Office chair faulty/not fit for purpose, return for inspection for refund advice

Dan54321

Hi
I purchased an office chair in October 2020 and 2-3 months later the padding on the seat had completely worn down, meaning the plastic and screws could be felt whilst sitting down making it not fit for purpose. I contacted the company I bought it from and they sent me a replacement seat (twice) but the same problem occurred. I requested a refund recently and was asked to return the chair for inspection. If they don't find a fault they won't refund me and will send me the chair back to me. I've taken pictures and videos to try and show the problem but without actually sitting on it/feeling it's difficult for me to 'prove' there is a fault via pictures/videos. 

My main question is what are my rights if I send the chair back and they can't find the fault? To me the fault is very obvious (I'm not being fussy and I've never had a problem with chairs before but this one is definitely unfit for purpose and I believe there is a design flaw). The problem is, it will be very easy for them to say they can't find the fault. If this happens I don't want the chair returning because it is essentially unusable so I'll be left without a chair and having lost the money I paid for it. Any advice? It's not a big deal but it's been a really frustrating process to try and get this resolved!

Thanks

unholyangel

I take it you've checked the weight limit, you aren't close to it and the chair is designed for the length of use you're using it for? Have there been any reviews from others with the same issue? If you've had 3 do the same, id expect there would be very poor reviews somewhere. 

What type of office chair is it? I also think it depends on price. You don't expect a £100 chair to be as good or comfortable as a £500 one. 

Dan54321

unholyangel said:

I take it you've checked the weight limit, you aren't close to it and the chair is designed for the length of use you're using it for? Have there been any reviews from others with the same issue? If you've had 3 do the same, id expect there would be very poor reviews somewhere. 

What type of office chair is it? I also think it depends on price. You don't expect a £100 chair to be as good or comfortable as a £500 one. 

Hi, I'm below average weight and well within the weight limits so that shouldn't be an issue. I'm not sure about other reviews but the company did mention that this is very unusual. However, that shouldn't have any bearing on this particular chair. It's a 3-lever adjustable office chair costing around £100. Regardless of the price, the product should be fit for purpose (i.e. no hard/pointy parts should be felt whilst sitting on it and the user shouldn't experience pain whilst in use).

Aylesbury_Duck

£100 is at the cheap end of the scale for an adjustable chair.  It perhaps was fit for the purpose for which it was designed, which is probably light or occasional use.  If, like me, you've been working from home full-time, I suspect you've simply worn the seat out with 30-40 hours a week of use.  A £100 chair simply won't have been designed for it.  I quickly found my own office chair (a similar cheapie job from IKEA) uncomfortable after a few weeks last spring, so I've borrowed one from work which has been perfectly fine for about 10 months of full-time use.

See what they say, but they could reasonably argue it isn't faulty, it's just worn out.

unholyangel

Dan54321 said:

unholyangel said:

I take it you've checked the weight limit, you aren't close to it and the chair is designed for the length of use you're using it for? Have there been any reviews from others with the same issue? If you've had 3 do the same, id expect there would be very poor reviews somewhere. 

What type of office chair is it? I also think it depends on price. You don't expect a £100 chair to be as good or comfortable as a £500 one. 

Hi, I'm below average weight and well within the weight limits so that shouldn't be an issue. I'm not sure about other reviews but the company did mention that this is very unusual. However, that shouldn't have any bearing on this particular chair. It's a 3-lever adjustable office chair costing around £100. Regardless of the price, the product should be fit for purpose (i.e. no hard/pointy parts should be felt whilst sitting on it and the user shouldn't experience pain whilst in use).

It's purpose is to be sat on. If it can be sat on, it's fit for purpose. What it may or may not be is of satisfactory quality. However when assessing whether something is of satisfactory quality, you need to take into all relevant information, including price. 

Some chairs are only suitable for brief periods of use. Some are suited to 8 hours and fewer still are suited to 24 hours. 

JamoLew

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6032205/are-gaming-chairs-that-comfortable#latest

This thread "may" be of interest to the OP

Personally - I think a £100 chair SHOULD last more than 2-3 months with an expected life of 12-18months (depending on the number of hours used)

My work chair is used ~7 hours every weekday and has lasted 8 years (cost £600) and is just starting to show signs of needing replacement - the seat fabric is almost perfect but the mechanicals are struggling, especially the ram (am > 100kg)

pinkshoes

Aylesbury_Duck said:

£100 is at the cheap end of the scale for an adjustable chair.  It perhaps was fit for the purpose for which it was designed, which is probably light or occasional use.  If, like me, you've been working from home full-time, I suspect you've simply worn the seat out with 30-40 hours a week of use.  A £100 chair simply won't have been designed for it.  I quickly found my own office chair (a similar cheapie job from IKEA) uncomfortable after a few weeks last spring, so I've borrowed one from work which has been perfectly fine for about 10 months of full-time use.

See what they say, but they could reasonably argue it isn't faulty, it's just worn out.

It may be at the cheaper end of the scale, but plenty of chairs at around £100 that should last far longer than a few months!

Mine was £125 but has a 2 year warranty for use for up to 8 hours a day. 9 months in, it still looks remarkably nice quality given how much use it has had. I'm not expecting miracles with it, but it is far more comfortable than the stool I was sitting on!

@Dan54321 , it might be worth getting your own independent report to prove it is faulty if you don't trust them. As it is less than 6 months old, the company need to prove it WASN'T faulty though. If you have taken lots of videos and pictures of the fault I would go ahead and send it back. If faulty they would need to pay for the return postage as well as issuing a refund.

born_again

I know this does not answer the initial query.
But a cheap and easy option would be to buy some decent foam & or gel pads (make it much more comfortable) and do a bit of home DIY.
At a guess it would cost less than the carriage to return the chair.

IvanOpinion

I am on my second chair since lockdown - they just don't make gas suspension units like they used to

Spank

IvanOpinion said:

I am on my second chair since lockdown - they just don't make gas suspension units like they used to

You can buy the gas units for around £35

IvanOpinion

Spank said:

IvanOpinion said:

I am on my second chair since lockdown - they just don't make gas suspension units like they used to

You can buy the gas units for around £35

Thanks, someone pointed me in that direction a while back, and I had a look but realised that there was no way I was getting the old unit out ... besides that I would also have to fixe the padding in the arm rests as well ... and the padding in the seat (which has worn a bit thin) and then there is the padding on the back of the seat as well ...  I have a feeling that I must wear sandpaper for clothing