[Kieran83]

As the title suggests does anyone know of any half decent places besides DFS and furniture village to purchase a good three piece?

It'll be my first time buying a new suite and dont know of anywhere else to look.

Ive had a look online and seen a few online shops but really want to go and try before i buy as you'd expect.

Thanks in advance guys and girls

Kieran

[clockworks]

Do the right thing - find and support a local independent retailer.

[Sandman]

Be careful, a lot of the big furniture retailers are really struggling at the moment. They can also take upto 12 weeeks to deliver so if they go under during this time you will loose any deposit you put down.

[clockworks]

Pay the deposit, and the balance, with a credit card. If anything goes wrong, you'll get your money back.
My local independent was happy to take credit card payments. If the shop will only accept cash or cheque, walk away - may be a sign of impending financial difficulties.

[Billo]

I would try to avoid DFS (Deferred Finance Schemes) and CLS as they are just places to lend money, it's almost impossible to pay by cash or cheque and even getting their interest free terms you have to sign a HP agreement and then cancel it in plenty of time before it is invoked.I would have recommended The Sofa Workshop but I think I heard that they have just gone under.

[Sandman]

I think Land of Leather are also in trouble.

[GaryB]

As you're in Hemel, you might want to look at Multiyork in St Albans. My brother is an Upholsterer and he says their furniture is decent stuff.

He's not very complimentary about DFS!

[FZR400RRSP]

Are you looking to buy a leather suite?
If so, quick tip for you.
Look for suites that don't have any seams running across the cushions (either the ones you sit on or the backrest ones).
If they do have seams, it means they have used smaller pieces of leather, sewn together.
This is cheaper for them to do, because they can pick up small pieces of leather nice and cheap.
Look for suites that evidently use large single pieces of leather (no seams)
The larger the single piece of leather they need, the fussier they have to be when choosing the leather, or imperfections/marks will show up on the finished product.
So no seams on the cushion faces usually means better leather and fussier assembly.

[djones50]

How about the Ideal Home Show? (in March/April) - I've got 2 pairs of sofas from there - go on the last day, find what you want and then order them within half an hour of the show closing - got some hefty discounts by doing that as they want to boost their sales figures

....but as everyone else has said be wary about how you're paying for them now...

[IPaintSara]

I've always had a strong suspicion that the prices at large furniture retailers are utterly fictional, designed to allow them to offer apparently large discounts and interest free credit (no such thing, its factored into the price). So for value for money I'd have to recommend Ikea or Argos. Or if you don't mind used look for an auction house, sometimes there are real bargains including unused liquidated stock. Try to get foam cushions, especially the seat cushions, fibre filling is soft but wears quickly and needs plumping up all the time

[johnscarlet]

I have used SOFASOFA a couple of times. More than happy with the sofas

[Ned Senior]

Got my sofa from M&S fairly costly BUT great quality!!!