320,000 Jardine cribs recalled because slats and spindles can break

The Consumer Product Safety Commission today recalled 320,000 cribs made by Jardine Enterprises and sold for the past six years at retail and online outlets of Toys 'R' Us properties because the slats and spindles can break leading to entrapment and strangulation hazards. The agency has gotten 42 reports of crib slats and spindles breaking including four in which children became entrapped in the gap created by the broken piece. Two of the children suffered abrasions and bruising.

The recall involves 28 models of Jardine cribs sold under the names Berkley, Hilton, Positano, Spindle and Windsor at Toys 'R' Us, Babies 'R' Us, Geoffrey Stores and KidsWorld from January 2002 to May of this year. The cribs cost between $150 and $300, although one model was priced at $450.

The model numbers include BC-23, BC-36B, BC-36G, BC-36P, BC-007, BC-010, BC-010C, BC-010HP, BC-010W, BC-017, BC-107C, BC-107CR, BC-110C, BC-110HP BC-110W, DA617BC, DA620BC, DV730N, DV730W, DA770BC, DV830-N, DV830-W, 0113B00, 0113K00, 0303C00, 0303G00, 0303B00, 0309K00. They can be found on the inside of the bottom rail of the headboard or footboard.

Parents and caregivers are advised to stop using the cribs immediately and to contact Jardine to receive a full credit toward the purchase of a new crib. Crib owners can contact Jardine at (800) 646-4106 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. ET Monday through Friday and between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET Saturday, or visit the firm's Web site at www.jardinecribrecall.com.

Comments

[bat]

Yes, NIGHTMARE. I had to take my crib apart, send in all the hardware. Meanwhile, my daughter had no bed.. while I waited the short time to receive the voucher. OKay... so I got the voucher, good ONLY at Babies r us! Did they have a matching crib for the voucher price? NO! I bought an entire nursery and now they want me to shell out more money... I dont think so. If I had known this was how it worked, I would have kept the defective crib and still been the best mom in the world :) Toys R Us and babies R Us are lousy when it comes to returns.... they make it very hard for the consumer.

[Maria]

THIS WAS A NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!! I bought a $400 Madison crib and was given a $219.99 voucher.
I had also purchased the entire bedroom including dresser and changing table. Trying to find a comparable crib for $219 that ACTUALLY matched the rest of my furniture was hell. No one at BRU was willing to help I went to a location 1hr away and found a Carter's crib on clearance. Since I would never take a JARDINE crib again even if someone paid me $100 to take it. Ok course the Carter's crib was not available but I was offered the floor model which I had to come back to pick up since they could not take it apart....something about policy. Then I get it home and I can't get it in my son's room! The instruction manual they provided was for the wrong crib....I am wating for someone from BRU to call me back.......At this rate my son will be in college and not need a crib.

[Nikki]

Why is everyone saying they aren't getting much back? Jardine is giving me back $369 (voucher) for a new crib. They are giving us what ever the highest sales price was for our crib. I have found a TON of cribs I can get for the price.

[Cheryl]

My crib was one of the ones that has most recently been recalled (in April 2009). Most of the comments regarding the horrible return experiences were about a year or so ago. Has anyone had good or bad experiences lately? Has the recall procedures gotten better or worse? I just don't want to disassemble my crib, have my son sleep in his pack and play or months on end, and continually fight with Jardin. It is just not worth it.

Thanks in advance!

[marc]

bought the jardine crib bc-110w and used it for my daughter until she was 16 months and graduated out of it to a bed. then used it for my son, who came along 1 month later, and he just moved out of it at the age of two. NEVER had a problem with the crib. 40+ broken slat claims out of 100k+ sold - lead to a panic of people rushing to return the crib....and then have to listen to them claim how much more another crib will cost them. you bought a cheap crib - a much better one is going to cost more. if you have one and your kid isnt kicking the slats and jumping all over it (if he/she is they probably need to graduate out), then just use it. when you're finished, get your voucher and sell the voucher on craigslist for $50 less than its worth.

[Skip the voucher and go right to Babies R Us to make it right]

Hello! I have the PERFECT solution!!! Go to toys R Us or babies R us website and at the bottom of the website, click on policy. Then it leads you to a page on the left there's a recall products link. In that recall statement it says that getting the recalled product out of the child's hands is the number one priority. etc etc and then they will either reimburse you if you have the receipt OR they will give you credit for the crib's price that they sell. I was lucky enough to have the receipt so I could purchase from anywhere getting away from the Babies R us issue. I spent 3 days calling between babies r us and jardine and neither one of them offered this solution and once I found it was there and read it back, they said, bring in the crib and we'll refund the money no matter how long it was that you purchased it!! this way you get your money to buy elsewhere OR you at least get money and not have to wait for the voucher which takes forever!!!

[Fed up]

My son was 9 months old when he was trying to pull himself up and the crib spindles broke. I went to Babies R Us several times and they wouldn't return it or help me. The manager suggested that I try to glue it!! All they did was keep giving me numbers to call Jardine because it wasn't their problem. Every number they gave me was wrong, disconnected, or a fax number. I couldn't find a website for Jardine to email them. Now over a year later, they finally did a recall and are going to send me a voucher for a new crib. Too bad my voucher won't cover the cost of a new bed for him. And when we have a new baby-do I want anything from Babies R Us OR Jardine? nope.

[Sheri]

After reading all the horror stories about how Jardine was handling this situation--and the fear that they would go out of business before I got my voucher--I decided to contact the local Toys-R-Us where I purchased my daughters crib. They were extremely helpful!!! Their policy states they will return defective or recalled merchandise. I did have to bring the crib and hardware back to them--not a problem. Since I no longer had my receipt--they gave me a merchandise credit. No, it wasn't for the full value I paid for the crib--which I completely understood--because I bought in back in Sept. of 2005. They did however give me a voucher for more than I thought I was going to get. Instead of dealing with Jardine--you should check with the place you purchased your crib from. They will make it right-- and please remember--IT ISN'T THEIR FAULT!! There are so many recalls going on from toys, cribs, pack and plays etc--it is the manufacturers fault not Toys-R-Us or Babies-R-Us. The United States needs to start limiting its imports from CHINA!!! Then we will all be able to rest again. I do like the lower prices for things from China--but look where it gets us!!! I am willing to pay more for a US product now!!!

[Twins Mom]

Does anyone have any experiance with receiving vouchers for two cribs? I am awaiting my vouchers, but am concerned that I am going to have a hard time at BRU. My twins are in beds now, but I am three weeks away from delivering another baby.

[Melinda]

I am beyond frustrated. I received my return kit quickly, but I am still waiting on the voucher. Voucher was signed for by someone at Jardine on 9/5. I called today to find out the status, and was told that it was sent out by FedEx on 9/10, was scanned somewhere in CA on 9/11, but wasn't scanned after that. The person I spoke to said that he's seen "at least a dozen" vouchers that were lost by FedEx on 9/11. Said he'd have to email his supervisor to issue another voucher, and it should take about a week to get it mailed again. Sounds fishy to me - I can't imagine FedEx would lose a bunch of items. But, I guess we'll see. I'll call again next Friday to check on the status.

I'm lucky in that my toddler was ready to move to a twin bed about the same time that the recall happened, but I'm 8 months pregnant and we don't have the money to pay up front to replace the crib until the voucher shows up. My biggest worry now (other than wondering when the voucher will show up) is finding a crib at BRU that is comparable in price that won't take weeks to order.

[C. Ivey]

I have had the same frustrations that many others have expressed - next to no white, drop-side cribs and less than helpful staff at two stores and BRU's "special Jardine hotline". When I did bit the bullet and order a more expensive crib online, that one, a Simplicity, was recalled a month later! I am done buying baby furniture at BRU. The only reason I will still shop there for other items is because today, the assistant and district managers at my local store gave me a BRU gift card in exchange for my voucher after I spoke to them. I need to buy a carseat for baby #2, so that at least frees up the cash to shop elsewhere for a crib.

My advice - go to your local store and don't give in until they give you either a gift card or your money back.

[Rebecca]

After reading all the comments, I decided to try and avoid going through Jardin at all cost so I searched the Babies R Us Policys and found on their website under -Help/returning a recalled product- the following:

"Nothing is more important than the safety of your children. To that end, we will gladly accept returns on recalled items. If you choose to return your item to our Online Return Center, a refund will be processed to the original method of payment as long as the item is accompanied by your packing slip. If you choose to return the item to one of our retail stores, a refund will be processed to the original method of payment if your have your packing slip, or to a Toys"R"Us merchandise credit card if you do not have your packing slip."

My husband called up the local Babiesrus and spoke to the managers and one manager said that since it is store policy, she will take it back with or without a receipt for store credit. We called up another Babiesrus that was a little closer and that manager said she couldn't take it back and we had to go through Jardine. So I guess it all depends on the store manager.

So it may be helpful to call up your local Babiesrus stores and talk to the manager and say according to your website the policy is to take back all recalls for a store credit.

[Tracey]

I just received my return kit and I'm furious. My son is 2 1/2 and sleeping in a convertible crib which has already been converted to a "big boy" bed. Where the heck is he supposed to sleep if I have to disassemble his bed? This whole process is designed to guarantee you have to go buy another bed out of your own pocket which means you'll have no use for the voucher when you get it. How can they get away with this?

[Andrew]

If you are lucky and still have your receipt from the crib, Babies R Us has to take it back and give you store credit, It is part of there policy. I just got off the phone with a manager in Maryland.

Link to Policy
http://www.toysrus.com/helpdesk/index.jsp?display=returns&subdisplay=returns#policy

[Jess]

You will get what you paid...whatever amount they've told you on the phone. But good luck finding a crib equivalent to what you have for the amount of money they are allowing you to spend. Most people, including myself, couldn't find anything in store that would be an acceptable replacement for the old crib. That means ordering online. If you can even find something online, then you are responsible for shipping. I refused to accept that and fought it with Babies R Us. I ended up getting back $52 shipping and $100+ on overage costs for an equivalent crib. So, yes, you should get back the value you paid. But, good luck finding a crib without spending more money.

[stacey]

not sure why so many people are stating that they aren't being given coupons worth what they paid. i've sent back my recall kit and am awaiting the coupon...the letter they sent me said that they would send a coupon worth the highest value that my particular crib EVER sold for + tax....so if you don't get back what you paid...isn't that the fault of the store you purchased from...didn't they sorta rip you off? i haven't gotten the coupon yet, so i don't know maybe they are telling me a fib...only time will tell.

[Jenni]

After reading these I am scared now! I was just wondering what my baby would sleep in while I mailed the parts away. I think I want to buy a crib now while I am waiting. Can anyone tell me how much the voucher is for? I got the white crib 5 years ago. Amazingly it has made it through my first 2 babies and now the third is in it. I just wanted to know how much to spend about? Or is every voucher different?

[Jess]

All I wanted was a crib equivalent to my cherry crib that matched the whole set I bought at babie r us. As there was not a single drop side cherry crib equal to what I had I refused to be out of pocket and fought it. I am still waiting to hear back from 2 people at Jardine from whom I was promised a call back. That is a joke and I gave up there a month ago. They deserve to go out of business and hope from the bottom of my heart that they do!

However, on a happy note, it it now 1.5 months from the start of this fiasco I am finally reimbursed the voucher value plus $181 which includes the difference of what a new crib cost plus the cost of tax and shipping.

I refused to be out of pocket a single penny for this and fought it through Babies R Us...who should ultimately be responsible to their customers. You too should all fight it and get your money back. It was a struggle for me with lots of phone calls and a couple of trips to babies r us, but it was worth it in the end. Again, I wasn't asking for something bigger and better...just a crib as equivalent to what I had as possible.

Good luck everyone!!!

[Dave]

My wife and I also had to return our crib. We have been waiting for 5 weeks and still nothing. Our 4 month daughter is sleeping in her pack and play. I called Jardine to ask them what happens if my crib does not match and the sales rep told me that this is out of her hands. This is so un real. This company is horrible there product is horrible, there customer service is horrible. Everything about this is horrible. Oh yea our changing table (4 months old) is chipping and falling apart. Guess what brand ??

[Nate the Great]

For those who are interested in getting ahold of someone who could actually make a difference:

Deborah.Derby@toysrus.com Deb Derby - President, Babies R Us

[katie]

I feel everyone's pain. My 8 month old is starting week 6 in a pack and play. We finally got the voucher a a two weeks ago, and we live approximately 4 hours away from the nearest Babiesrus. My husband and I went online prior to going to the store so we would already know which crib met our specifications (basically just like the recalled one). Once we got to the store, the cribs were all approximately $100+ than our voucher. We were told that we could take 15% off one of them, but only if we bought it in store, basically spending even more money, which I absolutely refuse to do. We found out though that even if we would have bought one in store, they don't keep any in stock, so we would have had to wait another two weeks and driven another 8 hours round trip to pick it up. Needless to say, we didn't want to do that. We were then told that we could buy it online with our credit card and then have it credited to our credit card when we brought in both the shipping slip and the voucher. We were able to find one, and only one, crib that matched or specifications online at babiesrus. That crib is "temporarily out of stock". It has been temporarily out of stock for the last week. I even did the e mail when it was available, and when I received it, it was unavailable by the time I got to the website. I ended up calling the babiesrus online phone number and spoke to someone there, who gave me Jardine's number (1800-295-1980), and I was told to try calling them because they should be able to do something to help. I called that number and was basically told that the "supervisor" was the person I need to talk to, but he wasn't there. I was then told to send an e mail to das@dorell.com. Do you think I've received a response to that? NO!!! I finally gave up and called the Consumer Protection Safety Commission at (800) 646-4106. I just got off the phone with them, who stated that someone from the Compliance Department should be contacting me soon. Hopefully that will help. I'm also to the point of also contacting the Minnesota Attorney General's Office. At this point I figure the more people who complain to the right people may make something happen.

[M. Cummings]

We have our voucher, but are running into problems finding a similar replacement crib. BRU and Jardine are totally screwing the consumers on this one. We had a drop-side crib; guess what? There are practically no white drop-side cribs available at BRU or their website. There are plenty of convertible cribs, which is what BRU wants. They cost more money, which means more money for BRU. BRU (so far) has refused to give us our money back. Whatever happened to standing by your products, etc., etc. BRU simply doesn't care -- that's evident when they say it's Jardine's problem.
I'm currently seeking a refund through Jardine, but am not hopeful.

[Jessica]

I received my vouvcher very quickly- 1.5 weeks after I sent in the hardware. I took the voucher to BRU and low and behold......................they had NOT ONE SINGLE white crib in stock and only one white crib that was able to be ordered. My original crib cost $219, and was very simple, sturdy, and neutral looking. Not only did they not have a crib that was comparable in look or style, they had no cribs that were remotely the same price. I had to pay over $150 out of pocket for the only crib that was available to order (I checked every single BRU in NJ). This crib will take over a week to arrive and my daughter is still sleeping in her pack n play. How can BRU not have a comparable crib to replace the recalled one?? What if I did not have an extra $150 to pay the difference? The staff at BRU in Eatontown was very nice, but the whole situation made me so angry. I'll never buy baby furniture from them again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Has a Voucher]

For those of you who have not received your kits - call Jardine. I was told that all the registered data for the first 3-4 days was lost (when I registered) I too waited a month and finally called them. Then I received TWO kits via UPS. Then, believe it or not, within 2 weeks I received two vouchers - BEFORE I even sent in the parts (The crib is still up!) Babies R Us will allow you to order a crib online (you will need to pay for it) then bring your voucher in along with your packing slip and get a full refund - plus shipping. This will allow you to keep using your crib, get the new one then exchange the voucher. Good Luck!

[maggie]

I don't think that any of us will ever rec'v vouchers. I sent my crib parts back on July 8th and have never rec'd anything. They have confirmed to me that they rec'd it on the 16th and they keep saying that they sent me a voucher, but I have only rec'd three kits to take it apart. I have called their call center multiple times, but each time they put me on hold while they speak with a supervisor, and then they assure me that they will have a voucher overnighted to me. Today the call center gave me another 800 number to call Jardine directly. After calling it, I found out that it is just another call center that handles calls for Jardine. (It is 1-800-295-1980 if anyone else wants to give it a try.) After sitting on hold for about 20 minutes waiting to talk to someone, they have assured me that they will send me a voucher and that they will call me back with a tracking number at the end of the day. Yeah right. I am very skeptical. I tried looking on-line for a Jardine official website or a Corporate office information to contact them directly, but I can't find anything on-line. They are probably in China. &(%@^$*! I have considered contacting my local Attorney General's office, but I don't know if they can help or not. I think that all of us are probably just out of luck. Meanwhile, my 16 month old has been sleeping in a pack and play for the last month and 1/2. They have said that I can just go purchase another crib at Babies R Us and then use the supposed voucher when I get it to get a refund. I am not buying anything until I get a voucher. Why would I spend another $300-$400 to get another crib that I may never get a voucher for? I am considering just purchasing a twin sized bed and putting the mattress on the floor and then gating her door so she can't get out. Just seems like it might have been safer to keep her in the recalled crib to begin with, but I couldn't take that chance either.