buying a returned seat?

Would you buy a returned car seat? I stumbled upon the Nextfit at BRU for 170, marked down because it was a return. The store manager told me that the couple returned it because they bought the wrong kind of seat for their kid (needed a harnessed booster). It's been out of the box for sure, as it was just kind of sat back in there and taped up...

I did buy it, but the manager assured me that I can return it if I change my mind and want to get the new in box one.

I could have gotten the new in box one for 299.99-20% and got the $50 gift card (I did ask to see if that was possible and was told it is as long as whatever price the item you buy ends up over 200 bucks, that you'd get the gift card), so really the new in box version nets to be 190 considering the gift card, but I don't need anything else from there at the moment. I did need diapers, but IMO they're overpriced there compared to Target.

I don't know what to think about the returned car seat. I opened it and it looks fine and all, but I know looks aren't everything.

Nevermind. It's going back. I looked at the DOM. April 2013. Seems like a long time to have been a 'quick buy and return' given the popularity of the seat...highly doubt it sat on the shelves that long. BUT the bigger issue is that I got to closely closely closely checking it over, and I thought it was funny how the head thing doesn't adjust as easily as the display model. So I lifted up what I could of the padding around the shoulder area, and a chunk of the white foam core that's right above the shoulder strap hole is broken completely off. Makes me wonder if they stuck their hand in there to help them adjust it up for their kid and they snapped it off. Makes me wonder if it's stuck somewhere in that and that's why the head thing doesn't adjust up and down very easily. All in all, I don't think I can feel good about snapping my daughter into it every day and feeling like she's protected. I'm sure that piece of foam missing isn't going to kill her in a crash, but these seats are tested with all pieces intact and I'm sure it's there for a reason.

It's making me spend more money than I wanted...I don't mean for the seat itself, since I planned on buying the new in box one with a coupon (20%) and then the $50 gift card. After taking into consideration all that, the new in box one is only $20 more than the returned one. BUT if I would have bought that one to begin with, I would have bought diapers with the giftcard, but I already bought some at Target today too. So the money I spent at Target was kind of useless. Not that $70 (what I spent at Target) is a make it or break it amount in our budget, but it would have been nice to get "free" diapers.

Maybe they'll let me use it at ToysRUs for Christmas gifts for her. Hopefully. Can't think of anything else I'd spend it on, and I sure as heck am not going to return the diapers to Target. It's not worth that hassle.

Now begs the question...

Do I buy the only new in box one they had in Gemini, where the box is beat up, especially the corners of it? Or drive a long way to go to another BRU to pick up one in a non-beat up box?

I would have returned it as well, given the foam is broken. April 2013 doesn't seem like too terrible of a DOM (I just bought a seat from Amazon that had a June 2013 DOM and I find Amazon has better DOMs than a lot of the retail stores here).

I wouldn't be concerned about buying a seat in a box that isn't perfect (as long as it isn't completely destroyed) but if it concerns you, it may be worth the extra drive if it's not too terribly inconvenient to get another one.

I've purchased a returned seat before. It was an online return at Target (FR80) and still had all the tags/registration card attached and was clearly not used.

With yours the manuf. date really wouldn't have bothered me, but I definitely wouldn't keep it with the foam broken.

Return it and get a new one with a DOM after Oct so that it has the new harness covers.

what deal gives you a $50 GC for spending $200?! I don't need anything else from BRU either, but now I'm wondering...

I returned the seat. I just couldn't help but wonder if it was really returned because they bought the wrong thing. I mean I realize people return them sometimes after realizing it doesn't fit or it's not going to work. But the broken foam just made me weary. And no, the booklet and the card were not attached anymore. They were in the box, but they were not attached.

I bought the "new-in-box" one. 299.99-20% coupon. And right now thru Christmas Eve they are offering a $50 gift card for spending $200 on any Chicco baby gear item. Babies R Us. So 239.99 and then you get the $50 gift card still.

taz13ew said:

Return it and get a new one with a DOM after Oct so that it has the new harness covers.

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DANG! Mine's September!!! It's the latest they had out on the shelf.

I've read about the new covers. What's up with them? How are they different? Will Chicco send out replacements for those with seats before Oct?

You will be able to buy the new covers after january. There is one amazon review where the person says chicco sent them free along with a longer crotch strap, although I did not know the crotch strap was an issue so I don't know what to make of that. So I guess call and ask and see what they say. I believe you can use the straps padless in the meantime if they bother you - the only benefit the new pads offer is easy on/off, which can be a non-benefit of your kid decides to be the one to remove them and toss them on the floor (the old britax seats had removable pads and we had this issue a few times).

I emailed chicco for confirmation that the press release did indeed mean tge pre-oct seats could be used padless but they must just scan emails for "harness pads" and send out the same generic email they have always sent because they didn't actually answer my question.

Angie said:

I returned the seat. I just couldn't help but wonder if it was really returned because they bought the wrong thing. I mean I realize people return them sometimes after realizing it doesn't fit or it's not going to work. But the broken foam just made me weary. And no, the booklet and the card were not attached anymore. They were in the box, but they were not attached.

I bought the "new-in-box" one. 299.99-20% coupon. And right now thru Christmas Eve they are offering a $50 gift card for spending $200 on any Chicco baby gear item. Babies R Us. So 239.99 and then you get the $50 gift card still.

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I can't find anything about this deal online. Do you know if it's just your local BRU?

Mercuria said:

I can't find anything about this deal online. Do you know if it's just your local BRU?

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It's on the front of the current ad. I'm in your area and got the ad in the mail.

http://weeklyad.babiesrus.com/Babie...131206JC&listingid=0&sneakpeek=N&pagenumber=1

kaharris83 said:

It's on the front of the current ad. I'm in your area and got the ad in the mail.

http://weeklyad.babiesrus.com/Babie...131206JC&listingid=0&sneakpeek=N&pagenumber=1

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Yep this deal. It's in store only for the giftcard, so that's probably why you don't see it online. Great deal with using a coupon too!!!