Great value, minor hiccup

Very nice design, very sturdy. I was expecting Beechwood (I purchased the "Natural" finish); it was not, quite a bit lighter in weight than Beech but pretty much the same color. I was wary of the very shallow arc of the seatback, but once assembled and in-place I saw that this is exactly the best design as it allows you to push the stool almost completely under the counter and the stool basically vanishes from being in anybody's way when not in use. Problems: 1. Minor: the seat is quite flat and does not easily match the contours of a typical behind. Not a problem for us as we were going to put a tie-on cushion over the seats anyway. It's fine as-is for occasional use, but might become annoying as your regular everyday seat. If so, just put a cushion on it (and yes, you can buy those on Overstock as well). 2. Major: I ordered first a set of three for a discount and then, seeing that there was (just barely enough) room at the counter, I ordered a 4th unit by itself. I already was slightly displeased that a cross-dowel on one the of three had what appeared to be a grease stain on it and that stain was UNDER the varnish--see first photo (note that this would not be an issue at all if we had bought one of the painted versions rather than the clearcoat). Not a show-stopper because the dowel was one of the screw-in parts and I just rotated it so the stain was underneath. But the 4th stool had all sorts of problems: a black stain all the way around one of the dowels (second photo), visible chips in the wood around some of the holes, missing the pack of buttons that cover the screw holes (was this somebody else's return?), and above all it rocked nearly 1/2" due to one of the legs being a different length (or possibly one of the dowels being a different length). Fortunately Overstock was terrific about issuing a refund and a shipping label and it ended up being a great experience (while I was at it I swapped one of the "good" dowels from that stool with the black-stained dowel in the first photo, so I now have three absolutely perfect stools). 3. IMHO a non-issue: My wife complained about tiny dings in the wood, but let's be fair: these are not oak or teak and expecting a softer wood to not have a single ding (I'm talking about dings that you have to look closely under a flashlight to see) is an unreasonable expectation at this price point. For the price, extremely satisfied with the service; and after a minor hiccup, ultimately with the product as well.