Any advice regarding Decathlon and harness adjuster???

NatenMaddiesMommy

Senior Community Member
So I called Britax today about our DC. I can't deal with how difficult it is too loosen anymore. It was fine when DS was in the seat since he's 3 and could get himself in and out of the seat. I rarely ever had to loosen or tighten the straps. I did notice that after the repair kit was added, it got easier to tighten, but it's still a PITA to loosen.

Well now I've moved DD to the DC since DS has a new MA (so much easier to adjust - I am amazed). I put the infant padding in the DC b/c she's tiny for her age and she just seems more comfy with the extra padding. But now I cannot get the darn harness to loosen with out wrapping my entire fist around the harness strap at the shoulder and pulling with all my strength. Needless to say this is totally aggravating my rheumatoid arthritis so now my fingers, wrists, and shoulders ache and it's only been 2 weeks since I made the switch.

Okay starting to ramble now. I called Britax and basically told them all of the above. At first they gave me all these tips and suggestions - all of which I had done. I explained to them that I was a CPST and the harness was not getting caught on anything. Finally they wanted me to send in the seat for them to make sure it's working properly. I told them I didn't mind doing that, but the problem is that the seat operates perfectly fine when there is no child in the seat and when the seat is uninstalled. Now once it's the vehicle and once I put DD or DS in it is when I encounter the problem. I don't think they can replicate that back at the factory or wherever it is they send it. So I asked them what happens if I send them the seat and they determine there is nothing wrong with it. Obviously they couldn't answer my question and said they would call me back later today. So far no phone call.

Any one else with similar issues? Did Britax "fix" your seat? TIA
 
ADS

jdchic3

New member
I have no idea what they're going to say. My DC adjuster broke just before the recall so I had them replace it with a MA. Hopefully they will help you out!! :D
 

NatenMaddiesMommy

Senior Community Member
I hope so too. Still waiting for my call back. If it's anything like waiting on hold when you call them, I'll be waiting awhile :D
 

arly1983

New member
This is what happened to me:

Had all of the problems you discribed so I call Britax. We trouble shoted and still having problems. I sent it to them (on their dime) to fix. They sent it back and said nothing was wrong. I called and said it was still happening. They offered to send me a MA or BV and emailed me a UPS label for the old DC. They mailed my MA when they got the old DC.
 

Melanie

New member
fyi: if they do replace the seat....they will usually hold a credit card number and send you the new seat. Then you can pack up and send back your old seat (and they pay for shipping). If you don't return your seat, they would charge your credit card for the price of the new one.

This helps tremendously if you don't have a spare car seat.
 

abacus2

Well-known member
They replaced my seat for me before I sent my old one back as it was the only HW seat I had for my 40+lb 3 yr old. There's been a recall recently addressing this problem.
 

NatenMaddiesMommy

Senior Community Member
Well apparently they were never going to call back, so I called them today. They still won't give me an answer as to what will happen if I send my seat back and they determine that there is nothing wrong with it and I experience the same problem. They keep telling me it must have something to do with my install. Um..okay...is that why my MA that is also installed rear-facing exactly the same way with a much heavier child it works just fine? I bet if I put the infant padding the MA I won't have the same problem either. I'm sure the issue is inherent to the seat and that stupid bush button harness adjuster that I know DESPISE...damn you, Decathlon!!!! :mad:

Anyways I am shipping the seat back to them to see if they can find anything wrong with it...so the sage continues. I'll just put DS back into her SafeSeat since she hasn't outgrown it. Here's to hoping there is something wrong with it because I don't want to to have to keep repeating my story over and over. But I'll play nice and do it their way. Although I don't think my hands and shoulders can take much more of this anyway.
 

bethng

Active member
.

Any one else with similar issues? Did Britax "fix" your seat? TIA

YUP! the below pictured dc with my son in it is gone. They sent me a new one in cappuccino. It adjusts much better. They asked me a few questions. Asked what color cover I wanted. Asked for a CC number that they would only charge if I didnt make good on my promise to send my old dc back. Oh, And I kept the Odyssey cover too lol. They said they were going to look at my old seat and see if they can fix it. That was a good 2+ months ago. No word. Guess its mine to keep.
 

BookMama

Senior Community Member
Do you have trouble adjusting the harness when the buckle is undone, or just when it is buckled? I have found that with both my DC and my FPSVD, I have a very diffucult time tightening the harness when everything is buckled. What works for me is to buckle, estimate how much tightening is needed (usually none), unbuckle the crotch buckle, tighten, repeat if needed.

I know your original question was about loosening - do you unbuckle, THEN loosen?

Actually I guess I'm just rambling here anyway, since you've already said that your seat's going back to Britax. :eek:
 

SPJ&E

New member
I don't have any tips for you, but I do hope Britax fixes the seat or replaces it.

We dealt with a Decathlon for about a year before just getting fed up. It was just impossible to get tight enough once the harness was buckled. We had to adjust the harness before buckling it and if it wasn't tight enough, we had to undo it, tighten it, then redo it...and repeat until it was right. Most of the time, we just left the harness where it was, but that was a pain too.

The first time we called, they gave us all the tips/tricks to try, and I told her we had already tried them and nothing was working. So they wanted to check the seat. They sent a prepaid shipping label and sent it to them. They sent it back with a note saying they found the seat to be "working as intended". I still believe they had the Incredible Hulk testing seats that day because it still didn't tighten properly. In the house, yes...worked like a charm. In the car with a kiddo in it, nope.

So we waited another couple months, just to give it a fair shot, and couldn't deal with it anymore. We called back and they offered to replace it with a Marathon and we gladly accepted! So they sent us the new seat and we sent the Decathlon back to them. That was right before the recall on them, when they sent out the repair kits.

Anyway...if they decide nothing is wrong with the seat and you're still having issues with it when they send it back, wait it out a few week and call them back. Tell them it was already checked and you were told it was fine, but it still is not working right. Hopefully then, they'll replace it.
 

BookMama

Senior Community Member
Wow, you guys are making me feel like I should call Britax about this! I'm sure they'd end up sending a new seat like they did for you, if they didn't find anything "wrong" with the other seats. I'd sure feel like I was taking advantage though, since the seat is usable for us (especially since I generally don't loosen the harness when I take DD out) and I already made them replace my DC cover when it started wearing out at the spot where it touched the front vehicle seat. (I figured that since Britax says you can brace it on the vehicle seat when RF, the car seat cover should be able to withstand it! And I didn't even have it braced, just touching.)
 

NatenMaddiesMommy

Senior Community Member
Do you have trouble adjusting the harness when the buckle is undone, or just when it is buckled? I have found that with both my DC and my FPSVD, I have a very diffucult time tightening the harness when everything is buckled. What works for me is to buckle, estimate how much tightening is needed (usually none), unbuckle the crotch buckle, tighten, repeat if needed.

While I have done that, I don't think that when you spend over $200 for a car seat that you should have to go to that much trouble to tighten the darn thing. I mean, I don't have this problem with cheaper $40 seats.

I know your original question was about loosening - do you unbuckle, THEN loosen?

No I don't unbuckle first b/c the moment I do that my DD starts squirming to get out and then there really is no point in loosening it because she's halfway out with her arms caught in the darn straps. Now if I loosen it first she waits until I unbuckle it to start leaning forward to squirm out and her arms don't get tangled in the straps. Again though, if Britax's other seats (MA, BLVD, RA, Regent, etc) loosen just fine without unbuckling, I think the DC should do.

YUP! the below pictured dc with my son in it is gone. They sent me a new one in cappuccino.

I did specifically ask them about sending my seat in with my cover since I have a Tribecca which they do not make anymore (yes, I am kind of attached to it :D). They told me to send it with the cover and padding since they would not replacing the seat. They would only be repairing it if they found anything wrong with it and sending it back to me. I sure hope they don't want to send me a new seat with a different cover if they determine my seat is not repairable.
 

BookMama

Senior Community Member
Don't get me wrong, I completely agree that a $200+ seat should not be harder to adjust than the budget seats.

Personally, I would NOT send the cover etc when you send the seat to Britax. I wouldn't think that the cover (or lack of cover) would affect the testing/repairing and I would also worry that they would not send back the original discontinued cover if they were unable to repair the seat.

Oh, and just to clarify - I didn't mean that any one else should feel like they're taking advantage if Britax sends them a new seat - just that I might feel bad because they already sent me a new cover (not to mention new EPS foam for my Regent, but that's another story). :) In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think I may do it myself. I'm going to try loosening/tightening the seat when I put DD in it over the next few days and see how hard mine really is to tighten.
 

NatenMaddiesMommy

Senior Community Member
Personally, I would NOT send the cover etc when you send the seat to Britax. I wouldn't think that the cover (or lack of cover) would affect the testing/repairing and I would also worry that they would not send back the original discontinued cover if they were unable to repair the seat.

This was my original thinking which is why I asked. I'll just send it in naked then. If they have a problem with it they can call me. It's not like they don't have extra covers/padding around there they can use.

Thanks for the advice:thumbsup:
 

jdchic3

New member
I wouldn't send the cover it either. If for some reason you don't get the seat back, they will not be returning the cover to you. If they need to test it with the cover they can use one of theirs! ;)
 

cso1997

Active member
OP (sorry, I don't know your name), what is the DOM of your seat? I only ask because I think that Britax has done something to fix the DC's that they aren't telling us. I know they keep insisting that nothing is wrong but I definitely notice a difference between my May 2006 DC and my Sept 2007 DC. The new one is way easier to use. Since you have the Tribecca, I am assuming it is older.

I would say, don't send your cover because they are probably going to replace the seat. Good luck!!
 

BookMama

Senior Community Member
Casey, that's a great question! I'm not the OP but I'm having the same problems tightening my DC harness when it's buckled. My DC has a 12/06 DOM. (Dec 20-something I believe.)
 

jdchic3

New member
May I reiterate again how glad I am mine broke before the recall? We had problems with our aduster too before it bit the dust and am quite glad to be rid of it. In fact, it broke because it was so difficult to tighten that we were pulling with, literally, all of our strength. That is quite a lot because DH is a bodybuilder. He's the one who broke it. Lol.
 

henrietta

Well-known member
The CS I spoke with offered me a new seat of my choice, MA, BLVD, or another DEC, but there also was a tiny (probably insignificant) broken piece on the bottom that I found when installing those little plastic pegs for the recall. Unfortunately, I decided, against my better judgement, to take another try w/the Decathlon...and it doesn't really work any better than the first one I had. And it has the correct parts on it and was manufactured about 5 days before they shipped it to me! I'm so unhappy that I've actually considered calling the same lovely CS rep back and asking her to send me a BLVD and I'll send the DEC back. It's too bad b/c I was excited about having an extra cover!

Good luck!

henrietta
 

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