bit rickety with age and their leather cushions were permanently sewn in place so replacing their foam would be an ordeal, overall, for our normal use, we found that the Lazy Boy design is a lot better than the Austin recliners we just received.

The Austin recliners use Leggett and Platt mechanisms manufactured in China. As one of the photos shows, they do not close all the way. I emailed Hancock and Moore about the problem and they called me back and told me that it was a safety feature so a child could not get his hand stuck between the foot rest and the bottom of the chair. OK, sounds like a good idea but it should still close all the way when a hand is not stuck there. Hancock and Moore said they would look for stronger springs that would make the mechanism close better but I think the problem is that the mechanism was not installed properly on the five recliners and should be unscrewed and moved further towards the back of the recliners. Hancock and Moore had their rep drop by to look at the recliners and I pointed out to him that the mechanism is not squarely attached to the chairs in that there is a half inch difference in distance from the back from one side to the other side and that is probably why one side closes better than the other side though neither closes completely. Hopefully the factory will figure out a solution to this problem and have someone fix it soon.

Another issue with the recliners is that apparently, no engineering went into what to do with all the wires. One of the photos shows all the wires that are attached to the battery. The Hancock and Moore rep told me that most people keep it plugged in all the time but the instructions specifically tell you not to do that. We ended up attaching the battery/charger box to the bottom of each recliner with Velcro in a spot that would not interfere with the mechanism and tied up the wires with cable ties and attached that to the bottom of each recliner where the wires could not be damaged. We leave just the plug sticking out and we use a heavy-duty retractable extension cord to charge the batteries. The batteries last a week or so with frequent use so that is nice.

Our next issue is with the bases of the mechanism. They come with 8 tiny feet attached and as you can see in the photo, one foot is missing from one of the recliners. We have our recliners on thick carpeting but I am sure those tiny feet would damage hardwood floors. On carpeting, those tiny feet sink so deep into the carpet that the recliner cannot be moved an inch without lifting it. I assume that the tiny foot that is missing from one of the recliners, probably broke off during shipping. Also, the paint on the round metal bases is chipping off leaving tiny pieces of black paint on our carpeting. We ended up buying a bunch of large furniture sliders and attached them to the bottom of the recliners with double stick tape. The Hancock and Moore rep seemed to be impressed by that fix. The Lazy Boy recliners we own use wood bases (thickly painted particle board) for their swivel recliners. Not only are they nicer looking than the metal rings used by Leggett and Platt, but they make it possible to slide the recliner slightly on carpeting when it is necessary to adjust the recliner's position.

Finally, the recliners are top heavy. We are not particularly heavy people but if we are not careful sitting down in the recliners after a long day, they will almost flip backwards. They have not actually flipped backward all the way on us but it seems to be pretty close. Once again, the wood bases used by Lazy Boy seems to be a better idea than the metal ring used by Hancock and Moore.

Hopefully, Hancock and Moore will resolve the worst of these problems. And if you don’t by a swivel version, your chairs won’t display some of these issues. We could not find a motorized battery-operated swivel recliner on display anywhere and bought them on faith that Hancock and Moore knew what they were doing when they designed the option. So far, we have been severely disappointed.

Update - just thought I would add one more thing. Those nail heads are pretty but if you like to lounge with just socks on your feet, they make the foot rest uncomfortable. So you might consider deleting them from the footrest if possible.

Thanks for your review. I will offer some insight for you as well, maybe this will help, much of this is my own opinion.

The Austin Wall Hugger Recliner is a very old design and one I don't particularly care for, I much prefer the new design swivel recliners such as the Manning. Unless you require the wall hugger function for space, there are better choices. All wall huggers balance differently than conventional recliners, and if you drop or plop into them, they will feel unstable and want to feel like they may tip over backwards, that's the nature of that design when you mount it on a swivel base. The solution there is to not drop into the chair, but ease yourself into it a little slower.

Leggett and Platt has different manufacturing facilities. This from their VP in 2010 when I wrote to him:

Mr. Collie

‘Leggett has four manufacturing sites for Furniture Hardware, including Motion products. Two locations are in the US (Saltillo, MS and Leitchfield, KY). Two are in China (Jiaxing and Taizhou). All products produced in all facilities are US engineered and the specifications are the same, regardless of where they are produced. When new products are developed, they are normally launched here first so that we can provide US manufacturers and retailers the opportunity to differentiate from existing, in-line product.

You and your customers can tell where the mechanisms are manufactured by looking at the label on the side of the mechanism. All should be labeled with the Seal of Assurance, indicating it has been made in a Leggett facility to exacting specifications, and another label which will indicate which of the four previously mentioned facilities that particular mechanism was manufactured at.’

We want to continue provide a global brand that retailers and consumers recognize and trust. Let me know should need more information.

Sincerely,
Richard L. Weeks
Division Vice President
Eastern U.S. Region
Home Furniture Components
Leggett & Platt, Inc


That's an easy fix on your missing rubber glide, they will send you a couple, they pop out from time to time and probably from being pushed around in delivery.

When I order battery-powered recliners, I can request that they make a velcro pocket for the battery at time of order. There's no charge to do so. Many customers don't like the pocket, because it makes the battery harder to reach to pull it out as you have to get down on your knees to get to it, so we go over that at time of sale.

Yes, hand-traps are a concern, however I have not seen that gap before. This may be something new they are doing, I'm not sure. The person to speak to about that is Bryan Craft at the Motion Plant, however the way to do this is through your selling dealer, rather than trying to call direct. Consumers calling H&M direct don't know the right person to get to and are hesitant to talk direct to consumers, that's the job of the selling dealer. Also there are no springs to change out on a power mechanism, that's manual mechs only and even then they will not pull the gap back, spring changes are only done for tension variance due to operator weight. If the mech can be set back in the frame to close that gap, its going to require that all the unit go back to the factory. That's not something that is going to be done in-home. Your selling dealer can help you with that and decide on a course of action after discussing with Bryan.

Thank you for your insights. The Hancock and Moore rep did mention the battery pocket when he was at our house but he said they were only available on the 4 legged versions, not the swivel version. I originally sent my email to Pam at Hancock and Moore and she got her information regarding the springs from Bryan. Perhaps they used a different mechanism than the one you are familiar with because the footrest is held in place by a spring on each side that allows it to swivel forward or backward and avoid injuring a kid's curious hand. I can imagine how the factory might think that stronger springs there would fix the problem but I don't believe it will. On one recliner, I simulated a tighter spring by tying the coils of the springs with cable ties. That recliner still does not close properly. In any case, thanks again for your input. Perhaps my review will be a warning to others to follow your advice and avoid Austin recliners.

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I've attached a photo of the spring used for the footrest safety mechanism. You can see how I tied a cable tie around it to simulate a tighter spring. It did not help. Also, I did not mention, but I did involve my dealer with the problems I have with the Austin recliners and an employee of the store accompanied the Hancock and Moore rep when he visited our home to inspect the recliners. Finally, one last annoyance regarding the Leggett and Platt mechanism. When you recline back all the way, the mechanism does not turn off. When it reaches the limits of the recline, instead of turning off it keeps trying to go back but slips until you push the handle forward. The Lazy Boy and department store brand power recliners that I've been on turn themselves off when they have reclined all the way back.

I heard from my local furniture store today. H&M is going to have an experience furniture guy look to see whether he can fix the recliners, otherwise they will have to go back to the factory.

This thread is now closed.