Steelcase Authorized Factory Return Grades Explained
As you may know by now we have partnered with Steelcase to sell chairs returned to Steelcase during their 14 day return policy at a discount on crandalloffice.com. These chairs are known as Steelcase Authorized Factory Return Chairs, and each chair has a specific grade attached to it. Today we’re going to take a closer look at this grading process, what each grade means, and what you can expect out of your Steelcase Authorized Return office chair.
Grades Defined
Each chair is given one of three grades, A, B, or C.
Grade A chairs are certified by Steelcase, Inc. as well as Crandall Office Furniture, Inc. to be in like-new condition both visually and functionally.
Grade B Chairs have been identified as chairs that require minor repairs or chairs with minor wear, scuffs, or stains on the chair frame or fabric by Steelcase. These chairs are evaluated and repaired by Crandall Office Furniture, and listed as Grade B Returns Refurbished by Crandall Office Furniture. All repairs or imperfections will be noted on each product listing for these chairs.
Grade C Chairs are chairs that have noticeable or significant wear on either the chair frame or fabric. These chairs will be cycled into our remanufactured chairs program and sold as Crandall Office Furniture Remanufactured Chairs.
Who Grades the Chairs?
Each chair is graded 3 separate times during our process.
Stage 1:
As chairs come into Steelcase, each chair is inspected and graded by a Steelcase Employee internally. These chairs are then assigned a grade, bagged, and tagged for pickup.
Stage 2:
Crandall Office Furniture then sends employees to Steelcase to pickup these chairs. While on-site, Crandall and Steelcase employees do a second inspection together to verify the original grade given and make any changes to a grade if needed. Chairs are then loaded onto a truck, and transported to Crandall Office Furniture.
Stage 3:
Once the chairs arrive at Crandall Office Furniture, our team goes through each chair one last time to verify the chair grade. At the same time, each chair is numbered, inventoried, and photographed to be listed for sale on crandalloffice.com. We photograph each individual chair for full transparency and to make sure potential buyers can see the actual chair they will be purchasing.
Grading Process & Criteria
We’ve developed a grading process in conjunction with Steelcase based on their new chair standards and what would pass or fail from the new chair factory. When talking about grading, we are going to focus mainly on what constitutes a Grade A chair. We hold a very high standard for Grade A chairs, but it’s important to know exactly how these chairs are evaluated, and what is considered a passing grade.
Functionality:
Each chair is tested to ensure all components and adjustments are functioning as intended. We physically test every chair and every adjustment. If everything is working at 100%, the chair moves onto visual inspection. If anything is broken, not functioning properly, or in need of any type of functional repair, this chair fails and put into a separate pile for further evaluation.
Visual Inspection:
Each chair is visually inspected to ensure it is in like-new condition from a cosmetic standpoint. This process can be a bit subjective, so we’ve established a set procedure that we follow to ensure consistency and transparency of this process.
We have setup an evaluation area to ensure each chair is assessed in a consistently well lit space where our employees can clearly see the chair. We give each chair a walk-around at 3-4 feet away to look for anything major, and then proceed to walk around and spin the chair at a closer arms-length distance (~2ft) for a closer inspection. If we can not see any imperfections at this closer arms-length distance, it is considered to be a passing grade.
It’s important to note that these are chairs that have been used for up to 14 days, and have been shipped multiple times, and It is possible extremely minor imperfections that can not be seen at this arms-length distance could be on a Grade A chair.
Conclusion
As this Steelcase Authorized Factory Returns program continues to evolve, we’ve continued to make steps to ensure a consistent and transparent grading process. We’re confident in our current process, but as always, we’re open to improving our product and processes as things move forward. We hope you found this information helpful, and if you have any suggestions for us, don’t hesitate to reach out to us anytime.
Shop Office Chairs Mentioned in this Article:
Crandall Office Furniture has been remanufacturing Steelcase & Herman Miller office chairs since 2002, and since then has grown to become the largest remanufacturer of high-end office seating in the United States. We see and work on thousands of these chairs every year, which gives us a unique insight into how they stand up to long term use, where they fail, and how to fix them. If you’re looking to learn more about high end seating, you’re in the right place!
Learn More About our Remanufactured & Refurbished Chairs and our process here:
https://www.crandalloffice.com/remanufactured-chairs/