Another review on good customer service.
We recently did a renovation in our office and upgraded our Singapore office with new Herman Miller Aeron chairs, purchased the chairs from Unwanted Imports. The chairs are from USA but they are shipped them to our Singapore office from their local logistic providers.
Why we are writing an article on them is more than just our purchase, read about our after thoughts in the end.
This is the third purchase, first in 2013 when we first started, now we have since replaced all the Classic Aerons with the new Remastered Aerons. Our staffs can no longer complain about aching backs.
Why Herman Miller Aeron chairs?
We have two staffs with slipped discs, so ergonomics is necessary to keep them from injuring further. As far as the results show, they no longer complain of backaches. We have done some research on our own, it seems that the Aeron Chairs were designed together with orthopedics, from real medical doctors. This is probably the only ergonomic chair that has been designed that way.
Who is Unwanted Imports?
We always think that this company has an interesting name, Unwanted Imports but they are 100% legitimate. Over the years, we bought like 8 to 10 pieces for our staffs during the WFH Covid19 period. We were referred to them by our clients who were contractors for one of the universities in Singapore, to get us the chairs at a big discount over the official authorised retailer.
Is there warranty for the chairs?
There’s a 12 years warranty but does not cover wear and tear like most brands which is pretty standard. They are standing very well from wear and tear over the years.
At first we were not sure if they will really oblige to the warranty but over the past 10 years, we have replaced chair seats that fell off, mechanism that broke and a couple of times for the wheels. The seat felling off was probably our fault as we have someone overweight. The wheel replacement is the main concern to take note, because they used to fail all the time. So we experienced their aftersales mainly in the replacement of the wheels.
Like once every 2 years. Somewhere in 2018, they gave us these new casters that are made in Germany and they stopped failing. Overall, after sales service is needed to keep the chair functioning. Since the wheels no longer fail as often, we no longer have to reach them for such matters.
The Atlas headrest we bought had some problems too with the lining coming off. They gave us an option to upgrade to the PosturePilot headrest even though it was beyond warranty, and they have been great. We will highly recommend them over the other headrests.
Herman Miller Chair Upgrades
We have bought their headrest, they have a wide array to choose from. We believed in some Youtube reviewers and bought from them the Atlas headrest initially, but they have a comparison guide which shows that the Engineered Now Aeron Headrests are better. Here’s the guide Comparison between Atlas versus Engineered Now headrest.
Their review is indeed accurate, the Atlas headrest pushes the head too forward in an unnatural position and the lining came off after a year. As such, we were offered the PosturePilot Headrests. Unlike the Atlas headrest which has limited adjustments, the PosturePilot headrest has a more intelligent design and is fully adjustable, and there’s no way it won’t fit anyone to get the perfect support. There are no weird toxic smell, overall it feels high quality.
As for the wheels, like we mentioned earlier, they are not only more durable, they have some intelligent design to keep the chair from rolling away after standing up and are totally quiet. The quiet part is essential to keep my spouse from waking during WFH.
Our feedback and thoughts
The reason why we raised talking about Unwanted Imports and our Herman Miller purchase is that this buying experience is indeed interesting and the retailing concept is unique. There’s so much to learn. First the company is headquartered in USA but works with logistics in Singapore and everything has been smooth. The idea is original from them and they have been in business since 2008, meaning that the idea is stable and it works. Should we learn from them and offer the same service to overseas customers?
The prices are competitive and they are very honest in their replies, is this why they have received so much fanfare and lasted over a decade? Is it price, service or the product?
The 12 years warranty is something many retailers can consider, you don’t have to cover every component like wear and tear. For our machines, we have no problem offering that warranty for our boilers and copper pipes in the coffee machines. Unless from damages from corrosion of course.
All in all, their operation and standard is really worth to learn for any businesses.
