Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Recall

Julia's crib is being recalled.

Recall = major pain the butt.

We bought the crib from Babies R Us (and when I say "we," I really mean "Clark's parents"). We don't have a Babies R Us close to us, so we checked out the cribs in person while in SLC, and then ordered one online. We had to pay the monstrous shipping fee, but then we had a brand new crib sent right to our door. And we love it! It's cute, it's functional, it's a marvelous crib.

And then we got the email. The dreaded email. Basically the slats aren't as sturdy as they should be, so they could break and cause an entrapment or strangulation hazard. You'll note we were told to stop using the crib IMMEDIATELY and contact Jardine to get a new crib.

Well, if we were to have stopped using the crib IMMEDIATELY, Julia would be sleeping on the floor. I don't like that option. Here's their system for getting us a new crib: they send us a packet containing the necessary tools to disassemble the crib. We send them the stickers, bolts and some other hardware. Then after a few weeks, they send us a voucher, good for the highest price ever paid for our crib. So we can take the voucher to the store and buy a crib.

Hello? That means we take apart a crib and my daughter either sleeps on the floor or in a borrowed pack and play for like 3 weeks? Not to mention that we don't have a method of getting the crib from the store to our house. I don't think so. I called them up. Our other option is to order it online, and then take the voucher to the store, along with our receipt and packing slip, and they will reimburse us at that time. But they don't pay for shipping. So basically we have to order a crib with free shipping.

Luckily, we found one we like. Unluckily, it's been out of stock for weeks. Luckily, it is back in stock! But tell me, is it worth all this hassle, or should we just keep the old crib and take our chances? Notice the poll in the sidebar. Tell me what you think. And please, feel free to comment and leave a more detailed answer.

8 comments:

Kim said...

I was totally going to vote "no" until I read the hassle wasn't as large as anticipated at first. And I think the new crib you picked out is really cute! I'm just curious why they recalled it. I mean seriously - "the wood can break" - what does that even mean? I'm pretty sure you would have to be quite the muscle baby to break through the wood on your crib, but whatever...

Clark said...

To clarify: at this point, the major hassle is that we have to go to a BabysRus to get the refund, and we don't have one within 100 miles. Which means doing it on a trip north to Provo/SLC, or making a 2 hour drive to Las Vegas for that express purpose.

While it is annoying that we will have to carry the cost of the crib from the time between ordering and refunding, that isn't really going to affect us in any way other than the 1 cent of interest we might have earned on that money had it remained in our bank account the whole time.

Finally, it wouldn't be all that difficult to make the pieces of the crib that we have to return, and then we could have two cribs for the price of 1! (I have no idea why we would ever need or want 2 cribs.)

ilikewinter said...

I have to comment, this is Doug by the by. I think you should reinforce the crib slats by gluing/screwing cross braces so baby's have absolutely no chance of breaking them. Clark you're an engineer, get on it my friend, don't send it back.

-the re-use fixer-up architect talking.

auntyjo said...

So how old is she? 13 months? When Abigail was 15 months she climbed out of the crib. I got rid of it and got a toddler bed because it is closer to the floor. I would rather have her fall out of the toddler bed than the crib. Good luck.
Jo Ann

Sabrina said...

Well, I am really lazy, so I was initially thinking no, what are the chances that something would really happen anyway. Then, I thought about it some more and realized I probably would because, really, what would happen if you were the unlucky ones with the defective crib and something happened to her? You'd blame yourselves for a long time. It's just worth the ultimate peace of mind to replace the crib. However, I am not opposed to Doug's idea of reinforcement just in case you need a second crib. I know many a people who keep their toddlers in a crib for as long as they can and borrow one so they have two for a while. You never know for sure if you'll need another at the same time.

Sabrina said...

Sorry, one other thought. I couldn't tell for sure from the recall description, but it's possible, if the crib is made of pine, that the wood slats could break pretty easily. Pine is a really soft, flimsy wood. It's possible the slats could break in the middle if the right conditions are present. My friend sat on my pine futon frame at just the right spot and the wood split right in half, not even with her doing anything especially rowdy or with it already having a crack or anything. She just found the weak spot. My brother and dad did even more damage to it later, but they were wrestling, so that's a little different story. In any case, if your current crib is made of pine I'd definitely get a new one made of a harder wood because no amount of reinforcements at joints, etc. will do any good if they slats break in the middle.

tysqui said...

I can't imagine anything that I would ever regret more than having a child injured or killed by something that I could have prevented.

Shanny said...

Thanks for the input, guys. I ordered the new crib today :)