pramaholics- come over here for a minute!

[nearlythere]

I'm off to the harrogate nursery fair- is there any prams/ brands you want specific info on- ie are you umming over a pram and want to know what the newer version is gonna be like? or want to know what silver cross/quinny/chicco are bringing out.

Absolutly anything really- all the big manufacturers are going to be there, not just prams but other products as well- so just let me know and i will report back each evening!

I can't comment on the Harrogate fair obviously, but nearlythere has really just expressed her own preferences and opinions as far as I can see.
She only mentioned her business when explicitly asked about it.

That was MummytoJasmin's first post, by the way. In case anyone likes to know these things.

cheers fruitful!! Harrogate show is only open to EXISTING retailers not someone who might like to open a shop but who probobly won't and is a bit of a fruitcake!! and even if ticket were gleaned from somewhere the exhibitors will not want to know!

Cossatto were at the show FGS they are one of the biggest suppliers- can only suggest that poster was unable to gain full entry tickets perhaps!!! OR maybe they got lost!!!

A quick google will confirm that supercover quilty are related to mamas and papas and if the 'brother!' had any sense about him he would have researched properly into the fortunes of the companies!

Stokke display regularly at Harrogate and the NEC (albeit on a small level on both occasion!!) M&P are one of the market leaders- why would they miss the opportunity to be there!!!!!

Sod it -you know what i enjoyed myself, it was three days of pram and baby goods heaven- i have not tried to sell anyone anything and i only mentioned my (AS YET UNLIVE!!) website when people asked!

Sorry guys maybe the poster concerned can help with prams as she's obviously FAR more experienced than little old me (with 4 shops!!)

ooh PS i have a gold account with Mamas and Papas but it doesn't mean i have to like them!!!

nearlythere i have loved your info and will look forward to seeing your website.

Me too nearlythere.

MummytoJasmine, you seem to be EXTRAORDINARILY upset about all this

On comparing the apple to the bugaboo
2nd hand is the way
I got my apple for £200 delivered from ebay with all accessories barely used. Loads cheaper than even a 3 yr old Gecko or Frog and shedloads off the chameleon which IMO is overrated

I candy is easier to fold, higher carrycot, less flimsy.

nearlythere, don't worry (not that you are) we beleive you! i have another source f info on the ahrrogate fair and they can confirm some of your info as they are in the trade too.

plus as someone else said you only gave us your shop details when specifically asked, by myself, as i am always on the lookout for a good independant retailer.

as you say it was trade fair, maybe they are getign confused with the baby show? i know for a fact m&p were there, and i can't imagine icandy, bugaboo, cosatto or any of the others missing out as thats there chance to get new trade and to get retialers to come on board.

off to take a peek at your web site now.

vicki

i ahve ahd an icandy and ca bugaboo cameleon and bugbaoo frog, and i woudl choose bugaboo anyday over icandy, my icandy was dleivered to em brand new in the box broken!!! bits missing and when fixed and assembeld never felt 100% to me, but maybe i was put off by my bad experience they were also funny about repairing it too andi ahd to pay for a repair on a brand new buggy! needless to say i wouldn't buy icandy again.

bugaboo on the other hand faultless cusotmer service, a second hand frog that i brought ha d faded hood, i rnag to tell them, even told them it was second ahnd and they stills ent me a new hood free of charge.

Gosh you all do seem to think that I am the villain of the peace!!

In order and in reply:

Jillybaby: I have no problem with people expressing opinions - but these were out and out lies and can be proven if you would like to look at www.nurseryfair.co.uk/halls.htm you will find a listing of the exhibitors that were at Harrogate and Cosatto, Mamas & Papas, Stokke were not there and if you would like to check this with anyone that visited Harrogate you will be able to establish this. I have the show catalogue and these companies were not there.

Fruitful: Yes you are right this was my first post on Mumsnet and I do not feel very welcome when I have tried to present the truth where I have seen out and out lies!

Nearlythere: You can most certainly visit the Harrogate fair if you are planning to open a babyshop - again you can check on their website. My brother asked Mams & Papas if he could see their range at Harrogate and was told that they have not exhibited there for years as they are based in Huddersfiled and have their own opendays. Obviously with your 4 shops you need a little reality check.

Firstatforty: If you were to read out and out lies then would you not be alamrmed at the thought that people would be mislead with false information?

As you all seem to be happy to be fed absolute out and out lies I will leave you all to absorb them - personally I would not be happy to believe something that was absolutely not true.

Lordy! A pram fight on our hands.... I find others feedback on prams interesting and did specifically ask for nearlythere's website. However I am going to try the prams out for myself and see what I like the best as obviously we are all different...
Piffle - this is precisely why I wanted an icandy cherry - I can't afford a Bugaboo... Thanks for info
Vickiyumyum that is worrying that their customer service isn't great will see what my local retailer has to say about it, thanks for warning

right the reason i said i know nearlythere is quite possibly telling the truth is i run an msn group for pramaholics and 2 of our memebers are in the trade, one is a retailer of an independant store up north who has been estblished for 10's of years and the other is a designer for a large well known baby and car seat company. they have both given information on products that nearlythere described too. not in quite so much detail, but they did talk about jane, icandy, silver cross and m&p products, so not sure what is going on here.

Katyr - if you buy the icandy, which is a good pram really, then make sure you buy from a good independant retailer that you are within travelliong distance of, my problem was that i didn't buy it form my local pram shop as there was a better offer elsewhere but when it came to needing fixing i either had to courier it 300 miles away and be without a pram or pay for it to be fixed locally so i wasn't without a pram. icandy wouldn't authorise a local retailer to do the repairfor free, even though he identified it as a fault at manufactur.

sorry i apologise m&p not at harrogate this time. others appaear to have been.

Nearlythere, do you know when the new Silver Cross fabrics will be available?

thanks nearlythere for the insight into new things coming out, I have been a follower of the nursery industry for a few years now with ideas of having a store at some point,

I always thought that Mamas and Papas was a trading name of Peg Perego used in the UK (but set up as an idepentant co, that has perego products license to them)but has the freedom to source their own products it the orginal 03 series and the pulse/beat,had nothing to do with perego, most of the plastics for Mamas i.e Baths, some high chairs are made by CAM de la bamino.

Supercover Quilty have a partnership ith Mamas for accessoires but they do not own M&P as far as I can find out.

when are silver cross releasing the new range?? and are there any additions to the pushchair range or is it just new colours?????

i have heard there is going to be a new reversible jane? is it going to be a 3 wheeler? i hope so!!

Hi All,
I may be a little late in responding to these posts, but feel I have to comment.
First of all, I have been visiting Harrogate and Nec Nursery trade shows for several years. I can confirm that Cosatto were definitely NOT at Harrogate this year. They did exhibit at the NEC in October but not in Harrogate. And before I posted this information, I double checked with the Cosatto Rep, who also confirmed this. I can also confirm that they are in no way shape or form linked to M&P!
Also, iCandy did exhibit there, without curtains with the iCandy Pear on full show and demonstrations every hour to show it in full working mode. They are far from being Snobs, except I wonder if, the reason people feel this way is that they only allow independents to sell it, not allowed to be sold on the internet and will not flood an area, so maybe a nose has been put out of joint because they would not supply
I sell the iCandy along with many many more brands and can honestly say that they are the most supportive company I have ever dealt with.
With regards to the lady who bought the iCandy apple and had to pay for repair, that is totally unacceptable and I cannot believe that the shop you purchased from did that - the warranty covers all repairs unless it is customer misuse, which if it is broken coming out of the box definitely is not.
I found all these comments quite disturbing, I run my own nursery store which is proving to be a great success, mainly, I feel due to my customer service both before and after sales.
I would like to stress, that if purchasing a pushchair online, please be very very wary! You may have seen it in a shop and be happy with your choice, but the minute anything goes wrong, you could find it extremely costly. And unfortunately, most pushchairs these days are produced in the far east and can all have their problems, no matter which brand you buy!
Sorry to rabble on, but felt I had to comment....

its very true. i bought a mutsy online and wish i hadn't. had nothing but hassle from day 1 with them. as everyone knows mutsy is very hard to get hold of. when they got bits and pieces in stock they would send them to me but charge postage each time rather than waiting til they had all of it and charging one lot of £12.50 for postage. then it got broken and we were told we had to take the pushchair back to the shop. we couldn't send it, we had to take it ourselves. i wish i'd spent a bit extra and guarenteed myself good after sales service. saying that they were an independent nursery shop that happened to have a website so i thought i'd be ok.

We bought a Mutsy online and despite it taking a while to get here, the compnay has been great, keeping us informed of everything that was going on. People need to remember that if you are paying a lot of money for anything, you need to do your research. People seem to forget that thieves, scam artists and just plain rotten shop owners exist in real life and in the cyber world. I wouldn't give anyone my £300-£600 before checking them out thoroughly. Oh, and the Mutsy Urban rider is great! We got ours recently and it is our 3rd pram in 5 1/2 months. We will now keep it until our little one is done with prams for good as it is just fantastic and so much better than the others we have tried.