Pushchair warranties

[Flymeaway4]

Our first child is due in November, so we’re deciding on our pram and at the moment quite like the iCandy Lime or Orange and the Oyster 3.

The iCandy comes with 5yrs warranty, whereas the Oyster (and most other brands, I believe) only has 2yrs, however I’m very aware that warranties often aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on! So I’m more keen to decide based on the features that suit us best, but my fiancé thinks the warranty has a bigger sway. Anyone had any experience of claiming under a warranty with either brand?

I’ve never even thought about that with pushchairs!

In all honestly, you’ll probably end up going through about three different ones by the time your baby is 2 anyway, I’ve only ever known a few people that haven’t chopped and changed!

Not sure either but my uppababy was out of warranty when it had issues, and uppababy were still great at fixing it for a very low price. I do now have an iCandy orange though because we needed a double, and I absolutely love it!

I don't have either of those but we did claim on our M&P warranty. They were more than happy to repair the item (and admitted it was a fault with the batch model) but I had to take it back to a shop even though I'd bought it online which meant traipsing across London with my 8 week old on various modes of public transport then repeating it again the following week to get the pram back. They let me borrow one from the shop for the week but until I kicked up a fuss they couldn't guarantee there would be one available for me. If you're husband really is focused on the warranty then I'd suggest he contacts them to find out exactly what it entails in terms of effort from you to sort it out. I complained after the event and got a £50 voucher but I fail to see why M&P couldn't just do it via courier direct to my house.

From a day to day perspective though you are right - you need a pram that fits your needs as it's unlikely you will claim and if you do it'll be a one off thing rather than an every day thing like not being able to take it on the bus/in your car without difficulty as it's too large/heavy etc.

For what it's worth we are still using it as our main day to day pushchair 18 months on although we do have a smaller cabin size one for travelling too.

I never even thought about warranties. I had a bugaboo donkey and the handle split, I emailed them and they sent me a replacement. No mention of warranty.

I think the features are more important than a warranty that is there 'just in case', it may be something that you/OH are going to be using daily.
On warranties though, I have a Hauck Varioguard car seat and we noticed an issue with it, nothing major, but didn't want to leave it just in case it became a bigger problem, I didnt think about a warranty, just rang Hauck for advice, they collected the seat, fixed it, returned all for free......they didn't even check when I had purchased it, no questions.....I'm still none the wiser on how long the warranty was for on it!

I think a lot of manufacturers for baby products do repairs on good will, as the bad press around baby items and safety is awful for companies.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I think you’re all right, the features (which we’ll definitely make use of) outweigh the warranty (which we only might make use of).

@RoseGoldEagle that’s our reason for considering the Orange, it’s a lot more future proof. On the other hand, the lime and oyster are a lot more compact and will be easier to store in the hallway.

@brainstories568 I’m hoping to do the same, I’ve done a lot of research in the hope I’ll need only one main pram, at least until number 2 comes along, plus a cabin friendly one......for if we ever get to go on holiday again!

FYI we’ve decided on the iCandy Lime. The Oyster3 had some good functions that the Lime didn’t (the canopy raises when you extend the harness, so head room isn’t as restricted and the brake is flip-flop friendly), but when we tried them out the Lime seemed like It was better quality (a well-used version of the Oyster in the shop was quite frayed, whereas the Lime wasn’t) and the Lime is slightly lighter and narrower when folded, so better for storage. It also has a changing bag and footmuff included in the package, larger basket capacity and more storage compartments etc. On balance it seemed the better fit for us and the extra 3 years warranty is a plus!