Daveyap

Recycled leather is another term for Bonded Leather. $3.8K for Bonded leather! Oh My God!

This explanation is very reasonable and the Small Claims Tribunal will be able to accept it.

Your main problem is that you have no proof the leather sample (swatch) is from them. May I ask why you didn't reject the leather sofa when it was first delivered to you as the leather colour is different from what you had ordered?

You only need them to write down "FULL Top Grain Cowhide Leather" on the Order Form and Invoice. If you want to be more specific, you can request them to write down "FULL Top Grain Cowhide Leather from Tuscany, Italy". Ask them to give you a free leather swatch that is of the exact quality and colour that you want to be used on your leather sofa. Get them to stamp their company chop on a sticker and initial next to the company stamp which can then be pasted onto the leather swatch as proof that the leather swatch came from them. Of course, if you can, do take a clear photo of the leather sofa if it is being displayed in the showroom. Make sure you take a close up photo of the furniture tag/label which will show the Model Number. If you do all these steps, you have basically done whatever you can to protect yourself with regards to the documentation and makes filing a successful claim all the more easier in case anything goes wrong later.

1st photo - Is the leather sample colour and texture what they had promised that you will be getting? Cannot tell the quality of the leather from the first photo but can tell from the leather grain pattern that it is not natural as it is printed. 2nd photo - The hole is caused by something hot like a lighted cigarette. But the leather is of a very poor quality as reasonable quality leathers should be able to offer some resistance against burns by hot objects and not have such severe damage. Looking at the underlying part of the leather that has been exposed by the burn, it appears that your leather sofa is bonded leather as I can see bits of the fabric for the adhesive backing. The leather sample looks like split leather. 3rd photo - The 3rd photo is taken from which part of the sofa as it looks like it is an additional damage? I assume the white stuff is the filling for the sofa. That type of filling is cheap and flammable. The brown flaking is normal for poor quality leather and it is clearly not top grain leather. Summary - It is not PU leather but either Bonded leather or a very poor quality Split Leather based on the photos. If I get to see it in person, I will then be able to confirm which is it.

I have sent you a PM with my email address.

Take photos of all those parts that have shown signs of fair wear and tear. Also, please take a photo of your finger pressing down on the leather sofa as I would like to see the crease marks made by your finger. If you can do so without damaging your leather sofa, please also take photos of those parts of the leather where you can flip back the front to expose the back layer. I need to see the back of the leather hide as I can then more or less determine if it is split leather or top grain. However, please note that very often we forget that even though the leather is top grain throughout the sofa, the sofa is usually made from different parts of the cowhide, so if the leather hide is taken from the belly where the hide is relatively thinner than say the back, it will suffer greater wear and tear. The full leather office chair that I am seating on is a typical example. I have determined that they had thankfully used the stronger parts of the hides for the seating portion but I think they used the thinner parts of the hide for the armrests even though it is subjected to lots of contact. I can start to see tiny natural tears in the leather on the armrests.

Yes & No. There are so many types of leather being used for making wallets that you can be certain some of the same leathers that are used for making premium sofas will be used for making wallets too. My wife bought me a full grain leather belt 2 weeks ago when she was away in London on a business trip. The quality is so superb that I am confident it will last me at least 25 years! The full grain leather is 4 mm thick but if you use it on a leather sofa, the sofa will certainly last a lifetime but you wouldn't want to sit on the sofa for more than 10 mins because it will be pretty uncomfortable as you need to reduce it to at least 1.5 mm or it will simply be too stiff for your bum.

The sample (leather swatch) that you have was provided to you by the shop? SCT will be able to accept it as good evidence if you are able to convince them that it came from the furniture shop. Can you take a clear photo of the leather swatch (front & back) and post in here for us to take a good look. I should be able to tell you if it is real leather if the photo is clear enough, especially the back portion.

Bonded leather is not real leather so the SCT will not support the retailer's argument that it is still leather. Sorry, but no idea what is "tou chen pi" Suggest that you go back to the shop and try to take a clear close up photo of the sofa set on display and make sure it is clear enough to show that the leather quality is different from the one that was delivered to you. CASE has no definition on leather because they are not experts on leather. You got a weak case because your invoice merely stated "half leather". By the way, $2200 for a half leather sofa is very expensive.

I have been using a digital lock for my main door for about 5 years now. It is very quick to enter the house because I used a small round plastic chip instead of a key. To be more precise, the model that I used comes with a miniature size credit card key and 3 round plastic chips. Alternatively, it gives you the option to key in the code using the numeric keypad so you do not even need to bring along the chip. In fact, my wife always prefers the key pad whereas I always use the chip. I don't bother to lock the outer metal gate since it defeats the whole purpose of having a digital lock. I don't use a biometric lock because they can be unreliable and you get locked out of the house as it had happened to my friend a couple of times. Mine is powered by an ordinary 9V battery that is commonly found in all hardware shops so it will not be affected by power outage, failure or blackout etc. You only need to change the battery once in 3 years. I cannot make any brand recommendations as mine set was brought into Singapore from Korea by my friend and he charged me $350 for it. Using keys and padlocks is way outdated and most new condominiums have already made the switch over to digital/biometric locks. The benefits of using them is that even the locksmith will not be able to pick a digital lock. One of my friends who had a writ of seizure served on him was able to prevent the court bailiff from enforcing the writ when he simply refused to open his door and the locksmith couldn't pick the lock

What kind of advice is this?! PU Leather will breakdown irrespective of whether it is used for contact or non contact areas. It will break down much faster when used for contact areas but it will still breakdown within 3 years in the non contact areas. PU Leather is only meant for consumers who like to change their sofas every 2 years as there are consumers who get bored of their sofas ever so often and PU Leather sofas offer them the perfect excuse to satisfy their cravings for new sofas all the time.

Yup, when you are looking at the high end leather sofa range that is build to last a lifetime, there is no way common upholstery materials for the seats and back support like foam block that is made out of polyurethane would be able to last beyond 15-20 years. Goose feathers and horse hairs are the traditional furniture fillings of choice for furniture that are expected to outlive you. Mahogany would be one of the best choice of wood for the wooden frame structure. Those big conical springs that I mentioned earlier needs to be expertly tied and secured in order to ensure that it will maintain a high level of firmness and bounce through the years of usage. It is all these little attention to details and efforts to source for only the best materials that set all these furnitures apart from the rest. 99% of all leather sofa retailers in Singapore claimed their leather sofas are made from Italian leather with a further 0.1% claiming that their leathers come specifically from Tuscany, Italy. Unlike their Italian Tannery brethren, Italian luxury car manufacturers like Ferrari and Maserati can sleep soundly each night knowing that no one in the world will even attempt to pass of any car as a Ferrari or Maserati. But all these Italian tanners must be silently cursing and swearing in the full knowledge that their Italian leathers have taken a severe dent in their reputation as consumers are left wondering how come their Italian leather sofa start peeling and flaking within 18 months or less.

Nice and u.nique design. Too bad you got shortchanged on the filling. Actually it is quite easy to know the quality of the filling from day one when you first set eyes on the piece if you sit on good quality fillings of a similar design often enough. There will be a certain bounce and firmness to it which will not change much over time.

1. Very hard to estimate what is the minimum price for a real full grain leather sofa because at that kind of quality level, the leather only forms 50% of the cost. I would be equally concerned that the best solid wood is used for the frame, good quality big conical springs on the jute webbings, coco fiber, Hessian and goose feathers, horse hairs for the natural fillings with absolutely no PU Foam or Foam of any kind to be used. My set budget is about $15-$18K Max for a 3+2+1 seater but I cannot find what I want at this price range, at least not in Singapore. I was told often enough to lower my expectations if I insist on not busting my set budget. 2. There is that 1% of Singapore retailer that really sell the real stuff but a single seater from them already exceeded $10K. I not that rich or crazy enough to want to help them cover their overheads for a couple of months. Like you, I am yearning for a leather sofa set that can last for the rest of my life and age beautifully with me but it is not going to happen anytime soon because it is really painful to spend so much $$$ on such a prized leather sofa and then have to constantly worry that no one including myself carelessly damages it for the next 25-40 years. The furniture industry will never made claims that the sofa you buy will only last 5 years at the most, except for Executive Living, so we shall see if this Lone Ranger furniture retailer will still be around for the next 5 years.

I went to their branch at Great World City some time in August this year just to try out all their office chairs for the fun of it. At least half of them were quite comfortable but none of those in the branch on that particular day were real leather. I think you were referring to their model CS-665E/PT VOGUE. You got to be careful when you use the word "Genuine Leather" because in the leather trade here, "Genuine Leather" includes "Bonded leather" which basically is unusable leather scraps bonded together with adhesives to form a single sheet of "leather", noticed I cannot bring myself to call it a Hide. Anyway, if you budget is below $500, it will be very challenging to find a real leather office chair even if it is half leather. For my future purchases, I will chose a fabric one and then send it over to a quality leather upholsterer like Jackspeed to do it up in real quality leather.

Typical lifespan is at least 25-40 years for a real full grain leather sofa. I have seen and sat on one that is 60 years old!Typical lifespan for 99% of all leather sofa sold here by 99% of all furniture retailers here in Singapore is less than 10 years. So far, the 2 most reliable mid range brands sold in Singapore that I have come across is Lorenzo and HTL but they still don't meet my expectations. 99% of all typical Singaporeans want cheap and good leather sofas at the same time so 99% of Singaporeans get conned 99% of the time because 99% of good leather sofas are never cheap. I have not bought and will probably never ever buy a 3+2+1 or 3+2 or 3+1 seater leather sofa set in Singapore because I will not be able to get the quality that I want at the right price.

Hey folwer, check this one out. I am making some enquiries on this round lounge sofa called the Delta Circle Sofa. I got influenced by your idea and thought I should be getting this for my living room as it is just me and my wife so it makes it more cosy for the both of us Unlke 99% of the crap leather sofas sold here in Singapore by 99% of the local furniture retailers, several of my Aussie friends including my relatives who migrated to Australia in the 80s swear by the quality of their leathers. http://www.kingfurniture.com.au/collection.htm

Actually you already have your answer there for you. You said you bought it 4 years ago and you didn't mentioned you have any issues with it till today so that means it is a decent piece of quality leather furniture. Many forum members' leather furniture did not last beyond 2 years with some even falling apart in under a year. Although it is obviously nice and reassuring to have the little information booklet that comes with it, it does not mean much though to be honest but still better than nothing, right?

At least with Ikea Leather Sofa, you know exactly what you are purchasing because they will inform you clearly in writing whether it is real leather or not. Ikea even tells you openly they are using split leather for the non seating & non contact areas.

Care to elaborate as to what went wrong with your furniture purchase?

I can accept Bonded leather for my office furniture but never for my own home furniture. In countries like New Zealand, it is against the law for any furniture retailer to market Bonded Leather as Genuine Leather.

The price tags on the lounge chairs look very familiar. Is it from Natural Living?

It is almost impossible for you to check whether the leather materials are from Italy on your own unless they are willing to furnish you with the documentary proof. But many of the company's staff are actually stationed on site at their factory operations in China so that may provide you with some reassurance but not much though.

It is an awesome price if it is in real leather as Cheers is an established brand. I recently bought a single seat leather recliner from Arte S.ofa at $1,100 so you can see the huge difference in pricing.