• B reviews,  Bug

    the bug in the bugaboo

    Wow! Fifty-some comments on my merbaby post! Toby is going to accuse me of exploiting our child to gain popularity again. Really I’m not. I’m just sharing. It would be wrong to keep all that cuteness to myself, right? I don’t know, this is hard for me. I love blogging so much but I waffle on the subject of privacy. At what point am I exposing my baby to too much. As one friend put it, “it only takes one sicko”. But on the other hand, so much good has come from this website. The friends I’ve met, the gifts I’ve received for Baby Bug, the constant encouragement of all your positive comments… nothing but good has come from this site. Please say a prayer that it stays that way.

    Today I have some more cute pictures of Baby Bug. This time in the Bugaboo-mobile in the seated position. I’ve been itching to change out the bassinet to the seat for months. It just seems like it would be so much more fun for her to see where she’s going instead of laying down looking up at the sky all the time. I read the whole bugaboo manual and they recommend that you wait until your baby is six months old or able to hold their head up. Well, Baby Bug is only two months old but she can hold her head up all day long.

    Turns out maybe I should wait until she’s six months old. She was good for the first ten minutes but then she started crying. I think it was a little scary for her. Just too much stimulus at one time. Usually when we go walking, I put her in the sling facing towards me and she falls asleep. She likes to be constantly entertained but maybe looking at the great big world coming at you is just too much entertainment.

    While I’m talking about the bugaboo, I thought I should mention something that came up recently. As you know, I spent a fortune on this stroller and it should be perfect right? It should be dipped in gold for what I paid for it. Well, it is nearly perfect. I still feel it’s the best stroller out there for me because it’s so versatile BUT… lately my wonder bugaboo had a problem. It veered.

    Veering is not a good thing. Especially if you’re the stereotypical Newport Nancy type mom (like I try not to be but end up being anyway) with my starbucks in one hand and my cell phone in the other and my elbow pushing the stroller. I usually don’t use my elbow to push the stroller but I could. I love it that I can maneuver this thing with my pinky finger if I want to. So when it started veering to the left, I was quite distressed.

    I thought maybe it was my fault because I use this stroller every day. I go over rocks, up and down curbs, through mud and grime and often sideways across driveways that slant at an angle. Maybe it was my fault for driving it so hard. Maybe I tweaked the frame. But really, shouldn’t an $800 stroller be able to handle a little tweaking?

    I was so bummed and embarrassed and disappointed. I was going to just keep it to myself and keep on pushing my stroller that always wanted to go left. I figured I’d just get really buff in one arm for always trying to correct for the veer. But a friend told me I had to take it back. I either had to take it up with Bugaboo Corporate or take it back to the store.

    Resigned, I dug out my warranty card (that I never filled out, surprise surprise) and started filling it out. Then I came to the spot where you are supposed to put in the serial number and I couldn’t find a serial number anywhere. So I called up BabyStyle (the store I bought it at) and asked them. While the sales girl looked the info up for me, I told her about my little veering problem.

    Well, guess what! The sales girl told me to bring it right in for a new chassis! I didn’t have to take it up with Bugaboo. The store handled it, no questions asked. They didn’t care that I had spilled coffee down one side. They didn’t mind the rocks and grime stuck in the tire tread. They just took my left-favoring chassis and gave me a new one right off the sales floor.

    The woman helping me said I was the second person to bring my Bugaboo back for a veering problem. I’m thinking Bugaboo might have a design flaw. So if you’re thinking of purchasing a Bugaboo (and I still strongly recommend it. I love it love it love it.) please check it first. The best way to check it is to give the stroller a little push forward on a level surface and watch it. A good stroller should coast a few feet straight without turning left or right. Mine took an obvious turn to the left and almost knocked a display of stuffed animals over.

    But now I have a new chassis and it works perfectly.


    All’s well that ends well.

    p.s. The hand pushing the stroller is Baby Bug’s grandma’s hand not mine. Just in case you were wondering.