So, once upon a time, back when I was pregnant with my daughter, I found the perfect crib for her. I loved it. I was totally in love with this piece of furniture and had to have it. Every store seemed to be out of it. I finally found a store that had it in stock and my husband agreed to it even though it came with a steep price {for us at the time anyway}.
The crib was perfect. Even though the price tag was more than we wanted to spend, it had everything you needed. It came with a changing table, a dresser, underneath drawer, and of course a lifetime crib. Meaning once the baby was too big for the crib, it converted to a toddler bed. And once that became outgrown, it converted to a full size bed. How perfect was that? And the price? Just under $500. Not that bad once you price all that stuff separately.
I had the nursery set for her. Everything set up. But my husband would never allow the baby to use the crib or sleep in her nursery. She always slept with us. So as the years went on, the crib just sat. I attempted to have her use it as a toddler bed once she hit that point, but it never worked.
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| The theme I decorated her nursery is was called "Froggy Tales" |
So once we moved, the crib came apart and sat for years and years. I was always so upset that I never got to use it. Then once I found out last year I was pregnant with our son, I was happy to want to try and have him sleep in the crib again. But our new place didn't allow the room for it to be set up due to the crib being so large. And plus, I wasn't able to find all the pieces.
Since we were moving out of state soon, I thought I could just wait til we got to the Midwest and set it up there. And then I could find all the parts. So let's fast forward a bit to yesterday.
Now that we are in our own house and I'm trying to get everything unpacked, I decided I wanted to set up the crib. I had all the parts {including the instructions and sales receipt which I found} but I couldn't seem to find the screws. So after going through a few boxes with no luck, I decided to look up the info on the company's site to see if I could possibly order the screws and parts to put it together.
And guess what I found out? To my shock, the company has gone out of business and the crib has been
recalled now a few years ago. How did I not know this before? So, the reason for the recall? Over one million of these had the recall because it seemed that the crib has caused infant deaths and injuries due to a collapse in the mattress rails. It bends, breaks, or folds..causing the crib and changing table to fall on top of the baby. Super scary and not cool at all.
I figured for such an expensive piece of furniture, the quality would have been a but better made. And for the company to no longer be in business selling baby items...well, I guess that says even more which scares me. So I decided to research what to do. I saw a lot of people on blogs and sites saying that they had to take their crib back tot he store and get it taken care of. I was thinking, alright great! I can get a new crib. I still had the receipt and all.
I wish I had known about the recall sooner while we still lived in Orlando because I found out that the closest store to return this crib now is about three hours away. In Orlando, we had one only three miles from us. So I called the store and talked to a manager. She told me that in order to go about with the recall, I would have to bring in the receipt and all the parts. I told her I have everything but the screws. She said that is fine.
Here's the bummer....the only thing they are able to do is issue me a gift card for in-store credit for $150 and that's all. I'm like seriously? The crib costed almost $500 and it has never even been used. She told me that's what their policy is. So I talked to her a bit longer and then hung up and did some research. I looked and they don't have any cribs on their site that are under $250. And the kind I had that I would want again is around $400-$700. Which $150 gift card will not do me a whole lot of good for that kind of money.
So I talked to my husband and he told me it wasn't worth it. Just keep the crib and not have it set up. Let it sit in the garage. It wouldn't be worth driving all that way, using all the gas, and then still having to put down money on a crib. So I figured I can still use some of the pieces though. Like the changing table and dresser are a separate part that detaches so you can use that alone.
So that is what I will do. With a new baby on the way, I was hoping to have a crib to use, but we will just do what we have been doing and using the pack-n-play and the crib mattress on the floor. He said it's not a smart idea to try and "fix" the crib somehow and something happen. Which he is right. It's not worth the life of my children. So it is what it is. But it sucks because I was hoping they would let me exchange it for the same style of crib or for the same amount I paid for it.
Have any of you been through a recall before? Were you happy with how they handled it or were you disappointed like I am? I've never been through this before and am upset it wasn't able to go a bit more the way I expected. What would you do? Would you go ahead and use the parts like I am or would you go get the $150 merchandise credit? I would love to know your thoughts.
I think absolutely safety had to come first. I'm sorry things didn't work out like you'd hoped. :(
ReplyDeleteThank you for linking to Super Sunday Sync.
Good info, but I don't think a million babies have ever been killed by a faulty crib. If it's the Graco/Simplicity 2010 recall, over one million cribs were recalled because of 13 injuries and one death.
ReplyDeleteYou are right. I started typing and then got up, lost where I was and continued. I am changing that right now. thank you for noticing!
DeleteThat sounds incredibly frustrating for you but I don't think it would be worth it. not knowing what you know. You're so fortunate you found out all of that though before you DID end up using it!
ReplyDeleteI don't ever recall having to recall something....sorry I couldn't help myself :D
Congratulations on the upcoming arrival of your new baby!!!
Safety first for sure ... it's crazy, I just posted that big infographic on recalls too. I'm sorry about your crib but it looks like you've gotten through two other babies without using it so your new baby should be ok to :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for linking to Raising Imperfection.
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