Why I'll never buy another Graco product

michellerw

New member
My girlfriend bought a Graco travel system, including the infant seat in December for her newborn. About a week ago, she had the infant seat locked properly into the stroller and the carseat went flying. She grabbed it just in time before her five month old bounced across the pavement and hit her head.

She phoned Graco and they told her to:

  1. Wait to receive a paid label while she has an unsafe seat
  2. Find her own box to use to ship the entire travel system back
  3. Wait until they "expedite" the new one.

This, of course, means she basically can't leave the house since she's a single mom with one car seat (and isn't the whole point of a baby bucket to only have one seat anyhow)?

I have been bothering Graco via Twitter and Facebook for A WEEK and it has taken 2 days for them to get back to me every time. This is compounded by the fact that I never received replacement straps for myregistered MyRide65s until I asked for them.

Graco's response is that they can't secure the system on a credit card "for [their] protection."

They are clearly not interested in the protection of the children they serve.

I had been evaluating the Graco Nauti vs. the Britax Frontier or Pinnacle.

Yeah, I'm buying the Britax.
 
ADS

seb3244

New member
That is horrible glad your friends baby is alright!

Also what travel system is it? I had a travel system with dd1 who is now almost 2 and handed it down after she was done with the bucket to my 6 month old nephew who is still using it. I am due on 6/18 and bought dd2 a britax because the quality is so much nicer.

She should call graco back and say please send me a new seat and I will then send the old seat back in that box. That way she isn't without a safe car seat for as long.
 

NVMBR02

New member
I'm glad your friend's baby is ok!

FWIW, Britax would likely have handled the situation in a similar fashion. The times I have needed a replacement seat through Britax I also had to secure the replacement with a credit card. It generally take 2-4 days for the new seat and I retire see the old seat in the new box.


In general, I have found Graco to have very good customer service. I know it has taken a long time for people to get the new straps/buckles after the recall, but it was such a large scale recall that is to be expected, IMO. Now, I didn't agree with the way Graco handled the recall ( for example, the infant seats) but overall I have been very happy with them over the years.
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Britax is not safer nor better than Graco. I'm sorry you had a bad experience.

They cannot give you a new buckle without your participation in case you've moved, sold the seat, etc. So they wanted you to contact them to confirm that you still had the seat, still were at your address, and how many you needed. Then it takes six to eight weeks because there are a lot of seats to be recalled.

I've heard of most companies doing what Graco has done. They're paying to ship back a seat that may or may not be an issue (from their point of view, they can't see it, and I've heard of them paying to replace seats I'd use without hesitation, just to make the customer happy), but sending a brand new seat when they get dozens of requests like this a day from people who may or may not have an issue would be quite costly. Your friend can pick up a $40 Scenera in the meantime, which afterward can be a nice travel seat or a spare. It's ALWAYS a good idea to have multiple seats in case of a crash or an explosive poo or poop incident.

So sorry you're upset, but Graco is a company like any other, Britax (or Dorel, or Evenflo, or Diono, or anyone else) is not safer nor better, people perceive their customer service differently for the same exact service, and this is pretty universal. Graco makes some amazing products. So do most companies. They also make some disappointing ones, like most companies. Can't please them all.

Wendy
 

michellerw

New member
I really hate to be combative, but I think everyone's privilege is showing. My friend is a single mom and full-time student and literally cannot afford "to just pick up a $40 Scenera."

I picked up the carseat for her, because $40 isn't a heck of a lot to me, but for her it's the difference between eating for a week and not.

This is why I'm outraged. Graco seems to assume that all of their customers are well-to-do.

Incidentally, I'm well aware that all seats have to pass the same safety regs and no one manufacturer is objectively better than the other, but the CS I've received from Diono has been above and beyond in comparison.
 

katymyers

Active member
What exactly is making you think the seat is unsafe? Did it hit the ground? Or just the fact that it came unlatched from the stroller? I've owned two Graco travel systems and they've been the choice of numerous friends and family members of mine, so I've had first hand experience with just about everything Graco offers. Every Graco travel system I've ever seen has a secondary attachment on the stroller itself (either using the stroller harness in the baseless belt path, some kind of clip, or a latching mechanism) in addition to the part on the seat that clicks to the stroller. Also, every manual I've read states both attachments must be used or the car seat can become dislodged. Was your friend using both attachments? If your worried about the seat's ability to attach to its base properly, baseless installs are just as safe so long as they are done properly.
 

CarSafetyGuy

New member
I really hate to be combative, but I think everyone's privilege is showing. My friend is a single mom and full-time student and literally cannot afford "to just pick up a $40 Scenera."

I picked up the carseat for her, because $40 isn't a heck of a lot to me, but for her it's the difference between eating for a week and not.

This is why I'm outraged. Graco seems to assume that all of their customers are well-to-do.

Incidentally, I'm well aware that all seats have to pass the same safety regs and no one manufacturer is objectively better than the other, but the CS I've received from Diono has been above and beyond in comparison.

I'm confused. What exactly are you wanting Graco to do?
 

mominabigtruck

New member
I'm a little confused as how a car seat just went flying. OK, a lot confused. Was it just taken away by a gust of wind, did she hit a bump? Other than her tipping the stroller I don't see how the car seat could have fallen off. And I really don't see how that's graco"s fault because I don't know any baby company would recommend you doing that with a stroller and car seat.

I think graco is being more than generous as I don't see how this can be anything other than user error.
 

vangelder03

New member
I have had nothing but excellent service with graco. My nautilus with an original buckle got stuck and the seat was installed with latch and we couldn't get the latch to unhook. We ended up having a police officer cut the harness to get him out ( my dc was using every bit of harness length)I contacted graco to see if I could get a new harness and buckle what they did was above and beyond what I expected. They sent me out a brand new seat and I received it the next day.
And my seat was made in 2009 so not something they needed to do.
 

Kac

Ambassador - CPS Technician
I really hate to be combative, but I think everyone's privilege is showing. My friend is a single mom and full-time student and literally cannot afford "to just pick up a $40 Scenera."

I don't think anyone's privilege is showing. We are trying to explain that unfortunately this is typically how car seat manufacturers handle their replacements.

I'm also curious as to how the seat went flying when it was securely placed in the stroller. Either way, I'm very sorry that this happened to your friend and I'm glad her baby is okay.
 

YinzerMama

New member
It sounds to me like maybe the seat was clicked in the tray part but not secured at the foot end. Without seeing the seat it is hard to say if it is unsafe. Does it pull of of the car seat base easily, indicating the connector is somehow bad? If so do a baseless install.

It very well could have been user error though - or a problem with the stroller, not the seat.
 
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MommyShannon

New member
It's common to just place the seat on the stroller and hear the click and think it's good. The Graco ones I've seen required you to secure it further down though (I think some have a strap that goes where a seatbelt install goes). Without that I could see how a big bump and a seat not quite clicked in all the way could flip out. My guess is it wasn't installed right so Graco is trying to make the customer happy by replacing anyway despite knowing it is basically impossible to happen if secured right.
ETA: This is similar to how seats "fly" off of shopping carts. The foot area needs to be secured to avoid flipping.
 

Baylor

New member
I really hate to be combative, but I think everyone's privilege is showing. My friend is a single mom and full-time student and literally cannot afford "to just pick up a $40 Scenera."

I picked up the carseat for her, because $40 isn't a heck of a lot to me, but for her it's the difference between eating for a week and not.

This is why I'm outraged. Graco seems to assume that all of their customers are well-to-do.

Incidentally, I'm well aware that all seats have to pass the same safety regs and no one manufacturer is objectively better than the other, but the CS I've received from Diono has been above and beyond in comparison.

Graco is a great company with great customer service. I question whether the car seat was properly locked in because I thought I had mine locked in a few times and did not.

I hate to tell you that Diono was a customer service disaster a few years back.

No company is not flawed.

If you want to rant rant away but it is clear that you don't have a lot of experience with car seat companies. They all have strengths and weaknesses.

No on here has a bias against people. We are a whole range of incomes.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Was it a Click Connect or a Classic Connect? I assume Graco cleared this up with her and would only be offering a replacement if there sounded like there was a legitimate issue. Classics need the extra foot attachments (elastic straps, or rotating red clips), while Clicks need to be pressed in properly so the side tabs Click into the stroller slots. I can imagine there might be a problem with a click connect (spring loaded tabs in the side of the seat might malfunction), if the problem was with a classic, then they might just be being 'nice' by offering her a replacement at all, since failing to use the extra connectors is a user-issue.
Anyway, it sucks all around :eek:
Unrelated to customer service and brands, I personally prefer almost any seat to the Nautilus, but hey, different strokes for different folks :D
 
If the seat was properly secured, I seriously doubt that could happen. It sounds like it wasn't secured properly. Graco has the #1 selling infant seat in North America and the seats and strollers are used by a great many people and I have never heard of this happening. If it was an issue there would have been a recall or notification. Not saying it couldn't happen, but it is unlikely. There are either two red clips on either side of the stroller that swing closed over the foot of the infant seat when it locks into the stroller or two elastics with plastic pieces on the ends to put through the lap belt guides to secure the seat. I think they're going above and beyond by replacing her travel system.
 

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