Baby Week 26 – Car Seat Frustrations
October 7, 2008
When we had Xander, we were given a hand-me-down infant car seat to use. It was a Graco seat, and came from a good family who I knew had never been in an accident. The seat was still under warranty, and it was a relief to have one less thing to buy. Well, now the car seat is outside of the warranty period, and since we have much less to purchase this time around, it was easy to justify buying a new car seat.
I did lots of research (as usual) and decided to buy the Chicco KeyFit 30 Infant Car Seat. From all the reviews I could find, it sounded like this was a seat that everyone was happy with – ease, comfort and safety were all sighted as excellent features. After I settled on this one, I searched around for the best price. Amazon had it listed for $169.99 with free shipping (though as I write this post, I notice that it’s gone up to $179.99…). I’ve always had great success with Amazon and it’s affiliates, so I didn’t give it another thought, I purchased the seat. I planned on putting the seat in the car early – perhaps next month, so that it would give Xander some time to get accustomed to the change gradually.
I placed my order with an Amazon Merchant, LittleFolks, on September 30th. On October 6th, a package from LittleFolks arrived. I was excited to check out this new car seat, but when I opened the package, I noticed wheels. I thought that was strange, most car seats don’t come with wheels… Upon closer inspection, I discovered that Littlefolks had sent me a stroller, not a car seat.
It was just after 2pm, so I immediately emailed Littlefolks, explaining the mix up, and asked for some suggestions on how to return the stroller and get the car seat I ordered. I never heard back from them. The following morning, I researched them on Amazon.com. They have a good seller rating and feedback. There was a phone number listed, so I called. The man I finally got on the phone took my name, and then told me that his computer was down, and I should call back in 10 minutes. This was the first weird thing. In my experience, the seller usually offers to call back once the equipment is back up and running, and doesn’t make the customer call back. But ok, I can be agreeable for a while, I’ll call back in 10 minutes.
I call 10 minutes later, and I’m told they are still having computer trouble, but they finally are able to locate my information, and will call me back in “5-10 minutes”. So I wait. And wait. And wait. Finally, 2 hours after they were supposed to call, I call again. I’m told they have contacted their shipping department and are trying to figure out who might have recieved my car seat, and whose stroller I have. They tell me they’ll call when they have more information.
Finally, a few hours later, they call to tell me they’ve figured out where my car seat went to, and that they have arranged for UPS to pick up the stroller tomorrow. Perhaps it’s just the pregnancy hormones making me this impatient, but I also think that Littlefolks could have handled me better. If they had called me when they said they would, or reassured me that they would resolve the issue to my satisfaction as soon as they could, I would have been fine. Instead, I had to keep calling and asking for information, and even then, they wouldn’t give me anything to go on.
I think once I finally recieve the car seat I’ll be very happy with it, and since Littlefolks did make arrangements so that I don’t have to bring the stroller anywhere, or pay for anything, I am happy with the resolution they provided. I did remove my negative comment from Amazon, but I’m still slightly frustrated with the customer service they provided me. Since I don’t have the option of updating feedback at Amazon, I decided the next best outlet was to blog about it – I can’t even compete with the traffic of Amazon feedback, but I know at least a few people will read about my experience here 
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Dealing with customer service in general stinks! I have the chicco seat and i love it. I also havet he stroller nad also have ne complaints! My dd is 11 months old and is still in the carrier (i dont carry it anymore – she weighs 18 lbs!)but the 30 lb limit is the best! we are getting her big girl seat for her bday!
Hi Jennifer – it’s great to hear good things about the chicco seat! What kind of “big girl” seat are you planning to get her for her b-day?