You Get What You Pay For

....At least when it comes to strollers.

While I was gone visiting family earlier this month, a small piece on my Quinny Buzz 4 stroller broke. It did affect the integrity of the stroller and, being the paranoid mom I am at times, I decided that Squish was not riding in it again. I wore Squish in carriers for the rest of the trip. When I got home, my husband called Quinny customer service. (I would have called, but there would have been unproductive cursing every 4th word.) Without hesitation, they set up for FedEx to pick up our stroller (we had to box it of course) free to us and they sent us a brand new Quinny Buzz 2011 stroller by FedEx. I even got to pick what color I wanted. Of course I went with red.

I have no idea if the stroller piece broke due to something from traveling, others using the stroller while I was there, or if it just had issues. I loved my Buzz stroller and was not happy about the break. What I am extremely happy about is that Quinny came through despite my stroller being out of warranty. In my book they're a great company!

My old beloved Quinny Buzz 4:

     

I love the very padded seat, the ease at which it turns, the adjustable handle bar, the easy to use brakes, that the seat can face parent or traditionally away, the seat recline, and the fact that with just one push the stroller OPENED ITSELF. Genius!

My new Quinny Buzz (and they did tell me to keep the front wheels of my 4, I'm just giving the 3 wheel version a try):

There are a few noticeably different changes. All of which I'm very happy to see.

1. Just one seat. I don't have pictures, but the older Buzz models had one smaller padded seat and then you could remove it from the metal frame and replace it with a bigger unpadded seat. I never attempted to use the larger seat since Squish is so small, but I heard it was a major pain. And best of all the weight limit is still a wonderful high 50 lbs!

2. Bigger basket! The walls are higher and the bottom is larger too. I never had an issue stuffing my large purse in the basket along with something else, but I'm sure those who use huge diaper bags love this bigger storage basket. I'm sure I'll enjoy this feature the next time I get the bright idea to walk to the commissary instead of drive.

3. The bumper bar. The older models had a thick foam bumper bar. Looked great, but I couldn't string toys on it easily. The new model has a removable thinner padding that looks like it can be washed. Still looks very sleek and will hold up well (if not better because it's not just foam).

4. I swear the canopy is bigger. I haven't found any mention of this, but it definitely seems like it's extending just a tad farther than before.

There are a couple of other changes too, but these are the ones I immediately noticed and care about.

Thanks Quinny for being great in the customer service department! And I'm glad to see what little negatives there were to begin with have been improved upon.