Love these chairs! Easy to assemble, didn't have any problem with the instructions, pretty straight forward and common sense, and I don't know what the complaint is about the seats not having pilot holes, of course they don't, you have to center the seat and kind of eyeball it and then you fasten it into place with the wood screws provided, easy peasy, and these aren't the only chairs that come that way, I've bought more modern looking chairs that you have to do the same exact thing with, you have to screw in the seat bottom on the blind, that's just the way they are. Mine look great by the way, I have a table from that period but I only have three matching chairs for it and I needed that fourth chair, there's no way I could find matches for my chairs, too unique in style and make, so I figured just to get some retro chairs that looked like they were from the same period, and I saw these, heck, two chairs for that price? That was a good deal, and I'm a big gal and they hold me just fine, seats are nice and wide also, which surprised me, chairs back then weren't as wide, so that was a bonus, and I have two extra chairs now in basic black with a nice little white welt detail, (kinda reminds me of the souped up cars and interior car seats guys used to have back in the day and the chrome legs just set it off, very cool), that can be used with my table and it still looks good and I was able to keep that retro vibe going, so I am happy. No they are not as heavy in the metal department as they were back then but then again nothing today is, it really is true that they don't make 'em that way anymore, but these seem to be sturdy enough, I'd just make sure everything was fastened together good is all, other than that you're all set, vinyl is a good grade vinyl, not that I'm any expert on the subject but better than some I have seen. For everyday living I think they're great, and at the price, if somewhere down the road they did end up going wonky then you won't be crying because of all the money you put into them. They're not meant to be high end furniture just a good, sturdy everyday retro look chair. For the price and the look I was going for, I am extremely well pleased. Another nice thing, wipe with a damp rag, swipe it with a drying cloth(or you could polish them I guess with auto cleaner, heh, heh), but you're done, clean up is easy! And I got teenage grandsons and cats, believe me, something always gets on them and they have to be wiped down, I'm always in for easy clean up, I make them do their own mess (grandsons, lol), but it's still easy to clean. I think they're great, just sayin'. I've had them about a good month now and still no complaints.