The swing is broken...now what do I do with it? UPDATE!

[JoyNChrist]

FP is sending us a replacement motor. Just wanted to let y'all know that they had great customer service!

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DH's cousin and his wife generously loaned us their Fisher Price Baby Papasan cradle swing before DS was born. It has been a lifesaver, as for a while it was the only place DS would sleep. However, a month or so ago, the swing stopped working. The music will play and the critters on tops still move around, but the actual swinging motion doesn't work anymore. I think we blew up the motor - the swing was in our bedroom and I think it got moved too close to the bed and hit our comforter, which wouldn't let it move, and ran that way all night, finally killing the motor.

We will of course be replacing the swing or refunding the money (their choice), since I absolutely hate that we borrowed something and broke it. But that still leaves me with a broken swing. Is there anything I could do with it? It just seems a shame (and a waste!) to throw it away without trying to fix it.

Any ideas?

[deannanb]

Call Fisher Price.
If the swing is new enough, they might replace a broken part or the whole thing.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Ditto

~Beth

[JoyNChrist]

I know the swing is over a year old...they bought it when they were pregnant with their daughter, who turned 1 in June. Do you think FP would still help me? I suppose it's worth a shot...

[mariza]

I would call them and tell anyway, they may sell you a replacement motor which would be less expensive then getting a brand new swing. Also, I know this is going to sound crazy, but did you try changing the batteries? Mine ate batterries like crazy and the motor would always die before the birds and music. I guess because it took more energy to swing the seat.
Definately call FP though!

Mariza
Mommy to my "Thing 1" DD 1/05
and "Thing 2" DS 9/06

[bubbaray]

Call FP and explain, they may comp you a new motor. Graco did this with a swing I got (and the recalled harness) from a friend. The new motor is going strong (with DD#2 now). It was easy to swap out the old motor.

HTH

Melissa

DD#1: 04/2004

DD#2: 01/2007

[ett]

If you can't get a new motor from FP, perhaps you could still craiglist it for cheap. When we used the swing with DS2, we never ended up putting the batteries in. We used it more as a chair for him to sit in. So maybe someone else would still want your broken swing.

[MamaMolly]

If FP can't help, you could always Freecycle it. I'm amazed how things listed clearly as *broken* are scooped up. It will keep it out of the landfill, too!
HTH,
Molly

[hillview]

FP should totally take care of you. I wouldn't mention you borrowed it just that you've had it for a year and it broke. Let us know what they said!
/hillary

[Radosti]

I had the FP Aquarium swing for DS. Well after 6 months, it started making horrible scraping noises. So, I called FP. They sent out a replacement motor. While the replacement motor was enroute, the swing decided to walk 6 feet across the floor with DS in it. Literally...

So, I called them back and they said to go buy a new one, send them back this one (they sent UPS to my house), and they refunded me the price of the first swing. Meanwhile, the motor arrived. They told me to keep it in case this one goes out of order. Well, we used the new swing until DS was 14 months old (and 32 lbs - weight limit is 25, but I was desperate). And it is still fine. Actually, not sure what happened last night, but I could not get DS to sleep. He was screaming like a banshee for hours. I gave him motrin and milk, changed him, nothing helped. I felt like a new mom all over again. Finally, after 4.5 hours of intermittent sleep, I gave up and stuck him in the swing (which has stood unused in our spare bedroom for almost 7 months). I felt awful, since he's 35 lbs. But he fell asleep in 5 minutes and slept for the next 3 hours until it was time to wake him up.

Oh well, we have a new motor for the next kiddo, in case this motor goes kaput. They were really nice about it at FP.