So, two years ago I splurged £146 on a leather office chair from Staples which was all memory-foamtastic and what not.
Two years later, I am stuck with a very uncomfortable chair that has lost all its padding and I can just about feel the metal through the bottom of it. Having popped back to Staples and deflected the pushy salespatter of "well two years is a good innings for a chair" (er, no) I am now wondering what to do regarding my predicament.
It is worth also noting that there is no way in hell that I am too fat for the chair given that the supposed "normal weight" person on the back of the guarantee card (1 year for padding) is twice my weight.
Now I am left with two questions:
1 - is it worth annoying staples head office on the whole sale of goods act not of acceptable quality nonsense?
2 - where does one get reasonable value comfy chairs that don't turn to shit and are acceptable height for this desk here which my current chair is slightly too low for.
Fanks
The Official Swivel Chair Thread
I have this chair and can honestly say it's brilliant. Comfortable to sit on and I use mine for a lot longer than the recommended '2 hours' per day.
http://www.johnlewis.com/231062275/Product.aspx
http://www.johnlewis.com/231062275/Product.aspx
As it is the Ikea Micke it is a derivative of the Mikeal from 2008, so Moses (from Ikea, £30 ish) would work well. I have the Moses chair and have no problems to report, other than the faux leather starts to peel after about 4 years.Pete wrote:2 - where does one get reasonable value comfy chairs that don't turn to shit and are acceptable height for this desk here which my current chair is slightly too low for.
Fanks
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Nick Harvey
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Viking Direct are good for value chairs. They frequently have the Malaga chair on special offer in the mid twenties of pounds.
Like yours, the chair will only last about two years, but for that price you don't particularly worry.
And, of major interest to Metropol users, Viking give you Nectar points.
Like yours, the chair will only last about two years, but for that price you don't particularly worry.
And, of major interest to Metropol users, Viking give you Nectar points.
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bilky asko
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If you want a chair that lasts more than two years, you would need something like this. They start at just under £130 including VAT, and they have an 8 year guarantee. The company constructs the chairs themselves - this has the advantage of quality, yet the disadvantage of differing delviery costs depending on where you live; this could add to the cost significantly.Pete wrote:So, two years ago I splurged £146 on a leather office chair from Staples which was all memory-foamtastic and what not.
Two years later, I am stuck with a very uncomfortable chair that has lost all its padding and I can just about feel the metal through the bottom of it. Having popped back to Staples and deflected the pushy salespatter of "well two years is a good innings for a chair" (er, no) I am now wondering what to do regarding my predicament.
It is worth also noting that there is no way in hell that I am too fat for the chair given that the supposed "normal weight" person on the back of the guarantee card (1 year for padding) is twice my weight.
Now I am left with two questions:
1 - is it worth annoying staples head office on the whole sale of goods act not of acceptable quality nonsense?
2 - where does one get reasonable value comfy chairs that don't turn to shit and are acceptable height for this desk here which my current chair is slightly too low for.
Fanks
If you don't want to splash out again, then you would be better with something from an office supplies company like Viking Direct, as the ones you get in places like Staples or PC World are overpriced.
The best advice overall is to avoid leather. Even if your chair lasts longer than two years, the leather facing will peel off, and make it look crap. Leather chairs are rarely (if ever) designed to be 24-hour chairs. It saves you a bit of cash too.
I'm lucky enough to have one of these beauties - http://www.hermanmiller.com/Products/Aeron-Chairs.
Didn't pay anything like the million pounds or whatever ludicrous sum they go for though; instead, my business partner and I tracked down a bunch of them that were being sold by a company that handles removal and sale of office equipment being replaced by large companies (or where equipment/furniture is being sold off to rapidly recoup debts owed by companies that have gone under).
At the time, we didn't have a great deal of cash to our names, but we managed to beg, steal, borrow and scratch together £700 to buy a job-lot of eight of these Aeron chairs; we then kept one each for ourselves, and sold the others for £300-£400 a pop, giving us not only a lovely chair each, but also a much-needed lump of cash to pay some bills and treat ourselves to some ice cream.
They looked in much worse condition than they actually were; after we cleaned them up - little more than giving the framework a wipe down with a damp cloth and giving the armrests a deep clean and then a spray with some Scotchgard - they looked like new, give or take a minor scuff mark here and there, leaving us each with a beautiful ergonomic seat of the highest standard and comfort.
Large companies, like PwC, Barclays, McKinsey and many others that have the kind of budgets to buy this sort of phenomenally expensive furniture routinely replace them every few years, long before they're worn out, so it's not like we were lucky enough to find a one in a million deal, although it did take a bit of shopping around before we found a deal as juicy as that one. Almost five years on, my Aeron still performs every bit as good as the day it first arrived - and although I don't know exactly how old it is, I'd guess it's had at least 7 or 8 years of pretty heavy use in total.
If it wasn't still in such a great condition, I'd buy a brand new one right now without hesitation, and while I appreciate that Herman Miller furniture isn't in everyone's price range, perhaps there are still bargains to be found out there.
Sadly, Herman Miller doesn't give Nectar points.
Didn't pay anything like the million pounds or whatever ludicrous sum they go for though; instead, my business partner and I tracked down a bunch of them that were being sold by a company that handles removal and sale of office equipment being replaced by large companies (or where equipment/furniture is being sold off to rapidly recoup debts owed by companies that have gone under).
At the time, we didn't have a great deal of cash to our names, but we managed to beg, steal, borrow and scratch together £700 to buy a job-lot of eight of these Aeron chairs; we then kept one each for ourselves, and sold the others for £300-£400 a pop, giving us not only a lovely chair each, but also a much-needed lump of cash to pay some bills and treat ourselves to some ice cream.
They looked in much worse condition than they actually were; after we cleaned them up - little more than giving the framework a wipe down with a damp cloth and giving the armrests a deep clean and then a spray with some Scotchgard - they looked like new, give or take a minor scuff mark here and there, leaving us each with a beautiful ergonomic seat of the highest standard and comfort.
Large companies, like PwC, Barclays, McKinsey and many others that have the kind of budgets to buy this sort of phenomenally expensive furniture routinely replace them every few years, long before they're worn out, so it's not like we were lucky enough to find a one in a million deal, although it did take a bit of shopping around before we found a deal as juicy as that one. Almost five years on, my Aeron still performs every bit as good as the day it first arrived - and although I don't know exactly how old it is, I'd guess it's had at least 7 or 8 years of pretty heavy use in total.
If it wasn't still in such a great condition, I'd buy a brand new one right now without hesitation, and while I appreciate that Herman Miller furniture isn't in everyone's price range, perhaps there are still bargains to be found out there.
Sadly, Herman Miller doesn't give Nectar points.
I was wondering how long it would be until someone rocked up with a sales pitch for those bloody things...BBC LDN wrote:I'm lucky enough to have one of these beauties - http://www.hermanmiller.com/Products/Aeron-Chairs.
I happen to have one of these very chairs (purchased 1 year ago) and it's decisively unremarkable. It's also already part-broken (the foam lumbar thing has effectively broken in two, 'fixed' using black gaffer tape, and the tilt feature is intermittent).
I shall be replacing it with the Harvey model of chairs from Viking Direct (who appears to be being overcharged there to the value of £19.99 - they offer me one of those chairs for 1p every few years with a stationery order...)
Speaking of Viking, is Ian Helford still in existence?
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bilky asko
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His real name is Irwin Helford, and he retired from being the Chairman - gaining the title "Chairman Emeritus" - back in 2002. He had granted Viking and Office Depot a lifetime use of his name and picture after his departure.cdd wrote:Speaking of Viking, is Ian Helford still in existence?
Also, speaking of extravagant chairs, has anyone tried a HÅG? The top models can cost £1000-£1500, and apparently they're actually ergonomically designed, unlike the Aeron.
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Gavin Scott
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Viking Direct is now owned by Lyreco - and its now the retail arm of the supplier, where Lyreco deal with offices using reps in the traditional way.
Quick update, I have decided that the purchase of the desk mentioned above was my second most foolish purchase after the chair. Thus I shall be returning to the big cheapo desk that came with the flat.
However I would still prefer a chair that goes higher. I am not overly tall at 5'10" and yet even at the highest setting and without shoes my feet do not lift off the ground. This is not acceptable imo.
However I would still prefer a chair that goes higher. I am not overly tall at 5'10" and yet even at the highest setting and without shoes my feet do not lift off the ground. This is not acceptable imo.
"He has to be larger than bacon"
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Gavin Scott
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You want your feet to be off the ground? That seems odd to me - and possibly not terrible good for your circulation.Pete wrote:Quick update, I have decided that the purchase of the desk mentioned above was my second most foolish purchase after the chair. Thus I shall be returning to the big cheapo desk that came with the flat.
However I would still prefer a chair that goes higher. I am not overly tall at 5'10" and yet even at the highest setting and without shoes my feet do not lift off the ground. This is not acceptable imo.