A reader sent in this rather distrubing story about a car seat purchase from the Right Start:

On Monday, April 7th, I ordered a Compass I420 infant car seat from www.rightstart.com.  When it arrived on Wednesday, I noticed the date of manufacturer was 05/13/2006.  I thought it was a bit odd that the car seat was two years old the day I took it out of the box, but I can appreciate that it takes a while to ship car seats from manufacturing plants to the retailers. 

This morning I decided to research Compass safety recalls.  I was surprised to learn that the only safety recall for Compass on file with the NHTSA was for the I420s manufactured from May 7 – 15, 2006.  When I called Right Start to discuss the fact that they sold me a recalled car seat, no apology was offered for selling me defective merchandise.  In Right Start’s defense, they did agree to return the car seat and to waive the return shipping.  When I asked if there were any new I420s in stock, I was told that they only had one model number, which is apparently the same recalled one I bought. 

I contacted Compass to let them know that Right Start sold me a recalled car seat, and I also sent an email to Right Start customer service.  I haven’t heard back from Right Start yet, but I wanted to let you know that Right Start sold me a recalled car seat!

This probably brings up a good point: always check your purchases against a recall list like those at recalls.gov. Don’t assume that if you dealing with a name-brand retailer that you wouldn’t get a recalled item!

Update: Our reader has just received this response from Right Start:

I am sorry for the delayed response, but we were waiting for a reply from Compass. The Car seat was a clearance item, thus the reason for the significantly reduced price and manufacture date. Right Start does not purposely offer unsafe merchandise, and if there are any issues that arise we will absolutely accommodate the customer and follow suggestions from the manufacturer. The product you received should have a 2" green sticker on the box that says "Compass Quality Checked". This sticker indicates that the seat has been inspected and does not fall under the details of the recall. If for some reason one seat slipped in our shipment in error Compass did say a repair kit was easily accessible by contacting their toll free number 1.888.899.2229. I know you stated you were not keeping the product, but I still wanted to explain all this to you.

Also, I am sorry if you felt Pat was not regretful of the situation, but she had actually opened the issue with they buyers and vendor immediately after your phone call and prior to your email. Sometimes customers don’t want to hear sorry’s, reasons, etc. they only want to be taken care of. While I am sorry you were not completely satisfied with Pat’s response I do believe she did what she thought was best, but at times we can be wrong. So, for that I do apologize and can assure that Pat was very concerned after speaking to you.