Ever think about renting a seat? You won't want to, now!

[Joolsplus2]

http://www.deliciousbaby.com/journal/2007/dec/22/advantage-rent-cars-frightening-car-seats/

Check these out! Ick! (and an undercover news story to come, I hope they post it online).

[Emmas Mom]

That's beyond disgusting! Yuck!

[codex57]

Wow. That's just obscene. Time to start contacting local news stations and suggesting this story as a tip.

[niccig]

I posted a comment saying you can strap your car seat to stroller, luggage cart to take through the airport and gave a link for why it's safer to use a car seat on the plane. I hope it goes up, so people see there are better options than relying on a rental car seat.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

wow. That Fisher Price t-shield seat is the exact seat I had for my now-17-year-old son when he was a baby! Same cover and everything. That's scary.

[JBaxter]

wow. That Fisher Price t-shield seat is the exact seat I had for my now-17-year-old son when he was a baby! Same cover and everything. That's scary.

I had them for my 16yr old and 13yr old too.

[Kidrepair]

I used that same FP seat for the girl I nannied for in 1989, she will be 19 next month. I loved that seat, it was so easy to use, 5 pt. harnesses weren't that popular, I remember one of their cousins had a 5pt. and I thought what a pain to use, this one is sooo much easier, LOL

[HIU8]

AFter reading this I will never consider renting a carseat!!! I am sending the link to my mother who insists that we should rent a carseat when coming to see her (NOT GOING TO HAPPEN MA!@!@)

[shburks]

The good news is that if you *have* to rent a seat now is the time to rent from Advantage! Sounds like they've made some very good changes.

[mom2binsd]

I have been to that Advantage location in San Diego and I can say I'm not surprised....the first vehicle we were given had vomit all over the back seat and a huge oil/tar stain all over the floor which we only discovered after putting something on the floor- we refused the vehicle even though the insisted it was clean. I told them I refused to put my infant daughter in her carseat (we brought our own) on that seat-they actually fought me on it!!! It was late at night and there are no other rental places nearby so we stood our ground until they gave us a cleaner car....when we returned the car I spoke with management and were given about 50% back of the rental fee....the last time I go with a cheaper company, have had better luck with the mainstream companies....anyway sorry a little off topic but when I saw the location I could see the place clear as day! Boy that was many years ago but it still ticks me off!

[deliciousbaby]

I'm the original author of the story on http://www.deliciousbaby.com about their dangerous car seats.

I wanted to post link to the undercover story that 10News in San Diego did. http://www.10news.com/investigations/15200619/detail.html It's really well done!

As a result of this story, Advantage has made some great changes. They've destroyed any unsafe car seats across all of their locations and instituted a new corporate-wide policy on car seat safety. The policy (which they sent me a copy of) requires that each seat be thouroughly inspected and cleaned after each use. It also requires that child safety seats be retired after two years of use.

This story is a great example of what can happen when parents take a little extra time to do something about a problem beyond just complaining to the business itself. This week I'll be posting on my blog about the experience of working with the news station. It was not a huge amount of work for me, and seeing everything turn out so positively has been immensely rewarding.


http://www.deliciousbaby.com/journal/2007/dec/22/advantage-rent-cars-frightening-car-seats/

Check these out! Ick! (and an undercover news story to come, I hope they post it online).

[Joolsplus2]

Wow, cool! Thanks so much for checking in :). I think you did a really great thing getting them to clean up their act!!!!!

:cheerleader1:

[yellowdogmom]

I also never check a carseat for the same reason...I had a situation where I brought DS along on a business trip to a city near my parents (the one and only time he was a lap child since my airfare was $1200). I checked his carseat since I had my laptop and diaper bag to shlep already. On the way there it was fine, but on the way back they lost our carseat! Would not have been a problem if we were flying in to our home airport but our flight was cancelled and we took a flight into a nearby airport and I rented a car to get to our home airport. OK, no problem - lost carseat - I'll just rent one with the rental car - well, they had ONE and it didn't have straps (hello! why was this even still around) and I believe I checked with a couple of rental places and they either didn't have cars at that short of notice or they didn't have seats, so I had to get one as a loaner from the airline - not super great, but not as nasty as the ones on the blog. As I was waiting in the airline lost luggage line I was trying to think of options in case they didn't have a seat...I was going to make somebody go to the nearest Target and get me a seat if I had to. Needless to say, I will NEVER check a seat again.

(BTW, The seat did turn up the next day and the airline sent a courier to our house to swap out the loaner with ours)

Cheers,
Kristin