Baby Car Seats Damaged

nikkibikki

Not sure if this is in the correct forum so Mods please feel free to move if necessary.

At the end of January, my husband and I picked out a pram, car seats and isofix bases for our expectant twins in a well known baby supplies shop in Kilkenny. The sum total of our spend came to €1,100.

We collected these items and paid the balance of what we owed the shop at end of April. The items went into an unused room in my parents house til they were needed at beginning of July. It was apparent to us straight away that the handles on the car seats didn't work as we expected, we thought we weren't using them correctly and that we were missing something simple. They didn't seem to lock in one position. Then as the weeks went on and the more the car seats were used, we became worried that something was not right. If you picked up the car seat by the candle, it would move back and with a small baby in the car seat, this is not good as their heads fly forward.

Brought them up to the shop at the weekend after a failed attempt a few weeks ago on a Sunday (they used to open Sundays but don't anymore.) Spoke to the owner and he examined the mechanism of the handles and they are completely broken. Hard plastic inside them is damaged and split in some areas. The owner, very politely, is basically saying that we damaged them by forcing the handles back further than they are designed to go. The handles have never been put back by us so we are confident that this is not it. He is saying that they didn't leave the shop like that, as in with the handles not locking as they should.

To me, this damage is outside of what should be expected from normal wear and tear from less than 6 weeks of use. These seats are designed to last more than a year. They are made by Recaro so one would expect them to be top quality. They are safe to use in the car as in they will protect the babies in case of a crash but the seats can't be carried with them in it as this is not safe.

At the moment the situation is that he is contacting Recaro to see if he can source replacement parts to repair the handles. If he can't, he said he can lock the handle in place to that it won't move but as the babies grow, it will become more and more difficult to put them in and out of the seat so this is not a long term solution for us. He no longer sells Recaro seats so he can't give us 2 more to go with our bases and even if he did, I reckon we would be paying at least for one seat. The thing is with these seats also is that they were flood damaged in his old shop, the roof fell in on the shop and the seats got water damaged. I'm guessing he's already claimed for these off his insurance but he sold them to us at a very reasonable price for this reason, he keeps telling us what a good deal he gave us.... He cleaned them up and all for us so no issue with the state of the covers or anything.

Basically, my questions for anyone who may have advice on this situation are as follows:

• For anyone with knowledge of baby car seats, does this sound like normal wear and tear?
• Do you think it is reasonable to expect the shop to replace the car seats and bases with another brand seeing as he no longer stocks Recaro?
• Should we bear any costs i.e. should we agree to meet him half way considering this could be about €300, money we do not have to spare at the moment?

Thanks for reading!

foggy_lad

Could they have been damaged while the baby seat was in storage at your parents house? often items can be moved around in store rooms and heavier items placed on top of other items which could cause damage?

nikkibikki

I suppose anything is possible, I will ask them, but the room is a bedroom that wasn't used. There was plenty more space in the room so there would have been nothing put on top of it. I think it is more likely that any damage occurred either when the flood damage occurred or in the intervening time (which is at least 2 years) when the seats were in storage in the shop. It would take significant force to cause the damage that was done so you would know if you forced the handle that much.