Complain about a product or service

La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries

La-Z-Boy
• Sales Practices
• "Lifetime Guarantee"
• Wrong Model
• Delivery Delays
• Sofa Problems
• Graphite Stains

For many consumers, the recliner is the best place to spend the evening. If you're among them, heed the advice of the La-Z-Boy customers we've heard from:

• be sure you understand the terms of the warranty;
• be very clear about what model you are buying; make sure the model is correctly specified on the invoice;
• be sure the anticipated delivery date is specified on the invoice;
• be certain the specifications of the model you're ordering are the same as the floor model you see in the store; and
• pay with a credit card. If the item doesn't arrive on time, or if it's the wrong model, you can dispute the charge through your credit card company. If you pay cash or write a check, you have very little leverage.

Keep copies of everything and if things go wrong and the store refuses to make it right, don't hesitate to go to Small Claims Court. It's your best hope of getting matters straightened out.

A last word of advice: Don't get too la-z. Whatever your age or physical condition, it's important to get up and move the carcass around every few hours.

Here are a couple of the most recent complaints:

Robyn of Naples, FL November 16, 2009

Special ordered a recliner, it arrived with indentations on the wooden arms and the screws that were supposed to hold it together were not there. They would not take the chair back as it was a special order but they volunteered to fix it. 4 service calls later I gave the chair away. The repair person said he did not care how many times he had to come out, he was on hourly. I had to stay home from work to get the chair fixed. He used to be in quality control but they cut back and he was now repairing. The sleek chair that I purchased ended up looking like the michelin man as part of the chair back had to be replaced as the material did not match or was bulky so they overstuffed it. My neighbor had a similar problem with a sofa she purchased. What a lousy product living on its brand name.

SHIRLEY of FORT WALTON BEACH, FL November 14, 2009

My husband and I have really good experience with Lazy boy with our purchases, except this time, and by far this is the worse we have been treated as a customer. We placed an order on 3 pcs of furniture totalling around 3900.00 dollars. We dealt with Helen, she gladly told us that it usually takes up to 8 weeks to have our furniture delivered but sometimes it may only take 4 weeks. she told us she will give us updates on the progress. That was Aug 29th.

On Oct 24th, a day shy of 8 weeks, I have not heard anything from them, and since it has been 8 weeks, i figures i should give them a call to see if they are going to deliver my stuff the following day. I was greeted by a receptionist and she said that Helen will call me right back if i hang up. I waited for about 5 hrs, no calls. I called again right before they closed at 6pm, this time the receptionist got Helen to come on the phone. Helen told me that the furniture are not ready. There is a problem with the production of the materials we picked out and she will make an inquiry about it first thing Monday morning and she will call me right away. She promised to call us for any progress, no calls, no updates for progress, now the furniture is not ready.

Monday came, Oct 26th, past 8 weeks as promised. Got a call voicemail from helen at 555pm. Furniture are not ready, she put a "speed" on the production and it should be ready soon. Another week passed the delivery time and no furniture. I called for update and nothing. I got even hang up twice.

November 2 - I got a call from helen that the furniture arrived. I asked for the stuff to be delivered the following day and she replied "MRS. R., MY TRUCK ONLY GOES IN THAT AREA ON FRIDAYS. NOW, I CANNOT, JUST CANNOT DELIVER YOUR FURNITURE TO YOU TOMORROW OR ANY OTHER DAY BUT FRIDAY BECAUSE I USUALLY GET A FULL LOAD OF THE TRUCK SO THEY CAN DELIVER ALL THE FURNITURE IN THE SAME AREA AT ONCE."

I asked Helen if she can make an exeption this time since they are late in finishing our furniture. Helen now with stern tone of voice, "MRS R., DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME? I CANNOT, I JUST CANNOT DELIVER YOUR FURNITURE TOMORROW OR WEDNESDAY, THERE'S JUST NO WAY, THERE'S JUST NO WAY!" I was very upset at that time, since we have been waiting for a long time for the furniture (all this time we didn't have anything in our living room since we donated all our Lazy Boy furniture to our son who went away for college).

The following day, I contacted Helen again and asked if she can in any way get my furniture delivered sooner than Friday since we were going out of town. helen repeated her demeanor from the day before and she repeated her same answers of "I CANNOT, DID YOU JUST HEAR, I CANNOT JUST DO THAT FOR YOU MRS R." She also told us that we can pick up the furniture but we have to give her a heads up so she can have someone come over to get the furniture ready.

Monday, Nov 9th - now ten weeks from placing order - I called Helen if she has any avail delivery people to deliver my stuff. again NO. Wednesday, Nov 11t - Veterans day - my husband served and retired from the military and is a veteran of many wars, we decided to call U-haul and reserve one so we can drive one hour to go pick up our furniture in Pensacola. I called Helen that we were on our way. She said "I'll make sure that they're here to help you."

We got there, saw 3 boxes on the platform area, boxes broken. No one there waiting for us. She asked for us to come inside and sign the papers first before they can load the items on the trailer. My husband went in and got the paper signed. He came back out, opened the trailer and waited for the lazy boy workers to place items in the trailer. One skinny man came out. My husband asked to see the furniture first before placing them in the trailer. Sure enough, we found wood exposed areas, stitches not done right, threads hanging out on arms area of sofa. the worker did offer to fix the areas that were wrong, so we waited while he stapled and fixed the areas of problems on the platform. My husband had to lift all the heavy stuff and place them in the trailer.

What an experience, we were supposed to be the customer, yet we looked like the workers. No customer service from any of the Lazy Boy staff at all, ZERO. Helen did credit us 84.00 dollars for the delivery, but the point is that they were supposed to have the stuff ready and delivered by 8 weeks and that did not happen. No apologies, no compassion. We got treated like dirt instead and we just could not cancel our order because they will keep our 900.00 dollars deposit if we did.

We as a customer had no escape from the poorest of the poor customer service we received from Lazy boy. What a disappointment and lots of frustrations we have gotten from them. This kind of practice is unacceptable. My husband has stated that he will never purchase anything from Lazy Boy ever again. EVER. Emotional, Physical (our backs hurt from sitting on the floor for 10 weeks), monetary since we had to spend our own time and money to pick up the furniture, and if we cancel we would have defaulted our 900.00 deposit.

Melissa of Chilliwack, BC November 13, 2009

Found a great reclining sofa. Explained that we would like more stuffing. Sales person explained that this would be no problem, but first we should take the sofa home and break it in. I asked, "wouldn't it make more sense to put extra stuffing in during the construction process ( custom sofa). She again said "no, take it home first". I explained that we were moving several hours from a La-z -y Boy store - she again explained this is no problem. I did not trust that she fully understood how far we would be ( 3 hours from any service center). I asked her 3 times - even saying I would rather they overstuffed it while building it. She stayed firm and said all of this could be dealt with after the sofa was broken in at our home. So we paid our 3300.00 bill and waited for our sofa.

After breaking it in for 6 months I phoned to get the "extra stuffing process" started. This is what I learned: extra stuffing is an alteration, which I should have been charged upon purchase, the service centers will not travel to my new location, I must have misunderstood the sales person, as she would never have stated that extra stuffing could be added, La-z-y boy is loyal to their staff a wants to pacify customers.

Caryn of Lisle, IL November 12, 2009

We purchased a leather reclining sofa from LAzyboy. We were advised to buy their leather protection plan and that it would cover any defects no matter the cause. We read the brochure and it supported the reps claims. We were not concerned really because we have had a suede sofa for years and it was still in mint condition. So we bought the couch with the plan.

We had the couch for 1 day and we noticed scratches on the seats. We had people moving furniture all day and are not sure what occurred. So, we covered the couch with a quilt until Lazyboy could take a look at it.

Lazyboy said not to worry and that they would send someone out to look at the couch and make a determination on how they would help us. They used Advantage Furniture to facilitate their repairs. They said he would come out and take pictures the first time. We told them we were only available in the morning on the day they were sending him.

The rep called the day before he wanted to come and said that he was going to be there in the afternoon. We told him we were not available at that time and so he said he would come Monday morning between 7-8am. He never showed up and didn't call to say he couldn't make it.

We called Lazyboy. They contacted him about coming out again. This time he showed up unprepared. He admitted to forgetting his camera. When this occurred the sun had been out for hours and our floor to ceiling windows were open plus we had out lights on in the home. We removed the quilt from the affected areas so he could look.

The rep arrived without his camera, which was the only reason he was there that day according to lazyboy. We asked him about that and he said not to worry and that he only needed to take a look at the couch that day to see what options were available for repair. When he looked at the couch, he said he didn't think he could repair it and would recommend that that portion of the couch be replaced. He said he or Lazyboy would be in touch with us soon. We said if he needed to come back to take pictures to let us know. he did mark on the scratches with a pen that did not match the color of our leather. When we asked him about this, he said we would have to buy our own pen if we wanted the right color. He said it costs about 3. Lazyboy knew what color our sofa was. Why didn't he? He couldn't bring the proper 3 pen?

Nearly a month has gone by, so we called Lazyboy. They said that the technician claimed that we refused to let him see the couch and kept it covered the entire time. That we wouldn't let him take photos. That it was too dark to see anything and that the scratches were pretty deep and looked like cuts in the material.

How exactly could he know anything about the number and type of damage if we never let him see the couch? How could it be dark in our place on a bright sunny day with our wall to wall ceiling to floor windows, which were open. Plus, we had every light in our home on.

Lazyboy does not want to repair the damages even though we paid extra for a plan to guarantee coverage because the technician was covering his butt for having forgot his camera.

i am appalled that Lazyboy is using such unprofessional services who blatantly lie about customers (and then contradict themselves in their report), fail to show up to appointments, and arrive unprepared without the required camera and without the proper color pen to hide some of the scratches.

I will never buy from Lazyboy again. this has been a horrific ordeal.

Paul of Newport Beach, CA November 6, 2009

Essentially, I purchased a La-Z-Boy leather sofa from the store. Performance leather, black. Just after the manufacturer's warranty expired I noticed some odd wear, but it was so minor I didn't worry about it. 2 Months or so later, it was worse, so I called the store I bought it from. They directed me to call StainSafe, since manufacturer's warranty was expired (1 year). I called, was denied, stating "abnormal wear and tear not covered". Called La-Z-Boy store again, was advised "nothing we can do, sorry." I was discouraged, and gave up, until some months later when it was apparent that the problem was worsening significantly. No luck with La-Z-Boy store. Personal problems (job loss, breakup of longterm relationship, depression) kept me for dealing with the issue for nearly another year, during which, of course, the problem worsened.

Decided to at last attack the thing full force. Contacted many individuals, culminating in a kind sales rep agreeing that my claim was not "crazy" and promising to take the issue to his general manager (Mike R). Wrote 800 word letter explaining symptoms and sequence of events. After 2 weeks, heard back, a StainSafe regional rep would talk to me! Hoorah! Unfortunately, he denied my claim on several different counts. As I tried to reasonably rebutt one point, he would simply move to the next. I did, in fact, successfully rebutt or cast doubt on nearly all of his points with the exception of one....report the claim in 10 days or we deny it, whatever it is. Tried to call La-Z-Boy corporate, but they told me that whatever warranty a franchise sells me is not their problem.

Discouraged again, but after about 3-4 more months I took up the torch once again, since my warranty is good for 5 years and I'm nearing 4 years now. I decided to try threatening BBB and possibly legal action if I didn't get a direct response from the La-Z-Boy GM, Mike R. During discussion with him (purely email based), he has claimed that if only I had made contact with him or his team in 2008, they could have handled and even repaired the issue. I have phone records indicating I did call his store in 2008 (a few times). Also, the 800 word letter I wrote was to go to his attention. That was 4 months ago. Now this gentleman is claiming he's never heard of me until now and his company has no record of my attempts to contact them. I have multiple emails and replies from sales rep (4 months ago) promising to take the issue in front of the general manager for me.

I am currently debating my next response. I've asked repeatedly whether or not my particular type of wear is or is not covered (once I discovered what it is) and I've received NO ANSWER. A leather repair professional recently told me that its clearly a cracked finish, which is a materials/labor defect.

Larry of Hueytown, AL November 3, 2009

On 2-16-09 we went into the hoover showroom to just look. A saleperson by the name of Allison pressured us to put money down on a living set. The agreement she told us was it was not a layawy but you only put 3% down and it holds the set indefintely until we purchased, converted it to a layaway or ask for the deposit back. We have had a tough year with the economy and called tonight and told them that we really needed our money back and was unable to get the furniture. There was no question NO NO NO you cannot get your money back. How unfair after what we was told.

Kristie of Madison, AL October 28, 2009

On July 30, 2009 I ordered a special order sectional and ottoman. I was told delivery would take 6-8 weeks. After 10 weeks, and I called and spoke to the saleslady who had sold me the furniture. She reminded me that with special order items, the delivery time may be longer. However, she offered to call the factory and find out when the furniture would be finished and delivered. She called me back within a day and said the furniture would be delivered the next week.

The following Thursday, she called and asked if I would like "most' of my furniture delivered. Apparently the sectional was ready but the ottoman was not yet available for delivery. The sectional was delivered the next day, but no time frame was given for deivery of the ottoman. After 2 more weeks, I called and spoke with another sales rep as my sales rep was off that day. He told me that he was new and unfamiliar with the computer, so he would have to leave a message for the original salesperson.

At that point I asked for the manager. After all, if it was only his inexperience that was preventing me from having an answer, surely the manager would be able to work the computer. The manager did not seem happy to be called to speak to me, a CUSTOMER. After once again explaining the situation in detail, he told me that he didn't have any idea where the ottoman was, but he was sure it would be here soon. I told him that I found it hard to believe that he could conduct business on such a large scale when he had no way of communicating with the factory, warehouse, etc.

In addition, I filled him in on the fact that my orginal saleslady had somehow been able to call the factory and get information about the delivery of the sectional. At this point, he developed an exasperated tone and told me that he guessed he could call the factory, but of course he didn't know when he would be able to get back to me. I strongly urged him to get back to me as soon as possible. I have a strange feeling I won't be hearing back from him soon.

If you are in the Huntsville area, please think twice before buying from Laz-y Boy. It seems they are privately franchised, so I have no one to appeal to now that I have spoken to the surly manager. I spent well over 3000 on the ottoman and sectional because I wanted a certain style and a certain fabric. Now I wish I had just gone to another store and bought something less "custom".

DEB of norwalk, CT October 23, 2009

We recived delivery of our sectional couch 4hrs late on a very stormy day. They were late due to the rain and traffic. When delivered one of the sections was not covered in plastic and was SOAKING WET from being in the truck that apparently had a leak. I refused the one section, as my new couch should not be soaked in dirty truck runoff rain water.

They are saying that i have to take it, that they cleaned it. i SHOULD NOT have to accept anything but NEW AND UNTOUCHED furniture. Not only am I concerned about future MOLD,RUST AND BUGS. But the SMELL! Why should I have to take something that has been DAMAGED?

this problem has caused us many problems. It has created a VERY stressful situation in our home, it has runied an entertaining function that we had planned and considering that it has been PAID IN FULL FOR MONTHS, we should recieve NEW ITEMS! not old, wet, dried, and smelly materials. UNACCEPTABLE

Linda of Gilbert, AZ October 18, 2009

We bought two recliners and a sofa. Very expensive. The bolts and nuts keep falling out of the two recliners. The leather is not holding up, and on the other chair, the cushion is not holding up. I wrote an email to Lazy Boy but have had no response. I complained at the store and was lied to time after time. I gave up on believing anything they told me. Especially the sales man I dealt with. I was promised a better cushion for the chair time after time and lie after lie and never received it. I will never recommend or buy from Lazy Boy again. I will do everything possible to discourage my friends and family from buying there.

Karrie of Seattle, WA October 17, 2009

I placed an order for my furniture in May 09. and it took 5 months for my order to arrive. I was very frustrated with the situation and concerned after I saw the news release about people not getting their furniture. Shortly there after I recieved a phone call from my sales person who told me the entire situation. I understand that it was the old owners that caused all of the problems and that La-Z-Boy as a whole are doing really well. I am very thankful to La-Z-Boy for taking over and honoring my order. I spoke with the store manager Monique and she was great. She treated me like a person and was very understanding. She called me herself with updates on my order instead of just passing me off. Monique handled the issue with great care and I am very thankful for her understanding.

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