“I bought a Steelcase Leap v2 from Madison Seating last week. When it arrived I assembled it and put it in my office to use the next day for work. It is so uncomfortable compared to a 5 year old RETAIL version of the Steelcase leap v2 that my girlfriend owns. The refurbishment was very poorly done, chair wobbles, lumbar is bad, cushions are hard, material is cheap and rough. The lumbar support is so intense and using the adjustment just makes it worse (I compared the lumbar support to the exact same chair model my girlfriend has). You can visibly see the lumbar support pushing on the back rest and distorting it. The fabric is very rough and the cushions are no where near as comfortable as the RETAIL version of the chair.
I reached out to Madison Seating customer service and after a few canned responses they finally said "Please return the chair and find another vendor to furnish your office chair needs."”
“Save yourself the trouble and dont buy anything from madison seating. Google, Reddit, & Youtube. Your 100% better off spending 10% off what you would with them and buying something cheap on amazon.
They sold me a defective chair, with a "10 year warranty". When I reached out to them for assistance replacing the seat they said that they're sorry they're unable to help me because its past the 30 days. Susan the supervisor also refused to help me and thought it was better to threaten her customers then empathize for the situation her crappy warehouse put them in.
How is this company still up in 2024”
“I've used Madison Seating on three separate occasions. The first time was in 2020 and it all went fairly smooth and the chair had some flaws but for the value I was fine with it. Unfortunately that chair broke in 2021 and had to stop using it. I purchased the same chair in 2021 and have not had any issues with it. The quality was a little better than the one purchased in 2020. The last chair and reason for my review was purchased in 2023. The chair arrived and cosmetically looked just as good as the second chair. The issue was with the stability of the back. You can hear the chair making noises when leaning back and it was not supporting my back as firmly as the past two chairs did. Since Madison offers a 30 Day money back guarantee I requested a return. They expect me to pay for a return of a defective item. Instead of arguing with them I simply told them I will eat the cost as a business expense. Stay away from this company. They are not operating in good faith.”
“Coming here now to share a recent experience with Madison Seating. I purchased a Steelcase Leap V2 office chair from them to give to my wife, and my God do I regret that purchase. There's an old saying - if something sounds too good to be true, it isn't. I'm feeling that one right now, as seeing a Leap V2 for less than $500 should definitely stand out as something about it not being right.
The chair that Madison Seating provided me, advertised as "open box", was actually crudely refurbished, at best. Comparing it to the Leap V2 I am sitting in right now that I bought from a local seller, the fabric is low quality, uncomfortable and the padding was also likely replaced with lower quality material. The best part, though, was the fact that there were two screws just jammed into the bottom of the seat, right at the lip where the plastic meets the fabric. I assume this was to further secure the fabric from the cheaply done upholstery work, but because they didn't pre-drill the holes, and they weren't threaded, the screws brought plastic up and out and was left in a jagged manner to scratch my legs when I sat in the chair.
I contacted Madison Seating about this, and was told that I could return it.....if I paid for the shipping and restocking fees, totaling about half of the cost of the chair, lol. Total scam, and to be fair, I should have seen it coming.
Just buy this stuff full-price from a reputable company, or be sure to inspect it yourself before buying 2nd hand or refurbished. Don't trust Madison Seating.”
“Shipped a defective Leap chair and would not address the problem or provide a full refund after the chair was returned. They kept telling me the chair was fine after looking at a few pictures they requested from me. We currently have the identical chairs in use so we know how they are supposed to operate. Stay away!”
“They sent me a chair with a missing part (it's the tilt arm, chair is unusable without it). They claimed it was described on the website as missing that piece. NOT TRUE, they can't provide the listing showing that was how it was listed for sale. It was one of 5 I purchased and other 4 were complete. Refusing to replace. INCREDIBLE. The have offered a return at my shipping cost, which would cost me more than I paid for the chair. If you purchase just be aware that the guarantee is a SHAM and all sales are final with them.”
“I would give zero stars if I could. I ordered a chair that was $700, open box. Upon receipt of the chair, it was defective. The settings for height and recline would not lock, thus I could not keep the chair in a position that supported my ergonomic needs. Upon return, Madison required that I ship the chair back paying for least expensive shipping route. I sent in the receipts for the shipping because it was almost $170 just to return ship via UPS ground (I shopped around). Madison Seating's response to my request for reimbursement was:
"The novelty with Madisonseating.com is that we sell brand name ergonomic office chairs for practically half the retail price and include free shipping. This way customers that normally cannot afford an ergonomic chair, can buy one at a more reasonable price.
With these prices and free shipping, we are unable to offer free returns. We do not reimburse for the return shipping costs under our 30 day return policy."
I will never do business with this company again. I was punished for broken furniture as the customer and in this economy, I don't just have $170 to throw away when I have a family to feed. I'll continue going to the other LARGE online retailer who knows that customer service is what makes people return. This was the worst customer service ever!”
“I ordered 5 chairs from them Aeron, Mirra, Leap V2, Gesture, and Amia. I ordered on 3/29. I did not hear anything for a couple of weeks. All but two chairs came in individually spaced out over several days. They do not answer the phone and are slow to respond on email. You can't see the status of multiple shipments in their online portal, so when something does ship, you don't know which it is or when to expect it. I was very concerned at first that the company might have been fake. By the first week of May all chairs had arrived. All were from their remanufactured line-up. 1/5 lived up to expectation of a remanufactured chair. It was an Aeron. The fabric on all Steelcase products was very poorly done, I would not trust them on a reupholstered chair. Many loose threads and in general it looked like a very low level of quality. The Leap V2 had five different concerns. Three different components broken in shipment. It took me four emails with pictures along with a threat to challenge the credit card statement for them to ship repair pieces. When they did ship, there was no instructions, so if you are not mechanically inclined, you would have little to no chance of fixing. Additionally, their is a permanent seam in the back of the upholstery because they glued it in place without smoothing it out. They also did not trim excess fabric on any chairs, so you have random pieces of fabric sticking out from the chairs. The Steelcase arm pads are designed to be replaced, but to save a few buck they did some weird reupholstery to it as well on the Leap. The Gesture and Amia, appear to be new pads, or at least in great shape. The fabric edges is the big negative one those two. The Mirra chair we ordered either had bolts stripped in the frame from the factory, or they did not install the correct bolts. Whoever installed, did go out of their way to make it look correct. The result is that it took about two weeks before the back of the chair separated into 3 pieces. The company won't ship new bolts, or replacement chair back. Their only solution is to ship back the whole chair back and then they will replace. The problem is either a bolt of the chair back. Neither of those make sense to ship a whole chair. Either way, they will only take back a chair in the original packaging. If they make an exception you have to find a box that fits exact dimensions. I along with a couple of coworkers spent a couple of hours trying to find the box, and we couldn't. As a last ditch effort I tried to order another chair from them and told them I ordered one to get a box. THEY CANCELLED THE ORDER!!! This is the most unethical, and sleazy company I have dealt with a long time.”
“Every review you read about Madisonseating is true. They ship defective merchandise and then do their level best to wear the consumer down by not taking phone calls, threatening legal action and eventually issuing only a partial refund (as a "restocking fee") once you return the defective merchandise to them. Buyer beware, this is a scam.”
“Madison Seating took my money, and I received nothing!
We are a small firm, and I splurged on seven Aeron chairs for our team. After waiting nearly two months, Madison sent an e-mail that the chairs were delivered - but they weren't. My office was fully staffed, including myself, when the chairs were supposedly delivered. We would certainly have noticed if seven chairs had arrived. A review of the building's security footage shows no deliveries at the time.
Madison refuses to issue a refund, send additional chairs, or cooperate with FedEx's investigation. They won't even take my call as that is only for customers placing orders - once you place an order, no phone calls for you. Madison's rude and nameless e-mail responder (the only communication possible) has given multiple contradictory responses, including that since FedEx said marked the packages as delivered, they are prevented from filing a claim. Interestingly, I was able to file a claim - but FedEx keeps telling me to have the shipper, Madison, contact them. But Madison refuses. However, FedEx did tell me that Madison only tendered four boxes (one per chair) - not the seven they told me. FedEx is now trying to track down what happened to the other four chairs. AVOID AT ALL COSTS - DON'T LET THEM RIP YOU OFF”
“I bought a chair that was listed as in stock at the beginning of January. Their website and receipt email said that products will be shipped in 10-14 business days. When I heard nothing in that time frame, I contacted the company. THEY WILL NOT TAKE ANY CALLS ABOUT SHIPMENT, only calls for new orders. If they already have your money, you are told that you must contact them through email only. I sent and eventually got an email back, saying, so sorry, with COVID their shipping will take much longer and my chair would be shipped in early to mid February. They have since tried to cover their butts on various sites by saying they have told people that it would take longer. However, at the time I bought the chair both the website and the receipt email very clearly said 10-14 days for in-stock items.
It's mid-February, and it's the same song and dance routine. I emailed and I called the company, despite their autoattendant saying that existing order issues will only be handled through email. I got someone right away, so... so much for not having people available to handle issues. Of course, I got the same garbage, saying that they can not provide any shipping information or a refund by phone, only via email. I noted that the people handling emails have telephones too, so please connect me to the person(s) who is handling emails. Of course, it was the same thing repeated over and over... can't give information about shipping, can't cancel and refund a purchase that hasn't been shipped over a month after the initial promise, can't connect a person to anyone who can discuss it...”
“I recently bought a SteelCase think chair. The description of the chair says that the castors are compatable with carpets. They are not, as they cause the piston of the chair to drag on the carpet and bottom out. I reached out to there service department and their response was, "To bad, you can buy new wheels on ebay or amazon"
Do NOT buy from MadisonSeating.com”
“This company sells heavily used and abused products, claiming them as "open box". Note the screw holes and damage on the chair I ordered as an example which was indicative of the overall condition of the chair. Shipping was much delayed, and far beyond what they advertised. They are a hard to work with and firm that doesn't stand by what they sell.”
“If I could give this company zero stars, I would. Order placed in October 2020 still unfulfilled, with no updates given by the company and no estimate as to when the product will be delivered. Said it was in stock when I ordered but company keeps citing 'covid-19 reasons' for delays. It has been over 2.5 months since I placed the order, despite the initial shipping estimate being 10-14 business days.”
“Don't waste your time! I tried to purchase a Steelcase chair - only to find *AFTER* checking out that there was a 10-14 day time BEFORE shipping (not including holidays and weekends). I inquired about this and was told that's their policy and due to covid (isn't that a convenient excuse) there wasn't anything they could do about it. After some back and forth, where I then learned it would be 18-30 days before my item even left their warehouse (making the lead time 4-6 weeks for an in stock office chair), their customer service responded that I seemed unhappy and would I like to cancel my order, which I did. Terrible service, and terrible experience overall.
The whole experience feels like I was dealing with people in China or India selling knocks offs but who knows?”
“I wish I could comment on the quality of product, but I did not receive my chair after nearly 4 months of waiting and sub-par customer service. I ordered a chair mid-July 2020. The website did have a banner mentioning that COVID19 would potentially delay orders, but when my confirmation came it said 10-15 days. That timeframe came and went, but understanding supply chain issues, I tried to call them. There phone support is shut down and the voicemail instructed me to email them for an update. I emailed them in early August and was told mid-August. Emailed again when that date came and went, they responded with a canned email exactly the same as the first delay, but with a new shipping estimate of late August. Date came and went, emailed them early September, new shipping estimate of mid/late September. Date came and went, emailed early October, new shipping estimate of mid-October. Date came and went, emailed late October, new shipping estimate of mid-November. Date came and went, I sent one last email telling them I'd like to cancel if they could not provide a concrete date, they sent another canned email with a new date, not acknowledging my request to cancel, and I asked them to cancel one more time and they did. I understand the supply chain has been interrupted during COVID, but there is a way to handle customer service, and this is not it. Very disappointed in the lack of communication and transparency. When I initially saw the prices I thought they were too good to be true, and it turned out that was the case.”
“Here is the exact review I posted on TrustPilot.com. I hope this is one of many reviews for MadisonSeating. This is indeed a shameful company.
Beware!
I was excited at first to see the website's discounted prices for Steelcase and Herman Miller chairs. I figured they were just some sort of clearance place for overpriced chairs. I should have thought more about the "too good to be true" prices. After doing a little more research, and reading about the law suits against them, I decided to cancel my order. They indeed make the prices look as if you're getting a new chair at a discount price, but really you're just getting a used chair. After that, I just didn't feel comfortable about doing business with them, they seemed shady.
I tried calling them at first. Strangely they told me they don't "do cancellations over the phone," and I'd have to cancel by e-mail. I thought that was strange and unprofessional. Then I was told there was a 5% "cancellation fee". As if there is some overhead in placing an online order and waiting on them for two weeks to even ship the thing. I will give them this -- when I complained about the 5% fee, they waived it as a "one time courtesy". Good, I won't need a second time.
Lastly, and most importantly. It just so happens two days after doing business with their online store, I get an alert from my bank of $593 for Verizon. We have no account with Verizon. I have NEVER received a alert from my bank before this. I am fairly careful about my online activity. There were also two other suspicious transactions reported, with one being for $.01 from some "battery" story in Brooklyn -- which happens to be where Madison Seating is located. I'm not accusing the company of making these transactions themselves, but it made me suspicious that their website is unsafe.
So there you have it. I should have known better. Just buy a refurbished/remanufactured chair from a notable retailer who doesn't give you a smoke screen, if you want a cheaper one.
*** UPDATE AFTER MADISON SEATING'S RESPONSE ***
The response from MadisonSeating just shows how unprofessional this seller is.
In their response on this website (which appears to no longer be visible), they claimed they were not located in Brooklyn, but New Jersey. They used that as a reason to deny my suspicions. After pointing out the following information taken from their own website, they removed that statement from their reply:
Go the Contact Us page on madisonseating.com.
The address as of 2/7/2020 clearly says:
6103 Strickland Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11234
They also responded saying that I was "lashing out" for personal reasons, and that my review was "ridiculous". Unbelievable.
Even with all this, they still don't address the fact that the advertising on the site is highly deceptive to say the least. "$1,000 chair marked down to $400" -- The $1,000 would be correct if the chair was new, but it's not. You have to read the fine print "open box" policy, and even then you barely know what you're getting: refurbished, re-manufactured, wiped down with a wet cloth? Read the other reviews about this.
And this claim that they've "been in business for 14 years." I may take their word for it, but I find no proof of that. Actually, by all accounts I can find, they've been around since 2014. Perhaps they're talking about the previous company LuxuryChair.com who also had a lawsuit filed against them from Herman Miller. Still, I find it slightly deceptive to say they've been around for 14 years as the same company. Notice they do not refute these points.
MadisonSeating also reported my review as of 2/12/2020, saying I was not a genuine customer. I have provided documentation to TrustPilot to ensure that I am. Why would I write all of this if I didn't actually purchase from them? It appears to be a tactic to silence negative reviews. I chose not to provide them with any of my information because I simply don't trust them, and I realize now for good reason.”
