I've just had a surprising conversation with Bugaboo about our pushchair...
We were delighted with our Chameleon when we bought it after all the checking and comparing which new parents do. We chose Bugaboo because we loved the style and had strong recommendations from the stores we visited. Although we initially bought only the basic pram, we found ourselves trusting the brand so much we quickly added the Cosytoes, Travel bag, Parasol, ... etc
Everything was fine until on holiday a couple of weeks ago the chassis broke. We had the pram in 'digger' mode - big wheels at the front - on a path in some hills on France. Without any obvious cause one of the black plastic arms snapped away from the metal leg. Luckily we could still manoever the pram and got home with just minor inconvenience.
When we got home I googled the problem, but I couldn't find reports of any similar faults. Certainly the pram hasn't had any unusual use, which made me suspect a manufacturing problem - so called Bugaboo for their help.
The Bugaboo customer service line goes through to a team in the Netherlands. As our pram is out of warranty, their view was very simple - they would not help. I asked if they would at least look at the pram to check for any manufacturing fault. (An 800 pound pram shouldn't break in normal use with a (small) two year old in it.) The response from the customer service rep was surprisingly that he would pass on my request to the right team but that they would probably not get back to me! They didn't.
So now I have the option of buying a new chassis at well over 200 pounds or accepting that I'll get no more value from all the rest of the Bugaboo kit we've bought. Our son is almost two and a half, we could get a brand Quinny buggy for less than the replacement spare part - and probably better customer service
For a premium product it's a really poor customer service experience.
Has anybody else had a similar issue and found Bugaboo more forthcoming? Or does anybody know a less expensive way of repairing the hinge? If so we'd be really grateful to hear from you.
We were delighted with our Chameleon when we bought it after all the checking and comparing which new parents do. We chose Bugaboo because we loved the style and had strong recommendations from the stores we visited. Although we initially bought only the basic pram, we found ourselves trusting the brand so much we quickly added the Cosytoes, Travel bag, Parasol, ... etc
Everything was fine until on holiday a couple of weeks ago the chassis broke. We had the pram in 'digger' mode - big wheels at the front - on a path in some hills on France. Without any obvious cause one of the black plastic arms snapped away from the metal leg. Luckily we could still manoever the pram and got home with just minor inconvenience.
When we got home I googled the problem, but I couldn't find reports of any similar faults. Certainly the pram hasn't had any unusual use, which made me suspect a manufacturing problem - so called Bugaboo for their help.
The Bugaboo customer service line goes through to a team in the Netherlands. As our pram is out of warranty, their view was very simple - they would not help. I asked if they would at least look at the pram to check for any manufacturing fault. (An 800 pound pram shouldn't break in normal use with a (small) two year old in it.) The response from the customer service rep was surprisingly that he would pass on my request to the right team but that they would probably not get back to me! They didn't.
So now I have the option of buying a new chassis at well over 200 pounds or accepting that I'll get no more value from all the rest of the Bugaboo kit we've bought. Our son is almost two and a half, we could get a brand Quinny buggy for less than the replacement spare part - and probably better customer service
For a premium product it's a really poor customer service experience.
Has anybody else had a similar issue and found Bugaboo more forthcoming? Or does anybody know a less expensive way of repairing the hinge? If so we'd be really grateful to hear from you.
