I have found some threads on replacing chairs, but not all the data I wanted. So I will share my experience for those that may need the same in the future.
We wanted to upgrade our Euro style recliners as the OEM ones were too low and angled to where they were difficult to get out of plus they were starting to tear. We started looking at retail stores but only found a couple of choices in the Euro designs, but we were able to discover our likes/dislikes. What we wanted was leather, > 15โ chair height, not highly angled, and a flat or slightly angled ottoman. We also know that we wanted to stay well under $1k per chair.
With retail out, we headed to the Internet and found that Palliser had good quality and a good reputation, with a decent warranty. Based on forum feedback we looked at Brandon Hall (www.braddandhall.com) and Discount Leather Chairs (DLC) (www.discountleatherchair.com). BH offered a selection of pre-built chairs but they were bonded leather and limited colors so we chose DLC which offered all custom chairs including leather and fabric. Shopping for a large item like this on-line can be intimidating and DLC does have re-stocking fees if you make a bad choice. Needless to say we spent a lot of time researching Palliser and many styles they had. We settled on about 5 styles we liked and fit our rigid depth requirements (so the slides can pull in). We then spent a lot of time on the phone with Bob at DLC talking about our needs and he had some great feedback. A couple of things: only trust the Palliser PDFs for dimensions, as retail web sites were all over the map for sizing. Bob also told us to go with the Series 1000 leather as it would hold up better against our Dog and RV life. He also narrowed us down to our final choice, the Insignia, which he felt would be the most comfortable and fit our dimension criteria.
We then pulled the Trigger. DLC quotes order time of 4-6 weeks and ours came in at 4. DLC does not charge you until the chairs are ready to ship, they only authorize the charge (in my case they accidentally put the auhorization through as a charge, but quickly reversed it when I told them). I pinged them a week before the quoted ship date and they told me the chairs were done and they were waiting for Palliser to send them the tracking number. While they were looking for the tracking number, Fed-Ex Ground showed up at my door. DLC says that Palliser has been slow getting tracking numbers out lately.
The boxes were a bit battle-torn. Palliser is a Canadian company, chairs are Hecho in Mexico, and shipped to the US. I made Fed-Ex Ground note the box damage, called Bob at DLC and he assured me that any problems would be dealt with. Turns out contents were fine, but we had a couple of minor manufacturing defects including one of the chair backs that was poorly made (the same crew built both on the same day according to the quality control sticker). Bob at DLC was quick to order us a replacement (Palliser did not want any parts back) which arrived in about 2 weeks (interesting that the replacement back was made in Canada).
If you are not into Ikea type construction, this is not the path for you as you have to build the base, attach the seat, then the back, then the leather arms. Instructions were the typical all pictures no data, but we muddled through and are now expert chair builders. The chairs are all metal framed, with a wood base and wood trim on the arms, they are well constructed and the leather has steel access zippers. They look nice and are a great upgrade to our RV.
We did a 2 week trip with them and they lived up to expectations, except they are way too comfortable for our own good! ๐ If we had to do it over again, my wife would choose a model with a slightly lower seat height (she calls it Edith Ann Legs). All in all, a quality chair, at a great price. DLC was very responsive, helpful in the decision making process, and took care of our issues quickly so I would highly recommend DLC for an internet order chair.
