Also, I forgot to post that this has been a good day for service for me. This is pretty much off-topic for this list, though it may be of interest to those who enjoy well-made products and good service.
My long-time Aeron chair has been wobbly for a while and finally broke outright last week. It happened to be Herman Miller's annual 11-day sale (15% off, June 3-13 this year) and I figured it was meant to be. While gathering info from various mail-order and retail suppliers, I discovered there was a chance it was under warranty -- I bought the chair in April 2001 and at some point HM switched from 10yr warranties to 12yr, though I couldn't find the details. If the change was after April 2001, I'd be out of luck. As it turned out, the warranty policy changed in January 1999 and apparently didn't exclude earlier sales (though at this point all pre-change warranties have finally expired). They pay shipping both ways, the repair is free, there's a unique label on every chair so you don't need a receipt (unless the label is missing), the only restriction is original purchaser only. The only Canadian repair centre is in Victoria BC so I figured on waiting for them to send me a FedEx box. But it turned out that HM asks for Ottawa repairs to be done by Ottawa Business Interiors, the place I bought Aeron chairs in 2001 and 2010! Normally they send a tech to your office but it was more convenient for me to drop it off yesterday, figuring a few weeks to inspect the chair, get the part, and do the repair. Today they emailed that they happened to have a spare cylinder in repair stock and the chair's ready for pickup. >10 years, a fantastically comfortable chair, and free warranty repair, makes the ~$800 purchase price an amazing deal. Like a Thinkpad in many ways. :) I may still buy another chair for an alternate location, and OBI wasn't participating in the sale but were only $50 more than the cheapest sale price I found elsewhere. I recommend Herman Miller, I recommend Aeron, and I recommend OBI. :) Obviously if you're not in Ottawa you probably want another supplier (though OBI is cheap and does deliver in Canada). BTW they still make the chairs in Zeeland MI. I have a relative out that way (Grand Haven) and will have to see if they do factory tours (HM, not the cousin ;). Thank you for reading. I'll be happy to discuss the details further off-list (or on-list) if anyone wants. -- Andrew mailto:[email protected] Thursday, June 16, 2011, 4:51:14 PM, I wrote: > [I'm replying to my original post because there were so many very > helpful answers -- thank you everyone for the assistance both on-list > and off-list!] > It all turned out very well. Here's what happened. First I tried to > call at 1-877-69-THINK, got connected to what was obviously a Canadian > location (choice of English or French) and after working through the > prompts got a "you cannot call that toll-free number from your > location" message, which is not unreasonable (if they don't service > Canada) but wrong on the face (or ear) of it! So I poked around a > little more and found an email address, [email protected] > Emailed them on Tuesday at 4:24pm, described the problem (works from > wall outlet, not from car outlet) and attached a PDF of the original > order (June 2010). Asked if they would replace the two potentially > defective parts (cigarette lighter adapter (FRU 41R4542) or the DC > adapter (FRU 41R4508), please send to US address "A" if no signature > required, or US address "B" if signature required. > Heard back at 4:44pm, with a real reply and not a standard "we > received your email", which is astonishing in itself. More astonishing > was the answer: no problem they'll send out a replacement and RMA for > the defective! > I wrote back to confirm which address they used (it was "B" because > signature required). Today I received shipment notification. It > appears they're replacing the whole kit (78Y1147) which would be my > second choice because if they really want the bad one back, it's more > work. > But this is incredible service, to replace at no cost an adapter that > cost $44.19 and was originally shipped last June 30. I figured they'd > declare a 90-day warranty period on Outlet sales and tell me to buy > another. > Thanks to everyone who helped me with this. I've very happy with the > result. And I'll be sure to try every component as soon as I get it. > :) _______________________________________________ Thinkpad mailing list [email protected] http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad
