I need to have a rant..

Can anyone please tell me what exactly the point is of Mothercares 12 month guarantee when it means nothing when it comes down to it?

I purchased my baby's travel system from there and 3 times i have had to take it back, in the space of a month (had the pram 5 months).
First 2 occasions screws had fallen out so the shop put some more in, in store. (so im guessing it happens alot as they was used to it). Then to make things worse my wheel starts coming very lose and hanging on by a thread. I take in into them in town, for them to tell me that it now needs to go back to the supplier to have it repaired which should take 14 days. so i say, 'OK, do I get a loan pram in the mean time' They say, 'yes, BUT the only pram we have to offer you is a basic Jive which does not lie all the way back. (which they are not allowed to give me anyway because my baby is too young, but i didn't know this at the time). So i refused saying that what they was offering me was unacceptable and was there any chance of a refund or an exchange. To which they replied 'no'. I asked 'What was the point in the guarantee etc' They say 'so it gets fixed free IF its the suppliers fault'. Anyway to cut it short, after spending an hour in the shop they then told me there was a pram same as mine in Mothercare in Meadowhall. BUT i had to either carry my baby there and leave my broken pram there or risk taking my broken pram to get Meadowhall's loan pram. So i travelled all the way to Meadowhall with my broken pram to get there 'loan' pram. While im there the wheel on the loan pram starts coming loose. So the lady in the shop tells me, 'it shouldn't fall off' Anyway, the lady in Meadowhall then tells me the Jive pram is not suitable anyway for my baby so they cant offer me that and that my pram should be back with me within 28days!! BUT i have to travel all the way to Meadowhall to collect it. I am so angry. I really dont see the point in having a 12 months Guarantee thing when you are not happy with it anyway. Oh and to top it off, IF they feel I am in the wrong I have to pay for the repair... Anyway rant over!! :rant:

So can anyone tell me if I have any rights regarding this and what they are please.

Hi there, I used to work on the complaints side of a major retailer so will answer this to the best of my ability.....

The manufacturers warranty entitles you to a remedy if a manufacturing fault or defect occurs, this remedy can be free of charge repair, this is what is normally offered, a refund or an exchange. The repair has to be carried out with minimum inconvenience to you and within a reasonable amount of time.

My personal opinion is that 28 days is far too long to be without an essential item like a pram. Any loan item should also be safe and durable enough.

My advice would be to speak to the customer service team for mothercare if they have one or head office if not. Keep the conversation relaxed (no ranting) and you will get a lot further, explain that you have been given the run around etc and you do not have confidence in the loan pram. Be prepared to accept the repair because this is what they are allowed to offer (we did 3 repairs before considering anything else) but ask them if they can speed up the process for you or find you a better loan pram from a closer shop.

If you need anything else just ask. Good luck.

BTW, keep a note of all dates, times and names if possible, this will be ammunition if you need to complain.

Thanks for that. Can i just ask when my pram comes back if im still not happy can i get a refund or exchange? I still have the receipt too so they cant say anything about that, plus the guarantee sticker that is on the pram anyway, which states the guarantee from Jan 08

It will depend on what Mothercare's policy on repairs is, they could carry on insisting that they are offering a remedy by sending it away for repair. However this is not a good policy to have from a customer service point of view and this is what I would be tempted to play on, the repair time and the lack of safe loan pram is causing you excessive inconvenience and this is not allowed under the terms of the sale of goods act.

If you get it back and it is still faulty, then contact the head office or customer service team and explain that you have allowed them adequate opportunity to remedy the fault by repair and you would now like them to exchange the pram.

The other argument you could use is that any product sold should be safe and durable, in other words, fit for purpose. You could argue that if your pram has had to be repaired twice already in such a short period of time, it is not of the quality you would expect.

I brought a pram from mothercare, we'd only had it for months when the brake broke (lol thats hard to say!)
We took it back with the reciept ect, and were told it would have to be sent away to be fixed. Not a problem, except we had no other pram. We asked about a loan pram and were given a choice of two, one was the jive - no good as my son needed to lay back, and another really old style, huge one, which wouldnt fit in my car boot (I had the tiniest car ever)
They just shrugged and said there was nothing they could do, not their problem ect, so my OH demanded to see the manager. The manager to her credit was absolutely lovely, listened to our problems with the initial pram, and the replacement ones, and offered us a swap on our pram there and then. The only identical one available in the shop was actually a display model, but it was clean and looked perfect so we accepted, and havent had a problem with it since - its nearly 3 years old now!

I used to work for mothercare and im afraid i think u will get nowhere further than this. the terms and conditions are watertight and all they have to do is offer a loan buggy-even if not suitable. As for a refund or exchange i would say no chance- even customers that complained to head office rarely got a satisfactory outcome. Im afraid i think u are stuck with the repair. We always had customers complaining but we reallyy more or less had to wash our hands of it and blame on supplier. Generally as a rule i would say prams were back within 2 weeks-hardly ever 28days. sorry im guessing this isn't the response u want, just being truthful and honest x