Sofa

Episode #816

September 21, 2024

My sofa was uncomfortable for one of my favorite activities: falling asleep watching TV.

My wife and I were browsing through the general merchandise displays in the center of the Costco warehouse. There it was… a three seat leather sofa. It featured electric adjustable headrests and an electric zero wall clearance reclining mechanism.

The sofa caressed our bodies with full support and adjustability. Watching TV in a comfortable reclined position was guaranteed. Love that Costco satisfaction guarantee.

The price was half what we paid for the old sofa at Ashley. There was no delivery or assembly available from the store, but an attendant suggested looking online at Costco.com.

Back at home, I found the same sofa at Costco’s website. There was a small increase in the price which covered the delivery and assembly. An excellent customer service person verified the minimum door opening required for the delivery. We were golden.

This was a limited inventory item so I placed the order.

Moments after I ordered the sofa a worrying thought occurred to me. How will I get the old sofa out of the house?

I had not watched the assembly of the old Ashley sofa. A peek inside at the mechanism revealed an Automaton of springs levers and bolts. Which of the numerous bolts should I remove to remove the sofa from my house?

I dug through my file cabinet to find the original sofa invoice and work order. I found it, but there were no assembly instructions.

I called Ashley customer service. It was an inscrutable phone tree which ended with clueless support personnel with charming, but indecipherable Indian accents. When these support persons failed to find assembly instructions I called the corporate parts department. Parts was sympathetic and English speaking, but the best they could do was a pictorial parts list without a word about assembly.

I was inclined to cancel my order for the new sofa. The delivery date for the Costco sofa was now only four days away.  Not willing to give up, I stopped by my local Ashley store. There I met Nyckole, a true and talented customer service person.

Nyckole confirmed that there were no assembly instructions available. Contract installers were used to do the actual in home assembly. She gave me the number of the Colton warehouse where installers were dispatched. I planned to call them after the weekend. 

Nyckole was also a wizard with Google. A couple of YouTube searches revealed furniture mover made videos of how to disassemble a modular recliner like mine.

Back at home I zeroed in on a standard detail of many sofas. Most like mine have two “L” rails that span across the three sofa modules. There are 12 bolts which double as floor glides. I flipped the sofa over and removed the 12 bolt glides. The rails came off and the three sections of sofa fell apart. No need to call Ashley warehouse installers, problem solved.

It was still three days before the new sofa arrived so I fastened the bolt glides back onto the module frames. Each of the two recliners and the center chair stood by themselves, stable.

Solutions can be illusive, but focus, determination and stubbornness can often lead to simple resolution.

Falling asleep on my new sofa is now easier than ever.

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