We bought a wicker rocking chair from Wayfair. It was a bit expensive, $415 plus tax. When it arrived, the body of the chair was fully assembled and only the runners had to be secured with 4 screws. After attaching the runners, I positioned the chair where I wanted it, sat down, and heard a little "creeek." I figured it was the normal sound of the wood and wicker "settling in."

I then got up, repositioned the chair a few inches, sat down again and this time the creeek was a "CRACK" and my butt fell through the bottom of the chair a couple of inches. The wicker bottom broke! (I only weight 135 pounds and the chair is rated for 300 pounds, so it wasn't a problem of me being overweight).




I called Wayfair right away and the young man was very helpful, apologized for the problem and said the chair was probably defective. He said he would immediately issue me a full refund. And when he said immediate, it was immediate. As we were still talking on the phone I got an email from him with the confirmation number for the refund to my credit card.

I then asked him for the procedure to box it back up to return it, and he said not to bother, we could keep the chair and either fix it and keep it or give it away.

My wife and I thought about donating it, but we figured we deserve a freebee once in a while, so we decided to keep it for ourselves and fix it up.

I got a piece of wood, cut it out to exactly fit the seat bottom, and the wife bought some foam padding and material to cover it with.




We had some material left over and recovered an old foot stool to match.




So for about 20 buxs we got a really nice rocking chair. Here's the wife taking it for a test drive. So far, no creeks or cracks!!

I think this happens more commonly than you would think. Although years ago, I have had two cases where people were severely injured by defective chairs.

You and you wife did a magnificent job—when handed a lemon, you made lemonade!

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No school like the old school.

Have a co-worker who ordered a couch from them. There was a problem with the legs, and they sent them a new couch. Did not want the first one, so they got two couches for the price of one!!

That caning looked rotten. Real caning is done by hand and you would not have paid that if it was hand caned. Ask me about caning I've got around 15 of my dead mother in law's chairs in storage waiting for me to fork out the $200 a pop it will take to bet each re-caned. Told my wife "you like them so much-YOU pay"-Soon as my wife dies they are going to the flea market.

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Forum consigliere

Caj, I have a few chairs in the basement waiting to be re- caned also. I'm sure by the time I get around to them, my husband will have to take them to the dump! That chair that johngross and his wife repaired sure came out nice and the wooden seat below the pretty padding is probably much more sturdy. The padding probably makes for a more comfortable sit down too

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The chair might have been rated for three hundred pounds, but the bottom on most of us three hundred pounders spreads the force over a considerable area. At one hundred thirty-five pounds the force is localized. Think about the damage a woman weighing one twenty can do with spike heels!