My experience buying an Aeron Chair from SeatingMind.com

I really wanted the “deal” I thought I was getting, buying a “Fully Featured” Aeron chair, size B, from SeatingMind.com, to be legit. So I ignored some red flags. Like the typos, or the fake “flash sale” count-down that gives the impression the deal you’re seeing will be gone soon, creating a sense of urgency:

SeatingMind.com site showing fake flash sale countdown

Pro tip: No matter when you come back, the chair will still be $549 with free shipping and no sales tax. Even if their math is a bit suspect: “$1,199.00 $549.99 (You save $349.01 )” 

Anyway. The “Item Conditon” [sic] reads: “Those chairs where purchased buy a large corporation which they did not end up needing them, due to covid, or they over purchased, so we purchased the load back, and can offer to our customers a larger discounts, They all still look Brand New, and come with a full Warranty and a full 30 Day money back”

Item Conditon [sic] Text

Strongly implying that you’ll be getting a reasonably new Aeron chair for a great price - maybe not even ever used!

The product photos reinforce this idea; the main image is somewhat blurry, but the next two images clearly show the newer, and currently being manufactured, “tab” style armrests:

Product photos on the site show tab style armrests

Product photos on the site show tab style armrests

So I pulled the trigger and ordered one, on October 28, 2023. The $549.99 charge hit my credit card immediately, but the order sat, with no activity on the order status page, for several days. I reached out on November 4th to inquire, and they responded on the 5th saying: “I apologize for the delay this should be shipping by the Week of the 20th, We are abit backed up on orders we are doing our best to ship it out ASAP.”

I asked if they could expedite that a bit and they did, ultimately shipping on the 14th, from Elizabeth, New Jersey via FedEx Ground. It arrived in SoCal on  November 18th. What I got, unfortunately, had the older “wheel” style armrests, which were made from 1994 through 2004.

The chair I received, with the wheel style armrests

There was no white sticker under the seat, but I popped open the plastic cover over the mechanism and saw what I suspected - the chair was made around the end of 2003!

Sticker on mechanism with a late 2023 build date

To be fair, the chair looked almost brand new (though there were some scuffs in places you’d never see in normal use). But without any way of really knowing whether or not the mesh was 20 years old, frankly, I wasn’t wild about hanging onto the thing, not at that price point.

I emailed them to express my displeasure and about 9 hours later (in the wee hours of the 19th) I received a response asking for photos, which I sent them. At 7:32 a.m. on the 20th the person I’d been dealing with there asked a coworker to “send a return label,” which I received at 2:18 a.m. on the 21st. It was for UPS ground, and I had to take it to a UPS store. Which, with a Jeep Wrangler, I was able to do, but barely; we dropped it off the evening of the 22nd. SeatingMind’s return instructions state: “Once the item arrives back to our warehouse your refund will be issued but please note that it tends to take 2 to 2 and a half weeks to come through and for your financial institution to post the credit on your account.”

UPS delivered the return to Millville, New Jersey at 10:30 a.m. on the 27th, and the $549.99 refund posted back to my credit card on December 7th, 10 days from their receipt of the returned chair.

So, contrary to what apparently others have dealt with, while I was a bit frustrated by my SeatingMind.com experience – the product not as advertised/implied, the delay before shipping – I can say they stood by their 30 day money back guarantee and I’m not screaming mad about any part of the transaction.

Meanwhile, I found this on Facebook Marketplace: HERMAN MILLER REMASTERED AERON SIZE B 2020 VERSION DELIVERY AVAILABLE FOR A FEE $499 (they delivered for $30). Buying locally I got a much newer, nicer chair delivered much more quickly. The white sticker is intact, and shows it was built in June 2020, totally within the realm of the acceptable for me, for the price:

6/18/2020 Manufacture Date