Hancock & Moore Firm Cushions

Please advise - After researching as best I could we decided to purchase 2 H & M Austin sofas, 8134NB. I sat in one in a store out of town and fell in love with it. Comfort was great! Decided to purchase it from a dealer that was close by in case we had problems. The sofas were delivered Monday. As soon as the truck left I knew something was wrong. I assume the cushions are the standard foam. They seem too high, too stuffed, tilt up on the corners when sitting on them and are just not comfortable! What are our options? It's bad when you have new sofas and don't like them from the get-go! We ordered directly from the owner of the store. Is the ultra-down cushions the answer? Can we return the cushions to the store and have them replaced with the ultra down? What would be the approximate cost? I have an idea the owner will consider this our mistake and our cost. On the receipt she marked "special order - non returnable". All feedback and advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

Can you verify the cushions you sat on in the store were Ultra Down? IIRC it was fairly costly to replace the cushions when not upgrading at the time of build.


I am sure Duane will chime in further.

You may very well have sat in a showroom model with Ultra Down cores in it, they are softer and more plush than the standard cores. Be sure what you originally sat in was indeed Ultra Downs since there are variety of cushion options, though Ultra Down is the most popular of the upgrades (others are Spring Down, Memory Down, White Goose and Feather Down). Unless you specified Ultra-Down at time of order (extra cost option), then your sofas would come with standard cores which are non-returnable to H&M for credit or swap-out. Cushion cores are one of those things covered by health department regulations (same as mattresses) where a manufacturer cannot take them back by law. They are never returned, just disposed of.

Unfortunately the price for a new set of Ultra Downs for an # 8134 (seats and backs) are around $ 700 per sofa, so its somewhat cost prohibitive for you to do that. Your standard cores will 'break in' with use, you may want to give them about 6 weeks of use and see what you think after that.

Now -and here's the tricky part - since you did choose to buy locally based on after-the-sale-support, go back to your selling dealer and tell them why you chose to buy from them. If you explain how unhappy you are with the cushion cores, that dealer *MAY* go to bat for you and make some phone calls to see if they can get Ultra Downs for you at the upgrade price of appx. $ 280 per sofa (this is about what you would have paid for Ultra Downs at time of order, subject to each dealer's pricing structure). Its not easy for your dealer to get this, but not impossible either. I have done this for a few customers in the same situation as you are in. It may depend on the relationship your dealer has with the factory and how hard they are willing to work on your behalf. No guarantees, the dealer & Hancock and Moore are both within their rights to not have to do anything as the pieces were delivered as ordered. Good luck!

Thank you so much for your quick response. At least I know now what I'm dealing with. I really tried to do my homework on this as it's not everyday one orders 2 expensive leather sofas. I goofed! Right now I feel defeated but am going to try to talk to the dealer. I guess we have nothing to lose by trying. Again, thank you!