I am a sucker for good quality products and when I was in the market looking for a quality office chair, the Herman Miller Aeron caught my attention. I had the opportunity to experience the comfort of seating on one at work and it blew my mind. They were the pioneers for meshed chair and many companies are now trying to replicate the success that they had. The price of their chairs are not for the faint of heart, the cheapest I could find from online at the time of writing this article was $1152 SGD sold by AudioSG.
Comfort-checked, Branding-checked, Expensive-checked, Good Reviews-checked, 12 years Warranty-checked surely they must be good right?
The Seating Experience
The chair is extremely comfortable and especially if you need to work long hours in a seated position. The breathability of the mesh keeps your body cool all day which is very helpful given the warm climate in Singapore. Wanting to get some rest? Installing an Aeron compatible headrest and then reclining the chair brings about a level of comfort that I never knew was possible on an office chair. The mechanism of the chair is well-built and having used my Aeron for 3 years now, there is hardly any squeak when reclining the chair.
The Downside
I really enjoyed the chair until a year later when I discovered that the mesh of my Atlas Mesh Headrest started to disintegrate. This was definitely disappointing given the amount of money that was paid for against the quality that I was expecting. For those who might not know, Herman Miller does not produce the headrest for the Aeron. Atlas Mesh headrest is produced by another company called "Atlas Headrest" and they claimed to use the same mesh material as Herman Miller Aeron which was one of the reason why I paid the premium for their headrest. After jumping through multiple hurdles, I eventually managed to get my headrest replaced with the cushion model and you can find out more about my experience through the video below. Quite honestly, it is not something that I ever want to go through again.
To add insult to injury, my mesh on the backrest of my Aeron also experienced the same disintegration 1.5 years of use. The only saving grace was that the reseller whom I purchased my Aeron from, was able to get me a replacement backrest from Herman Miller and they came to do the replacement for me at no additional cost. A friend of mine bought his Aeron from AudioSG was not as lucky. AudioSG attributed the torn mesh to wear and tear and he eventually had to pay $260 SGD in order to get his backrest replaced. Again, definitely not something I want to experience buying a premium office chair.
The reseller that I bought my chair from was http://www.ergosupplies.sg/. Unfortunately their website is no longer around and I am not sure if they are still in business (Goodluck to me if I ever need file another warranty claim).
Summary
I hope by sharing my experience, it can help you with making a wise purchase (must be Kiasu right?). So then, should you buy the Herman Miller Aeron? Personally, if I had access to the information provided in this blog when I'm deciding on an office chair, I would probably purchase some other office chair. Given how expensive the Aeron is, I could hardly use the chair in peace given that any repairs due to accidental damage is going to be extremely expensive. Filing a warranty to claim for any damages to the chair is also highly unknown despite reseller claiming to provide 12 years of warranty coverage. The office chair market has also been very competitive with brands such as Hinomi, Sihoo and Ergotune competing in the mesh chair category. I have tried all 3 brands before and Sihoo feels like a good alternative to me given its price point, comfort and build quality. But for now, I'll just continue to enjoy my Aeron for as long as I can.
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