"I ordered a chair 2 months ago and still don't have it. Madison saw this review and CANCELLED my order. Instead of fighting to make a customer happy they would rather lose a customer. This means they really don't care about their customers experience. This explains the high percentage of 1 star reviews."

"This product and all other Steelcase and Herman Miller chairs are NOT NEW, and Madison is not a authorized dealer for either. Look under the features at the very bottom and you will see all chairs for these brands are Open Box. Below is the response custom service giving about Open Box items. Some sites, like eBay list the products as New-Open box. New implies no changes have been made from the new authentic version that comes from Steelcase, and just the box is missing. This is not what they are selling!!!

In short you have no clue what you are getting. The chair I ordered was not the authentic fabric when compared to my other authentic Steelcase chair from an authorized dealer. So, based on the below description of Open Box I must have received a reupholstered in their brand-new commercial grade in- house fabric. The fabric was terrible compared to the authentic chair’s fabric, very rough and attracts everything.

Also, today the hydraulic lift started to fail, two and half months after ordering. The chair will not stay in the set position and you just slowly to the lowest setting.

Overall, if Madison were to clearly call out that they are gray market (is in the fine print) and clearly call out that ALL these chairs are not new, not just the "Open Box" as the last item on the page I would not be able to complain. However, they give the appearance that their products are new, and that is not acceptable to mislead the customer. Had this been my first Steelcase chair I would have been turned off from buying their products again based on this experience.
Emailed Response to Open Box:
"Open Box" simply means, the item is out of the original packaging. The chair was either, returned, refurbished, on display or has been in inventory for awhile and since been placed on a clearance. The fabric will be reupholstered in our brand new commercial grade in- house fabric.

Your purchase includes a 30 day return and 10 year warranty with Madisonseating.com.

The merchandise is in perfect working condition as you can see by our 99.9% positive feedback on platform like Ebay and Amazon where we sell our OPEN BOX items as well.

Best regards,

Allie

Madison Seating
"

"I was so excited to purchase a chair from this company! When I bought it I was informed that it would be shipped in 10 to 14 business days. After I hadn’t received it I emailed them and they informed me that it would be shipped by the end of the month. I emailed them again at the end of the month at which time they informed me it would be shipped in the middle of October. I recently emailed them and they informed me that it would be shipped mid November. They never reached out to me to tell me that the shipping will be delayed I had to contact them. When you call in to talk to someone it says that they are experiencing Short delays in shipping. 2 1/2 months is not a short delay! In addition when I went to look at the shipping times as if I was purchasing a new chair it’s still says 10 to 14 days. I believe this is false advertising. If they know that there are delays in shipping because of Covid which is understandable, they should be transparent about that when you order the chair. After I complained and asked to speak to a manager, they canceled my order. I have purchased things from several companies that have delays because of Covid. Again, that is completely understandable but these companies are transparent about it where Madison seating is not. I am so disappointed in the customer service and that they canceled my order without asking me if I would like my order canceled first. I would highly recommend that you do not do business with this company. If anything, I hope that they update their website and their phone to be honest with consumers. I also hope if there’s going to be delays that they reach out to the consumer ahead of time and let them know. After I reached out to them again and asked to talk to a supervisor about having my order canceled when I did not request it, they responded by saying they didn’t want to do business with me because of my reviews on social media. "

"Sent in a requested over the weekend because after about a week, the steelcase series v2 I bought was wobbling and the cylinder was sinking. Already went through the hassle of returning a chair with another company, and these people offered to send me another new chair free of charge. Got back to me in about 2 business days, not bad at all.
"

"I ordered a chair from Madison Seating and when they were out of the original color I'd requested, they emailed me photos of an alternative option at the same price right away and were quick with responses to my detailed questions about the new color. The chair arrived quickly, but unfortunately the height-adjustment feature wasn't functioning properly. When I contacted them about it, they offered to send me a replacement chair (and they aren't making me package up this non-functioning chair to return it. What a relief! Although they don't have telephone customer service during these COVID times as their agents are all working from home, their e-mail responses have been timely, courteous and helpful and I appreciate their willingness to ensure that in the end I am a satisfied customer."

"First off, best pricing! Second, I had a great experience talking with customer service. They gave me a resolution that was generous and reasonable."

"Purchased a Steelcase Leap chair in March. It saw very little use until this month when my wife started using it while teaching at home. The pneumatic lifter is broken, and gradually lowers when you sit in it until it is at its lowest level. We were told they would repair it if we sent the entire chair back, and paid an additional $75 shipping to send it back to us...that's about $125 round trip for an under-warranty repair. Contacted Steelcase and they identify Madisonseating as a grey market reseller, frequently reselling used items as new or misrepresenting older models as new. The series of emails I had with them can only be described as hostile on their part, with no solution being offered that didn't wind up costing us significantly. In addition, the warranty on their site states "All items sold as new will include a (1) year warranty from the manufacturer directly." This is patently not true, as we discovered when we approached Steelcase. They are NOT licensed resellers and cannot offer this warranty. We will be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau. Buying from them is NOT recommended."

"I was in the looking for a new chair since my DXRacer has gotten around 5 or 6 years of sitting time so far. I know the stigma among gaming chairs, they're made to sell, not to sit in. That chair treated me well but now it's time for a different one.

I found Madison Seating and got a chair in a short 2 weeks shipping time. And the rest ensued, very summarized:

Bought a Steelcase Think
got it in
it had problems so I made contact
they tried to help me fix it
I couldn't do it
they said leave us a review about your issue you get a free chair
I made this review
I email them back
I get a new shipping number

GG, I don't know if that could have been a smoother interaction. I genuinely do not see how that interaction could have been any easier for me or Madison Seating. Whatever the hell they have going on over there for training people in customer service is a literal masterclass.

Also, please don't just get a chair from them and pretend there's something wrong so you have an interaction similar to this. Take the high ground and encourage companies to provide this seamless customer service. I rarely see anything even close to this, anywhere else. These other companies have some learning to do."

"I ordered the product and the shipping originally said it would ship in 10 - 14 business days, with delays due to covid-19. I never thought the delays would mean 2+ months. This information should be clearly communicated to customers before purchase.

I never received a shipment email and asked Madison Seating about my order. They told me the order would ship 1 month from the order date. After 1 month, I had to email them again and they told me it would ship 1.5 - 2 months from the order date. Madison Seating clearly does not have the product in stock, and does not notify users correctly of this stock. Had I known shipping would take a minimum of 2 months I would have never ordered a chair from them. Insanely misleading and frustrating experience. "

"I was looking for a new addition to my home office seating situation because of this COVID-19 thing and I could not find a better price for the product. If you have any questions/concerns just email ****@**** for a prompt reply. I will be purchasing from them again for the great deals, free shipping, and no taxes; so long, Wayfair."

"I rarely write reviews. However, I have had an especially good experience with Madison Seating Customer Service. I had a concern and I sent an email. I heard back almost instantly and they were able to resolve my concern quickly and effectively. Honestly, this is how customer service should be at all companies!"

"Great customer service. Ordered a chair and it had an issue and they replaced it without issues. "

"As many others have said, I ordered a Herman Miller Aeron chair because my current home office chair has started to go. I ordered my chair on 8/1/20 and got the confirmation email stating that "The estimated delivery time frame for all in stock items is 10-14 business days from the order date." Ok, so i wait. I figured the shipping email will come some time, it's now the 8/10/20, not a whole lot of time from my order date, but I was getting antsy. I sent an email to customer support and they tell me "As your email confirmation indicates, we ask that you allow an estimated 14 business days for delivery from the order date. (Business days do not include weekends or legal holidays)." First of all, I'm not a child. I read my order email and know how business days work, but its a little fishy when it's been this long and I haven't even been CHARGED. I was beginning to think that when they said "delivery" they really meant "it'll ship in 10-14 business days." Fed up I went looking for reviews to see if I was the only one with this experience, lo and behold the first review I saw on here was a story just like my own. Madison seating is a laughable service. Do not buy from them.
"

"Don't bother buying from Madison Seating. Like many others recent complaints, I placed an order for an open box Herman Miller Aeron chair that I never received.

I placed the order on 6/19/20. The order confirmation email indicated "all in stock items is 10-14 business days from the order date." Yes, the banner on their homepage indicated "Due to the unfolding situation with COVID-19, please allow additional time for us to respond to your emails and processing your orders," which was certainly understandable. Everything after that was just poor business practice.

After 7 days, I realized I hadn't received anything from them and that I hadn't even been charged yet, which concerned me. After reaching out by email again asking for an update, they responded a couple days later with canned response that "...we ask that you allow an estimated 14 business days for delivery from the order date. (Business days do not include weekends or legal holidays). And that tracking would be released at that point and reiterated you would not be charged until shipping is scheduled for release.

Fair enough, but at this point you should ask yourself why an e-commerce business isn't charging for an order until it ships... it's because 1) they don't have the product inventory and / or 2) they have become so accustomed to unhappy customers from not being able to deliver a quality product on time, that they don't even bother processing the credit card, which probably reduces charge back costs, etc.

This tale goes on and on. After waiting beyond the 14 BUSINESS DAYS, which was really 3 weeks at this point after a holiday in there, my next email goes out asking for a status. That's when the lies started. That is when they started playing the "coronavirus" card, indicating that they have had delays due to the virus impact and that my order was now scheduled to go out "Late July" (which was another 2 weeks away).

"Late July" comes and goes and I have to email again asking for a status. They play the "coronavirus" card again and now state the chair is set to go out "Mid/late August." It was at that point I compared to the other user reviews and decided to cut bait and run. I canceled my order and fortunately they had never charged me. Based on those who did actually get a chair, I wouldn't bother.

How in today's day and age can an e-commerce company go 48 DAYS, 33 BUSINESS DAYS, and not provide ONE SINGLE PROACTIVE piece of communication around status beyond the initial auto-generated order invoice / confirmation?? Every company in the world has experienced supply chain disruption due to the pandemic, yet most every other one I have dealt with could handle their business. You sell office chairs & furniture in the middle of a pandemic forcing more Americans than ever to work from home... now is your time to SHINE. But nope.

So, by the way, since I know Madison Seating will come rushing to their defense of my review and play the "coronavirus" card again and reiterate that I was never charged, let me tell you about another experience I had with them...

Before ordering the open box Herman Miller Aeron that I never received, I actually had ordered from them before and should have known better. However, my rationale was that I needed a chair to work from home, and even though they had screwed up my order before so bad I should have never used them again, I actually said to myself, "their customer service did eventually fix the problem, so at least I know who I'm dealing with." My bad. Big mistake.

See, back in 2011, I ordered 2 office chairs from them as well. They were knock-off Eames styled "Lieder" chairs manufactured by ZUO Modern. They arrive in heavily damaged boxes and so began the customer service. I sent pictures. I didn't even have to unbox the chairs; the damage was so bad I could see and photograph both damaged chairs without even opening the boxes. Oh, and also, I could tell they sent the wrong colors. They sent FedEx to retrieve the chairs and sent a replacement for one of the chairs, which arrived damaged again and I refused it again. At that point my wife decided she didn't even want one anymore, so I requested and was eventually issued a full refund for one of them. The other replacement arrived about a week later and still had some minor damage, but at that point I was tired of dealing with them and just kept it.

So, no... they will blame coronavirus, and point to their great reviews on sites like eBay and other marketplaces (where fraudulent reviews are a dime a dozen), but this was not an isolated incident. Buyer Be Warned.

I'm now going to pay full price for a brand-new Aeron from an authorized dealer I can trust, because I'm fortunate to be able to do so right now and my piece of mind and time is worth more than Madison Seating's cut rate service and products.
"

"I ordered the Sum Chair after several questions addressed by Madison Seating. The chair arrived exactly when they promised along with the shipping information. Unfortunately it was damaged in shipment. It was a beautiful chair - exactly as promised on the website. Madison stood behind their promise of Satisfaction guaranteed. Thank you Madison."