I have a chair that I got in March off of amazon. An hour ago the baseplate bent and now the pole that it sits on is just wobbling around. Cannot sit on it unless it is directly up. I found this out when the whole thing tilted back, slamming my head into a shelf and throwing me out of the chair. So I go to Amazon to at least leave a shitty review, maybe see if I can contact them for a replacement part. Product is de-listed and no contact information at all. So I contact Amazon who just instantly starts a refund process I didn't ask for, smugly telling me I'm not eligible when I knew that. First rep sent me to a 'special team to help'. That 'special team' was the front desk for Amazon.com instead of the Canadian one. She just did the exact same thing, another refund I never asked for and putting me on hold and refusing to listen to me. Asked to speak to a Supervisor who then started to say the same shit before I cut him off and said I just wanted the fucking contact information for the fucking manufacturer. He emails over a page for the manufacturer that is their warranty/refunds page.
It's empty.
It's literally empty.
So I've got a chair I can't sit in without it causing personal injury, no way of getting a replacement part from the manufacturer without like buying a whole ass new chair that I can't afford and both Amazon and this fuckin Company are just like "You bought a shitty product? Aww. Poor baby. Cope."
I just wanted to LEAN BACK AND WATCH PORN BUT FUCKING NO.
I'd throw the fucking chair at the wall if I didn't need to still sit on it like a goddamn stool.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory
I'm sorry that this comes across as the most unhelpful help possible but I don't know how else to phrase it.
Sometimes it is worth spending more on a good thing and foregoing other items. Obviously, I don't know you and I don't know your situation so it may still not be doable. However, if you can do it, but it just means tightening the belt a bit, then try and get a really good chair over repeatedly buying cheap. It's worth it in the long run.
I had a Costco office style one that lasted over a decade, the only reason I got rid of it was a mouldy damp flat ruined it beyond repair. I'm sure it was like £60 in around 2008. They might be worth looking at?
My current one is about the quality of what you're describing (gamer style) but it was acquired through mutual aid and I care not that the pleather is falling off. So that's an option, just asking around friends and family if they have one they're not using/throwing out soon.
Do you have a local freecycle page? You never know what you may find there.
https://freecycle.org/