Your office chair gets used more than you think. The average one logs over 2,000 hours a year, more time than most people spend in their own car. So when it starts to squeak, sink, lean, or wobble, the instinct is to replace it. Cubiture's advice, after 45 years of doing exactly this kind of work: ask first.
Most of what wears out on a chair isn't the chair itself. It's one part.
Squeaking or leaning → usually the gas cylinder
Sinking → same, or a worn seat mechanism
Wobbling → often a caster or the base
Arm sagging or loose → the arm assembly, not the frame
A few weeks ago, a large company at the Allen Center in downtown Houston learned this the hard way. During a meeting, a chairman's leather chair gave out under him mid-meeting, in front of a client. It became the topic of conversation for the rest of the meeting, which is not the impression any company wants to make. The chairman told his facilities contact to look into new chairs or repairs.
That contact called Cubiture. Once the cost was on the table, the choice was easy: the chair was repaired and redelivered for $225. A new chair in that style would have run over $900. The client was happy enough with the result that they sent four more chairs over for repair.
That gap, a couple hundred dollars to repair versus close to a thousand to replace, is fairly typical, and it's why a phone call before a purchase order is usually worth it.
Jerry puts it simply: of every 100 chairs that come through the shop, 97 get repaired and sent back to the client. His rule of thumb for customers on the phone is straightforward. If the chair was expensive, or it means something to you, repair it. If it's a $150-$200 chair, it's often not worth the labor, and it makes more sense to replace it with something equally disposable.
A simple repair today can save a company thousands of dollars over time, and a five-year guarantee means it's built to last once it's fixed. Before you write off a chair, it might be worth a phone call first.
Have a chair you're not sure about? Send us a photo and we'll tell you if it's worth saving.
