Why are Recliner Mechanisms more problematic?

[baileyuph]

Cheaper materials?

They aren't really, just more in use?

Bigger people?

The service request on these units is surely increasing.  Is this simply another item being made off shore by the cheapest bidder?  In contrast to the problems seen today, they were not noted to be this problematic, some 20 years ago, with the La-Z-Boy equipment.

Any insights?

Think this is a passing fad and their popularity will wane?

What's your thoughts?

Doyle

[mike802]

Around here I see recliner deals all the time, "buy two for $399.00" how can anybody expect to get anything but junk for this price today?  I get people needing repair work on the mechanisms all the time, but usually I just replace them if the company can even source a replacement.  They bend and twist and become loose, its like the metal has no temper in it at all.  The cable pulls break and fixing them can run close the the cost of a new recliner and there is no way I am going to guarantee any repair work on such junk.  It makes me laugh, these company's marketing throw a way junk, but advertise green materials and try to look eco friendly.  What a joke.

[sofadoc]

My observation is cheaper materials combined with bigger people.
The more obese a customer is, the cheaper their recliner (I know....makes no sense). Only explanation is: The less money you spend on furniture, the more you have left for pizza and double cheeseburgers.

Reminds me of cigarettes in the 60's. Our govt. knew then that they were causing a serious health crisis, but they were just making too much money off cigs to ban them. Same today with the fast food industry.

While most of the recliners that I fix are poor quality, I'm absolutely convinced that many of them would last several years if they were in my home. Why? Because I don't get a running start from halfway across the room and leap into it. And while I definately could stand to lose some weight, I don't weigh 200 lbs. more than the recliner was designed for.

Furniture store salesmen know that a cheap recliner isn't going to withstand a family of 300 pounders, but they aren't going to say anything that cause them to miss a sale. Anyway, they'll just sell them another one in about a year.

[byhammerandhand]

Most common problems I see are rivet holes wearing oversize, mechanism arms breaking, and D-ring cable pulls breaking.  I did have one 400 pound guy who sheared off a rivet, but that was about the only instance of that.

So I would say, yes, quality of manufacture -- there's no reason why they can't use a stronger steel or heat treat the components, other than cost.  The job I just finished was a bed ledger strip that broke off.  5 drywall screws held a soft wood in place.  Screws pulled out and the strip fractured in the middle.  I added longer screws, real wood screws, and glued it onto the bed rail.   There's no reason the mfr could not have done that, other than adding another 50 cents labor and materials to the $3000 bed.

I just installed a new mech on Monday.  I got the OEM replacement from a well-known brand and was surprised to see that it was made in China.  Another customer recently -- the manufacturer had gone out of business, and the OEM supplier could not get a replacement as it was Made in China and only sold in China.

[kodydog]

Cheaper materials?
They aren't really, just more in use?
Doyle

Hammer nailed it. There is no comparison of the steel used in mechanisms 30 or 40 years ago compared to today. Same for hide-a-beds. The metal and rivets are worthless. Mechanisms then would last 20 years. A recliner could be recovered 2 or 3 times, no problem. A salesman once told me recliners today are designed to last 5 years max. Then just go out and buy a new one. There cheep enough, why not?

[sofadoc]

A salesman once told me recliners today are designed to last 5 years max.

I have a buddy who is a paint contractor. He says that the exterior of a home should be repainted every 5 years. I don't know anybody that gets their home repainted that often.

Underwriter's Laboratories recommends that you replace every extension cord in your home every 90 days. I've got some that are over 20 years old.

If all of these "2 fer $399" recliners really would last 5 years, I'd say they're a pretty good deal. But they seldom do.

[baileyuph]

Recliners, the cheap renditions, are not lasting nearly five years in my market. They aren't, believe me, lasting two years. People are just using them broken if they have them longer.  

We get considerable service on recliners less than a year old, want to hear the rest, you can't buy them, nor many of them, for $300. More like $500 plus or minus.  

If it isn't the mechanism, it is the frame that breaks.  

Frames are just not made to support abuse and people over about 225 pounds. Not to belabor, but people are so sedentary these days, it really challenges any chair, recliners being more vulnerable.

The mechanisms are an interesting study, I think that one would be discussed under a different thread. Keith (Hammer) made some interesting comments, I did not know a lot, or most, or all (which ever) were made off shore. Not to be unreasonably critical of off shore producers, but it does seem the steel and stamping is weaker. But, if people didn't buy the stuff, it wouldn't be made that cheaply, factories have to do what it takes to stay IN business. If consumers want it cheap, then who is the blame?

Doyle

[gene]

kodydog:  

Hammer nailed it.

I got it. Good one.   ;D

gene

[byhammerandhand]

Oh yea, I see a lot of frame breakage, too.  Not so much on recliners, but in general.  Most frames I see these days are primarily plywood, OSB, and sometimes particle board.   it's a sorry state of plywood these days -- lots of voids, low density woods, and anywhere between 7 and 13 layers because the layers are laid up so haphazardly.    Then the joints are stapled.   Often under the rule that "If a few staples are good, more are more good."  So a 3/4" x 1" joint might have 8 staples in it.  Result: wood is seriously weakened.  Even worse a quarter of the staples miss the underlying board - so they add no strength but only weaken.  Even when solid wood is there, it's often softwood, or wood that is not much fit for pallets -- rot, grain run out, knots.   I was surprise to see a set this summer made from 2x4s on the frame.

But hey, it's good money to repair them.

If you do repair or reinforce them, remember the formula for beam strength: strength is proportional to the cube of the dimension resisting the stress.    Example.  You have a 1x2 board that has stress in the 2" direction.   Add another 1x2 next to it (so you have a 2x2) and you have doubled the strength.   Add a 1x2 next to it so you have a 1x4 and you have increased the strength by 8 -- 4 times as much as a simple "sistering."

If it isn't the mechanism, it is the frame that breaks.  

[mike802]

Do consumers really know what they are buying?  I also see recliner frames break, many break because they can not hold up to the pressure the springs apply to the joints, with or without anyone actually sitting in them.  Plywood joined together with staples that blow out the adjoining wood.  I have talked with many recliner owners who are frustrated with buying not just recliners, but all their upholstered furniture over and over.  They tell me with total disbelief in their eyes that they bought "top of the line furniture".  The first thought in my mind is top of whose line?  These poor people fall for the salesman's line of top of the line, thinking they are getting top quality, nothing could be farther from the truth.  But once someone is sold, its hard to unsell them, even if their prized purchases is dissolving in front of their eyes.  They want to believe it, they want to believe, they can buy a quality recliner, or what ever for a cheap price, I mean hey it looks good on the outside right?  I was taught growing up that quality, even though more expensive initially, was less expensive in the long run because it didn't have to be replaced, this lesson seams to be lost on the consumers of today.  I build and sell handcrafted furniture, wooden and upholstered.  Most of my reupholstery customers do not feel they can afford it, so they keep replacing that sofa or what ever over and over, in the long run spending much more on furniture than if they just bought quality to begin with.  I had a customer last month who spent over three grand having me reupholster a chair and a half in leather, it was one of those modern huge chairs we see a lot of today, yes it was plywood furniture, junk.  She could have bought one of my handcrafted chairs for around twenty five hundred and it would have lasted several generations.  Go figure. I guess she didn't feel she could afford handcrafted furniture.

[sofadoc]

We got one of those cutesy family Christmas cards last year. In the picture, the obese wife and daughters were gathered around the obese dad, who was sitting in his recliner (might as well show him in his natural habitat). His daughters were flanked on each arm of the recliner. His legs were spread out enough so that his 8 year old son (who was well on his way to childhood obesity) could sit in front of him...on the footrest!!!

It wasn't an audio card, but I swear I could hear the recliner creaking.

These cheap recliners actually would last people a little longer if they would just follow a simple rule:
The arms, back, and footrest of a recliner were designed to support the weight of human arms, backs, and feet.....not the entire body.

It's ironic that when we were kids, we had furniture that probably could've withstood such mistreatment, but we'll never know, because we would've been slapped silly for climbing on the non-seating areas.

If you raise a dog on table scraps, it's hard to get him to eat dry dog food again. Once he's had a taste of people food, he doesn't even recognize dog food as something edible. You could put him on a desert island with nothing but a big bag of dry dog food, and he'd lay there and starve to death. Same with kids and junk food.

I'm not discounting that cheap mechs and frames are the main cause of recliner failures, but broken down recliners are only one of the many by-products of an obese society. 

If any overweight people reading these comments are offended, please understand that I wouldn't be saying these things if I weren't also overweight. I weigh 220. I should weigh 170. I've scarfed down way too many burgers and pizza myself.

[gene]

I'm not offended that you are calling me fat, sofaD. I am offended that you would insult my recliner! It's a 'top of the line' model. I got it on sale: 2 for $399.00.

Hey, if my butt gets too big, I can have the kids sit on the right arm of one recliner and the left arm of the other and break them off. Then I could put the two recliners together, put one butt cheek on one seat and the other butt cheek on the other seat. Now that would make for a great X-mas card picture!

Last week a designer was telling me about one of her prospects and I said, "It sounds like they are wanting custom work at a WalMart price." She said yes, yes, yes. That's what these people are doing. LOL

Custom work is more expensive than Walmart, people. Hello?!?

Only an idiot would go into a Mercedes dealership and complain about the price of Mercedes by saying that they can get a new Hyundai for under $10,000.

gene

[byhammerandhand]

In thousands of clients' homes that I've been in the most common thing I hear is, "I paid a lot of money for this furniture."    The only one I remember that said differently said something like, "Well, I guess that's what you get when you buy a leather sofa and loveseat for $499."

[baileyuph]

This really happened, a customer was upset with a cheap piece of furniture needing work and during his ranting he was happy to announce he had a $700 cell phone.  I say happy, he announced it anyway.

No one is proud of their furniture but everyone is proud of their electronic devices.   The big screens are selling and now and then, If I heard it right, they are spending well over three thousand bucks for them.  Yet, they will only spend $300 or so on a recliner.

Values have changed, will better furniture ever be appreciated, probably not on the average. 

If one stops and thinks, I would venture that people today do not know what a Drexel, Heritage, or a Henredon furniture product is?

Times change,

Doyle

[sofadoc]

I told this story before about the repair work that I do for a major "rent-to-own" chain (that starts with two A's).
Not only was the woman complaining about how much she paid for her furniture, but she factored in the total of her interest payments. I couldn't make her understand that finance charges don't count toward her percieved value of the sofa. All she knew was, that she paid nearly 3 grand for her sofa and loveseat, and now they were falling apart.