Re: Flexsteel quality
Hi Paul,
I'm a small store and can afford to be picky about what I carry - and I have to have confidence in the line or else I can't be enthusiastic about selling it. One tends to develop a critical eye after being in the business for awhile and I just didn't like what I was seeing on the Flexsteel product - even the USA made items. Its all cost/value and I just didn't see that Flexsteel was giving my customer's their money's worth vs other items they could purchase that I thought were built to a higher standard.
This is not to say that Flexsteel is not durable, and long lasting - because it is. But a sloppy sewing job will last just as long as one done expertly with straight seams - either way the thread holds. A 3/4" gap on a motion back will perform equal to one that has a 1/4" gap, and so on. You don't have to be concerned about the pieces holding up, I just didn't like what I was seeing in workmanship and components relative to the price charged.
For example, Flexsteel builds the bulk of their product out of furniture grade plywood rather than 5/4" hardwood (the industry standard for well-made furniture). They go to great lengths to tell the story that the plywood has the same strength and screw-hold capability of the 5/4" hardwood, and it does. But what they don't tell you is that plywood frames flex like mad. Pickup a corner of a plywood frame sofa and you can get it four inches off the floor before the other corner comes up. On a 5/4" frame it all comes up together - the very definition of rigid. Frames need to be rigid to work the best.
Their torsion 'blue spring' system is the best of its kind, but its still a torsion spring and not 8-way hand-tied. It will never break or wear out, but it will never be as comfortable to sit upon as the 8-way.
I remember the moment I decided to drop the line. I was on out delivery truck with one my helpers and we got to a customers house who had ordered a Flexsteel reclining sectional. As we pulled the pieces out, I was almost embarrassed to deliver it as the stitching work was so sloppy on the piece, the cushions not well-formed, and clearance tolerances noticeably excessive. We put it in its basement rec room on a poured concrete floor and it racked so badly from the plywood frame construction twisting that we couldn't get the sectional to line up on the backs. I had to run to the hardware store and buy door shims to put under the legs to get it all evened out. My customer was thrilled to get it, however I decided that I didn't want tobe a representative for a line like this - that one has to make excuses for.
My mantra is pretty much this: "If I wouldn't buy it for my home, why should I expect my customer to own it?" I've been told by many a supplier I'm too picky and the name of the game is to move product and churn cash - but I've never gone down that path. I like my customers to come back time and time again...and tell me they got their money's worth.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
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