Chair Fabric Wearing Prematurely-What To Do?

Hello and God Bless. Thanks in advance for advice. I apologize for the length but I want to give as much background as possible.

I bought several pieces of furniture in December 2014 including a leather Stickley Sofa and matching ottoman, plus 2 Hancock and Moore Roy Loungers. The chairs were delivered in March 2015. The store employee verbally assured us at the time of order that the chair fabric in particular would "last a lifetime." Please keep that "last a lifetime" in mind as you read this. My wife and I had looked for just the right chair fabric among the Hancock and Moore offerings and found nothing we really liked. I had read online that Jessica Charles fabric could be used on Hancock and Moore furniture, so I suggested we look at Jessica Charles fabrics. While looking through the Jessica Charles swatches the sales associate suggested we look at a Jessica Charles chair that had just come in for a customer. My wife loved the fabric called Fields Russet. It went perfectly with our Stickley Sofa (which by the way looks as good as the day it was delivered). While we were looking at the chair I asked the sales associate about it and this is when she made the "last a lifetime" comment. Unfortunately, the chair fabric has not performed well. And unless the good Lord takes me home tonight it will certainly not have lasted a lifetime. On both chairs it looks as though it is fading though neither are in direct sunlight, or even indirect sunlight for that matter.

The store we bought from had an employee look at the chairs last week. He said the chair fabric is simply wearing or wearing out. What looked like fading is in fact from contact wear. He pointed out small places on the footrests where the fabric has worn completely through. These are places no body part even touches, but where the fabric has been stretched tightly around a corner. He removed the arm covers and showed us the difference in the fabric pile height with and without contact. I told him we sit in these chairs no more than 2 hours daily. He said some fabrics wear poorly but agreed this appeared excessive. He documented all he found, took photos and said someone would be calling. Yesterday, the sales associate we bought from, the one who assured us this fabric "would last a lifetime" called. She was not her usual bubbly self. Instead she seemed unwilling to say much more than "fabric wear is not warranted unless defective." When I asked her about what the employee who looked at the chairs had said about excessive wear and what constituted defective versus usual wear she said their is no evidence the fabric is defective. She offered 40% off any future purchase as a "sign of good will" and to keep us as "happy customers." She concluded by suggesting we buy custom slipcovers for the chairs.

I guess deep down I feel duped by buying not one but two relatively expensive chairs which have not met our needs. I also feel the store sales associate's "last a lifetime" comment should be considered for it influenced our decision, yet now means nothing to them. If we were running a daycare center and kids were in and out of the chairs all day long I could accept this. However, this is not the case. My mom's 30 year old LazBoy chairs look better than these two chairs after 8 months.

My original thought was someone in the chain of fabric supplier, chair manufacturer and retailer would step up and agree to reupholster the chairs with a better wearing fabric or even negotiate to split the cost 50-50. Is that out of line?

What is a reasonable solution? Should I expect more or is this as good as it gets? Or..........?

I appreciate your advice. If nothing else it helps to get this off my chest.

Sincerely,

Al Simon
Baptist Pastor Retired

I'm answering this from home so I don't have my Jessica Charles fabrics here to pull a swatch or look at content, but I can tell you that in every maker's line there are some lousy fabrics, mostly (as you would expect) in the lower price grades. Good fabrics* are not the inexpensive ones, and they tend to be the higher price grades (speaking in generalizations, of course). You may have picked a poor performing fabric....it happens. While consumers should look at content, thickness, density of weave, and resistance to stretching when selecting a fabric, the vast majority select only on Color, Pattern and Price. I try to intercede in my store when i see a customer is selecting a poor fabric and encourage them to seek another. While the chair frame and springs might 'last a lifetime' the fabric cover certainly won't. On average, most upholstered fabric pieces that are used daily will need a re-cover in 10 years. Some will go a bit longer, some less. Mostly only the top blends of Linen/Cotton/Wool can go 15 years or longer, and now we are into $ 125 a yard material.

So...what to do now?

Your salesperson is correct in that covers are not warrantied unless defective. But are they defective? There's the million dollar question. I would NOT expect to see noticeable wear or fade on chairs that are 8 months old, and if I were your selling dealer I would be looking to have them returned to the factory where I would anticipate they would probably agree something is amiss if they are as bad as you describe. If they determine they are defective, they are going to recover the chairs and return ship them to you at their expense. However, the hook is you have to get them to High Point NC where the Jessica Charles factory is located. I see you are the Pacific NW, so that's going to not be inexpensive - a blanket wrap service is going to charge you around $ 400 to return them - do you feel strongly enough that the cover is defective to return them? In my experience, about 2/3's of upholstery returns that are done are not defective and it has to do with either buyer's remorse or normal wear and tear. So, you have to really be sure that there is markedly substandard performance of the cover before going through the return process.

If you do want to return them, your selling dealer will need to get a Return Authorization from Jessica Charles. I am personal friends with the owners of Jessica Charles and know them to be very fair men who will usually err in favor of the customer if there is an issue. They want you to be happy with the product and I have seen them replace things that I never would have, and I'm not kidding. I have also had (more than one) customer return product on many occasions and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it - so like I said, you have have to be fairly committed that there is a viable issue. A good dealer will step you through this process and work with you to help expedite this - a bad one will say 'there is nothing we can do' and leave you swinging in the wind on it.

Hope that helps!

* A quick note. Everyone thinks that Microfibers are durable and long lasting. They are not. They are nothing more than a 100 % Polyester fabric that uses super-fine strands that are resistant to retaining dirt and soiling (i.e., they are easier to clean). Polyester will pill with wear - we all know that from clothing. Buy a Microfiber if you must for cleaning ease (I would never own any upholstery that is 100% polyester), but don't expect it to be durable over time.


Hope that helps!