To Recline Or Not To Recline??

C

Cervelo

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I've finally had to admit that my 20 year old, much loved Nattuzi couch is for the knackers yard
It's something that has been on my mind for the last year or two but am about to venture out and buy one shortly
The question I'm asking is if the option of reclining is a good one in terms of longevity compared to not having the reclining feature
We currently have for the last 20 years been using pouffes to increase our comfort on the couch
But I'm wondering if I went down the recliner route, how reliable is the reclining mechanism??
Or what would be a average lifespan of this feature on a heavily used couch??
Is it better to stick with manual or spoil myself with power??
And if I was to go down the recliner route and the unthinkable happened, is it a new couch or can these be repaired??
 
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Cervelo said:
I've finally had to admit that my 20 year old, much loved Nattuzi couch is for the knackers yard
It's something that has been on my mind for the last year or two but am about to venture out and buy one shortly
The question I'm asking is if the option of reclining is a good one in terms of longevity compared to not having the reclining feature
We currently and have for the last 20 years been using pouffes to increase our comfort on the couch
But I'm wondering if I went down the recliner route, how reliable is the reclining mechanism is??
Or what would be a average lifespan of this feature on a heavily used couch??
Is it better to stick with manual or spoil myself with power??
And if I was to go down the recliner route and the unthinkable happened, is it a new couch or can these be repaired??
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Would definitely recommend Parker Knoll recliners, expensive but worth it and very robust.
 
A recliner is what I would recommend, great for leg elevation at the end of the day and a comfy TV viewing position. Poofs have their place but with the recliner you don't have the clutter of additional furniture in the room. Our space is limited. We bought a 'New Trend Concepts' Italian made leather recliner couch 4 years ago. European made as that was important to us. It has worn really well in that it has very little signs of any wear ( there are only two of us) but it is used daily. I cannot recommend it enough.
 
Not sure about the repairability of the electric mechanism but felt that if there was a problem with same being European made perhaps we would have more chance of a repair solution in the future.
 
LL???? said:
Would definitely recommend Parker Knoll recliners, expensive but worth it and very robust.
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Mr Black said:
A recliner is what I would recommend, great for leg elevation at the end of the day and a comfy TV viewing position. Poofs have their place but with the recliner you don't have the clutter of additional furniture in the room. Our space is limited. We bought a 'New Trend Concepts' Italian made leather recliner couch 4 years ago. European made as that was important to us. It has worn really well in that it has very little signs of any wear ( there are only two of us) but it is used daily. I cannot recommend it enough.
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Thanks guys, I'm kind of invested in Natuzzi as I've another one in the sitting room
I've done a lot of the leg work this morning between internet and a few phone calls, so much so I'm off out this afternoon to pull the trigger
 
Billybob said:
Just had a look at Natuzzi.
That’s your 20 years of tracked spending banjaxed Cervelo
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Yeah, It's certainly starting out an expensive year and will end up as so but thankfully it's all in the budget and expected
Jazz01 said:
Time to put your feet up, sit back & relax - after your purchase of course :p Happy reclining !
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Thanks Jazz01, happy it's all over and done with, even though we all love shopping and spending money some experiences/events are more pleasurable than others and for me house furnishings is not one of them

For reference
If you were to ask Mrs C she'd say she's been at me to change the couch for a good few years now
But for some unknown reason in the last 25 years, my hearing is not so good in my right ear ;)
We started looking last summer online but couldn't find anything that we liked, not even on the Natuzzi web site
So the beginning of this week we headed up to Carrickmines to DFS and Harvey's and though we saw many couches, to use an airline analogy,
First class, Business class and economy, nothing jumped out at us and everything came with a compromise

So Wednesday morning spent a bit of time online researching and discovered that Natuzzi actually has two websites, a first and business class
And there it was in business class, a more modern version of the couch I bought 20 years ago but obviously with an inflated price tag
The website informed me there were 2 "Resellers" and 1 "Dealer" in my area so I rang the dealer and stated the conversation
Thursday morning was spent researching exactly what I wanted and getting the RRP, which was not an easy thing to do online
So lunchtime rang the two resellers and asked for a price, which they gave and to say I was surprised would be an understatement

I then called the Dealer who wouldn't give me a firm price over the phone (understandably) and informed him of what had happened
and said rather then waste your time by going to your showrooms and then buying somewhere else, I'll give the prices I've got and if you can beat them I'll pop up this afternoon and seal the deal. He said give me a bit of time and I'll get back to you, which he did and he did

And the bit your waiting for ended up been 40% off RRP but the difference between the 3 sellers was €100
Oh and went for the recliner

So moral of the story it pays to take your time and do the research
 
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Hello,

I went through the emotional trauma of having to part with our old (circa 20yr) leather recliners, a few months ago.

Many of the retailers were trying to sell new electric recliners, complete with USB ports, neon lighting and all other sorts of goodies, but not one managed to satisfy me when I asked them who would fix the electronics, if ever they broke. I got the usual rubbish about 3-8 year guarantee periods, but no one gave me a straight answer about repairs, outside of warrenty.

The retailers didn't even try to convince me that I'd get anywhere close to 20-years out of the electric recline mechanisms, when I asked them... not that they would have succeeded.

As such, I went back to looking at manual recliners and ended up picking up a discounted, end of range, set, in Harvey Norman's. They still cost me the guts of €4k (2 seater and 3 seater), but I'm confident that I'll get far more life out of them, than I'd ever get out of the more expensive electric recliners that are being sold these days.
 
elcato said:
Sorry, I got to ask. What is a 'Reseller' ? Refurbished second hand couches ?
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Sorry if it was a little confusing, I was try to make the distinction between a retailer that sells only one brand and one that sells numerous
 
I would go with manual recliner for everyday use but down the years an electric armchair recliner would be nice. I had experience of two with my mother and some young 'un banjaxed the motor by working it badly (jammed back against wall/rad). I tried getting repair in vain. There was also the complication of an electrical connection needing power outlet with wire leading to correct side of chair and danger of same getting caught/tripping someone.
 
MrEarl said:
Many of the retailers were trying to sell new electric recliners, complete with USB ports, neon lighting and all other sorts of goodies, but not one managed to satisfy me when I asked them who would fix the electronics, if ever they broke. I got the usual rubbish about 3-8 year guarantee periods, but no one gave me a straight answer about repairs, outside of warrenty.
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I'm of the same mindset - the more doodah's and doohickey's it comes with the more that can go wrong, break etc. I've felt the same way with cars over the years.
hazelgreen said:
There was also the complication of an electrical connection needing power outlet with wire leading to correct side of chair and danger of same getting caught/tripping someone.
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Good point re wires etc.
So much to consider when buying something as seemingly simple as a couch.
Cervelo said:
We'll have to meet up here in 20 years and compare experiences ;)
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As I'm Mrs Cervelo I will just add...
With this new couch being an electric recliner I'm not seeing it last 20 years - you never know and my fingers are crossed but I'm also a realist and see there being problems by year 10 and most likely insurmountable problems by year 15.
But also, lets be honest, we've had the present couch (not a recliner) for 20 years but I've been looking to change it for the last 5 years as it has been a pain in my whatsit - sometimes literally! Covid kicked the can down the road a bit but also added to the wear and tear. And the last couple of years has been a bit of a running joke amongst us and our friends - the state of it wasn't so much the joke but more the length of time it's taken to actually hunt for a new one. I've gotten lots of messages of congratulations on our new couch in the last 24hrs :p
I'm seeing another change in 10 to 15 years and that'll probably be the one that sees us out. And if price differences between 20 years ago and today are anything to go by I'll be looking to have Mr C buried in the next one ;)
 
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I’m not sure if it is relevant but we bought a Natuzzi L shaped recliner in Arnotts 2 years ago. The recliner bit is not electronic it’s a a pull lever to open both end parts recline. The reclining part all functions find but I think the quality of the sofa other wise is pretty cat. The back part sort of collapsed a bit on the most used seat. It is in our front room so not our everyday sofa no small kids and in my opinion light use. Had a row with them but eventually they sent somebody out who did a remedial fix and it appears as new. The repair guy said its pretty crap quality. Cost about 5k in the sale and I personally would not but one again. I think I would go Parker Knoll if I was buying another leather sofa. Maybe it’s just the deterioration in quality in recent times nothing is built to last anymore. We have a Himolla leather chair that has an electric leg part that I found to be better quality in terms of how the leather has worn and zero deterioration in the mechanics.
 
Sue Ellen said:
What I can't get over with Harvey Norman's is the long delivery times that they appear to give on suites of furniture. Sometimes they quote nearly a year :oops:
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Beyond electronics Harvey Norman do seem to have long delivery times. They told us 3 to 4 months on a mattress once. A mattress!! We went to Ikea and walked away with one that day.
Mommabearof3 said:
Maybe it’s just the deterioration in quality in recent times nothing is built to last anymore
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Agreed - you'll get warranties with most things for only a couple years but the sales of goods act is 6 years so sometimes worth fighting with the seller.
hazelgreen said:
We got Natuzzi couch 25 yrs ago and it is perfect as was never used!
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We have another Natuzzi couch that is perfect as, like yours, it's hardly used. We have 2 couches and no chairs in the sitting room and we possibly should have gotten 2 couches exactly the same (size wise) 20 years ago and swapped them around to even out the usage - benefits of hindsight. So we were in a bit of a dilemma this time - do we get just the one and it's not a perfect match to the remaining couch or get two the same and swap them around? And if we get two what do we do with a perfectly good couch that you can't even give away these days? Needless to say it didn't make financial sense to dump or give away a perfectly good leather couch that would cost 3K to replace. In the end we got as close a match as possible style wise and went for a contrasting colour. So they won't be the same but they will complement each other.
 
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Sue Ellen said:
What I can't get over with Harvey Norman's is the long delivery times that they appear to give on suites of furniture. Sometimes they quote nearly a year
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Got good news yesterday, the couch is been delivered on Saturday, 6 weeks and 2 days from order date
Which is I think super fast considering all the other shops were quoting 12 to 16 weeks
 
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