Mamas & Papas Murano cot bed - £30 for four wee replacement screws!

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Comments

  • fluffnutter
    fluffnutter Posts: 23,179 Forumite
    You've started a blog about it??
    "Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell" - Edward Abbey.
  • Yup. And a website. mamasandpapasspares.com
  • BTW, I got another response from the customer services team. They're not giving anything away.
  • bubblegumcola
    bubblegumcola Posts: 1,100 Forumite
    It sounds like Mamas and Papas are just covering themselves from a safety aspect by not recommending any other screws available elsewhere that may fit your cotbed? With nursery furniture I think manufacturers have to be pretty careful with the advice they give out to parents. I know they say they have a guarantee for a certain period but they must realise items of furniture get passed from person to person.

    I have a Silver Cross cotbed I bought 16 years ago (they stopped making them some time afterwards) but its lasted all three of my kids plus my nephew. (New mattress every time though)

    I think Mamas and Papas are just being very careful about the advice they give out for replacement parts for fear of legal action should anything horrific happen. I would suggest that if you are happy with sourcing your own replacement screws then just to do it, the guarantee has expired on the cotbed anyway and so it's down to yourself if you are happy using different ones. If it was me I would probably try similar ones.
  • notanewuser
    notanewuser Posts: 8,499 Forumite
    My daughter slept in a cot which is a family heirloom. My dad renovated it for her, and needed some replacement screws in the process.

    Unfortunately some b&$tard had moved us over to metric since the cot was made, so the screws are fatter than before and were a pain in the @r$e to screw in.

    Who do I sue?
    Trying to be a man is a waste of a woman
  • aldredd
    aldredd Posts: 925 Forumite
    I think it's time to let this one go. You've made your point with them, and they've re-affirmed their position. They're until no obligation to supply parts to you, but offer them for a period of time as an extra service - a service that admittedly comes at a cost - but nobody is forcing you to pay it.
    It would be a little different if it was a 'wear & tear' item, and was still within the expected lifetime of the product. But we're talking about some screws. Screws which you lost - not M&P.
  • notanewuser
    notanewuser Posts: 8,499 Forumite
    Yup. And a website. mamasandpapasspares.com

    Crickey. Talk about a mountain out of a molehill.

    This system is common with millions of products.

    We've recently repaired out coffee machine. A tiny rubber washer had perished. It's a very specific size and shape, so there isn't a generic replacement. The manufacturer only sells the part in a complete assembly costing £45.

    It's just not cost effective for them to do it any other way.
    Trying to be a man is a waste of a woman
  • notanewuser
    notanewuser Posts: 8,499 Forumite
    Hi Lucy, interesting take on the issue. I'd argue that the cost of providing the after care service is wrapped up in the margin when you buy the product in the first place. Even at the cheaper end you're paying £300 - £400 for a cot. There's a good amount of profit in that. The cost of handling my original call was probably in the region of £3 (assuming contact centre costs of £10 per hour which is not far off the going rate for that service these days). The cost of the parts is only a tiny fraction of that.

    It costs a lot more than £10 an hour to have a person in a call centre. The premises, IT, telephony, utilities, business rates, training..........
    Trying to be a man is a waste of a woman
  • £10 an hour per FTE is what I've paid for a contracted out call handling service in the past couple of years. That's all in, not just people costs, and UK based, not India.

    Anyway, I don't want anything from them myself - I've sorted the problem at this end. This is about people getting ripped off. A few small changes to their processes would mean that they would simplify both the manufacturing and stock holding systems, as well as keeping their customers happy.
  • Takeaway_Addict
    Takeaway_Addict Posts: 6,538
    First Anniversary First Post
    Forumite
    Crickey. Talk about a mountain out of a molehill.

    This system is common with millions of products.

    We've recently repaired out coffee machine. A tiny rubber washer had perished. It's a very specific size and shape, so there isn't a generic replacement. The manufacturer only sells the part in a complete assembly costing £45.

    It's just not cost effective for them to do it any other way.

    Quite

    If Mamas and Papas had any sense they would stop replying and let the OP battle on their own, it takes two for a conversation/arguement and its highly likely this is going to die to the nether regions
    Don't trust a forum for advice. Get proper paid advice. Any advice given should always be checked
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