Complaint: Room & Board (Oak Brook, IL) faulty crib assembly
A letter from a reader in
IL:
"As a Baby Bargains reader who lives
by your recommendations in the book and the customer reviews posted on your Web
site, I wanted to inform you of an issue I recently experienced with a crib I
purchased from Room & Board. In telling you about my personal issue with
Room & Board, I hope that others might be alerted to the potential safety
issues with the assembly of the Lullaby crib from Room &
Board.
As
background, after having the side rail of the Lullaby crib I purchased last fall
serviced by Room & Board’s repair crew just a few weeks ago, I learned
that it also had a cracked support rail and a drawer that was on the verge of
falling apart. I was told by the repairman that these problems were caused by
“shoddy” assembly by Room & Board employees. In addition, I was
told that due to the known safety problems the company experienced with the
assembly of the crib, it had been discontinued and replaced with cribs that
required less assembly by Room & Board.
As you can imagine, I was furious to learn
that the poor assembly of the crib by Room & Board has put my son in direct
danger for many months. If I had not asked for the side rail to be serviced,
the cracked support rail may not have been discovered. Obviously, Room &
Board knew about this service issue and was negligent in notifying us about it.
To think that my son was unknowingly sleeping in a dangerous crib is
frightening! I don’t even want to think about what could have
happened!
After inquiring about the repairs, I was told
by the Oak Brook, Illinois store where I purchased the crib that I would need to
wait two to three weeks for the replacement parts to come in and then additional
time for the service call – something that is completely unacceptable as
I’m sure its current condition would not have met the safety requirements
of the manufacturer. (The repair man left my home with the mattress dropped to
the lowest level and tape wrapped around the support rail.) Moreover, when I
requested a new crib, I was told that I would need to pay more since the Lullaby
crib was replaced with new cribs that cost an additional $200 and $400.
At this
time, I have asked Room & Board for a complete refund and have issued
complaints to the Room & Board corporate office and its Oak Brook, Illinois
store. Additionally, I’m researching other customer-review focused
services or Websites to inform of this potential
issue.
Knowing you have dealt with and informed
readers of other quality and service issues, I wanted to make sure you knew
about this specific crib assembly problem with Room & Board. I hate to
think there are others out there who might have this same problem – and
not even know it!"
Best
regards.
Aimee T.
Posted: Mon - May 1, 2006 at 09:57 AM