Will I get a refund on this car seat

[Melonballs1]

a few months ago we purchased a car seat from John Lewis for our soon to be new born. It’s the joie i 360 we have purchased and only used twice. New born is clearly not fitting in it properly. At first I blamed my husband for fitting it incorrectly and went over the manual and video again. Since doing some research I have found that the car seat although recommended for age 0-4 dosnt offer a safe fit for new borns. His head is pushed into his chest restricting his air ways and the head support dosnt give any support. He’s an average sized baby but apparently this is a common problem. Would I have any rights to return the car seat. We can’t safely use it now and I will have to buy another one which I can just about afford to do as I don’t have a choice. I’m so annoyed for spending all this money on something that isn’t fit for purpose.

John Lewis have great customer service but i don't know if they will accept a return if you've used it and it isn't faulty etc.
we actually had a car seat that came with a pram and used that until my daughter got too big for it then bought the joie every stage and she's used it ever since. She is almost 4 now so it was worth the money.
could you get a cheap car seat for now until baby fits into the Joie one?

Can't you just buy a typical newborn one (such as with a travel system) and save the Joie until baby is a bit bigger?

Is that with it reclined all the way?
Tbh the silver cross infant carrier I had was exactly the same when it came to head on chest position! I found the 360 to be better

Sounds like it is fit for purpose, just not fit for your purpose. Id be surprised if you got a refund.

I would get a 0+ carrier, and then use the Joie when LO grows out of that, you are probably going to find that most 0-4 car seats won't provide an ideal fit for newborns, so could end up returning and having the same issue with another 0-4, however a decent carrier will last for just over 12 months and then the Joie will be ideal until at least 4.

It doesn't sound fit for purpose to me. If it is advertised as 0-4 you're completely reasonable to expect that to mean from newborn. If it is only suitable from 3 months (or whatever) it should say "from 3 months to 4 years".

If this is the one it clearly says from birth. www.halfords.com/baby-and-child/car-seats/baby-car-seats/joie-i-spin-360-group-0plus%2F1-baby-car-seat-806916.html?&cm_mmc=GooglePPC&source=ppc&_$ja=tsid:%7Ccid:16357024%7Cagid:141983368795%7Ctid:dsa-486244176669%7Ccrid:698876418478%7Cnw:g%7Crnd:2355637504756496745%7Cdvc:c%7Cadp:%7Cmt:%7Cloc:9045958&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwo8S3BhDeARIsAFRmkOMbQw73CJsCbMknbzYpMtGiCwFmvqpV2a-mXf4Rye7JNtVFv7I7xpwaAsN4EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Did you do a fitting appointment when you bought it at John Lewis?

IME the 0-4 ones never work for newborns. I'd always get an infant carrier first, then move onto a bigger one when fully outgrown.

Once the tags are removed, they cannot be returned.

Probably too late to return and unfortunately it is rare for a newborn to get a good fit in those seats. You can get a Joie baby carrier for £60 - I’d get that then use the one you’ve bought in 4-6 months. You might find other uses for it too, being more portable it’ll also work better for taxis, to take on holiday, as a spare for Grandma’s car, as a travel system on your pram (once they can spend longer in the seat). And you’ll need the next stage one eventually so you haven’t wasted money.

I just don’t understand why if it’s so rare for it to fit a newborn do they advertise it as fit for a newborn. We had an appointment at John Lewis they checked it would fit In our car etc but couldn’t check baby in it as he wasn’t born. We stopped by Halfords on way home on our second trip in the car seat to buy an emergency new one. The joie baby carrier for 60 pounds also gives a terrible fit but googling this seat it again isn’t a great fit for a lot of new born. We ended up having to leave as I had midwife coming to see me.

I also don’t feel safe driving him in the car seat to a store so that I can fit him in the seat before I buy one.

I can't see why you'd need to return it, he won't be a newborn for long! And as it's used and not faulty I doubt they'd accept a return.

We are going to have to get a new car seat and am re searching for one with a great fit.

Maxi Cosi Cabriofix iSize is a great fit for newborn. Avionaut Pixel Pro is generally regarded as the best on car seat pages, but the Maxi Cosi is a good second and much more budget friendly.

The Joie 360 will come in handy after but it's not great for extended rear facing as it's such a bulky seat and takes up a lot of the leg room. But you'll get some use out of it. We got a good fit for DD when she was 6 months x

Newborn babies often don't fit well in any car seat - the 0-4 year ones in general tend to be harder to get a good fit than infant carriers, but even infant carriers are variable in fit. Car seat manufacturers work with a "newborn" dummy which is based on a 6 week old, but 6 week old babies can be a good 1-2kg heavier than they are at birth and about 5-6cm longer. That's a huge difference when they are so tiny - it's a whole clothing size.

You could phone up John Lewis customer service and see what they say, but I think it is possible that they would be reluctant to refund as they won't be able to resell the seat since you have used it. They may offer fit advice if you bring the seat and baby to the store. Perhaps one parent could drive and the other take the baby on the bus? As others have said, you will be able to use this seat when LO has outgrown an infant carrier in any case, or possibly sooner (the 6-week difference, as said).

If you do buy another seat, the Avionaut seats are easily the best although they aren't cheap (Cosmo is not too bad, and does not need the base to fit).

Britax and Maxi Cosi also tend to get good fit from newborn. But I do think that you will find if you wait a couple of weeks, he will fit better in the Joie Juva seat that you have. It will probably also be easier to put the Juva at more of a recline due to it being belt fitted. I would say that you don't need to buy another seat, though if you want to, the above brands are what I would recommend.

If you want to improve support in the Juva seat, you can add some rolled up muslin cloths alongside him - this is a really detailed article which explains how to do that safely. Although it's American, the only part which is different to UK seats is the harness - they have a 5 point harness plus the chest clip whereas UK seats often have a Y-shaped harness for infant carriers. Everything else is fine and applies the same. You don't see this advice a lot for UK seats because most car seats have more structured inserts these days than the Joie Juva. The Juva is a more old fashioned type design.

thecarseatlady.com/newbornheadposition/