Buying Experience with Exotic Seats

[jetdriver21]

I purchased a set of Deser Torino houndstooth sport seats from David at Exotic Seats (member of this board) back in the spring. This thread will serve as feedback to other members about my experience.

My desires for these seats were that I wanted to "match" what would have originally been in the car had it been ordered with sport seats in 1971. Unfortunately, this was not a standard offering from Exotic Seats due to the perforations in the bolsters of the seats of that year. I worked with David to produce "custom" seats that would be correct for my car and he was receptive and easy to work with regarding these requests.

The seats arrived when David said they would and the build quality looked to be of a high standard as promised. The characteristics of the seats that made them correct for a 1971 were as they should have been.

The installation did not take place for several months due to my car being in the paint shop and my painter was doing the install once the other work had been completed. This is where the experience turned negative quickly.

When my installer (who is a respected member of this board) started to install the seats with the hardware sent by Exotic Seats, he was running into many problems. After hours of trying to modify the brackets and getting technical advice from David on the phone, it was determined that the brackets that David swore were correct for my car were not correct. Many hours of labor that I had to pay for were wasted.

After many phone calls to determine the problem and the fix, another set of brackets (that I had to pay for again) were shipped. It should be noted that David did give me half my money back after I complained about this. He also shipped for free. When the new brackets arrived, they also required modification in order to clear the seat belt and the new seats. These brackets were supposed to be correct for the new seats. And since my car is very original, I know that nothing was modified in this area.

What started out as a positive experience turned negative and I would not recommend Exotic Seats. I am very disappointed with David's knowledge of his product that led to hundreds of dollars that I had to pay for because of his mistake. He also spoke negatively to me of his competition in order to gain my business and I do not respect those sales strategies.

I attempted to post pictures since everyone loves to see the final product, but the shots are too high resolution and I will have to fiddle with them at a later time. They look very good in the car but the process in how they got there is one that I would care not to repeat.

[TEC69E]

I appreciate the fact that you took the time to share this information. While it probably does not benefit you in any way, it does help to inform others that may be considering doing business with this vendor. And hopefully it provides some useful feedback to the vendor too.

Regards,

[gruen911]

I purchased a set of Deser Torino houndstooth sport seats from David at Exotic Seats (member of this board) back in the spring. This thread will serve as feedback to other members about my experience.

My desires for these seats were that I wanted to "match" what would have originally been in the car had it been ordered with sport seats in 1971. Unfortunately, this was not a standard offering from Exotic Seats due to the perforations in the bolsters of the seats of that year. I worked with David to produce "custom" seats that would be correct for my car and he was receptive and easy to work with regarding these requests.

The seats arrived when David said they would and the build quality looked to be of a high standard as promised. The characteristics of the seats that made them correct for a 1971 were as they should have been.

The installation did not take place for several months due to my car being in the paint shop and my painter was doing the install once the other work had been completed. This is where the experience turned negative quickly.

When my installer (who is a respected member of this board) started to install the seats with the hardware sent by Exotic Seats, he was running into many problems. After hours of trying to modify the brackets and getting technical advice from David on the phone, it was determined that the brackets that David swore were correct for my car were not correct. Many hours of labor that I had to pay for were wasted.

After many phone calls to determine the problem and the fix, another set of brackets (that I had to pay for again) were shipped. It should be noted that David did give me half my money back after I complained about this. He also shipped for free. When the new brackets arrived, they also required modification in order to clear the seat belt and the new seats. These brackets were supposed to be correct for the new seats. And since my car is very original, I know that nothing was modified in this area.

What started out as a positive experience turned negative and I would not recommend Exotic Seats. I am very disappointed with David's knowledge of his product that led to hundreds of dollars that I had to pay for because of his mistake. He also spoke negatively to me of his competition in order to gain my business and I do not respect those sales strategies.

I attempted to post pictures since everyone loves to see the final product, but the shots are too high resolution and I will have to fiddle with them at a later time. They look very good in the car but the process in how they got there is one that I would care not to repeat.

Just curious. Were the seats themselves bad quality, or were the seat consoles bad?

[kenikh]

Sounds from reading that the seats were excellent, the brackets were not.

[jameshtaylor]

If this is the last time you get the wrong part when you order something for a 35 year old car you'll be very lucky. Reminds me of my attempt to get a proper adapter between a new Momo steering wheel and my 74. Everyone "knew" that the adapter had been changed some months after my car was built so they sent me the one for my ID number. Turns out "everyone" was wrong and it took three tries to find that out. So it may not have been your suppliers fault at all.

[fc356]

I had a similar experience with Exotic Car Seats. Same thing---big hassle with brackets, had to have another company fabricate another set at more $$$$. Then after 6 months of use, the houndstooth fabric starting separating from the vinyl where stitched. Now David did supply fabric to repair and helped with the cost to reupholster , but still in the end I would never recommend Exotic or do business with them again.

Frank

[Sandwich Boy]

I bought my Sport S repro seats from GTS Classics - http://www.classiccarseats.com/

The seats are fantastic, but I was mounting them in an '86 Carrera and even though they supposedly sent the "correct" brackets for an '86, I ended up having to modify the brackets to fit. I'm very happy with the seats themselves, and Stefan is great to work with and very supportive.

[Zeke]

+1 for Stephan.

[andrea70]

I know the owner of Deser in Turin.
He is one of the best (not the best) craftsman in his field that we have here in Italy.
Lot's of friends of mine have his seats on 911 or 914/6 (we suggest to him to make the correct seat for 914/6 and he made it just 2 month ago!)

He DO NOT produce the brackets or the seats bare shells, he only is an excellent sewer and he knows perfectly the right material (and where to find it) to use with all periods Porsche seats.

For all these reasons i think that you have to divide the seats from the problems with brackets.

Only to be honest with a very correct and polite person that works 14 hours a day .

Best
Andrea
Milan, Italy

[Mycar]

Couldn`t agree more Andrea... Cesare at D`eser does excellent work. Never met him but sit very comfortably in some of his beautifully upholstered seats.

Regards, Mike,