Bi-Cast Leather Couch Peeling Apart

A San Marcos woman said years after she bought a couch from Plummer’s Furniture, the couch is peeling apart.

“The leather comes off in little pieces that peel off,” Marianne Ash said. 

Marianne said there’s less and less of her couch to sit on every day because the surface of the couch is peeling and falling onto her living room carpet. 

“It was right in the door when you walked into the store,” Marianne said. 

Marianne said she fell in love with the couch when she first saw it at Plummer’s Furniture in San Marcos. She said she was looking for a chair and a couch in a nice wool or leather. 

“They told me it was leather and I’ve never had a leather sofa before,” Marianne said. 

Within two years of owning the furniture, she said her leather chair started peeling. So she said she gave it away and started using the couch. Two years after that, she says the couch started doing the same thing. 

“I’ve been using it but I had to put a cover over it to help minimize the peeling,” Marianne said. 

Marianne said when she looked at her original receipt, she saw the couch was made of what’s called “bi-cast leather”, a term she said she had never heard before. 

Bi-cast is similar to bonded leather and is created using a process where real leather scraps are mixed with a polyurethane top coat. Marianne said she contacted NBC 7 Responds after seeing stories showing examples of other consumers’ having similar problems with their furniture made of bi-cast or bonded leather. 

“You were on TV with another person having the same problem and I felt so sorry for that man because I knew what he was going through,” Marianne said. 

NBC 7 Responds learned Plummer’s Furniture changed its name to Scandinavian Designs in San Marcos. Art Gonzalez, the store manager told us he would look into Marianne’s complaint and two weeks later, Marianne got a call. 

“Real leather, genuine leather, he says he has one himself,” Marianne said. 

Gonzalez agreed to replace Marianne’s couch and arranged for her to come to their store and pick out a similar product, this time made with real leather. Gonzalez also agreed to pick up Marianne’s old couch and deliver the new furniture at no extra charge. 

In an email, Gonzalez said, “Scandinavian Designs is pleased to have satisfied our customer in this matter. We make our best effort to meet all of our customers' needs during every stage of the buying process, and beyond.” 

NBC 7 Responds has solved several consumer cases involving “bonded leather” products before. To learn more about genuine vs bonded leather, click here

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