Poor Service So Far (BRU and Babi Italia)

[Elaine]

Let me vent!!!! Yesterday we purchased a Babi Italia crib at Babies R Us. It was one they had in stock -- trying to get any information from the salespeople as to "special orders" was useless, and we liked this crib well enough, and know Babi Italia is ranked as pretty high quality, so...

Well, we got the crib home and opened the box. One of the stabilizer bars is broken, the toddler-bed conversion set is missing, and there was no warranty or product registration information in the box (I specifically asked the BRU salesperson about this and she assured me the B-I cribs had that info in the box).

We were hoping to just have the damaged/missing parts sent to us. I called BRU this morning and was told, no they can't do that, we have to bring back the whole crib. We live 40 miles from the store, so we aren't too keen on having to try and repackage everything and take it all back. I said, "What if we get a new one and have the same problem?" The genius replied "Oh, that shouldn't happen." Excuse me, but it "shouldn't" have happened this time and did....??? They also had no info to give me on a local B-I rep to contact.

I then called the Babi Italia (Bonavita) head office and got an answering machine telling me to leave a detailed message, which I did. That was over 4 hours ago. I tried calling again, got the same recorded message. Does anyone know if there are actually people listening to the messages or is it their way of passing the buck?

This kind of non-service really ticks me off! In fact, I went against my better judgment buying at BRU at all because I have never been impressed with their salespeople in the first place. I sincerely hope the situation improves, but at this point I am not impressed with either BRU or Babi Italia.

[alandenisefields]

Thanks for reading our book, BABY BARGAINS.

Well, we hear your frustration---there's nothing worse then getting a product home from a distant store to discover something is broken/missing. Unfortunately, cribs often have damage due to shipping or other mistakes.

However, I think it is reasonable to have BRU ask you to bring back the product and exchange it for a new one. That is a fair response, even though you are 40 miles away.

As for Babi Italia's HQ (Bonavita), I think it is also fair to give them 1 business day to respond to such calls. We'd like to think all these companies have a big staff on hand to take calls 24 hours a day, but it just isn't so.

If Bonavita DOESN'T call you back shortly, drop us an email at [email protected] and we'll give you our contact person there, who I'm sure will take care of the problem if you decide not to have BRU handle it.

best wishes,
Alan & Denise Fields, Authors
BABY BARGAINS

[Elaine]

So you're telling me I'm impatient? Who, me? (ha ha)

Yes, I agree that BRU offering to exchange the crib is generally reasonable, but it seems to make more sense that they would help us obtain the damaged/missing parts. It seems that would actually save them a hassle too, since if we return the damaged crib and take the only other one they have in stock, they are left with a damaged product. Unless they don't care about that and will sell it regardless -- ? Mainly what annoyed me was the lack of information the person on the phone could give me about any options or about contacting the local manufacturer's rep. (I know there is a local rep because the salesperson yesterday talked about her).

As far as Babi Italia... I guess I'm one of those people that likes to hear a voice on the other end of the phone. Answering machines just don't instill a sense of "customer service", IMHO. But like I said, I was venting. I know they have a good reputation so hopefully it works out. Thanks for the offer to help out; I'll let you know how it goes!

Elaine

P.S. We esp. like the info you provided on which crib makers include a written warranty. Seems amazing that some don't!

[Sadie S]

We had a problem with our Babi Italia crib too, and had really bad luck with the company service. I kept getting the answering machine too, and I think it took a couple of days to get someone to call back. I finally did get the BabiesRUs people to contact their rep directly, and they actually just shipped the damaged part. I had to drive back to the store where I had purchased it (about 60 miles away) but at least they only had me bring in the damaged part.

By the way, our problem was that the varnish had gotten into the spring-like pin on the railing that allows you do drop the side, and that made the pin stick in. Evidently it is a common problem. They wanted us to "bang on it" to try to release it. We did, but it was still sticky so we asked for a replacement side.

We were unimpressed with the quality of the documentation (directions for assembly, etc) included with the crib. It was hard to follow, full of typos and incorrect grammar, and it looked like the the diagrams had been drawn by a 4th grader and then photocopied. It is hard to believe that they can get by with this in the computer age...

Too bad my 4 month old still won't sleep in his crib, after all that trouble we went through!!!

[Elaine]

Babi Italia did finally call me back, and to be fair, I was impressed with their service once they did. I explained the problem about the broken part, and the CSR told me she would have a replacement mailed that week. She said she would have to back-order the missing pieces. However, UPS delivered both the broken part AND the missing parts THE VERY NEXT DAY.

Unfortunately, we had the issue with the varnish in the drop side, too. We scraped it out as best we could and applied mineral oil which seems to have helped. Also, on the stationery side, we were unable to get one of the screws into the hole (again because there's a plug of varnish or something in the hole). But we did keep the crib. I agree with you on the documentation, it's very poorly done.

[jonandnoelle]

I too had a quality problem with a Babi Italia crib - One of the side headboards was defective and caused the drop side to catch when raising or lowering. I was told by BRU to contact the mfg/distributor (Lajobi) for a replacement.

After leaving a message and waiting several hours, I called again and dialed "0" for the operator - I was put in touch with Mike right away. In my experience with Lajobi, get the operator and you will have better luck getting in touch with someone.

I was told that while the company did not have a replacement headboard in stock, they would take one out of a complete crib to send to me within 10 days.

After 10 days went by with no headboard, I contacted Heather in "customer service" who told me that they would NOT be sending me one for 4 weeks since they had to get one from Italy. I have had some experience waiting for things to come over from Italy and let me say that to give an estimate on how long it will take is a joke. It could be 4 weeks, it could be 8 - there is really no way to know.

So far, the two recommendations we have followed -

Babi Italia (rated A) has been dissappointing.
Dutailer - Only assembly required: 4 screws. Guess what, it shipped with the wrong length screws. I am still waiting for the correct ones.

If these are the best products in the baby market it is a miracle that EVERTHING has not been recalled. It is truly an eye-opening experience to deal with such poor quality control. I will be interested to see if these companys' ratings will still be as high in the next issue of the book.

[LailaCa]

The BRU in my area never has Newborn Pampers. When I stated that everytime I come in there is not any inventory I was told that they are sold out the same day in which they receive a shipment. I guess it never occurred to the manager to increase the amount of the inventory ordered. Needless to say, that makes all my coupons worthless at BRU.