Had A Little Chat With TRU Supervisors Today

So, we stopped by TRU to pick up DS3's bday present today, and of course I had to make the circuit and cruise past the carseats.

I am so glad I did! When I got there, they had a "clearance" rack in the center of the main aisle, right in front of the carseat aisle, with an Evenflo Tribute V, out of the box, marked with a red $39 clearance tag. I immediately grabbed it to check it out, of course, figuring it was a display model.

Then I got a really good look (I wish I'd thought to take a picture!) and realized the top tether strap had been removed and re-threaded incorrectly, and worse it had no buckle tongs or chest clip.

I immediately walked over to the nearest salesperson and told her it needed to be pulled from the shelves and not sold under any circumstances. She was apologetic, said it wasn't up to her, blah blah. So I asked who it WAS up to and where could I find them? She told me, and I grabbed the seat and marched it up to the supervisors at the Customer Service desk.

They were actually pretty nice - I pointed out that while it may seem obvious that it was missing parts, and that someone could theoretically buy the seat and have Evenflo send them the missing parts, the fact is that someone who was unfamiliar with carseats might not realize that it needed parts, and with the manual missing, they had no way of knowing. The harness was threaded "correctly," so I pointed out that someone who'd never used a carseat before might think it was supposed to work that way - just flip the straps over their arms and you're off! They both agreed and said they'd take it off the floor.

I just hope they actually do. :shrug-shoulders:

Good on you Debbie!


While I would love to see seats for $39 here, they should have a staff member check over the demos/returns etc for snitched parts.

I know if I come to America i would *have* to look at the stores with car seats LOL.

Wow Debbie, I am glad you found it and not some bargain shopping parent!

Good for you Debbie. Was that the Boise TRU store? My girls call it Bad Customer Service R US. LOL

They could have posted a big disclaimer on the item, but I agree it would be better to pull it.

I wonder also if, after fixing the tether issue, they could call Evenflo and get the parts sent to them, put them on, and then put the seat back out.

Yes, the Boise TRU. I actually like the folks who work in the video game section, though.

They really shouldn't be selling a display seat in any case, even if they did get all the parts. I have a cousin who "tests" carseats by squeezing the display models - the one that he can't crack the shell is the one he buys. There's just no telling what kind of stresses have been applied to a display model, parts available or not.

Glad you saw it before someone bought it!