This Millennial-Favored Couch Just Got Pulled from Stores After This Scathing Online Review
Buying your first grown-up sofa is somewhat of a rite of passage. While mid-century modern style furniture might be the look we covet (think this IKEA collection), small budgets force millennials to look for the best bang for their buck. Enter the “Peggy” couch from West Elm. This ubiquitous favorite can be seen in bachelor pads and condos across the country, but for years, customer reviews have been less than favorable.
And yet, regardless of how many (or few) stars this couch had, you’d still see it in apartment after apartment — until recently. One writer took the time to destroy any goodwill it may have had left in the public’s eye, getting it pulled from shelves FOREVER.
Thank you @silviakillings for letting me write a truly deranged tirade about one of history's worst couches https://t.co/wtCSUOQvq3
— Anna Hezel (@HezelAnna) February 16, 2017
In a post for The Awl, writer Anna Hezel writes about how her “Peggy” didn’t only fall apart, it joined a long line of sofas of the same name that are shoddily made, broken, or breaking, with customers paying the cost. She mentioned a woman in Denver who wrote a 700 hundred word (!) Yelp review about the couch because she couldn’t leave a review on West Elm’s website.
A quick search of Twitter reveals that Hezel isn’t wrong: The couch has posed a problem with people for, well, forever.
So #disappointed with my @westelm #Peggy #couch. Major #design #flaw Buttons popping off new #sofa Can't say I'd ever #shop #westelm again
— Ashley Cantley (@AshCantley) August 4, 2015
@westelm just got Peggy couch & a button already fell out. Few others very loose. So frustrating. Can you help? pic.twitter.com/kqdtH8eupu
— youngna (@youngna) October 17, 2015
Mainly, the problems with the couch tend to be the terrible buttons (that always fall off) and its cheap legs that break and bend.
According to Hezel, West Elm has not been particularly helpful in repairing or replacing parts of the couch. Mysteriously, shortly after her post was published online, the couch disappeared from the company’s website completely. Buzzfeed reached out to some stores whose employees simply said the couch was “sold out,” but didn’t mention the article.
Incidentally, one of my friends bought a Peggy couch from West Elm. They said they delivered it but they didn't. And it was a whole thing.
— Jason Emory Parker (@jaspar) February 17, 2017
With no official word from West Elm, or its parent company, Williams-Sonoma, we can’t be entirely sure why the couches were pulled, but the timing is definitely suspicious. We guess we’ll wait and see what happens with #PeggyGate, but in the meantime, you’ll have to find a different affordable-yet-chic mid-century replica if you’re furnishing your place!
Do you have a “Peggy?” Tell us about it @BritandCo!
(h/t Buzzfeed, photos via West Elm)
