La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries Recliner Disintegrated Two Years after Purchase Fresno California

My son went through the exact same problem with LazyBoyGalleries here in St Louis. He paid for the extended warrenty, they told him everything was covered and if anything went wrong ,they would fix or replace it. He had the extra fabric protectant put on, the whole nine yards. After about 2 years they started falling apart also. He got the same run around as the person who wrote the original report.

In September 2006 3000 recliners were shipped without the glue to help hold them togather. The second shift forgot to put it on them. These chairs would fall apart. The materials manager knew about this because she inspected a chair and when she kicked it the chair fell apart right in front of her and they still shipped them.

When she returned from inspecting the chairs it was the joke of the day. It was just something to laugh at. This company needs to do some house cleaning and instead of pampering management they need to put a foot up their a*s and make them put a little time into the quality of their products. A little would be better than none.

In September 2006 3000 recliners were shipped without the glue to help hold them togather. The second shift forgot to put it on them. These chairs would fall apart. The materials manager knew about this because she inspected a chair and when she kicked it the chair fell apart right in front of her and they still shipped them.

When she returned from inspecting the chairs it was the joke of the day. It was just something to laugh at. This company needs to do some house cleaning and instead of pampering management they need to put a foot up their a*s and make them put a little time into the quality of their products. A little would be better than none.

My wife and I recently went into a La-Z-Boy Gallery to purchase a recliner. They had some really nice furniture available. However, things started to fall apart when the sales person opened his mouth. He started telling us about his many years of sales experience and how La-Z-Boy was the best and most honest company he has ever worked for. I then asked how long he had been employed at La-Z-Boy. He then stated, "3 weeks." I degress..... Anyway, my wife found a chair ($1100 of course) she loved and he immediately started telling us about the build quality. He stated that the recliner frame was made of quality OAK wood and how ALL items sold in a La-Z-Boy Gallery are made and warranted by the company itself! How exciting!!

I then turned the chair over to inspect the quality of this "OAK" frame. To my surprise, the word "PINE" was clearly stamped onto the "OAK" frame. It was at this point that I escorted my wife to the exit door. Do not hesitate to inspect all items you purchase.

In purchasing a La-Z-Boy Recliner myself a few years ago, mine also broke. The frame fell apart at the bottom. It was clear to me after talking to the furniture store, this was my problem. I had little patience in dealing with them. So I flipped the defective chair over, bought me a tube of liquid nail, got me a few wood screws, and a few sticks of solid oak wood, and repaired the frame of this chair. The frame was not sturdy enough to handle this chair being folded and unfolded, but now it is. It has been a few years since I repaired the frame, but the other day I checked under it again, and my professional workmanship is still holding strong. I will admit the repair job looks like s*it, but one does not see it under the chair. The crossbars I added were glued and screwed. I had even taken apart the rest of the frame, and glued and screwed it also.

I just wish they would have let me go into the factory when it was being manufactured, and I could of help them make me a quality chair. As it stands, if I buy another Lazy-Boy, I will have to take it home and re-manufacture the chair.

I must agree with the original comments about La-Z-Boy products now being of poor quality. I ordered two La-Z-Boy 974 recliner chairs from Cole Furniture, 710 North High St.,
Mount Orab, OH.,

The time delays in delivery by this merchant and/or La-Z-Boy are a major element of my dispute. I originally ordered the two chairs at issue on February 20, 2006. The merchant charged the total payment of $1,387.75, against my charge card on that date. The merchant did not have the chairs available for me to pick up until May 15, 2006. I picked up the items at Cole Furniture on May 16, 2006.

Upon unpacking the chairs on May 16, 2006, at my location, I immediately discovered some problems. These are large items and Cole furniture is almost 100 miles a 2 hours drive from me. I tried to prevail on the La-Z-Boy Company's customer service department to help resolve these problems. Not only were they non-responsive and not at all helpful, they were also rude and discourteous.

They ask me to email them photos, etc., about the situation. After I did so, they did not even respond to my email. When I called them again, I was flippantly told to haul them back to the dealer where I purchased them.

On my own, I located a La-Z-Boy warranty service facility operated by La-Z-Boy Showcase Shops. This involved me transporting one of the chairs to their warranty service facility for inspection. They examined the chair during the week of May 22, 2006. They advised me to haul it back to my location and hold it there until the repair part items came in from La-Z-Boy.

They called me on July 5, 2006, to inform me that they had received the repair items for the two chairs. On July 7, 2006, I made a second trip to their facility to drop off a chair back and the two seat cushions. They replaced the defective fabric on the back of one of the two chairs and replaced the foam in the seat cushions of both chairs. I then made a third trip to their facility on July 10, 2006, to retrieve the repaired items.

In spite of the best efforts of the warranty service facility, the chairs are still not right. The more dense replacement foam is an improvement but it does not fully correct the support problem where the seat cushion confronts the back of the chair. I am a person with considerable architectural and design experience. Out of total frustration with this insignificant matter, I tried a few experiments myself, to determine why this chair doesn't set right.

The real problem lies in the overall construction quality of the chairs. La-Z-Boy first used foam in the seat cushion that did not have an adequate density to support one's body weight. Then, they used a small gauge spring and padding support system, in the lumbar support area of the chair's back.

The combination of the two inadequate support systems will collapse to a point where it leaves one setting in a void between the chair back and the seat cushion. This void is especially pronounced when the chair is reclined. If one places a pad or throw pillow beneath the rear of the seat cushion, raising it a few inches, it provides a noticeable difference in the way the chair sets. It does not however, correct the inadequate springs and support within the back.

To further verify my conclusions about the construction quality of this chair, I did a side-by-side comparison of it with a cheap $239.00 Value City recliner. While this several hundred-dollar La-Z-Boy appears larger and more decorative, the internal construction quality was no better and in fact a little worse, than the cheap $239.00 chair.

In short, the high-end external appearance of this 974 chair is deceiving. The only thing high end about it is the price. It actually has a very low-end, internal quality. As a footnote: Just today, I did an Internet search for persons having similar delivery and quality problems with La-Z-Boy products. There was no shortage of similar complaints.

On July 12, 2006, I faxed a letter and related documents to Mr. Alan Cole of Cole Furniture, in an attempt to bring a final resolution to this matter. I received no response to that fax. On July 20, 2006, I sent the same correspondence to Cole furniture by regular mail. Mr. Cole then called on July 21, 2006 and left a message for me. His message simply stated that this was a La-Z-boy warranty problem and he was not willing to accept a return of the chairs and issue a refund.

Since originally accepting my order, Cole Furniture has abdicated responsibilities to perform in business-like manner. First, this merchant levied full payment against the card instead of a pending charge or a deposit. This was done weeks before actually supplying the merchandise to me.

I then had to contact the merchant several times to obtain the confirmation statement/invoice they promised to fax to me. After finally faxing me the invoice, I had to contact them again to obtain a corrected version that was marked paid. After several weeks of not hearing anything, I began calling them about the status of this order.

When the order finally arrived at their location, they did not bother inspecting the merchandise for damage. This, even though I was driving nearly two hours to pick it up. Upon arrival, their dock employees simply set these two large cartons on their loading platform. Without any offer of help, they watched me struggle to load them in my truck by myself.

Since being notified about the problems with these items, Cole furniture has never offered to do anything to remedy this situation. Other than placing an order and taking whatever profit, this merchant has provided no service to me whatsoever.

Obviously, I cannot truck two large items, two hours, back to a merchant that is refusing to accept them. The merchant and the manufacturer have contrived a no-win situation for the purchaser. The merchant says it is the manufacturers problem. The manufacturer says deal with the merchant. Frankly, I am through dealing with either of them. I am in the process of taking them all to court.

D. B.
Columbus, Ohio

In regard to the rebuttal of the original consumer commentary:

No morbidly obese person used the recliner. No pets did anything to the exterior fabric. And, La-Z-Boy did not provide the written warranties until after we took delivery on the chair. The consumer relied upon what the salesman said, which was extremely incorrect.

The recliner set is very poorly constructed, out of cheap plywood framing. The microfiber material that covers the recliner set is also of poor quality. We have some furniture that was made in the 1940's that was passed down from one generation to another, that is still in use and holds up better than the La-Z-Boy recliners that were made just two years ago!!!

Similar complaints to that of this consumer can be found at other sites on the internet; they are about the same exact issues!

La-Z-Boy recently layed off many employees and closed some of their operations; this can be verified via stock market reports available via the Internet, as well. While the company has chosen to put a spin on these layoffs, so as to make them seem sensible, I would offer that ultimately it is because their products are overpriced and of poor workmanship. Consumers are discovering the truth.

That is one of the advantages of a free market economy; if you make a shoddy product and misinform (salesman re warranties) consumers, you will eventually go out of business.

How can a chair that is used "appropriately by two adults" and never by children suddenly get a broken frame? LaZBoy is known for making quality well-made furniture. Typically the only way to get a broken frame is by abusing the furniture, or by having extremely obese people sit upon it on a frequent basis. Either of those things would NOT be covered under warranty -- abuse, of course, voids the warranty, and furniture of any kind is not meant to withhold excessive weight as in obese people. As far as the fabric, in two years it should not be worn out if it was truly "used appropriately." Did you put your shoes on it? Did you allow your dog on it? Again, those things void the warranty.

It sounds like you paid quite a bit of money for warranties, guarantees, protection plans, etc. Why did you not request the terms and conditions of such warranties IN WRITING at the time of purchase? Just because you find out NOW that your concerns are not covered by the warranty does NOT make it a rip off -- just poor consumer actions.