H&M Leather Failure

[yogi]

I purchased an H&M document tobacco Journey sofa, chair and recliner about 3 years ago. After about a year the recliner developed a white wear mark on some edges. I sit in the recliner every day. The wear marks are on the arm rest in some spots. The spots that look the worst were on the foot rest. It looks like the leather color is not very deep into the leather its almost like its printed onto the leather. If you run your finger along the leather wear spots you cannot feel any damage to the leather the color has just worn away. Its wearing away where the leather rubs against leather when the footrest closes. I had a no name brand leather set that is 15 years old that does not show any of this type of wear. The leather is worn and cracked but the color is not worn off. Leather car seats also do not exhibit this wearing away of the color. H&M attempted to repair the foot rest but the repair failed. I must say to compare the so called inferior brand viewpoint which is 15 years old and the so called high end H&M I must say it seems like the reverse is true as far as the leather is concerned. I also can’t say much regarding any service from H&M. So far seems like the opposite of what has been presented here on this forum. I have not seen H&M standing behind this product as of yet.

[drcollie]

Document is a painted leather, also referred to as a finished or corrected or protected leather. What you are experiencing is loss of the topcoat of the leather, or in other words the painted finish is coming off. In most every instance that this occurs it's due to lack of cleaning and maintenance on the part of the owner. As I've said in many posts here, if you don't clean and condition your leather on a regular basis, the cover will fail, regardless of the hide type or maker.

People have different alkaline values and oils in their skins. One person's skin can have almost no reaction on a hide while another's will cause more rapid deterioration. It's the dirt and oils from your skin causing the hide to fail. The solution is to wipe the leather down frequently where your skin contacts the leather with just a damp cloth...just takes seconds. Then twice a year do a more through cleaning and conditioning using recommended leather products. I have the same leather on a H&M recliner that is now 26 years old and it's in great shape, but I do the maintenance.

Hancock and Moore will not warranty the leather, as they have no control over user maintenance. They will, however, replace the hides on the damaged areas of the chair at a very reasonable price. You will have to transport the chair to and from Hickory NC or hire a blanket wrap service to do so. They will fix the chair and restore it for far less cost than a new one. Contact your selling dealer to arrange if that interests you.

[yogi]

Thanks for pointing out that this is due to the lack of owner maintenance. Like I said after 1 year this started to occur and on the foot rest portion where the foot rest contacts the cushion. Most of the time I’m wearing pants and skin does not contact that part of the leather often. The arm rest is a different story. Based on your theory the part of the chair that has the most contact with the person’s skin should have the most wear. The arm rest where I rest my arm most of the time has no leather failure and the front of the arm rest does. So I guess the H&M document leather requires a good deal of maintenance, I was told on this forum previously that H&M will not cover the piece if you use the wrong leather cleaner seem like H&M will say sorry you cleaned it improperly or you did’nt clean it enough sorry we are not going to help. I was told on this forum H&M would analyze the leather to determine if the approved leather cleaner was used or not. H&M asked for 2 sets of pictures and have not responded with any help and this has gone on for 1 month. Maybe I got a lemon H&M Journey set or after a year I did not clean it properly but regardless the company has offered nothing, no recommendation, no sorry its not covered but we can fix it for you if you send it to us and you pay shipping both ways and then have our folks work on it again. Your response is more than H&M has provided. I would say to everyone reading this forum I hope H&M contacts me and I will post their response here when they do to let you know what happens one way or another. I’m a little pissed off right now, sorry.

[yogi]

Update: H&M was to look at the piece today and determine the next course of action. I will let you know the results.

[yogi]

H&M is repairing the piece after it was sent down to them. They are replacing the mechanism and doing the same repair to the leather they did 6 months ago. I called them directly to understand what caused the leather to fail like this and got the standard general answer its my shoes and skin oil. I pointed out that the footrest rubbed leather on leather which caused the failure and not my shoes, the leather under the cushion also wore the color away, skin and shoes never came in contact with that either. When the piece was picked up the guys asked what the problem was, I showed them and they rubbed the leather with their fingers and the color came off also. So here are 3 instances where its not shoes or skin oil. I pointed this out to H&M directly and expressed my concern that the repair they did the first time did not stand up. I asked why not just replace the leather completely and end this agony, I did not want to go through this again. They said they would have to charge me for a new leather. I said that by replacing the mechanism it would not be as good as the original since the screws go in the same hole and would probably not be as strongly held in place over the long run. She was going to check into the cushion wear last Thursday I still have not heard anything. I sit in the piece that is being repaired every day the other pieces a sofa and chair are not used much so have not had a wear problem so I concerned that these pieces also have a problem, maybe/maybe not but it’s a concern. At this point I have not had a good experience with H&M furniture that is high quality. For all this they should just replace the piece instead replacing the mechanism, cutting down the footrest and doing what ever they do to repair the leather, to me it’s a much cleaner solution and I would have less concern about going through this again, which I won’t, if it fails again then its just a lesson learned.

[leather questioner]

My Hancock and Moore Journey Document Leather sofa was delivered November 15,2012. There was nothing included regarding cleaning products, but I was so happy with my new sofa that I regularly wiped with a damp cloth and an occasional leather wipe thinking that I was doing a great job to ensure it would last for many years. However, within a very short time, the color on the cording developed a "rubbed off" appearance, and over time, there were other discolorations in the seat cushions.
Regarding the cording on the cushions, I first contacted the store where I purchased the sofa and was told to use a brown marker on it. When the other discolorations started showing up, I cautioned my husband about making sure there was nothing on his clothing that could be causing any kind of damage. When these places continued to appear, I wrote to H and M and enclosed pictures of the damage. When I did not receive a response, I called and was told they were scratches. From what I have read on the forum today, these are probably not scratches at all; rather, the painted on color is rubbed away.
H and M recommended I buy products from Leather Solutions to clean the sofa before touching up the damaged parts. I sent pictures of the sofa along with the description on the delivery notice from the furniture store. Although I followed the Leather Solutions directions to the letter regarding cleaning and applying the color, the end result was not even a close match to the original finish. I then called them and mailed a sample of the leather, which had come attached to the sofa, along with pictures of how poorly the color matched. They sent me "new" color which I again applied with the same poor results.
By this time, I had begun researching other solutions to the problem, but before I could find one that was feasible, the leather on one arm tore, and now the other arm is also showing a tiny tear.
My husband loves the comfort of the sofa and is the only one who uses it at night and on weekends. I have had upholstered pieces in the past that lasted years and years while withstanding him, small children,multiple teenagers and occasional pets. I am now at a total loss as to what to do next. At the very least, I believe H and M should have routinely included some information with their products so that I would have known about specific cleaning products or if I had purchased a hide from China or a cover that was sewn in China and sent to H and M.
Judging from this forum, I am not the only consumer with a problem Journey sofa. I do not believe our disappointment is unwarranted considering how expensive the furniture is. Who would buy an $8200 sofa (on sale but still almost half that amount) and not expect it to last?

Please give me your best opinion on what I should do. I am afraid to invest more money in recovering that may not hold up, not to mention being hundreds of miles away from any upholsterer who could do the work.

[drcollie]

I obviously don't don't know all the ins and outs of your particular scenario, but am here to help you if I can, not argue on behalf of H&M or any other supplier. There are a number of factors that can cause that issue, cleaning and maintenance is the most foremost reason, but not the only one. Document is a painted leather - you could have had a pressure point injury to the leather during delivery that made that more susceptible to coming off. Or it simply could have not had good adhesion from the tannery. Did the selling dealer apply any kind of aftermarket protection product to the piece? That can cause a reaction as well.

Who knows? I can't say for certain because I don't have the pieces in front of me to look at, nor does Hancock and Moore.

Now if you want to get this taken care of. here's what you should do. First and foremost don't try to work with H&M directly, they are not designed to operate factory to consumer. The Dealer is their customer and You are the customer of the Dealer. You want your selling dealer to go to bat for you on this, if you try to do it yourself you'll wind up at dead ends as you have. That's by design, whether you agree with it or not, and the customer service is not going to respond well to you as a consumer. Its why its important to pick the right selling dealer that knows how to go to bat for you, too. Not all dealers are created equal.

H&M needs to see the pieces, plain and simple. You can only do so much off photographs. In instances such as yours its typically found that most are caused by some form of consumer/dealer or delivery company interaction on the piece, not a leather defect proper. The issue becomes not in fixing the leather as that's relatively easy for H&M to do, but in the transport of the pieces to and from Hickory NC. Someone has to pay for that. Because most turn out to not be warranty issues, the dealer/customer has to pay for the freight initially to get them to Hickory NC (or you can haul them there yourself if you live withing driving distance). If it turns out the leather was defective, the dealer/customer is re-reimbursed for the shipping costs and the piece is re-leathered. Its up to H&M to determine what is or is not defective - and they are more than fair in my experience with them.

[drcollie]

I don't think they will replace the hide at 3 years of age, if that was occurring sooner (say during the first 3 months of use) it would be a different story. Again, they can't tell you what they are going to do until the piece is there in front of them. Its VERY hard to diagnose from photos and phone conversations.

If this were a car, and you had a paint failure on the car after three years of everyday use would the car maker give you a new car? I don't think so. At best they *may* repaint the panel in question and that's what you are seeing here. Keep in mind too, that H&M expressly states that there is no warranty of any kind on the cover, so for them to do anything at all for you without charge after this time period has elapsed is done as customer goodwill. The specific language in the Warranty Policy is:

"Hancock & Moore does not warrant the wearability or durability of fabrics, leathers or customers own material."

Once the piece gets there, consider offering to pay for new leather where the problem areas are. It won't be that costly - its very reasonable. Most the time they will not assess a labor charge on that, just the cost of materials. That's what I would do. Good luck.

[yogi]

Update. The chair was sent back to me at the end of October after H&M did a repair. The repair did not match the rest of the chair. I did not accept the chair and sent it back. I have not heard what H&M are doing to the chair at this point, I have not contacted them nor have I been contacted.

[yogi]

Update: Still no chair. How long would you wait to have an issue resolved? Have not had the chair since September. Very frustrated that a customer is treated this way. Can't say I have experienced this kind of customer service to often.