Mamas & Papas Murano cot bed - £30 for four wee replacement screws!
Options
ginger_jesus
Posts: 23 Forumite
Hi all - long time reader, first time poster, however my recent experience with Mamas & Papas has prompted me post this as a warning to others considering buying one of their cots.
I have a Murano cot bed, a few years old now, but still in good nick. We're about to hand it on to some friends who have just had a new baby but on checking it I found I was missing four small screws to hold the side panels together. Not ordinary screws, of course, really strange headless ones. So I called the help line and asked to order replacement spare parts. Because the cot is now discontinued the parts are no longer held. Apparently two years is how long they hold on to these things for.
The cot bed is designed to move from a cot into a bed, so it's likely that they will be used for more than two years for a single child, never mind younger siblings who come along, or the chance to pass it on to others. So comes the first question: is two years really long enough to hold spare parts for a product of this type?
The discussion with the service agent indicated that a match for the part might be available from a parts kit from a more recent cot. On enquiring about the price for that I was advised it would be £30 plus delivery charge. 30 QUID FOR FOUR WEE SCREWS?!?! And no guarantees that they would fit either! Apparently the fittings pack is sold as a complete entity and you can't sell me the bits I'm interested in. So first they design in special fixtures which cannot be sourced at the local hardware store, and then they charge a fortune for replacements. That's what I would call profiteering.
Next on suggesting that I would like to make a complaint, the advisor indicated that she could reduce the price to £15 plus postage, again for a full fittings kit that might not fit. I declined.
Instead I did a wee bit of research, measuring the screws and the dimensions of the recess where they fit. I found they were standard I found they were 8mm M6 sized, but the only tricky part was the fact that the original fittings had no head on them at all. On closer inspection of the recess I found that it was in fact wider than the screw, so could potentially accommodate another type of head if I could find one.
So off I went to EBay, searched on 8mm M6 screws and found a pack of 10 socket head screws for £1.60 with free postage. Yes, you did read that correctly. 16p each, giving me six spares should I need them again in the future. I thought at that price is was worth a punt in case they didn't fit, so ordered them, and a couple of days later when they arrived, guess what? They fitted perfectly. So much so it was almost as if the recess was actually designed for them in the first instance. Which I suspect they probably were, but M&Ps changed the design to lock in unsuspecting customers to their customer services team for overpriced spare parts.
So I thought, "this really isn't on", and posted the story to the Mamas & Papas Facebook page.
This is the response I got:
"thank you for your post, we very much appreciate all feedback as it allows us to continually improve our products and services. We have passed your comments onto the relevant department who are looking into this and working on improving our spares service. We're really sorry that you have had a less than satisfactory experience, and we hope that this won't put you off shopping with us in the future. Thank you."
I then asked how long that would take and whether they would be updating my thread when they had resolved it. This was their reply.
"improvements to our products and services is continuous, there is no timescale. Unfortunately we will not be able to update your thread on any future improvements to the spares service. Thank you"
Unhappy with this response and lack of commitment I posted the following:
"OK, I like to think I'm a patient man. I can make the same enquiry of your contact centre on a monthly basis and post the results here if that helps. Hell, my phone contract is all inclusive so I could do it every evening and weekend. I can probably share the results on Twitter too if you like. In fact, maybe I'll set up a website and a blog and document it. That'll be good, eh? I'll also buy a bottle of champagne ready for the day that you can sell me four screws at a reasonable price instead of a full pack of stuff I don't need. Hopefully we can get there before my daughter turns 21 (she's 5 now). While I'm here I might as well ask who is in charge of spares policy at M&Ps so I can write to them too."
Hence the blog
mamasandpapasspares blogspot co uk
And the website.
www mamasandpapasspares com
And now you get to share in it.
So there you have it. It's their move. We now have to wait and see what happens next.
I have a Murano cot bed, a few years old now, but still in good nick. We're about to hand it on to some friends who have just had a new baby but on checking it I found I was missing four small screws to hold the side panels together. Not ordinary screws, of course, really strange headless ones. So I called the help line and asked to order replacement spare parts. Because the cot is now discontinued the parts are no longer held. Apparently two years is how long they hold on to these things for.
The cot bed is designed to move from a cot into a bed, so it's likely that they will be used for more than two years for a single child, never mind younger siblings who come along, or the chance to pass it on to others. So comes the first question: is two years really long enough to hold spare parts for a product of this type?
The discussion with the service agent indicated that a match for the part might be available from a parts kit from a more recent cot. On enquiring about the price for that I was advised it would be £30 plus delivery charge. 30 QUID FOR FOUR WEE SCREWS?!?! And no guarantees that they would fit either! Apparently the fittings pack is sold as a complete entity and you can't sell me the bits I'm interested in. So first they design in special fixtures which cannot be sourced at the local hardware store, and then they charge a fortune for replacements. That's what I would call profiteering.
Next on suggesting that I would like to make a complaint, the advisor indicated that she could reduce the price to £15 plus postage, again for a full fittings kit that might not fit. I declined.
Instead I did a wee bit of research, measuring the screws and the dimensions of the recess where they fit. I found they were standard I found they were 8mm M6 sized, but the only tricky part was the fact that the original fittings had no head on them at all. On closer inspection of the recess I found that it was in fact wider than the screw, so could potentially accommodate another type of head if I could find one.
So off I went to EBay, searched on 8mm M6 screws and found a pack of 10 socket head screws for £1.60 with free postage. Yes, you did read that correctly. 16p each, giving me six spares should I need them again in the future. I thought at that price is was worth a punt in case they didn't fit, so ordered them, and a couple of days later when they arrived, guess what? They fitted perfectly. So much so it was almost as if the recess was actually designed for them in the first instance. Which I suspect they probably were, but M&Ps changed the design to lock in unsuspecting customers to their customer services team for overpriced spare parts.
So I thought, "this really isn't on", and posted the story to the Mamas & Papas Facebook page.
This is the response I got:
"thank you for your post, we very much appreciate all feedback as it allows us to continually improve our products and services. We have passed your comments onto the relevant department who are looking into this and working on improving our spares service. We're really sorry that you have had a less than satisfactory experience, and we hope that this won't put you off shopping with us in the future. Thank you."
I then asked how long that would take and whether they would be updating my thread when they had resolved it. This was their reply.
"improvements to our products and services is continuous, there is no timescale. Unfortunately we will not be able to update your thread on any future improvements to the spares service. Thank you"
Unhappy with this response and lack of commitment I posted the following:
"OK, I like to think I'm a patient man. I can make the same enquiry of your contact centre on a monthly basis and post the results here if that helps. Hell, my phone contract is all inclusive so I could do it every evening and weekend. I can probably share the results on Twitter too if you like. In fact, maybe I'll set up a website and a blog and document it. That'll be good, eh? I'll also buy a bottle of champagne ready for the day that you can sell me four screws at a reasonable price instead of a full pack of stuff I don't need. Hopefully we can get there before my daughter turns 21 (she's 5 now). While I'm here I might as well ask who is in charge of spares policy at M&Ps so I can write to them too."
Hence the blog
mamasandpapasspares blogspot co uk
And the website.
www mamasandpapasspares com
And now you get to share in it.
So there you have it. It's their move. We now have to wait and see what happens next.
0
Comments
-
ginger_jesus wrote: »Hi all - long time reader, first time poster, however my recent experience with Mamas & Papas has prompted me post this as a warning to others considering buying one of their cots.
I have a Murano cot bed, a few years old now, but still in good nick. We're about to hand it on to some friends who have just had a new baby but on checking it I found I was missing four small screws to hold the side panels together. Not ordinary screws, of course, really strange headless ones. So I called the help line and asked to order replacement spare parts. Because the cot is now discontinued the parts are no longer held. Apparently two years is how long they hold on to these things for.
The cot bed is designed to move from a cot into a bed, so it's likely that they will be used for more than two years for a single child, never mind younger siblings who come along, or the chance to pass it on to others. So comes the first question: is two years really long enough to hold spare parts for a product of this type?
The discussion with the service agent indicated that a match for the part might be available from a parts kit from a more recent cot. On enquiring about the price for that I was advised it would be £30 plus delivery charge. 30 QUID FOR FOUR WEE SCREWS?!?! And no guarantees that they would fit either! Apparently the fittings pack is sold as a complete entity and you can't sell me the bits I'm interested in. So first they design in special fixtures which cannot be sourced at the local hardware store, and then they charge a fortune for replacements. That's what I would call profiteering.
Next on suggesting that I would like to make a complaint, the advisor indicated that she could reduce the price to £15 plus postage, again for a full fittings kit that might not fit. I declined.
Instead I did a wee bit of research, measuring the screws and the dimensions of the recess where they fit. I found they were standard I found they were 8mm M6 sized, but the only tricky part was the fact that the original fittings had no head on them at all. On closer inspection of the recess I found that it was in fact wider than the screw, so could potentially accommodate another type of head if I could find one.
So off I went to EBay, searched on 8mm M6 screws and found a pack of 10 socket head screws for £1.60 with free postage. Yes, you did read that correctly. 16p each, giving me six spares should I need them again in the future. I thought at that price is was worth a punt in case they didn't fit, so ordered them, and a couple of days later when they arrived, guess what? They fitted perfectly. So much so it was almost as if the recess was actually designed for them in the first instance. Which I suspect they probably were, but M&Ps changed the design to lock in unsuspecting customers to their customer services team for overpriced spare parts.
So I thought, "this really isn't on", and posted the story to the Mamas & Papas Facebook page.
This is the response I got:
"thank you for your post, we very much appreciate all feedback as it allows us to continually improve our products and services. We have passed your comments onto the relevant department who are looking into this and working on improving our spares service. We're really sorry that you have had a less than satisfactory experience, and we hope that this won't put you off shopping with us in the future. Thank you."
I then asked how long that would take and whether they would be updating my thread when they had resolved it. This was their reply.
"improvements to our products and services is continuous, there is no timescale. Unfortunately we will not be able to update your thread on any future improvements to the spares service. Thank you"
Unhappy with this response and lack of commitment I posted the following:
"OK, I like to think I'm a patient man. I can make the same enquiry of your contact centre on a monthly basis and post the results here if that helps. Hell, my phone contract is all inclusive so I could do it every evening and weekend. I can probably share the results on Twitter too if you like. In fact, maybe I'll set up a website and a blog and document it. That'll be good, eh? I'll also buy a bottle of champagne ready for the day that you can sell me four screws at a reasonable price instead of a full pack of stuff I don't need. Hopefully we can get there before my daughter turns 21 (she's 5 now). While I'm here I might as well ask who is in charge of spares policy at M&Ps so I can write to them too."
Hence the blog
mamasandpapasspares blogspot co uk
And the website.
www mamasandpapasspares com
And now you get to share in it.
So there you have it. It's their move. We now have to wait and see what happens next.
Wow... You seem very upset about 4 screws.
What happened to the original screws? Did you lose them??
Presumably it is rather uncommon for people to need replacement parts which form an integral part of the item... Hence it would be rather expensive for them to keep a supply of rarely used spare parts.0 -
They are not upset about the screws only that they were being screwed over the price.I'd rather be an Optimist and be proved wrong than a Pessimist and be proved right.0
-
sorry, but since when is it a companies responsibility to hold spares 'just in case'? If you were that bothered about the screws then you should have took better care of them!!
You asked how much, that was unacceptable to you and so you sourced elsewhere. To me that would have been the end of it and i would have moved on with my life over what is a very trivial matter.0 -
Wow, if this is all you have to worry about in your life I am very jealous. Here I am wondering how to house and feed my family, facing the prospect of my third round of treatment for cancer and two major operations this year - want to swap?0
-
alexjonsson wrote: »Wow, if this is all you have to worry about in your life I am very jealous. Here I am wondering how to house and feed my family, facing the prospect of my third round of treatment for cancer and two major operations this year - want to swap?
Let me try to understand. Your argument seems to be: 'my life is !!!!, so the OP shouldn't act the way they have'?0 -
Wow, Mr Angry or what ?
Lifes too short to get so worked up about 4 screws. You got some screws to fit, move on.0 -
Hi all, me again. Thanks for your responses. Yeah, I guess I might be making a mountain out of a molehill, but the brush off I received from customer services is what set a fire under me. I've probably just reached the tipping point of a variety of shoddy experiences I've been on the receiving end of recently.
To answer some of the points directly, there is a spares process, indeed on the assembly instructions for the cot it gives you the number to ring if you are missing any parts. That number's no longer manned, mind you, but the intent was there at some point in the past. The spares process is important because there's also the possibility that you might take receipt of a cot that's missing stuff in the pack. In addition, the unit is designed to be broken down into a smaller bed, and when you do that, not all of the parts are used in that form, so there is an increased likelihood of things going missing. They're also competing with the likes of Ikea, who offer an extended parts availability service, so I don't think it's unreasonable that they try to at least match that given that you're paying a premium for their products.
I should probably underline a couple of other points too. The screws I got were pretty difficult to find (took me a good couple of hours of researching fixture designs and standards before I even knew what to look for) and they weren't a match for what was provided. It was more by luck than anything else that they fit.
The biggest problem was the price for the spares pack and why they reduced the price so quickly when I mentioned the word complaint. Other people might not have had the time nor energy to look around to see what else they could do and just accepted it.
So, the purpose of raising this here is not only to vent a little, but to try to put pressure on the company to change their policy so they don't try to rip off anybody else. I would like to see parts being made available for a period longer than two years for products which are likely to have a longer lifespan than that, and for individual parts to be sold at a reasonable price. I think that's pretty reasonable.0 -
alexjonsson wrote: »Wow, if this is all you have to worry about in your life I am very jealous. Here I am wondering how to house and feed my family, facing the prospect of my third round of treatment for cancer and two major operations this year - want to swap?
Alex, I thought I should respond to your post individually. You're right, my problems in no way amount to what you're going through. You have my sympathies and I hope all goes well over the coming months.0 -
Absolute rubbish customer service. Had a similar episode with my combi boiler heat exchanger. In both cases it should have been a simple matter of customer services looking at an engineering parts list and saying you want 25 mm socket head m5 screws or whatever.
No need for the company to carry spares, just computer information. As a general rule a company will use standard screws wherever possible, easier to source and cheap to buy in bulk.
Well done OP for solving the problem.
Dave0 -
My sister had a similar issue with a Mamma's & Pappa's cot bed, but she was lucky enough to have a real old fashioned type of hardware store not far from where she lives. She asked in there the owner was able to come up with some very useful substitutes at a fraction of the cot manufacturers required price.The bigger the bargain, the better I feel.
I should mention that there's only one of me, don't confuse me with others of the same name.0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 343.2K Banking & Borrowing
- 250.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 449.7K Spending & Discounts
- 235.3K Work, Benefits & Business
- 608.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 173.1K Life & Family
- 248K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards