When our daughter moved in with us on April 11, 2023, my wife and I had decided that an affordable, no-nonsense sleeper-sofa was needed. Our girl, who was recovering from a traumatic brain injury, would be moving into my home office and using the spare bed. Because of my snoring, Annie and I may sleep separately. We only have two beds. Need demanded another, and couch convertible seemed sensible enough choice.
Additionally, our daughter would arrive wheel-chair dependent, and she would be a fall risk. Someone snoozing in the living room could keep somewhat extra vigil, should she be injured moving, or wheeling, about. Some shopping online later, Annie and I chose the Mercury Row Villatoro 66.1″ Armless Sofa Bed Sofa, from Wayfair, for $183.16 including sales tax on April 3. We were more than satisfied with the choice—until today.
What we liked: Simple setup, easy bed conversion, and light weight—but sturdy enough to support 600 pounds (eh, supposedly). While Annie sat on the thing this afternoon, one of the legs collapsed. She’s not a big girl. Even sitting together, we would be hundreds of pounds shy of the stated maximum load. Unsurprisingly, Annie was alarmed and aghast. The wooden peg-leg is intact, but the supporting structural piece is not.
I called Wayfair and explained that the leg collapsed. While friendly, the customer service representative essentially stated that the mishap was my problem: Ironclad return policy is 30 days, and we chose not to buy an extended warranty. Yeah, but the sofa is defective and buckled around 90 days—not during the first month.
We aren’t alone. In a verified buyer review on Wayfair’s website from Andrea on June 24: “This bed sofa lasted no more than four months with minimal use. I sat on it maybe four times. The one time more than one person sat on it, it broke. I do not recommend this futon/bed sofa”. Isabela, on June 1: “Terrible. After one day of use two normal sized people sat down and one leg broke (ripped off the fabric underneath). Really bad product. It’s cheap but it’s not worth it”.
The collapse occurred when I was walking an errand. Annie got together some items to support the sofa at comparable height to the three functional legs. They are central to the Featured Image, which I captured using Leica Q2; pay attention to the peg-leg being bent upward and off the ground. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/1.7, ISO 400, 1/15 sec; 8:44 p.m. PDT.
So that’s the story. We can no longer use the sofa for the primary purchase purpose. Our cat Neko can continue sleeping on it. One of us could sit on the opposite side but what if that leads the other to collapse, too. We have taken exceptionably good care of the sofa bed, which is all the more reason that both of us are mystified by what transpired.
Given that we believe the product was defective out of the box and because customer service showed zero accommodation, our first Wayfair purchase is our last. We should have ordered from Hayneedle, as would be typical for us.