PSA - WARNING - LSEAT.COM

PSA - WARNING - LSEAT.COM Hey guys, I noticed that these guys are a popular source for replacement seat skins for Porsches, so I thought I'd share my recent experience. After corresponding with LSeat mid-summer, they indicated that they did not have a pattern for an NB1 (99-00) Miata but would give me 50% off if I shipped them my covers. They promised a turnaround of 3-4 weeks. I removed and shipped my original leather covers to them in mid-July, they arrived at their PO Box on July 29. After an exchange to finalize what I wanted on August 2, I waited patiently for an email to arrange for payment. When I didn't get one I followed up on August 21, and they responded saying "we are still working on it, we will let you know once we get it done". That's the last I heard from them, they have not responded to emails sent on September 20, 22 and again today October 4. I am now stuck with a Miata with no seat skins, and out about CA$50 in shipping costs. If there is a change in this and they come through I will update, but at this time I have no alternative but to believe that I've been defrauded.

Sorry that must suck. Do they answer the phone?

Well, that sucks. Hopefully they'll respond and at the very least, get your old seat covers back. As an alternative, I'd suggest looking for OEM seats/seat covers on Miata.net. You may be able to find some good options there. Mike

UPDATE: After resignation that my original seat skins were gone and the new ones weren't coming, I received an email in early November with a photo of a seat skin that appeared to be my order. After many emails with obtuse responses, I finally decided to take a risk and sent payment for the seat covers in late January. In my order I again reminded them that they were to return my original seat covers as promised. I paid in full on January 24. On Jan 26 I was told it would ship "this week". Keep in mind my covers have already been made and only need to be shipped. On Feb 3 (a week later) it was still showing as "awaiting fulfillment" and I had not received a shipping notice. I sent an email and was sent a UPS tracking number in response. On Feb 7 UPS still had not received the package, so sent a follow-up email to which the response was "it has been picked up last week" and that the tracking info would update shortly. On Feb 9 UPS still showed that they had not received the package, so I asked the seller to create a trace with UPS - he said "we will contact UPS" On Feb 11 UPS still showed the same, and the seller said "tracking info will be updated tomorrow". On Feb 12 I called UPS, and they confirmed that they have not picked up the package nor do they have any record of it being dropped off. They also confirmed that the seller had not completed any online customs declaration, nor had the seller made any inquiries or initiated any traces on the package. As far as UPS was concerned, all he had done was created a shipment online to generate a tracking number. When I emailed the seller with this, he said "sorry about the delay, please be patient the tracking info will be updated finally" without addressing any of the details. On Feb 14 UPS still showed the same, and the seller told me to check again the next day. On Feb 15, with no change on the UPS site, I suggested I would file a claim with my credit card. The seller responded that he would request a delivery intercept if I did this; I suggested that an intercept would at least locate this package that UPS says they don't have, so to please do this. On Feb 22, UPS showed that the seller dropped off the package THAT DAY. The package started moving, but the next day it arrived in Hodgkins IL and stalled there. On Mar 2, I called UPS and they advised that the commercial invoice was illegible. On Mar 5, UPS advised that the package was returned to the sender due to the paperwork. The seller assured me he would reship it "tomorrow" On Mar 12, not having received any new shipment notice or tracking, I emailed the seller. He said he will reship "next week". On Mar 16, after no news, I followed up again to receive the response "we will send the tracking number to you tonight" On Mar 17, a new tracking number was created, and the next day it was received by UPS. On Mar 24, 8 months after sending my seat covers out and two months after payment in full, I received my new seat covers. However, my original seat covers were not in the package. Since that time, a number of emails requesting the return of my original seat skins have gone unanswered, as well as emails about the colour of the new covers. The new covers? Surprisingly, they are quite good. Although not factory-perfect, they seem quite well-made and have fit well on the original foams. Despite this being my first attempt at upholstery, the driver's seat is close to perfect in terms of wrinkles, and the ones on the passenger seat are minor, acceptable, and potentially could have been avoided if I was more skilled. Unfortunately, the colour is NOTHING like the representation on the website. After receiving my original covers, the seller confirmed that "beige" was the best choice, and based on the website I agreed... but in reality the "beige" is more like the website representation of "Bisque", which is a lighter more grey-beige than a brown-beige. This is obvious from their page for my car, as the picture used is of my seat covers. NB Miata Seat Cover At the end of the day, the most important thing for vendors, particularly online, is to deal with their customers with honesty and transparency. If theyhad told me that it would take 4 months to make the pattern and prepare my covers, I would have been fine... but they said it would take 3-4 weeks. If there were delays in shipping, I could tolerate that... but not when they told me they shipped when they really didn't. And now they won't respond to colour concerns or return the original covers that they had committed to returning. As such, I cannot recommend dealing with Lseat.com.

Quotes source post: 17443020

So you never got your original seat skins back...?

nope.

Good lord what a cluster ****. It doesn't matter how good the product is if the only information you can get out of customer service is a lie.

Sorry to hear about your situation OP. Definitely frustrating as hell. Honestly, I've been struggling with getting in contact with people / companies in general since the whole Covid thing took over. This resonates both contacts for work functions, as well as home life. Hell I tried to schedule to have some work done to the 996 with a local Indy, took them about 3 days to respond to the original email, said he would pencil in for "X" date about a month out. Two weeks prior roll around, haven't heard anything so I reached out to see if it was still on the books..., couple days go by nothing. Then, 5 days before scheduled and asked again if it was still on the books to drop the car off...., radio silence. So now it's back to looking for another shop that's willing to communicate on a very basic level.

I'll share my experience. I took a chance and purchased a set of front sport seat skins for my '99 C4 a few months ago from LSeat. I ordered the set of sample swatches to check colors and picked the one that seemed closest to my Space Gray interior, but with deviated blue stitching (exterior is ocean blue metallic). The covers showed up pretty much on time, and I made an attempt to cover my passenger seat myself. I've got a rule- if there's something that I'm not too excited about doing, and spend a few hours trying without success, I'll start asking around to see if I can get professional help. This was one of those those times, as I couldn't see how the bottom seat cushion cover had a chance of fitting. So I found a professional automobile upholstery shop with a lot of good examples in their portfolio to help me out. Long story short, they couldn't get it to fit either, not even close. They said they could modify it (cut off the plastic spline that wraps around the seat shell) and glue the leather to the plastic shell, but the results would predictably be not robust and they didn't really recommend that. I didn't even try the center of the seat back or the surround. Honestly I didn't really like the leather color and texture either, but that's subjective. It was only $400, true. I asked for a refund. They responded fairly quickly, asking for photos. I sent them (photos from the upholsterer), and they said I could return for a refund if they were in resellable condition. I boxed them up, and sure enough the credit for the full purchase price showed up on my credit card. So overall the customer service was ok, but I sure was bummed that they didn't work. I think others on RL have gotten these to work, but I'm not sure how. I'm putting the original skins back on and having the upholsterer replace just the panels that were ripped (sport seats, outer "wings" of perforated leather were torn at the seams)...what I think I should have done in the first place. Cost me $100 for the shop's labor to try these, lesson learned. FWIW. Charley

@ChuckUFarley I'm glad that you received better customer service than I did. I can't compare the exact design and cut of the new vs the old covers as I never received the old ones back, and couldn't really remember much given the long gap. That said, the new covers installed pretty nicely. The Miata seats are somewhat similar in basic shape to Porsche seats; the stitch line at the top of the "tombstone" is a little crooked, but that's not a big deal to me. Even with the delay, if the communication had been good throughout and my original covers returned as agreed, I would have been quite happy with the purchase. But the bullsh!t that I had to put up with through the process was unacceptable, and in hindsight I would have gladly paid more to avoid the aggravation.

orange260z That really sucks...don't get me wrong, I can't endorse them. I had heard varying opinions and decided to take a chance. I wish I hadn't, but I was only out the labor and shipping costs to learn the lesson. Getting dragged along for months is unacceptable, basic communication should be a pretty low bar for a vendor to get over but it sure doesn't sound like the case here. Sorry man.