Problems with BeSafe Stretch - anyone?

[HolaBazola]

Has anyone on here encountered problems with the BeSafe stretch?

We purchased our seat from our local car seat safety centre and almost since the first day we have had no end of issues with it coming loose where it is belted and the whole thing moving around to the point it can almost tip over.

We've taken it back to the centre and had it refitted, exchanged dozens of emails, been supplied what amounts to a sandwich bag clip from BeSafe (after weeks of the car safety centre chasing them) that they said would fix it if we clipped it over the belt (surprise-it hasn't). Almost every time we go out I have to unfit and refit the seat belt to make the seat secure. I dread to think if it would hold up in an accident.

BeSafe seem to be implying it's a problem with our seat belts being too slippery (we have a very standard modern family car). It seems curious that we would be the only people to encounter this. But wherever I look, all I see is how wonderful BeSafe are. Not that it should matter but it's a £500 car seat. Has anyone had similar problems? Did you manage to fix them? We are trying to negotiate returning the seat and receiving a refund but hitting lots of barriers.

Thank you so much!

I haven't personally had a problem with the besafe stretch (I own other extended rear facing seats) but I have seen in car seat groups that newer cars have thinner seat belts which doesn't help if the car seat requires the seat belt to be locked in. I think people often get recommend to add something with the seat belt in the clip to give it a thicker hold but check with besafe before doing anything.
If besafe are saying your seat belt is too slippery they should definitely return it! I had headflop problems with my cybex and in the end they returned it for a full refund.
If you do get a refund Axkid have/are bringing out the Axkid Minikid 4 which has the same height and weight limit of the besafe stretch and an updated version of the minikid 3.

Also Facebook has a few extended car seat group and they might be able to help if you explain you have been back to the retailer and besafe themselves but still having problems. The groups often have people that sell the seat's or work with the brands.

We're having a similar issue with ours. We got it today and have managed to get a very secure fit in one car but not the other. I came across this post (only realised later that it's only a few days old) and sure enough, the car it's secure in has a weird fold in the seatbelt which makes it thicker, so I'm now wondering if the belt is too thin and/or slippery in the other car. I've asked the question in one of the FB car safety groups, but I'll be taking it to the retailer this weekend if I can't get it sorted with help from the group.

Thanks both for your replies!

We are returning our seat as the BeSafe solution didn't work and they haven't suggested putting anything in the belt tensioner. I also kind of feel like...it's a £500 car seat, we shouldn't really be relying on sandwich clips or stuffing things in the tensioner. If it's an issue on new cars, they surely will have to address this as eventually most people will have this type of belt in their car? And why, if they are aware of this issue are they not flagging it to sellers, if it's not suitable in certain cars?

For me the worst part is how utterly lacklustre and apathetic their customer service has been. If it weren't for the safety centre chasing them repeatedly I'm not sure when we would have ever got a response. No apology, just this ridiculous sandwich bag clip. Since we told the centre we are returning it - which they notified BeSafe of - no response again. We wouldn't mind if we were asking something that wasn't fundamental to potentially saving the life of a child in an accident...Totally lost trust in the brand and put off buying their high back booster when we get to that stage (which is what we were going to buy).

Hope you manage to get your seat returned okay!

Or get a fix, but I'm not sure what it would be after our shenanigans (nearly six months of going backwards and forwards - I'm really not exaggerating when I say they've been slow to offer any customer care).

Be aware that it loosened more over time with ours. So we'd get a really solid fit. Then after a few journeys I'd check it and it was moving all over the place. You could pull the bar bit out so it was at a good 30o angle to the seat back, move it six inches or so sideways across the seat. And most scary to the point that the seat would tip over sideways a fair way once it had our child's weight in it, eg if you went round a corner or pushed it gently near the head rest.

BeSafe have a number of videos demonstrating all of this that we sent them during the last few months. Didn't make a blind bit of difference.

That's good to know - I'll definitely be checking the fit of the 'secure' car after a few journeys to see if it holds up. I don't want to be adjusting the fit every time we go out.

I really hope I won't have to completely return it as I do really like the seat itself. Unfortunately we need a 36kg seat which limits our options quite a bit - we want LO to rear-face until at least 5, which might not happen in lower-capacity seats as she's high percentile for height and weight. I would have preferred an ISOFIX one really. It's funny to think I was more concerned about the tethers when I saw the 36kg seats, yet those were the easy bits!

I agree though, if newer cars have seatbelts that are too thin and/or slippery they need to address that. My car is nearly 5 years old so it's not really new, and it's an Astra, so it's not like it's an unusual make/model or anything.

I have this exact issue! BeSafe said the same to me about the seatbelt being too slippery. They are supposedly sending me a clip but from reading your post I’m not holding out much hope of it sorting the issue. I’m so worried about using the seat now. Have you heard anything further?

I forgot to update this. I went back to the retailer and he said it's a very common issue in a lot of belted car seats (including the Axkid ones). Apparently there's a lot of variance with seat belts and it doesn't necessarily depend on make/model - in some cases even the same physical car can have two different thicknesses and lengths of seat belt! Most people would never notice until you come across an issue like this.

He added a strip of something rubbery that had been cut to size (he has a box of them ready to go as it's such a common issue) to the tensioner and it's been solid ever since. I checked after a few journeys, and after some longer journeys and it's been fine - not much wiggle and the tension knob clicks after a very small turn (like when it's just been tightened).

Apparently BeSafe are aware of the issue and are working on an upgrade to the tensioner to improve the grip for thinner/slippier seatbelts which will fit the current BeSafe Stretch model, so he also offered to replace the tensioner when it's released (they are an authorised repairer for BeSafe) and said to come back if we have any more issues.

I have to say, so far I can't fault the retailer (Paul Stride) at all, they've been really great, no fuss to deal with, and I'm so glad their solution seems to be working as I really like the seat. They gave a lot of advice when we were deciding which ERF seat to get and demoed the different ones we were looking at, checked our car for compatibility, etc. and have been helpful with other products too - e.g. I was going to buy the Axkid anchor points (so the tethering is a bit neater) but he said to hold off as there were new ones coming out soon that might be more suitable depending on the car, and sure enough the new ones look like they'd be better for at least one of the cars.

Hello everyone.

Similar situation for me, and it seems like the seat isn't as good as it seems.

Have you seen this safety claim with a test where the seat breaks.

My sister-in-law lives in Spain and sent it to me, but there is no news outside of this place related to this, so maybe it's fake news?

https://www.youtube.com/live/XCQo4Tq720Y?si=Hjqtsn_90vdYkTKX

More seats are shown, but this one is at 31:35.

Does anyone have more information about it?

Sorry for lack of reply.

We returned our seat eventually and the seller (an in car safety centre) willing took it back and refunded due to all the issues.

I had heard in a few places about putting a piece of rubbery material in the gripper to hold it but I felt that with a £500 plus car seat you shouldn't be having to rely on scraps of material and also it isn't tested using these add ons, so how would it perform in an accident? If this material was the answer, I'd also question why BeSafe didn't send us something like that rather than what amounted to a freezer bag clip that was the biggest (or rather smallest) piece of rubbish ever. The ones in our drawer from ikea have a tighter grip than the one they sent us. They claimed at one point we were fastening it in the wrong place (despite following instructions to a T). When we took it back for the final time the fitter from the safety centre put it where they were now saying and just laughed as she slid it up and done the belt (because as mentioned it wouldn't even give a tight hold in a bag of peas).

After all the debacle we didn't think another identical seat would be any different and after much internal wrangling our child is now FF. it makes me anxious (even though they probably would have outgrown the BeSafe in a year or so anyway- they aren't that young, and much older than average to be FF) but in all honesty it feels safer than the shocking fit with the BeSafe stretch.