Customer service as it SHOULD be.
I purchased my Chicco Trevi Twin double stroller on May 28, 2009. The purchase was made online via the Toys R Us web site. My decision to purchase this particular stroller was based solely on customer reviews praising its ease of opening/closing and that it was light-weight.
My stroller arrived in the mail the first week of June 2009, within a couple days of Jonah’s birth. Because he was a newborn, I didn’t use the stroller until mid-September. I found it to be incredibly difficult to open into the locked position, but I assumed it was because it was still stiff from being new. It closed easily, but the problems opening it got continually worse. On January 3, I was completely unable to open the stroller into locked position, even with the assistance of another adult. My husband was finally able to open it into locked position, but it was even difficult for him and he’s not a small man!
Because our experience was so contrary to the customer reviews we read online, we assumed our stroller was defective.
So, I called Chicco and basically said all this verbatim. The customer service representative asked me to email them (1) a description of the problem, (2) proof of purchase, (3) a photo of the stroller, and (4) my contact information. I did so and four days later I received a reply email that said (and I quote):
Dear Chicco Customer,
Thank you for the information you have provided. Delivery time will be approximately 14 business days for a replacement Trevi Twin stroller. Once you receive the replacement stroller, please properly dispose of the current stroller.
Regards,
Customer Service
Chicco USA
1826 William Penn Way
Lancaster, PA 17601
Seriously?! That was SO EASY! I assumed they would tell me “tough crap, you’ve already had it for six months” or make me mail the first stroller back before replacing it or at least make me pay shipping on the new stroller. But no! They did the RIGHT thing and mailed me a new stroller in the most convenient and quick way possible (incidentally, it wasn’t 14 days – it took less than one week to arrive). They now have a customer for life! Thank you, Chicco, for raising the bar, putting the customer first, being an example to other companies on the right way to do business, and for making my life easier. I love you long time.
Now, friends, YOU do the right thing and share this story with your friends who have young children so they can be aware of at least one company they can trust.
Wow, is this refreshing to hear (read)! I am a BIG fan of great customer service but it irritates me to no end that noone seems to want to go the extra mile now-a-days. It’s frustrating that I always get an ‘oh, well’ and ‘sorry ma’am’.
Wish I had little ones just so I could support their company by purchasing a stroller!
I guess I should have held onto my defective Chicco stroller! I have/had the Cortina travel system in Sahara and last year the stroller just quit folding up. It was like the tension mechanism was stretched out so that it wouldn’t come together. I can’t tell you how many times and ways we tried to get it to fold.
We got the travel system as a gift in February or March 2006, so I have no proof of purchase and it was probably too old to qualify for any kind of warranty or replacement.
We kept the n0n-folding stroller around for a little while, but I really could only use it if we were going to the neighborhood park. And I could kind of/sometimes fit it in the back of my old SUV, but that was hard to do and took up every inch of trunk space (plus I looked like an idiot for putting an open/unfolded stroller in my vehicle!). It just wasn’t convenient to use on the go.
Since the stroller didn’t fold, it took up too much space in the garage. And when we got our new SUV, we needed space so we decided it was time for it to go. When we had our garage sale last fall, I added the stroller to it (for $10) and put a note on it that said it wouldn’t fold up, but otherwise was just fine. One of the first people to come to the garage sale bought it AND he was able to get the darn thing to fold up (but said he was afraid to unfold it b/c he didn’t think he could get it to do it again and needed to get it home). I wanted to ask for it back (we still have the infant carrier that fits in it), but thought that was tacky. So I let it go.
Anyway, glad to hear you had great customer service with Chicco. I love that company. In addition to the infant carrier and 2 car seat bases, we have the Polly high chair, the Capri lightweight stroller and my mom has a Chicco umbrella stroller.
I Looove our little single chicco stroller, but it has a downside if you live somewhere cold, it’s Reeeeallly hard to open if it’s cold, and my mom has the same one as us (for all the grand babies) and we used it while visiting, and the foot rest cracked when we opened it (from being cold)…. I should tell her about this, to call and get a new one!
THis is what customer service should be. Most retailers could learn something reading this. I will without hesitation take my money elsewhere when I get bad service. it is refreshing to hear a positive customer service stroy for a change!
I love my Chicco Cortina stroller, but like Lucia’s mine doesn’t want to fold either. Maybe I’ll call them!