Sunbrella purchased at Sam's Club

Nice set.  Except for one of the chairs.  

"Do not return it to the store!"

Have you ever seen that admonition when you had a problem and look at the manufacturer's paperwork?  Well that’s what this product said.  So, being the person I am, I built the case file you see here so that I could give it to the customer service people.  They wanted pictures so I just had to give them the web site.  After some interchange, they said they would replace the defective chair.  Great!  All I had to do is to wait 6 to 8 weeks to get the chair.

I bought the set for a party.  I wondered if Sam’s could do anything, so I went around the admonition and went to Sam’s.

Sam’s response was nothing short of sudden. 

“What?” they asked. 

Then, “Did you bring the chair?  Great!”

Then, “We’ll open one of our boxes and get you a good chair immediately!   Would that be satisfactory?”

To say I was thrilled to hear this would be an understatement.  Sam’s is tops in my book, and the manufacturers that try to keep problems from their retail outlets, I’m not so sure.

Again, Sam’s is tops!

This is a picture of the weld on the side of the chair.  Notice that you can see a large part of the weld on this top view.  The result is that the side of the chair leans out when it should be vertical.  The other chair we have has a good weld and the mount was flush with the wicker.  This was not inspected.

The weld on the other side has a similar error.   This might look OK until you look at one that is properly welded and inspected.  In a proper weld, you don't see the weld at all.

The results is that the chair sides lean out and pinch back.  There cannot be remedied in assembly.  The spread in the front at the base of the legs is 28" while the other chair which was successfully assembled had a spread of 23".  Photos are available on these measurements.  

Another way to look at this is to consider that the cushion if square.  This isn't even close to square.  The steel in this product is excellent, that is to say very strong and heavy.  No bending is possible.

The inspection tickets above didn't have readable stamps.  But then we found the one on the right which happened to be attached to the problem chair on parts we hadn't gotten to.  Clearly "A02" but the date isn't really clear.  Hopefully the Sam's receipt will allow for proper quality control.