If you live in Dubai, you’ve probably heard about Dragon Mart. That enormous Chinese-themed mall where you can find everything from fake plants to custom furniture. My girlfriend and I had a specific sofa in mind and decided: let’s just have this made at Dragon Mart. How difficult could it be?
Well, let me take you through our adventure. Spoiler alert: it didn’t go quite as planned.
The Sofa of Our Dreams
My girlfriend had found a beautiful sofa via Pinterest. A modern design with organic, rounded shapes and a lovely wooden base in Italian Wood. The problem? This sofa wasn’t made in the UAE and certainly had never been produced by anyone at Dragon Mart.
But hey, everywhere in Dragon Mart you see signs saying “Custom Made” and “Any Size, Any Colour”. So why not?
How We Chose the Seller
We headed to Dragon Mart on a Saturday, armed with photos of the sofa on our phone. What I quickly learnt: practically every little furniture shop in Dragon Mart makes a handful of standard sofas to measure. You can customise everything. The filling can be soft, medium or firm. You choose the fabric yourself. The dimensions, the height of the armrests, basically everything can be adjusted to your requirements.
We visited several little shops and the prices varied considerably. For our sofa, we received quotes between 3000 and 4000 dirhams, approximately €750 to €1000 (£630 to £840). Oh yes, and all prices are exclusive of VAT, there’s an additional 5% on top of that.
Eventually we narrowed it down to two sellers. One offered it for 4000 dirhams, the other went from 4000 down to 3600 dirhams (€900 / £756). We chose the second option.
This Was the Agreement
The seller grabbed pen and paper and made an amateurish sketch drawing of the sofa. With arrows, dimensions in centimetres, the colour, and the agreed delivery day. He assured us that we could send the original sofa via WhatsApp, so he would know exactly what we wanted.
“No problem, we make exactly same!” he said enthusiastically.
The sofa would take a bit longer than normal due to the custom design. We understood that. We agreed: delivery on 25 September.
And Then the Waiting Began
On 22 September I messaged him to confirm the delivery day.
“Sorry, will be Sunday 28 September.”
Okay, three days later. No problem, these things happen.
28 September: no response. I sent a message for an update.
“Tomorrow sir.”
29 September: nobody.
30 September: no response.
1 October: “2 October, promise.”
2 October: waited at home all day. Nobody. And the worst part? No communication whatsoever from his end.
I was now getting really frustrated. After calling three times, we agreed on 4 October. Nobody.
Then 6 October. Again nobody.
7 October: after nearly two weeks of delay, the sofa was finally delivered. After 2 weeks, there was a quick sorry.
What Came Out of the Lorry
The delivery men lugged the sofa inside. At first glance it seemed okay. The design largely resembled the example.
But when we looked more closely…
The seams weren’t properly executed; there shouldn’t be any seams at the top of the sofa. Different sections didn’t align nicely with each other. And then we saw it: significant damage to the wood. Scratches, dents, bits missing.
But the worst was yet to come.
Italian Wood? Not Really
What should have been “Italian Wood”, that beautiful natural wood look with grain and texture, was simply painted. In a dusty warehouse. With a brush. Dark brown.
You could literally see dust particles in the paint.
I immediately sent photos to the seller.
His response? “Bro on the top of MDF sofa can’t stable ? why I can mention there wooden but colour same like Italian walunt.”
Wait, what? That wasn’t what we’d discussed at all. We had sent photos of a sofa with real wooden legs with visible grain. Not something that looks like it was painted during a dust storm.
Why We Couldn’t Do Anything
And here I discovered what the biggest problem is with this type of purchase at Dragon Mart: you don’t have a leg to stand on.
No formal contract. No clear agreements on paper. Just a handwritten receipt with a few scribbles and dimensions.
The seller could simply say: “This is what we agreed.” And we could only wave our photos about, which he had apparently interpreted differently.
What I Learnt From This
Look, in hindsight I’m obviously wiser. Would I do it again? Not this way.
Firstly, I would choose something they’ve already made before. We asked for something completely new that they’d never produced. That increases the risk enormously. Look in the shop at what they can do and choose from that.
The lack of reviews should have been a warning. You can find virtually no reliable reviews about these small Dragon Mart shops. No Google reviews, no testimonials, nothing. When in doubt, just walk on to the next shop.
I should also have explicitly asked whether things are painted. Looking back now, I should have specifically asked: “Is this real wood with visible grain, or will this be painted?” That would have saved a lot of hassle.
And perhaps most importantly: check whether everything is technically possible. Don’t assume they can do it. Explicitly ask: “Can you make this exactly as it is in this photo?” And have them show examples of previous work.
How It Ended
We kept the sofa. After two weeks of hassle and discussion, we simply had no energy left. Plus, as I said: no contract, no strong position.
The sofa now sits in our living room. If you don’t look too critically, it’s okay. The seat is comfortable, the fabric feels good. But every time I see those painted-with-dust-in-it legs, I think: this wasn’t the deal.
Legal action? I’m open to it, but I don’t see myself doing it :).
Would I Recommend Dragon Mart?
Yes, actually. This is our only bad purchase so far. We’ll take you through this series with all sorts of furniture that we’ve had made to measure.
If you want a standard sofa in standard dimensions with standard materials, fine. It’s cheap and it can be (relatively) fast.
But if you want something special, something custom and bespoke, something they’ve never made before? Think twice. Or actually, think three times.
And if you do it anyway: document everything, ask everything twice, and have realistic expectations. Because at Dragon Mart you get what you pay for. Sometimes literally.
Still want to have a sofa made to measure? Get in touch and I can tell you where you definitely shouldn’t go!
