Love Thursday

I almost forgot...it's LOVE THURSDAY!

Today I love:

My new stroller. My old stroller was like the Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic of strollers. It did the job, it looked okay. It was "meh". It was entry level.

And then a nightmare ensued. When my dear cousin Michele (who is so ridiculously gorgeous it just absolutely isn't fair!) bought it for me as a shower gift, she also purchased Babies R Us' Buyer Protection Plan. It's like an extra year of insurance if anything goes wrong. I used it about 5 times and then the basket broke. I was sad. And a stroller without a basket is pretty useless. I mean, sure it strolls but where are you gonna put your bag?

I contacted the manufacturer who said they might be able to help me if I could get the model & serial number off of the very inconveniently placed sticker on the stroller. I finally got to the stupid sticker only to find it was scratched just where the numbers were supposed to be - the numbers I needed! So the manufacturer said they couldn't help.

Then I tried to file a claim under the Buyer's Protection Plan. They denied my claim because they said the only claim they would cover under my plan was for damage that resulted from a POWER SURGE. Yeah, you read that right. A power surge. So I was el screwedo. Which is Spanish for "fucked over big time".

First I was disappointed the basket broke.

Then I was frustrated the manufacturer wouldn't help me.

Now I was PISSED. Why did my cousin pay extra for this BS insurance if they weren't going to cover the problem?

I called my Babies R Us (BRU) and talked to the manager and explained my conundrum. He couldn't believe the crazy craziness of saying they would only cover damage from a power surge. (Like Coupon Chris said, "That doesn't even make sense on Mars!") He said to bring it all in and they would find a way to take care of me. So I hauled the infant seat, LATCH base, and stroller out to the car and into BRU all by myself. Let's be honest. The baby really can't lift much yet.

I schlepped all the stuff in and the first thing they did was try to call the Buyer Protection Plan (BPP) people to get the whole power surge thing worked out. The BPP folks at first stood by the original determination. Then they said they may honor the claim, but I would have to wait for a shipping label to be mailed to me, then mail in my broken travel system, then it takes 3 to 4 weeks to approve or deny my claim (which I had already waited from the first time I filed my claim that was denied for the BS power surge reason) and then it would take 7 to 10 business days for them to cut me a check if they decided to approve my claim. To which I said "Aw HALE NO!" I mean really, I can't not have a stroller for over a month. That's just crazy talk.

I went back and forth with the Customer "Service" person on the phone, discussing the hassle and expense of shipping an entire travel system to them when I finally gave up. I handed the phone back to the BRU person and told her to work it out. I was leaving the store with a new, unbroken stroller and they could figure out between themselves how they were going to make that happen.

In the end, even the BRU people got frustrated with the BPP people, and they ended up refunding me the entire purchase price of my original travel system and the unused, worthless Buyer Protection Plan. I parlayed that refundage into 2/3 of the cost of this sweet ride:


and, can I just say...this stroller is YUMMY. It's not the Rolls Royce of strollers, that would be the $900 Bugaboo Cameleon. But it's freaking sweet. Handles like a dream. Where my old stroller was say, a Honda Civic or a Toyota Corolla, this bad boy is the Volvo S60. It's niiiiiiiice.

Also, I love the personnel at Babies R Us. They took care of my problem and then treated me like a VIP in helping me pick a new stroller. They were freaking awesome. After processing my refund, the store manager told the baby gear guy to take me to the stroller aisle and "Get Mrs. Powers anything she wants." Darlings, THAT is the way to shop.