I was doing some more Googling and found a detailed record of the same type of crappy experience
on a Corvette forum.
Based on the snide emails I got from Ridies and the other evidence of warranty issues, I'm going to pony up $700 for a pair of leather (seating surface) / vinyl (everywhere else) seat covers from LeatherSeats.com. They are made in the USA and the company has great reviews and a 3-year warranty. I got a set of samples from them and they also have a perfect match, although the actual leather itself didn't appear much different than the Ridies leather. Perhaps the worksmanship is better.