argued with salesman - again!

I'm so annoyed! I was at buy buy baby today and I went to look at car seats, just out of curiosity since I had never seen a radian in person and wanted to check it out. There was a dad trying to choose a seat, and first he asked for a booster, then started looking at harnessed turn booster seats. Of course I had to butt in and asked how old the child was! He said 14 months. I asked the weight, and he said, very skinny! So I said, good, get a convertible and keep her rearfacing. Then the salesman says the dad said the child was tall, so his legs touch the back of the seat and that's why he should be ff. I explained it doesn't matter blah blah blah and the dad was cluesless, asking when was it ok to turn ff. He's looking at the salesman like he's supposed to be the expert in carseat and I'm just this crazy lady. Salesguy says 1year. I say 1y + 20lbs is minimum because the spine is still fragile blah blah blah. Salesguy keeps interrupting and saying it's "controvertial" cause different doctors say different things and talking about broken legs. What idiots! I then turned to the dad and said "so your choice, broken leg or broken neck!" then I excused myself and left. I later saw the salesguy and he told me the guy ended up getting a MA. Hopefully the manual explains the benefits of rf? Argh!
I'm so annoyed! People go to the stores and they ask advice and the salespeople are giving them bs advice. SO stupid!
Sorry, I had to vent! I wish I was already a tech so I could have sounded more "for real" with my advice!

I hear ya! I really wish there was a better way to educate the public, and not just about car-safety, but simple things like proper hand washing! AGGGHH!!!!

You did a good job convincing the dad enough to buy an MA. :thumbsup:

That's annoying. :thumbsdown: And a bit surprising. I've had amazingly good luck with the advice handed down at BBB. Way better than BRU, that's for sure.

I asked about it and the girl I talked to said they had to go through 'training' in order to work the car seat section. Whatever that means.

I'm so glad the dad bought an MA instead of the FF turn booster he was looking into! But who knows if he'll use it RF or not. I still don't know by heart all the other seat options so when I was talking about RF I said "for instance, the Britaxes are really good and they last RF til 33lbs and then ff til 65. they're pricey but will last you a long time" and then turned to the salesguy and said "right?" and he admitted he had a britax for his kid!! so good thing the dad could afford one!

I hear ya!
We have that same issue here in NZ as well.

There are 2 main retail chains that sell baby gear here and very recently I asked one of the manangers "just how many of their staff were technicians?" turns out at my training date there was about 8 of them being trained!

I spoke with a retailer today who has been telling people that the lifespan starts from the date of sale, we have been taught it's from the date of manufacture. Turns out she is not a tech, so I have hinted at it, and hopefully she will in the near future.

minismom said:

I'm so glad the dad bought an MA instead of the FF turn booster he was looking into! But who knows if he'll use it RF or not. I still don't know by heart all the other seat options so when I was talking about RF I said "for instance, the Britaxes are really good and they last RF til 33lbs and then ff til 65. they're pricey but will last you a long time" and then turned to the salesguy and said "right?" and he admitted he had a britax for his kid!! so good thing the dad could afford one!

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Someone telling me do I want broken legs or a broken neck would have been enough for me to RF :twocents: I hope you scared him into it. If not at least the child is in a good seat.

Stores need to have techs for the carseat aisle -- or they need to be like our local stores who just say "I'll find the manuals for you to compare & then call the Sheriff station for a seatcheck" :thumbsup: (which would be AWESOME if most of my private checks weren't those with mistakes made by the Sheriffs :thumbsdown

papooses said:

Stores need to have techs for the carseat aisle -- or they

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..could have a computer station set up which shows car-seat.org as the main screen. The customer then inputs their question and any number of techs or members answer their question as to which carseat they should chose. I'm dreamin'..I know I know

When I told my husband the story he told me to go back to the store today and just stand by the car seats. great...

minismom said:

When I told my husband the story he told me to go back to the store today and just stand by the car seats. great...

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I can picture the dirty looks you will be getting from the employees LOL

Good grief! Well at least he bought a MA.