Thanks to this forum and in particular this thread, I purchased and received my chairs from Gavin. Like most people on this thread, I was looking for quality chairs for my 8-station table. I considered breaking the bank and going with custom chairs from Pharaoh, but after a few calls and emails, I just could not see myself dropping $350 per chair. While doing a search for other options, I came upon this forum. I followed OPs journey from asking the group about these chairs to ordering and posting his first review. I saw as several other members jumped on the bandwagon, so I figured what did I have to lose.
I contacted Gavin at about 8 PM CST on 10/10 and did some back and forth regarding what I wanted. Gavin responded immediately and was super helpful. My first question out of the box was could I place an order for 8 chairs and Gavin said yes. Next, we discussed colors available, and Gavin sent me a few photos. In the end, the colors just did not match my table, so I said let's just do all black.
I was given an all-in price with shipping and taxes of $1,360 for 8 chairs. That comes out to be $170 per chair. For that same price I could have purchased about 3 1/2 Pharaoh chairs.
I will admit even with all the positive feedback on this forum, I was nervous about the purchase and the clunky Alibaba website did not do much to boost my confidence.
After about two weeks, I received notice that my boxes (10 of them) had made it out of the warehouse. A few days later I received notice that my boxes made it on a ship and were headed to the USA. At this time, I was provided with a UPS tracking number, but the number did not allow me to see anything until my boxes made it to the USA. After about two weeks at sea, I received notice that my boxes made it to the USA and clearance was in progress. A few days after that, I received notice the terminal carrier received my boxes and they would be delivered and gave me a delivery date of 11/18.
At about 10:30 AM on 11/18 my UPS guy stopped in front of my house where I helped him unload all 10 boxes into my garage. All of my boxes arrived in good shape unlike some of the other photos I saw. I immediately took them inside and into my mancave where I assembled all 8 chairs in less than 90 minutes. Everything was inside my boxes, and I followed OPs instructions for assembly.
Let me say the chairs are heavy duty and super comfortable. I can't wait to host my next game in a few weeks. If you are on the fence about purchasing from Gavin, do yourself a favor and pull the trigger. Thanks to this forum I did, and I am super happy with my purchase. My only negative is that I did not see the forum discount until after placing my order.