crib recall saga (kinda long)

the past few days i have been on a mission. a mission of safety. a mission of purpose. a mission of principle :)

it started when i got an email saying some cribs made by a company called Simplicity were being recalled due to metal rods that are the mattress frame supports are breaking. turns out Simplicity has gone out of business, so the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) doesnt have full knowledge of all the cribs sold. but the recall notice states :This recall involves ALL Simplicity cribs with tubular metal mattress-support frames regardless of model number.

so off i go to Babies R Us where i got my crib to find out what to do next. the manager i spoke with said they had been given only a few models of the crib that they were allowed to accept back, and mine wasnt on the list. i explained that the notice said ALL were being recalled. he said if i brought in the paper i had showing that he would take care of it.

well then i decided to call a different BabiesRUs, closer to my home. the people there said the same thing-no can do.

quite frustrated at this point, i decided to call the CPSC hotline to find out what to do. they took my information and said a compliance officer would be contacting me and the stores to resolve the issue.

yesterday i decided to call the BabiesRUs company's 1-800 number. the person i spoke with there told me that the managers had been told to take ALL cribs and that i could bring it to a store.

so this morning i disassembled the crib and put the parts in our car to take to the store. i went to the one nearest to me. long story short, i will NEVER shop there again. the person i spoke with was rude, insisted that they could only take certain cribs, and not willing to work with me even after i showed him in black and white the recall notice and told him what BRU corporate told me on the phone yesterday. sorry, they said.

so i decided to call the first store i went to the other day and speak with that manager again. he is now my hero. his name is Jorge. he said i could come there, as long as i had the recall notice so he could put that with the return information, and he could give me store credit for the crib even though it was not on their list. Hooray :) we went, we dealt with Jorge, and we left happy customers. i will most certainly shop at that store again even though its a bit further from my home.

only goes to show what good customer service will do. i am gonna write a very nice Thank You card and personally deliver it to Jorge sometime this week. he deserves it.

so now i am without crib. that isnt a bad thing, since i was getting ready to try the whole toddler bed thing again. for now though i have just her mattress on the floor up against the wall. once she gets used to staying on that i may try an actual bed. but thats for another time.