When my son was already 2 we found out that his crib was part of the Jardine crib recall. The slats could potentially break but his crib was solid and sound and we continued to use it until he was out of the crib. Now that I am pregnant with our second child I put in for the replacement crib and received it in the mail on Friday. Our crib was a 4 in 1 convertible black crib that went with the matching dresser. They send me a 2 in 1 crib in WALNUT. Beside the fact that in my opinion the color is hideous it does not match our nursery. Not the bookcase, not the dresser and not the bedding or other accessories we have and it will now convert into the 4 conversions my original crib had. I did not expect to get the same model crib but at least get the same color and capabilities. I called Jardine and complained on deaf ears. A supervisor called me back who basically said too bad and that she would have a manger call me back who is going to say too bad. I filed a complaint with the cpsc but jardine has said this is what the government has agreed upon. This is a cheap maybe $100 dollar crib compared to my $400 crib. They made me send them the hardware from my crib so I can't even use it even if I wanted to. Any advise other than going out and spending another $400 on a crib that is not even the same style as my dresser but at least the same color. I feel like I have been cheated!!!!!
Just to add. The haqrdware is not just screw that you can get from home depot. It was the piece that sepcifically held up the mattress and allowed the sides to attch. I don't think there is any store we would be able to buy it in.
just go buy new hardware for your original crib.....
Try a specialty store like "Fastenal" if they don't carry it they can probably refer you to somewhere that can.....
50 years of babies survived drop side cribs. We have gone nuts in making things so uber-impossible to get hurt ont. Yikes when I think of the bunk beds we slept in as kids, the playpens, the tricycles and walkers, etc. I was born in 1959 - we didn't have seatbelts or carseats! (I used to sit in the front on the bench seat between my mom and dad and my siblings sat int he back - when we drove cross country in a station wagon my brother and I were in the back sniffing fumes the whole way! and don't even get me starte don second hand smoke....)
Use your judgement - get new hardward for the old crib, or suck it up and get the crib you want. These recalls are a joke.
Sorry, but a "recalled crib nightmare," as you called your post, would apply if a child had been injured or killed by a crib. This isn't a nightmare, it's an annoyance.
You probably can buy another crib that is safe for less than $400. Far less. I wouldn't want any crib from a company that had had a recall anyway. Sure, the company owes you, but other than complain to them and file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and CPSC (which won't care much about matching furniture finishes), there's not a lot you can do. I'd be more concerned about a safe crib than about matching furniture and bedding.
It stinks how they handled it. My advice is, sell the one they gave you as a replacement, it's brand new, you should be able to get $100 for it hopefully (first I'd look up the model and see how much it retails for) then order a new black crib. I just ordered the Graco Lauren in black - it was $130 with free shipping on Amazon and Walmart has it for $128 but not free shipping. It converts to a toddler bed, and a headboard for a full, s not quite a 4-1 but very nice, well rated, plain simple design. We had a tight budget this time but thia crib fit the bill (It;s actually due to come today so if you want to msg me in a few days to see how it looks I can let you know) and they don't even make black furniture that matches so we had to get dressers elsewhere. Since black was what we searched for I know for certain there are several black convertible cribsaround for less than $400 most you can find in the mid $200's if you look on line - Davinci Kalani, Tuscany (forget who makes it) are the other 2 we looked at. Good luck!
Personally, I would use your discretion with the old crib (do you still have it?) Put pressure on the recalled pieces... is in infant really going to hurt themselves? My son is still in a recalled dropside crib. The replacement piece they sent us, like your situation, turned out to be a TOTALLY different color... it was a freaking joke. So, we took matters into our own hands and jerry-rigged the dropside so there's no way that suckers coming off without a air compressed tools!! The only downside, I'm super short... since we can't drop the side of the crib, I have to wait for my son to come to me, I can't reach in far enough to get him out ;) When it's time to convert it to a toddler bed, I'm sure we'll have to figure something else out ;)
