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Original poster

Ziko Herbie Travel System - any advice???

32 replies

AngelEyes74 · 03/02/2008 23:37

Has anyone else invested in the Ziko Herbie travel system from Mamas and Papas? We ordered it when it came out and are meant to pick it up in a couple of weeks. I have read extremely mixed reviews on the travel system - especially the Pro Sleep car seat but since we have basically already paid for it and my sister has twins who she has to carry about in the Pro Sleep car seats I am not too worried..... but I can't find all that many reviews so I thought I would ask your good selves what you think of the Ziko Herbie...

Thanks for any responses - I suppose I should have asked before actually buying it!!! but it was a present so I was under pressure to pick something with the mother in law!!!....

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Mum2Scrap · 04/02/2008 14:24

Hiya,

We are thinking of buying this travel system too and went to see it in store this weekend. Totally fell in love with it when I saw how easy it was to fold and store and love the fact that the carrycot and pushchair attachments are one piece saving on storage. ALso think the Pro Sleep is a brilliant idea but am getting a little nevous by the weight - it was heavy to lift in store but I figure I will be lifting it from car to pushchair rather than carrying it around on my arm so have put those worries on ice.
Will be interested to know your thoughts when it arrives, I was hooked on it in store but am getting cold feet now after reading similar reviews to you. Sorry I can't be of any more help
x

Original poster
AngelEyes74 · 04/02/2008 15:48

Thanks for responding anyway - I sometimes wish I didn't bother looking up reviews on the internet as most people only really seem to put reviews on when something is really bad or they really dislike something!!! I have since found some really good reviews of the Pro Sleep car seat but everyone is saying it is quite heavy but the fact that it reclines seems to be outweighing (pardon the pun) the fact that the car seat is too heavy to actually use to carry your LO around the shops in. I think I will just be using the Pro Sleep car seat straight from car onto chassis or into the house so hopefully it will be ok. I need to build my upper body strength anyway!!

I'll let you know what I think of the travel system in a few weeks!!!! Terrifying!

OP posts:
Mum2Scrap · 18/02/2008 15:18

Hi AngelEyes,

Have you got your Ziko Herbie yet - longing to hear what you think of it! xx

ozzybub · 21/02/2008 02:33

Hi both, please let me know what you think and how you're getting on with your Herbie travel system. I love it too and am thinking about getting it but have read mixed reviews. I don't think that I will be carrying the car seat round much as I've got a peanut baby sling that I intend using (hands free!).
Thanks xx

Mum2Scrap · 21/02/2008 14:11

Will do - did find out via a lady on another pregnancy thread that Cheeky Monkeys Buggy Board maxi fits onto the Ziko so that is another plus point for me - this is my first baby and would like another one but been worrying that not getting something like a phil and teds is a bit shortsighted but this way i know i have another option for a toddler! Phew! xx

ozzybub · 22/02/2008 04:40

Thank you! Yes that's a good plus point, this is our first too and definately want another one. x

pigwilts · 20/03/2008 00:02

hi
i bought the herbie ziko travel system sept 07,after 2 months the chassi was replaced ,fault on the height adjuster ,2 days ago i was walking down the high street when the chassi snapped in half,my daughter almost ended up being seriously harmed ,fortunately she was in the pro sleep car seat and harnessed in ,if she had been in carrycot she would have been thrown out on to the rd,or sustained a back injury from the force of it collapsing to the ground with no warning,i sustained injurys by toppling over the top, trading standards have been involved ,and its been sent for metology tests ,m&p have given a full refund , i wouldnt advise anyone to buy this pram yes i loved the colour and design it was easy to manouver ,the down side is the car seat weighs a ton a whopping 11kg without baby in it other car seats weigh only half of this,and its a pain to secure in the car lots of fiddling around,but the plus side is its robust and did perform its task well in saving my daughter from serious injury,i dont really like to complain as i say i was very happy with the pram untill the chassis snapped in half without any warning and i felt it necessary to warn other people that this pram could be potentially dangerous .

Original poster
AngelEyes74 · 20/03/2008 13:33

Oh no!!! I am STILL waiting for my seriously overdue baby to make an appearance so the pram hasn't even been set up yet. The Pro Sleep car seat is a lot bigger and heavier than we were expecting (bigger than it seemed in the shop!!!) and next to my SIL's "click into place" M&P's car seat, it is a monster!!! We are really just using the car seat in the car and on the chassis - not to carry him/her in.

I will defo be checking out the snapped chassis situation - how horrific for you pigwits

What are you doing now? Just getting a different make of pram???

I really like one of the Silver Cross travel systems but OH preferred the Ziko. I really hope ours is ok....

Thanks pigwits

OP posts:
Mum2Scrap · 20/03/2008 15:08

Agh Pigwits = what a nightmare! How was M&P's aftercare? Were they any good at getting you a replacement? I am planning on getting this travel system in two weeks time because we have looked at everything else and its the only one that suits our needs xx

Twinkie1 · 20/03/2008 15:10

Do not buy one - we have the normal Ziko - well have had 4 of them they are crap and M&P dont care - ours has snapped twice and they blamed me!

I would boycott M&P until their customer service and products improved!

pigwilts · 21/03/2008 00:28

m+p aftercare was as expected ,lots of phone calls ,asking me to take it back to the shop and they would loan me a pram or i could get another model if they thought it was unrepairable ,however i was adamant i was not putting my little treasure in another of there prams as my confidence in there product has been shattered and i really wanted trading standards to see it ,they only offered a full refund after trading standards had seen it and contacted them ,they were apologetic on the phone ,but when i went to get my refund there wasent so much as an apology in the shop , i am dissapointed as i did love this pram but safety must come first all prams by law must have a primary and secondary locking device ,the herbie does have this ,but the primary and secondary device are exactly the same so if they fail your knackered ,anyway its been sent away for testing as recommended by trading standards as they thought it could have been caused by metal fatigue ,which should never have happened after a few months ,prams are supposed to be made to last.
anyway i went to mothercare and looked at 3 prams , the bugaboo bee , this is so cute ,lightweight etc, but it was quite small in the seating area and sits low to the ground , i also checked out a german made pram that looked like a shopping trolley ,it was sturdy and robust but wheels very wide , and then i thought about how they were both new to the market and decided against it as the herbie was new to the market and look what happened there!!! so i bought the bebe confort loola as its been out a while its reasonably priced also i am not being swayed anymore by fancy marketing and sky high prices , for something that looks good this time i opted for safety , as yet i havent road tested it ,but it seems to be okay ,however the shopping basket is useless as its hard to acess and you can only put in 2kg ,the average changing bag weighs 1.5 kg so you could only put a pint of milk and loaf of bread in there without overloading it,but i think i can live with that ,and the creatis car seat is so much lighter and easy to use .
thanks for all the messages and i hope all who have the herbie dont suffer the same incident as me ,lets hope it was a one off fault .

nappyaddict · 06/04/2008 15:02

is the ziko herbie any good on grass, parks, fields etc? or is it more suited to pavements and shopping centres?

Mum2Scrap · 25/04/2008 14:40

Hiya girls - my Ziko Herbie and Pro sleep car seat have just arrived and I love them. Still impressed by the ease of which it folds and opens and is nice and compact when stored. Love the new fabric and the changing bag is much bigger. they have apparently revised the latter two hence why they try and charge an extra £20 but I managed to get the original price as I went into store and checked it out whilst it was still£480 and they honoured the price. Hope everyone else who opted for it is pleased xx

MrsMummyMartin · 19/05/2008 10:55

Hi. I am searching for the ideal pram for my pending new arrival. I really fancy the new Mamas & Papas Ziko Herbie (splishy Splashy). Its a great looking pram and quite versitle, after reading the reviews above i'm not so sure!! ............and is it really worth the £500 price tag? Has any other mummy got any ideas for the perfect pram?

Natalie13 · 14/06/2008 07:43

Hi,

I've just bought a Ziko Herbie, slightly concerned by the reviews. I could see it did look bulky, however thought it was practical and versatile. Has anyone any positive views on it?

Thank you

MrsMummyMartin · 23/06/2008 14:33

Hi Natalie, I ended up buying a Ziko Herbie after all. Still no baby in it though!! It seems to be nice and light to push and easy to fold. I'm getting some practice in before my son arrives in 3 weeks. I don't know about you but it was hard work getting the covers on the carrycot i found it very tight!! But they are on, finally! The pram is not quite what i expected once built not quite as nice as the one in the shop!!! and i feel that the carrycot part sits at an angle and tends to rock back and forth - its not very secure! (not sure if its meant to do that or if its a fault with mine!)

Let me know how u get on!

Nicola

MrsCravendale · 27/07/2008 10:44

Hi

I have been using my Ziko Herbie for a good few months now and although it does not seem to be of a quality that matches the price, it seems to be doing its job ok. I really wish I had properly tested a few other prams first though. Basically, the Ziko Herbie was the only one my OH liked out of all the ones I had my eye on so that is really why we ended up buying it. The carrycot on mine wobbles too and my LO is filling it up head to toe already (at just over 4 months old) so I think we will have to convert it to the buggy soon. The only problem is that we threw out the box and everything so aint sure how to alter it!!!

To be honest, I do wish we had bought a different travel system altogether. LO also gets covered in sweat in the car seat - not sure if this is a feature of all "wipe clean" car seats though. It is very heavy and I couldnt use it to carry him anywhere without the pram chassis and the handle is a b*gger to adjust - seems REALLY stiff. Ah well, I guess we learn from our mistakes and I defo cant afford another different pram/buggy so will just persevere.

I did see another couple with a black Ziko Herbie yesterday and it looked brilliant!!! It does look the part even though my LO hates the Dolly Mixture pattern - it must be like hundreds of eyes staring at him or something!!!

Lou1978 · 13/08/2008 20:15

I decided to treat myself to a top end of the arket pram/pushchair this time round, and invested over £600 in the Herbie and Pro-sleep car seat in Dolly mixture and have had no end of regret!
The parasol snapped the first time I used it and took 6 weeks to get a replacement (leaving me to buy a temporary replacement in the meantime).
Then the shopping basket tore the first time I unfolded the wheels section (I believe this may be a design fault) and have waited 11 weeks for a replacement, only to be told they no longer stock them in my colour so they're giving me a black one!
So my accessories for my 4 month old pram no longer match, and M&P don't seem to care at all.
What a waste of money, I certainly wouldn't buy from M&P again!

Alibaba1 · 27/08/2008 09:02

I have a herbie pushchair and my daughter has bitten some of the foam off the bumper bar. I just wondered if anyone else has had this problem? If anyone has I would really appriciate if you could let me know.

Thanks in anticipation.

sjsce · 02/09/2008 06:34

Hi there,

This is a message for PigWilts- were Trading Standards a big help in getting your refund? Can you tell me what you did please? I've written a letter as advised by TS as I have a similar problem along with other faults but M&P are refusing to listen. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,
sjsce.

Bee24 · 16/09/2008 09:08

Hi all,

I got my Herbie yesterday and haven't used it yet as my baby isn't here, but it seems brilliant . The carrycot moves a tiny bit, if it didn't it'd probably snap off, the parasol seems really good as well & the changing bag that come with it, is really nice. It'll fit my baby's stuff in it as well as mine, which I think is a good thing!!

Hopefully I'll still have the same views in a few months - I would recommend this to be brought, especially as it is a good price for all what you get!! I hope everyone who buys this, is as pleased as me.

I'll write once i've used it in a few months to let you all know how it is going.

Take care,
x

djfb · 29/09/2008 11:03

Pigwilts,

Could you contact me as I have the Herbie Ziko, bought in Sept 07 also and after 9 months using it ot collasped without warning with my little boy in it. M&P are refusing to give us a new pushchair and will only repair it. I'd really like to know who helped you at Trading Standards.

Thanks

Alibaba1 · 08/10/2008 21:35

Hi djfb

I had a different problem with my herbie and Mamas and Papas refused to give me a refund I went onto the consumer advice website they said I was only entitled to a refund by consumer law but as it was a health and safety risk they forwarded my complaint to trading standards. I contacted my local trading standards thinking that my complaint would go there and they said that the problem is normally dealt with by the trading standards nearest to the Mamas and Papas head office. However, luckily for me I really pushed it and my local trading standards picked up my complaint. Initially I was fobbed off by trading standards in West Yorkshire where Mamas and Papas head office is!!! They did not want to know and said that it had passed all health and safety chaecks. I pushed my local trading standards more and they got my problem assessed by the public analyst. He proved there was an issue but Mamas and Papas still would not move even though it was trading standards asking for my refund. I basically wrote an email with lots of technical jargon in it. I told them that I had all of the evidence I needed and that I would take the issue to the media which I would have. I recieved a full refund. I would approach your local trading standards and ask them for help and really push it.

Hope that this helps

Alibaba1 · 08/10/2008 21:59

DJFB

Ooops realised I made a typo consumer direct said that I was only entitled to a replacement by consumer law not a replacement. Its been a long day!!!

Alibaba1 · 08/10/2008 22:00

I will get this right in a minute - consumer law states that they only have to offer you a replacement NOT a refund.