So I just bought a Herman Miller Aeron task chair for the home office. Extravagant? Perhaps; but it was an Ebay bargain with all the extras. And anyway my arse was tired of the current cheap and cheerless concrete offering from Ikea – I had to do something.
Are Aerons worth the hype? Perhaps. After ten minutes fiddling with the knobs and levers I had the chair fitted exactly how I’d like it – legs and arms square, seat tipped slightly forward (to make me look keen), stiffened backwards tilt and lumbar support perfectly placed (slightly higher than you might think). And that mesh is comfortable, with a good amount of give but not too spongy. Like wearing a tailored suit, I felt comfortable and correct, even after eight hours.
You can probably get all that from other quality chairs, but the best accolade I can give the Aeron is that it didn’t feel good; it didn’t feel at all. I don’t mean it gave me a numb bum, I mean I just didn’t notice the chair, and when I stood up again it didn’t feel like I had been sitting down for ages – no little aches, no extremities lacking blood. Money well spent in my opinion. But.
I cohabit said office with Her Indoors. “It’s all stringy,” she said. “It’s a boy’s chair – why have all that mesh? You can see the parts. It’s like a car with a see-through bonnet just so you can see the engine working.” Hmm.
And then she sat on it. And scooted backwards into the wall – those carpet casters are pretty free-wheeling on a wooden floor, especially as her feet didn’t sit flat on the floor – I’m 6’1”, she’s 5’8” and nearly four stone lighter. Apparently it was the most uncomfortable chair Her Indoors had ever sat on, “apart from that Ikea one,” she conceded. Well that’s a start. Ten minutes of knobs and levers later and the chair was fitted correctly. “OK, this is actually a good chair,” she said. But it’s not a chair for sharing.
Comments
1
nice! I’ve tried convincing her indoors of the importance of a good chair, monitor, keyboard and mouse. Monitor, keyboard and mouse were easy but I haven’t succeeded on the chair front yet.
I looked through Yahoo Auctions (the dominant web auction site here in Japan) but no luck so far. How much did you spend on yours?2
Richard, you should be using a Size C ron, with a Size A for your missus. Do not be bamboozled into the “one-size-fits-all” B. There are significant differences. (Mine’s a C.)
3
I bought an Aeron 5 years ago when I went freelance. It seemed a bit extravagent at the time, but it’s worked out to be about 10 cents an hour. It’s comfortable, I love sitting in it, it makes me happy to look at it and it doesn’t cause me any problems. I’ve never regretted it.
4
I’ve got an ex-Enron Aeron. You’re totally right on the need to set it up properly; after I inherited it I didn’t bother adjusting it for a month or so. When I finally got around to it it was like night and day.
5
I just got a fully loaded Aeron chair for $599 at www.LuxuryChair.com
After searching and calling this is for sure the best price for a chair with all the option
6
I did a stint in Herman Miller’s office in Michigan a few years back while working on their website. The whole place is like a showroom for their kit, with different parts of the building each having a unique style of Herman Miller kit. I was fortunate to sit in the Aeron-laden web geek area, and I really got spoiled. I really need to get an Aeron for the home office.
7
Working with LuxuryChair.com was the most horrible online buying experience I could possibly imagine. I ordered a Herman Miller Aeron and it took over a month to receive the chair (and this was after 5–10 calls with their customer support department). When I finally got the chair it was defective. Calls to get it fixed were simply not returned. When I finally did get ahold of someone it was outside the 30 day refund period and they promptly told me that they couldn’t help me. I honestly believe LuxuryChair.com is running a scam and I’m considering taking legal action. They may have great prices, but in this case, you get what you pay for (and quite a bit less).
8
I bought chair from Luxurychair as well and I had a completely different experience. I bought 1 chair to begin with because I’m very wary of online retailers. It was delivered in the 10–12 business days as promised and now I place an order with them about every 2–3 weeks, I can understand a delay on a chair but my experience has been only the best.
9
Karen, do you work for luxurychair.com? Both people I know who ordered there have had bad experiences and ended up canceling their orders. If the price is too good to be true, it probably is. Your story seems just a little too convenient…
10
Luxurychair.com is a scam.
11
I bought with luxurychair.com, too and the ship time was long but they told me before hand. It was a good experience. I got a couple calls (not just emails) from their office w/ updates…guess you win some/ you lose some.
12
Think Luxurychair.com is an honest, reputable company? Check this out:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/111005/news/luxurychaircom-bummer-004963
13
Funny thing that chair. Years ago my boss asked us to buy a decent chair (yep, he’s a decent boss) and we went to a shop and tried several, until I sat down in this ugly looking insect thing in the corner.
Now I have one at work and one at home. Which my wife is using now. She has back trouble, did not like the chair in the beginning, but then I had adjusted the various knobs and levers and never saw it again.
The only thing missing in this chair is actually some kind of profiling, like you have in luxury cars: Insert your ID and it will memorize your exact favorite position.
Then it would be for sharing, too.
14
I recently had to outfit my new office with furniture and came across the luxurychair.com site,
I called in and spoke with jenny who was very helpful and suggested the Herman miller mire chair as being a hipper chair then the aero I ordered 10 chairs and got a fairly good price and my chair arrived two weeks later as promised. so I guess every company has off days and on days with me it was a good experience and I will order again if ever I need.
15
Interesting that everything that is said bad about a company is believed and everything that is good is questioned. I find it funny that such cynical people would even shop online.
Personally, I would never purchase anything that expensive online. Are you guys lazy? Get off your asses and go to a brick and mortar store. We live in such a convenient time…don’t go out for anything. Get your groceries delivered, get your porn and toothpaste delivered, and now get your office chair delivered…
16
I had a great experience working with Luxurychair.com. I was referred to that site by a friend of mine who orders from them on a constant basis.
My chair arrived within the time frame I was given when I placed the order. The chair was in perfect condition. Their prices are really phenomenal, the lowest on the internet that I was able to find. If you’re looking for a good deal on higher end office chairs I definitely recommend Luxurychair.com
As for those few negative emails..all I can say is, sometimes the customer can be the problem, not the company.
17
Seems like Luxurychair.com is posting positive comments about itself (last two postitive posts are posted three minutes apart.) I’d also bet all (or most) of these ‘positive’ reviews are coming from the same IP address. Not a sign of a reputable company…
18
I’m posting to this blog because of my lousy experience with luxurychair.com. I’ve been logging onto every site I can find that allows ratings, reviews or the like to express to discontent with this company and my experience buying a Herman Miller Aeron chair. Long story short, here are a few of the complaints I have. 1. Shipping time was continually changed (initially 2–4 weeks, then 7–10 days, then 10–12 days – all of which were incorrect based on the day on which the change was made – ultimately my dad received the chair almost 6 weeks after the initial order). 2. Before the product eventually shipped, there was a price drop. They would not refund the difference (my card had been charged immediately upon ordering). 3. The product was received damaged. According to my dad there were obvious attempts to “pound” on the Posturefit lumbar support, resulting in a broken screw. If my dad didn’t already have a connection with Herman Miller based on some work he had done for them and got them to send a replacement part for free, I would have had him pack up the chair and return to Luxurychair.com. I would have sucked up the loss of the initial shipping fee, plus the return shipping fee, plus the higher price of ordering a new chair from a better (and authorized) company just to deny Luxurychair.com the majority of my money. Instead, as long as the replacement part works, I’m sick of dealing with the company and will just accept this experience as a lesson learned. But I hope others will learn from it as well and never buy from this company.
19
Ah…the aeron chair…
I did research before buying too…having to fish out that much money for a chair made me obviously scrounge for the best deal….and so I ended up finding luxurychair.
I read about them on the net and wasn’t exactly thrilled but cudn’t resist the price..soo I paid with my amex (just in case) and crossed my fingers about the money back gaurantee…
I got an email right after I placed the order about the 2–4 week wait time..but i figured if i lived this long without an aeron, i cud wait another month…my chair arrived 5 weeks later and it was exactly what i expected…based on wut u guys have been writing- i guess i’m a lucky one!
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