Faulty car seat (or base) - please help!

SadieWord

Hi, this is my first post on here, so please bear with me!

I recently became a mum for the first time when I gave birth to my son in January this year. He is now almost 6 months.

In preparation for the new arrival my husband and I went to several shops and tested out travel systems which included a pram, pushchair and car seat (+ isofix base) in one package. For several reasons we decided upon the Sola2 by Mamas and Papas but seeing as the nearest store to us was at least 30 miles away and we found the same travel system being sold on offer through very.co.uk for over £150 less we purchased it online from Very and had it delivered in November 2018. For the first couple of months it remained unused in the boxes, stored in the soon-to-be nursery, as our baby wasn’t due until the start of February. As it happens he arrived at the end of January, so from that point we were using all parts apart from the pushchair and footmuff.

For the first few months it was fine and we were really happy with our purchase as it suited our lifestyle and location. However around April time we started noticing that when we came to fix the car seat into the isofix base fixed in the car, it was becoming more difficult and you really had to jiggle it about and get it into a very exact position for it to click into place. Obviously the baby is already in the seat at this point so we are having to try and be as gentle as possible so as not to disturb them in the process. Several times I spent a good 10 minutes or so on car parks trying to put the car seat into the base - not good! The safety aspect also concerned me - how reliable is it?

At this point I thought enough was enough and contacted Very to report the fault. First I rang their customer services. The first time I got cut off and the second I finally got through to speak fo someone but they told me they didn’t know which department dealt with my issue. She took down details of the fault and my contact details and said she would send an email to the relevant departments and that someone would call me back. I never received a callback. I also tried their webchat but kept getting disconnected. Frustrated at a lack of progres, a few days later I tweeted the @verynetwork and @veryhelpers accounts. @veryhelpers just told me to try webchat again, even though I explained that I hadn’t got the time with a newborn baby to look after and had been disconnected previously - I was still waiting on the promised callback and wanted to speak to someone on the phone. I’ll be honest, at this point I gave up on Very and just learned to live with the car seat issue - after all it would eventually click into place after a bit of jiggery pokery. In the meantime though i did look into whether I could go directly back to the manufacturer - Mamas and Papas. Their response was that it had to go back through the retailer I purchased it from. I also checked their website for info about manufacturers guarantees/warranties - it says that all new products are covered for 2 years but only if purchased from them.

As I got no further response from either we put up with the issue, as for a time it did seem to improve. However in the past week it has got worse again. Now it is 7 months since purchase (although we have only been using it for 5 of them). Yesterday I was stuck on a supermarket car park with a crying 5 month old for 20 minutes as I tried to fix the bloody thing into place! This has happened several times now and I don’t trust it. At the end of my tether I rang Very again. I explained that they had never got back to me when I first reported the issue. I was told that as I purchased the complete travel system I would have to return the whole thing for inspection for them to determine if it is faulty. This can take up to 3 weeks, leaving me without a car seat or pushchair (both of which I use daily and are a lifeline to us as we live in a small village). I asked if they would send a temporary replacement or do an exchange but all they would offer is the inspection. I understand that they have standard procedures but what I am supposed to do without a pushchair or car seat for weeks? It’s not like we have a spare set we can use and to do so would cost a fortune! And I dread to think what will happen if the inspection finds no fault?!

I feel a bit helpless now as I can’t return the whole thing leaving us without any way of getting our baby around. I am also really angry that we’ve forked out a lot of money for what seems to be a sub-standard product, but the manufacturer won’t help us either. One of the reasons we went for Mamas and Papas in the first place and paid a bit more was that we believed we were buying a quality, reliable brand.

Essentially, what I want to know is, am I being unreasonable or is there anything we can do? Do we have any rights or have Very and M&P done everything they can?

a.turner

Your consumer rights lie with Very and it's not unreasonable for them wanting to inspect the goods after nine months.

Have you tried the car seat in other places and in another vehicle to rule out a problem with your vehicle?

foxtrotoscar_2

a.turner wrote: »

Your consumer rights lie with Very and it's unreasonable for them wanting to inspect the goods after nine months.

Have you tried the car seat in other places and in another vehicle to rule out a problem with your vehicle?

...it's really not.

Aylesbury_Duck

It’s not unreasonable for Very to want to inspect the goods. How else are they to determine if they’re faulty and if so, whether the fault is an inherent one or that you’ve caused it through use/misuse.

This late on, the onus is on you to show it’s an inherent fault. That will require an inspection. An alternative is for you to arrange and pay for your own inspection which you could schedule at a time convenient to you and if the results suggest an inherent fault, you have a better case for a repair, replacement or partial refund (Very’s choice). Bear in mind that they can make a deduction for the use you’ve had.

SadieWord

I don’t think Very are being unreasonable wanting to inspect the goods, it’s just the time we’ll be without them and that there are no provisions during this time.

It has been 9 months, but this is only due to abysmal customer service. When I first reported the issue it was within 6 months of purchase and considering that we didn’t use them for the first 2 months, i’d suggest that when you’ve paid the best part of £700 for a product you’d expect it to last longer than 4 months. A travel system is a significant investment and considering that the car seat is designed to be suitable up to 18 months I’d want it to be fit for purpose until then at least.

Would I be wasting my time trying to talk to Mamas & Papas?

SadieWord

Also should add I am not expecting them to replace/exchange the whole thing. We use the chassis daily and whilst it is in good condition it probably has a few light marks owing to its everyday use.

I honestly don’t see how we could have caused the issue ourselves through misuse and accept that over time general wear and tear needs to be taken into account. I just want a car seat that works and is safe to use.

Aylesbury_Duck

You could try talking to the manufacturer but they have no obligation to help because you have a contractual relationship with the retailer, not with them. You'd be relying on their goodwill and if they were to decide to help, I suspect you'd face the same situation in that they'd want to take the seat away to inspect it.

If you have doubts over the seat's safety, why don't you buy another seat to use whilst this plays out. I wouldn't be using something I didn't think was safe.

hollydays

Firstly telephone the experts at the in car safety centre in Milton Keynes
If there are any fitting or safety issues , its likely they will know about them.
https://incarsafetycentre.co.uk/

Come back and tell us what they said:)
I know very little about isofix, but I’m wondering if thisisanissue to do with the angle of your cars seat,becoming more noticeable as the baby got heavier.?
I do think it’s very poor you haven’t got someone to take your concerns seriously

wesleyad

SadieWord wrote: »

considering that we didn’t use them for the first 2 months

Would I be wasting my time trying to talk to Mamas & Papas?

I can understand your frustration, but this clearly means nothing to the retailer, else everyone would just say "I havent used it for xxx months", and try to get their statutory rights extended. I agree a £700 seat should last many years, certainly not 4 months.

It's definitely worth a try talking to M&P, as you are aware you only have rights with Very, but M&P probably like to think of themselves as a decent, luxury brand, and as such their customer service might extend more than other brands. A quick ring or email cant hurt, or maybe try someonth on twitter/facebook (they would certainly take notice of that)

hollydays

See also this
https://csftl.org/cybex-aton-m-review/

If this is what you have,quite a bit of talk about difficulties and redesign
https://csftl.org/cybex-aton-m-review/

hollydays

I.e

end of the lower anchors to release them from the base. This may not be obvious to caregivers who aren’t familiar with this specific style of lower anchor connectors.
Next, unfold the load leg from the bottom of the base. Note: unfolding the load leg was not easy — I had to squeeze pretty hard to extract it from the bottom of the base. UPDATE: Cybex has told us they’ll be making a change so that it’s easier to unfold the load leg from the bottom of the base.
Once the lower anchors are removed and the load leg is extended, place the base on the vehicle seat and adjust the recline using the handle on the part of the base near the back of the vehicle.! The Aton M has an easy to understand red or green recline angle indicator.! Unlike the recline angle indicators on the other Aton car seats, there are not separate ranges for different weights