Missing MA's at Bru, mystery solved!

Not sure if anyone else has posted this or if anyone else has found out for themselves why there are no MA's at their BRU, so please forgive me if this is a repeat.

Today I went to BRU to do a little digging on why they took the MA's off the shelf. The first thing I come across is a clueless BRU employee giving out terrible car-seat info to a young mother (surprise, surprise!!!). I sat there for a while until I found a good time to interrupt and correct some of her misinformation (she wanted the woman to backless booster her eventually 40 pound child even though she was looking at one of the bigger Britax models(BLVD)). So, after we were done talking I asked the sales lady about the MA's and why they were gone. This answer may not shock you, but it did me. She went on to inform me that the recall was for this years model (2007). When I told her no that it was for the DOM 2006 models she told me that that was not possible because she is already getting in 2008 models and that the recall was for current year models. Now correct me if I am wrong, but the year model is not what is important here, but the DOM is. It doesn't matter if she is getting in 2008 covers is what I told her. What mattered was the DOM. 2007 DOM MA's were not included in the recall. I also told her that if she had 2006 DOM's still in the store then she had a problem. I could tell by talking to her that she was no even aware that car-seats and an expiration date. I think the only way that she would have believed me that the seats were not recalled was to show her the paper that comes attached to the MA's with the serial number and DOM. (she wouldn't let me see any by the way) She said that they will not put any MA's back on the floor until the recall is over and all of their MA's have been fixed by Britax.

So there you have it. If you can udnerstand all of that, then you know why BRU has all of the MA's off the floor. They have no clue! She either did not understand the recall, the car-seat itself, or she didn't bother to read the recall. Either way, BRU employees have no business giving out info on car-seats other then to say "oh, thats a pretty one"!

I cannot believe a large chain like that would honestly get the recall info wrong! I wonder if they did get it wrong or just told the employees that. It is not even the entire 2006 year. I recieved my repair kit in the mail and it is May 23 2006- July 28 2006 with TA hooks stamped with KGR 01 A

I really wonderr what they are up to now.

I gathered from talking to her that a MA was a MA was a MA, and it didn't matter when the DOM was. If it was an MA is was included in the recall. She claims to have had knowledge of the recall, but I doubt it.

I am positive she know nothing about the recall other than the MA was recalled considering I have a letter in front of me from Britax that states the exact recall info. BRU really needs to have certified techs for thier car seats.

Idiots. I will say I bought both of my car seats there (SR and MA) but never once talked to a sales person. THANK GOD! I may have bit their heads off. Just goes to show you that BRU needs techs in their stores.

Do you think maybe there's a soon to be released recall on 2007 models & that's why the stock is pulled? Or did they also pull all of the 3in1 seats when that recall happened to check the DOM on those too if that's what's going on?

(On a side note, our BRU here supposedly has 3 techs on staff. I haven't met any of them, although I'm curious to see what kind of advice they give... our curriculum has some best practice in it, but is largely centered on technical aspects.)

What makes more sense: Having 250 various associates with significantly different skill levels sorting through the recalled MAs or the Manufacturer/contractor doing such a thing? It's most likely that they will issue new sku numbers for ALL the Olivia and Platinum MAs. There is no way to blanketly separate recalled ones from non-recalled ones so they had to stop sales on both SKUs. I think they're handling it in the ONLY way they can. Because YES there will be some older seats mixed in with their inventory and, an older/recalled seat could be returned and put back onto the sales floor (very specific guidelines for this) if they did not issue a stop sale on the entire SKU. Keep in mind the ONLY way they have to manage the recall is by those SKU numbers.

I'm not sure why anyone would make a comment to an associate that "you have a problem" if you have 2006 Marathons in stock. Yes, I know they expire, but it's not like the seats are expiring in 6months. I wish those of you who "catch" a BRU employees making mistakes would have a little more compassion....maybe try to educate them in a nice way or speak to the store manager...but to make remarks that are way over their head just doesn't do anyone any good.

As for the 3 in 1s the ones that were on the shelf at the time of that last recall had different SKUs (and different covers). So there was no risk of selling a recalled one.

NHCPSTECH said:

What makes more sense: Having 250 various associates with significantly different skill levels sorting through the recalled MAs or the Manufacturer/contractor doing such a thing? It's most likely that they will issue new sku numbers for ALL the Olivia and Platinum MAs. There is no way to blanketly separate recalled ones from non-recalled ones so they had to stop sales on both SKUs. I think they're handling it in the ONLY way they can. Because YES there will be some older seats mixed in with their inventory and, an older/recalled seat could be returned and put back onto the sales floor (very specific guidelines for this) if they did not issue a stop sale on the entire SKU. Keep in mind the ONLY way they have to manage the recall is by those SKU numbers.

I'm not sure why anyone would make a comment to an associate that "you have a problem" if you have 2006 Marathons in stock. Yes, I know they expire, but it's not like the seats are expiring in 6months. I wish those of you who "catch" a BRU employees making mistakes would have a little more compassion....maybe try to educate them in a nice way or speak to the store manager...but to make remarks that are way over their head just doesn't do anyone any good.

As for the 3 in 1s the ones that were on the shelf at the time of that last recall had different SKUs (and different covers). So there was no risk of selling a recalled one.

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I could not agree more. I try not to jump in unless it is extremely dangerous information they are giving. I wait until the BRU is done talking to the parents then I introduce myself and then give them more accurate information for their child.

As for them not having the MA on the floor I truly don't care as that is how the store wants to handle the recall/sku issue then that is their thing.

If I have an issue with something the store is doing/telling parents confronting a sales assoc. isn't the way to go. You want to take your complaint to the manager on duty. That is the only way to get things resolved anyways. That sales assoc. can't do anything about the seats being pulled even if they are non recalled MA's. She is low on the todum (sp?) poll.