I'd be interested to research more about Barcalounger. They went bankrupt a while ago, tried to reorganize, and eventually Ashley bought "assets only," to revive the name plate. I've not encountered any of the newly minted models yet. I don't know whether or not they have anything in common with the Barcalounger versions of years ago or not.

Thank you, Petesmom! The Lane I've been eyeing is the most styish with excellent leather and is quite comfortable. It's a very good buy at the moment.

Bobsmyuncle--you can go to barcalounger.com to read their current info about their manufacturing, quality, etc. I was unable to find out any more info (i.e. who owns them now, where they're made, etc.), but the furniture store might have been able to tell me.

Thanks to you both!

I have to take manufacturer's claims with a grain of salt, because, after all, what would you expect them to say?

It appears as of late last year some of the custom lines are domestic, the rest are imported. The imported part is what I read when they first got acquired.

Here is a link that might be useful: US Made line

Sailor Mass I think those are three good possibilites. At least Barcoulounger was always considered well made although I am not certain about their current situation. I will tell you during the recession I knew of many small retailers who said that without Best Chairs they wouldn't be in business. Among retailers it is considered a good value and a "hot" line from a selling perspective.

Thanks, Freethinker! The Best was very comfortable. It's the same price as the Lane. I'm a bit uneasy about the electric reclining feature, just because I've heard that they can be problematic on even high end recliners. Again, thanks for your advice!

Sailor Mass I have the same concerns about the electric reclining feature. Over time if there is a problem they can be diffciult to repair. Parts not available etc.

I just realized that my husband's huge recliner is a Beast from Best. We've had it for five years, it's a microfiber material, and it has held up very well. The chair has been seriously abused by roughhousing teens, large H, a toddler's jumping, and a dog. The fabric cleans easily.
The manual recline mechanism works fine. Cushion on seat, back, and arms is still good. It is giant, marketed for big people. I am impressed by its durability, even though it's a huge eyesore in my living room, LOL.

Lane = Garbage. Construction is OSB, Stapled and glued. No screws. Low quality Mechanism, Low density foam, collapses in about 4 months. I looked a La-Z-Boy just recently, and the same applies there. OSB, very thin gage mechanism. They give you a lifetime replacement warranty on the mechanism. That means that if you are registered, and if you have the serial and model number of the mechanism they will send you a new mechanism. You have to put it in. Not a problem for most people with a couple of basic tools, but is this what you had in mind when you bought their product?

My experience with furniture sales people and the crap they sell nowadays is slightly below used car salesman. Our acceptance of offshore made garbage has done this to us in this country.

Barcalounger is made in China. I do not know if they are any good any more but they do use a Legett and Platt (sp?)Mechanism, but of course there are several grades of LP mechanisms also.

I do not know about Best, but I will see what I can find.

Boy has this country gone to hell. Thanks Billy Boy for NAFTA

I have had Lane for 5 years and just recently the springs are sagging (had 5 yrs warranty). Recliners work fine. Bought from NC.

I have had a Lane reclining sofa, loveseat and chair for the last 25 years. They are still in good shape (fabric and upholstery) have held up nicely except the chair is slightly broken down...but after 25 years I can't complain. Two of the reclining mechanisms have broken so I am in the market to replace the furniture. My husband and I have been shopping for weeks now, looking at LayZboy, Lane, Best, Flexsteel and others too numerous to mention. Our most recent exposure has been to Best. We have never heard of them and went looking for reviews. I would buy another Lane in an instant, but have concerns that the company has undergone restructuring changes that have affected quality. Also heard that they no longer do custom orders - that what you see is what you get. We found a LayZboy we like, with customizations, but can't get a a wall-hugger. We found a Flexsteel, but can't get the fabric we want in that model. We found a Best that we like, wall-hugger and suitable fabric, but don't know the quality. Any help would be appreciated.

confusedliz:

I have a Best recliner that I purchased in 2000 at America's Best Furniture (or something like that) in Fort Collins CO. It's been through three moves, and is now 14.5 years old. I have loved it. I am having a hard time finding a replacement, I've been shopping around, and I want another one. The cushioning has held up well, the mechanism works great, no squeaks. The fabric has held up well (mine wasn't leather) except on the footrest where people would sit with their shoes and grind at it - but I just sewed it up about 5 years ago on and it's looking good. At this point I am worried the cushion isn't good enough anymore but it is still comfy. It had these angled cushion armrests and I could sit cross-legged or other funky positions or sleep in it. Actually over the last three years I have been sleeping in it many nights - I have ear ringing which is not as bad when I am reclined vs. flat on the bed, and it has never made my back hurt or anything in the morning - until just recently it's a little thin on cushion around the lumbar.

I looked at FlexSteel Westport - I loved the feel. But they are getting a really bad rap on GardenWeb (particularly their poor leather) so I am going to keep shopping. I didn't like any of the La-z-boys I looked at, just weren't my style. Overall I loved the style and feel of my Best and am looking for something similar.

I purchased a Lane accent recliner at Bozcov. One month later I returned it because the fabric was slipping. I proceeded to add more money and purchased a leather look recliner on sale for 599.00. This chair is not even a year old and it's ready for spring clean-up. I have three little kids and you would think it should last more than a year. Very disappointed in the quality of furniture being made. You can't even trust the brand names of past...

9

For the most part most recliners have plywood frames and mechanisms from a company like Leggett and Platt. In this sense most recliners are pretty similar. What you want to look at is the quality of the cushioning, tailoring and upholstery. In my opinion a solid hardwood frame is also preferable.

Lost in Greenwood, Indiana

I did my homework on recliners and bought a Beast Recliner. Never in my life have a bought a bigger piece of _ _ _ _. Six weeks and they replaced the seat cushion and put extra padding in the lower back, seven weeks later again replaced seat cushion but this time they put one inside of the other to make one big cushion, lasted six weeks. Factory send a new style only lasted six weeks, the repair man did all he could and said call owner he will fix it. Nope! I now have a $800 dollar recliner that I cant use. Owner said I said I sat in it to much and the padding gave out, sorry but that is why I bought the damn thing. I am six feet tall weight 285 so chair should last longer than six weeks. So if you want to buy a chair for looks that is the one just don't let anyone sit in it.

What ever you do!.... Don't buy HOMESTRETCH FURNITURE !!! They sell with no intention of pleading customers... Cushions will sink in within a month of purchase

Wonder what sailormass finally bought and how happy they are with it.

I bought 2 Lazy boy recliners 3 years ago. Within 3 months, the "leather" color was coming off. I contacted the retailer and was told that heart medicine would cause that. Neither my husband or I take heart medicine. The replaced the back on one of the chairs. Within a year, the back and arms of the chairs were almost colorless.

Lazy boy customer care gave me a list of all the possible causes...shampoo, body oils, medicines, on and on and on... After she finished her list, I asked her why my other leather furniture wouldn't have done the same thing. She said that leather is like any other skin, different things affect it differently. What a load of junk. I am so disappointed with a brand that I thought was top of the line. Those recliners cost $700 apiece. I will not even donate that junk, as I consider it unusab

A better name for The Best Home Furnishing Company is "The Worst Home Furnishings Company" when it comes to customer service and standing behind their products. Don’t walk away from this brand, RUN QUICKLY! My wife and I live in Minnesota, but have a park model home in Estero, FL. We purchased a Best Home Furnishings recliner in February of 2016 from

a furniture store in Naples, FL. Our home in FL is only occupied for two weeks in November, and the months of February and March each year. When we arrived in November of 2018, we noticed that the fabric was cracking on the headrest. Our home is air conditioned all year round, has proper humidity, the windows are tinted, and we have shades that are closed when we are gone. Furniture could not have a better environment to sit in.

I took the back of the chair off in November of 2018 and took it to Kanes Furniture where we purchased the chair. My goal was to simply replace the back. We were informed that model had been discontinued so no back was available. That should have been my first clue to how Best Home Furnishings handles a chair that has problems……just discontinue it. The next thing we were told is the chair is out of warranty. I explained that I understand there is a calendar warranty, but further explained how little the chair had been used. I felt that the company should stand behind it due to the little wear and tear this chair had actually incurred, and I was sure there was a problem with the material used to cover this model chair. I totaled up the number of days that anyone could have sat in the chair, and it was 189. We had two Flexsteel recliners in our home in Minnesota that provided over 30 years of trouble free service. Speaks volumes to the old saying, “you get what you pay for”.

The furniture store at least listened to me and provided the phone number of manufacturer of the chair, The Best Home Furnishings Company in Ferdinand, Indiana. (at least this was where my call went) When you call with a complaint the first thing you will find is the people who answer the phone have been trained to get rid of you quickly. They have no intention to let you talk to anyone of authority. After a firm back and forth with the lady that answered the phone she finally told me “I am just doing my job”. Really? Discarding a customer with a concern about your product is your job?

Fortunately, I was able to push through to someone up the ladder named Pat. Three voice mails and a week later Pat did call me back. From their website and years in business I was sure I would find Best Home Furnishings a reputable company that would be concerned about this product’s failure and would want to have a discussion and find common ground…... NOT THE CASE. Once on the phone with Pat, I repeated what I told Kane’s Furniture and assumed Pat would be familiar with this problem and work with me to find a fair solution……not a chance. Pat is very well trained to hear your concern and then repeat "sorry, it is out of warranty and we can’t help you” multiple times until the discussion ends. He made no effort to keep us as a customer. It was obvious he just wanted to discard us as quickly as he could. The lack of finding a phone number on their website should have been a excellent indicator to me of their customer service. If it is there, they have done a good job of hiding it. Speak with a customer, good heavens, that’s a concept from the 20th century!! The only manner of contact I could find on the site was to email them.

Before you purchase any product made by The Best Home Furnishings Company from a furniture store, you may want to visit the Better Business Bureau website and read about them. The BBB shows 32 complaints about this company for various reasons. In addition, on Google they are only able to achieve a 3.6 star rating. I have been self employed for over 40 years, am 65 years old and do not make a habit of writing negative reviews. The Best Home Furnishing Company brags about being in business since 1962 and quality of their furniture building process. It is obvious to me that the original owners of this company are no longer active as I am sure they would have met this problem with a completely different attitude….the attitude that cared about customer satisfaction, quality furniture, and allowed The Best Home Furnishings Company to grow and prosper.

Lastly, I will “venture a guess” the reason they took the “cut & run” attitude with me is there are probably hundreds or thousands of customers across America just like me that have a Best Chair with the same defective cover. Class Action Lawsuit time? Let's band together and send a message. When a quality company has a problem with a product, they either extend the warranty or have a recall to make sure people get taken care of. Not run from the problem like The Best Home Furnishings Company is doing. Most successful companies want repeat customers. Shame on you!

Dave Nolander

wow. BEST furniture still the same! I was prepared to purchase their chair and a half mission style sleeper even though pricey. Only 2 views of chair and the pull out sleeper pic was covered by a bedspread. A number of questions the dealer could not answer referred me to the company. The person I emailed with nae Barbara King at first told me for the few fabric slections I was interested in she could get me the manufacturer's "double rub count" for each. For my question about a picture of the mattress and mechanism, she referred me back to the dealer who had said he had none. 2nd email she referred me again back to the dealer for both questions. I checked BBB. Only found one complaint? I love the chair, but am very leery based on this CSR experience. I am also looking at a washable covers model from pottery barn and one through Amazon's Stone and Beam brand but can not find out who the manufacturer of that brand is! For what the cost is, you would think all these companies would be better at everything. The pottery Barn rep was pushy for the sale, couldn't answer most of my questions especially about freight cost. Told me to do a "dummy" order

I have a navy blue leather BarcaLounger. It is less than four years old and cost $1100. The navy blue is turning green in places and I don’t think I have any recourse because the warranty only covers one year on leather!
I have an Italian leather living room set that is 20 years old and the leather is softer and more comfortable than ever. It never occurred to me that leather would come with a one year warranty! I have learned my lesson and will do my due diligence on the next purchase.

This is not comparing Lane and Best, it's instead adding Hancock and Moore, Bradington and Young and Century. HM is Very expensive, followed by BY then C. HM and C share a factory so you can get the same fabrics and leathers for each. HM is by far and away the most superior and comfortable furniture money can buy and the price confirms it. You get what you pay for with HM, BY and C. Another brand that used to be great, it's been a decade so I don't know anymore, is Lexington. My 16 year old sofa is in amazing condition, cushions still full after years of daily use by kids and dogs. It's all about the leather quality. It is very high quality.