I finally found a metal worker, Brandon Doreck of Pflugerville, who could look at my patio chairs and repair them. During my conversations with him it came to light that the patio chairs are made of steel tubing, not aluminum, and that steel tubing bends, which is what had happened to the seats of my patio chairs. I recall the previous owner had said they stood on them sometimes to hang lights and reach other overhead work, so I suspect that's why the Webers cushions fell through the seats' frames.
Brandon was able to install a small support beam at the front of each seat which fixed the problem wonderfully. So, I'm upgrading the Webers' rating to 4 stars, but still dinging them the 5th for atrocious manners during our disagreement.
The cushions they made are holding up well, and the dining room chairs are still beautiful. read more