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eliznewjersey

Desiccant in my new sofa -- anyone had this problem?

6 years ago

We finally received our custom sofa from Safavieh after three months. We were so excited -- it's a Lee sleeper "pop-up" sofa and feels really solid and looks great. Of course the first thing my kids wanted to do was use the pull-out feature -- which makes it into a large couch-bed by just pulling out the bottom part. Right away we noticed, however, with my kids bare legs stretched out, that there was a scratchy grit all over the couch and a very chemical smell to the upholstery. We vacuumed it, then vacuumed it again, then vacuumed it again and still the grit keeps coming--seemingly leaking out of the sofa itself--and the smell remains. It feels like sand and glints in the light. After being baffled I had an "aha!" moment and am pretty sure now that it's that desiccant that comes in those little packets in your shoes, purses, etc. We once ordered a cheap chaise from Amazon and the packs had broken open on the underside. But this, in my opinion, is not a cheap couch. After much research we decided to buy a Lee sofa from a Safavieh store because I thought I could trust a brick and mortar more than buying it online. Well, that's not turning out to be true. We have called and called and been told service is sending out someone to look at it, but no one has scheduled a time or called us since last Friday. In the meantime, I keep shooing my kids off the couch because I've read the desiccant can irritate skin or make them put a blanket down before sitting on it. The stuff just keeps coming out! It'll be two weeks soon that we've had the couch and I feel like they are just waiting for us to accept this and go away. I've also written to Lee with no response. Their website touts how "earth-friendly" their products are -- but the chemical smell coming off my sofa seems anything but earth-friendly. Any advice?

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