Thanks. Do you know of any place online that is reliable to get cores? The local furniture store has someone who does this (and re-upholstery) but it's expensive and also somewhat drawn out - like 6-12 weeks.

I'd go local so you can talk to a person and feel a sample of what you're getting. Years ago, I had three pieces re-upholstered and I was very specific that I wanted everything old stripped off and only new materials used. They called three days after they picked up the furniture and said they couldn't use the old cores and new ones would be $45 each. I told them the quote included new cores and besides, one of the couches was so old the stuffing was horsehair. They said they'd cost $45 each. I told them to go ahead and when they delivered the furniture and put it in place, I wrote a check for the quoted price.

Did you buy this online or is there a retailer that you can go to and make a fuss?

I bought it from Furnitureland South, out of state. Basically, they have you email them & they email the manufacturer and then they email me back... so it's been 3 weeks of emails like this email chain situation. I could've just called the upholstery person by now and been half way through the waiting period. I just don't get how they can look at that pic and say it's normal. It's not like these cores are going to cost them $1000 that it's so worth fighting over.

That's hilarious the stuffing was horse hair! My mom bought a Baker furniture set when she first got married in the 70s and they still have it at their house. Out of curiosity, I looked at the label and even back then, they did down wrapped foam (which, 50 years later - is now looking like the pic in my original post... but that one took 50 years to flatten out). They've been much happier with Century
in the main family room, and I am kicking myself now for not getting Century - as that was my second choice but I wanted it to feel like my old 2006 sofa.from Huntington House.... or even my cheap-o sofa from Jordan's.

Furnitureland South has STILL not delivered the replacement cushions and it is May (I contacted them in Feb - this post was a few weeks later). They don't even have a date it can be expected. They promised to have an update by the end of this week, but of course there was no update. The place (combined with Huntington House - who still has not delivered the cores to them) has the most incompetent people I have ever seen. I guess their size convinces a lot of people to do business there but what a huge mistake. And Huntington House continues to hide under stores' private labels so nobody knows what they're ordering. I was so close to getting something from Century or King Hickory & can't believe this mistake.

Yea, I asked them in February... 50 emails later - still nothing as of May 3. It's really getting on my nerves.

Just a question, have you actually opened up a zipper and seen what is inside the cushion and compared it with what your other sofa has?

Yeah. You can't really see much because it's wrapped, though. It's just foam with dacron around it. My older / cheaper sofa doesn't have the encasement so you can see the foam and layer of dacron on each side. That foam is much more resilient. My older Huntington House sofa from 2006 also has wrapped cores, but those never had an issue.

This is such an easy fix.

Huntington House is a division of Rock House Brands - (Hancock & Moore, Century, Maitland Smith Jessica Charles, Pearson, Hickory Chair, etc)., and I personally know the owner and CEO - Alex Shufford III, and this is not how he runs the companies. They are very customer orientated.

What I see from the photos is you prefer a firmer cushions core. You may have something like an 18 oz density core in the existing unit, and a 21 oz core is more suitable for you. It's a simple matter to send you a new set of cores to put in your sofa, I probably do this three times a month for my customers who get a new sofa and decide its too soft for them.

Highland House will be glad to do this for you, I'm sure - you just have to get to the right person. These are engineered cores and not something you want to have to buy aftermarket. Cores are not stocked, they are made to order and it takes about 3 weeks once the order is submitted before they show up at your doorstep. A good dealer won't bat an eyelash on getting these for you as it doesn't cost them anything, they just have to write up the order.

Some dealers could care less about customer service - all they care about is the next sale. If you really have (50) emails back and forth with your dealer and no reply, then call Highland House direct and ask to speak to their Customer Service Manager. This should all be resolved in less than 5 minutes.

Stay with Dupont Qualux Foam, don't go spring down or any kind of down. Find out what the standard density is for your model unit (again, the customer service manager can assist) and plus it one firmness. I can just about guarantee this will fix the issue. Good luck,

- Duane Collie, owner of The Keeping Room

Duane, thanks for the post. The sofa I have is from Huntington House, not Highland House. It's separate from Rock House brands. I contacted the head of marketing at HH via an email I saw on Houzz that she left. This was over a month ago. She can't do anything because she said it has to be done through Furnitureland South, the dealer. They will not work directly with customers.

Spring down is what I requested 3 months ago... based on the fact I sat on the Century Cornerstone in spring down and it seemed to be what I wanted. I figured it would be hard to flatten out a cushion that has actual metal springs in it... but I guess I could be wrong. Their only other option is called "crown reflex" - and they do not provide the density numbers. However, I sat on it in a showroom that re-sells returns, and it felt like a rock. So, the only main other option seemed to be spring down. Pure down (down wrapped foam) is comfortable too - but only for a few weeks & then it's a pancake.

> This should all be resolved in less than 5 minutes.

I agree 100%. That's why I've had it with them since I first called about it in February. Then, when they proved to be useless & were not responding to me (10 days would go by for every correspondence) - I contacted Huntington House directly. But, that person couldn't send me cores.

I could've had a new sofa by now altogether. It's just extremely frustrating. I could've bought this locally instead of going through FLS to save money.

I had really good experiences going through Furnitureland South for some warranty-type work with 2 different manufacturers. I'd give them a little more time...maybe ask when they could have the next steps in place...

If what you say is true, Aaron, that really is terrible customer service.Can you not return the sofa altogether? Also, is it possible that something is broken in the frame? Have you tried swapping cushions with your old sofa?

@Duane Collie: What brands do you carry? Do you have out-of-state customers?

Sammy, they're different sizes/models. The frame is fine. It's honestly just the core of the cushion. I found the initial email they sent after I called on Feb 18. As of now, Furnitureland received it from the vendor (Huntington House) today & I am not sure how they're getting it to me after today.

If it does take 3 weeks, as Duane said - they could've told me it would be 3 weeks from whatever day they ordered it in February... but they didn't bother to tell me anything. It's been 11 weeks at this point. If I knew that, I would've just had someone fix it out here & paid.

Sorry a lot of this is just me venting at this point. I work from home a lot (but was traveling for April so I stopped paying attention to this) & so I kind of of live on my sofa.,..which just makes it more annoying than if it was in that type of living room where nobody sits.

The rest of the sofa will turn to junk in short order. Guarantee you this isn't the end. You don't even want to know what has happened to quality in upholstery since 2006. You must go far up the food chain to get it, and even THOSE manufacturers are not what they were in 2006. That applies to all, even the Baker luxury, while the best......is less than at that time.

I don't want to talk about it, I live it daily and I don't let clients get junk.

I was at a clients home the other day. She is QUITE heavy, weighs far more than you. We bought chairs for her den in 1995. They've been re done three times to suit decor. No new foam, nothing but the fabric change. They look brand new, despite she is never out of them for long. I remarked to her..............."You better die in that chair. You will never get that quality again. From ANYONE". The chairs were modestly priced/custom Michael Thomas, (long gone ), and they came from a long gone venue . JC Penney Portfolio. Who "killed" the Michael Thomas brand? Calico Corners. MT went into the greed business, and CC beat the crap out of them for pricing and profit, until they also kicked the crap out of the quality and then...............sayonara.

Keep buying this online ready to go stuff folks. There won't be a decent source left on this planet. It began with the "I'll get it cheaper in NC.... killed the brick and mortar furniture stores, then killed and are killing the furniture industry, and now? You have what you have. Mostly less, and still paying.....MORE to get that "less"

Apologies for the rant. Won't say its an undeserved result, but . Read between the lines.

My apologies! That's what happens when you answer posts late at night <g>. I did confuse the two brands. and mixed up Highland with Huntington in my head.

Core softness / firmness is a matter of preference of course, and after 33 years in the furniture business I see a preference for firmer rather than softer in today's market. Most companies allow a customer / dealer to alter the cores at time of order and it's something I spend some time with on my in-store customers to try to get right. Even then, some clients are dissatisfied with the sit on their order and its really not difficult to make it right, provided that manufacturer offers choices in cores (This is not going to be an option with most imports, however).

All cushion cores are sourced outside the maker and are not done in-house. The manufacturers order them as needed from third party suppliers, and typically replacements will ship direct from that supplier to the customer. These cores are actually more complex that most people realize, so it's good to get them from the original source. I've never had to have a customer wait more than 3 weeks for cores (domestic product), it only takes the dealer 5 minutes to order them - so long delays are the fault of the selling dealer rather then the maker/supplier. You should not have this much of a battle over a set of seat cores, sorry to hear that.

If you are not getting any satisfaction from whom you are dealing with at Furnitureland South, perhaps go up a level or two to management. They have a large operation so I'm sure they have tiered layers of staff. Don't give up - this is easily fixable.

Sammy: Yes, I do a lot of out-of-state business but I don't spend money to advertise so you won't see my store name out there but through Google searches. In upholstery lines, I'm a top tier dealer for Hancock & Moore (they build best in the industry), Century, Taylor King, Jessica Charles, Bradington Young and some dabbling in Hooker for customers seeking lower price points.

- Duane Collie