Purchased Refurbished Steelcase Amia Chair -- Putting It Right

[artemis789]

Hi folks.

Hope you are all well.

Recently, I took a bit of a gamble in purchasing a refurbished Steelcase Amia chair from a UK-based refurbished office chair company.

The company looks to be quite new to the UK refurbished office chair space. I will not name them at this stage.

I found the chair on Ebay, and then bought direct from the company's website.

The chair was manufactured in 2014, making it circa 10 years old.


Value and Pricing

A new version of a Steelcase Amia chair currently retails for circa £1030 GBP on the official UK Steelcase website.

I picked up the (very lightly) refurbished chair for circa £320.


Bad Aspects

Regrettably, I think the chair has been a bad buy in three key respects.

The following components of the received chair look to have been "bodged" quite badly:

1. The pneumatic seat-height adjustment gas cylinder (and housing). This is the key problem with the chair. The cylinder looks to be "after market" and non-official. It is operational, but extremely ill-fitting. The underside of it actually makes contact with my carpet. It will ruin my carpet soon unless I get this problem addressed ASAP.
2. The casters generally. These all look like cheap non-official casters. In particular, one of the casters is bent/damaged.
3. The five-spoke base (i.e., where the casters are attached). It looks to have been poorly re-sprayed. I am also not sure if this is an official part, or an after-market replacement.

Good Aspects

Meanwhile, the following components are up-to-the-mark:

1. The seat (the most important part in my opinion).
2. The seat-back.
3. The arm-rests / arm pads.

Picture Album (17 pictures)

I have uploaded an ad-free photo album here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/21585034@N06/albums/72177720321599673

See, in particular, the pictures showing the pneumatic seat-height adjustment gas cylinder (and housing) making contact with my carpet. That is not sustainable over the long-term, and needs addressed quickly.


My Plan

I have decided to:

• Keep the chair, and make it work.
• Contact the seller, to negotiate a partial rebate.
• Purchase the right corrective parts, and implement/integrate them myself.

My Questions

I'd be very grateful for any suggestions from any "chair afficionados" on what parts I should be investigating, where to get them, and how to go about fitting them.

My main focus is to get the following parts, preferably within the UK, but also considering US-vendors who ship internationally if necessary:

1. New official pneumatic seat-height adjustment gas cylinder (and housing).
2. New official five-spoke base.
3. New offical casters.

Thanks so much for reading my post folks.

 

[artemis789]

Hi folks.

Just back with an update and a potential solution.

I hope this is useful for anyone else who runs across the same "pneumatic cylinder ground clearance" problems that I have, if they have bought a refurbished Steelcase Amia, or another refurbished Steelcase chair.

In short, the quick solution has been to purchase a set of "roller style" 3"/75mm diameter casters.

These larger sized casters give extra clearance from the floor, when compared to many other casters (both standard/OEM casters, or other after-market casters).


How I Found The 3" / 75mm Diameter Roller Casters

I ran a few Google searches for 3" / circa 75mm wheel diameter roller-style casters and came up with a number of results.

My ideal choice were these ones from Crandal Office (a well-known US-based high-end refurbished chair vendor), but after a short enquiry, it turns out they don't ship anything (not even small parts) to the UK. That was a pity.

Instead, I made some alternative finds via Amazon UK and EBay UK.

I pressed ahead with purchasing these Chinese Lifelong brand 3" / 75mm diameter roller casters from Amazon UK, in black and black/grey.

A quick search of the reviews revealed that some prior Steelcase chair owners had had good results with these.

I'm looking forwards to getting them fitted, and will post back with results (and in particular, hopefully better clearance results) after fitment.


Additional Research and Content on Putting the UK-Refurbished Steelcase Amia Right

I made additional enquiries over at quite a famous Office Chair reddit community, here.

I received some excellent answers to my queries, which really put me on the right track.

If you are interested, the thread is here.


Thanks for reading folks, and I hope this thread has been useful.

 

[artemis789]

Another small update folks.

Just thought I'd share the result of the steps taken to solve the "pneumatic cylinder contacting/scuffing carpet" problem that I had (explained above).

In line with some excellent advice that I received over on quite a well-known Office Chair reddit community, here, I purchased, received and fitted after-market larger-sized diameter (3" / 75mm) casters.

I originally enquired with Crandall Office (USA) about getting these ones shipped to the UK, but regrettably, they told me that they do not ship to the UK (even for small parts). As a fall-back, I opted for these Chinese Lifelong brand 3" / 75mm diameter roller casters from Amazon UK, in plain black, and also in black/grey.

I have fitted the plain black set. They fit perfectly, and the ground clearance problem is now solved. The casters look to be a good quality product.

Overall, the new larger-sized casters have saved me a lot of headaches, as at one point, I was considering investing in:

1. A new official pneumatic seat-height adjustment gas cylinder (and housing); and
2. A new official five-spoke base.

Thankfully, that is no longer necessary.

A full ad-free gallery, demonstrating satisfactory floor clearance, is here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/21585034@N06/albums/72177720321616637

Once again, I hope this thread is useful to anyone who finds themselves in a similar position after buying a refurbished Steelcase chair.

Have a good day folks.

 

[eurokage]

Thanks for the useful info @artemis789.