Car seat faulty - what are my rights regarding the base?

kaymc87

We bought an infant car seat and corresponding isofix base in December 2019. The car seat broke in summer 2020 and we were issued a replacement. The same fault has now occurred on the new seat and the company have said they can’t guarantee it won’t happen on another seat. They’ve offered a refund on the seat but not the base (as the base isn’t faulty). The problem is the base doesn’t fit any other infant carriers so I’ll lose the value of that (£174) and I’ll have to buy another base to fit whatever car seat I get. I feel this is really unfair as I’ll be significantly out of pocket due to someone’s faulty item. What are my rights? Do I have any? 

pinkshoes

What is the fault? Which seat is it?

You won't be £174 out of pocket as that is the value of it new, and it has already had 18 months of use. 

Personally I'd just accept another seat, as what are the odds of a third one being faulty?!?!?

kaymc87

It’s a cybex Aton M I size. The fault is the tensioner cover has popped off and won’t click back in. I would be more willing to accept a third seat if it was a different fault but it’s exactly the same, and cybex have said they can’t guarantee it won’t happen again.

I accept your point of the value depreciation but I’d still be losing out as I would have to buy a new base for whatever alternative car seat I chose. 

Aylesbury_Duck

As I understand it, if you bought both at the same time, from the same retailer, and they clearly go together such that the base is useless without that exact seat, you have a right to a remedy for both as a result of the failure of one.

They could have offered a reduced refund on the seat, to account for the use you've had of it.  What was the full price of the seat?  It's possible the full refund on the seat is broadly what they would have been obliged to part refund across both items, in which case you're no worse off than if they'd part-refunded both.

68ComebackSpecial

As it's a first stage seat then you will need the next size up soon so surely it would make more sense to accept the replacement for the short time it's required.

kaymc87

Thanks for your comments - interesting to note about value - something I didn’t think about but money wise I still feel done in! The seat was £158 and the base £174, they’ve offered a refund on the full price of the seat so £158. 

I was hoping to use the same car seat/base for another child so I don’t really want to have the same seat again if it’s going to break again when I come to use it in a few years (when it won’t be within warranty). 

sheramber

have they explained why it is happening?
It seems odd of it is a inherent weakness that they continue to sell them.

Aylesbury_Duck

kaymc87 said:

Thanks for your comments - interesting to note about value - something I didn’t think about but money wise I still feel done in! The seat was £158 and the base £174, they’ve offered a refund on the full price of the seat so £158. 

I was hoping to use the same car seat/base for another child so I don’t really want to have the same seat again if it’s going to break again when I come to use it in a few years (when it won’t be within warranty). 

So that's a 48% refund across a pair of products that gave you about 18 months' usage, one of which is still in perfect condition.  That doesn't strike me as a particularly bad deal.

pinkshoes

kaymc87 said:

It’s a cybex Aton M I size. The fault is the tensioner cover has popped off and won’t click back in. I would be more willing to accept a third seat if it was a different fault but it’s exactly the same, and cybex have said they can’t guarantee it won’t happen again.

I accept your point of the value depreciation but I’d still be losing out as I would have to buy a new base for whatever alternative car seat I chose. 

So you have had 17 months use of a seat that has a shelf life of 18 to 24 months...

And have been given a FULL refund for the seat!!! Your refund is way more than they HAD to refund you, and if you had returned both and given a proportional refund it would have been less than this.

Your best option is to sell the car base on eBay. They seem to go for a reasonable amount.