Everything New Parents Need to Know About Warranties

Understanding the warranty on your baby gear can be daunting, we’re here to help!
Written by Mia Weber

It’s no secret that when you make key choices on your major baby gear items - your stroller and car seat, and your nursery furniture pieces - all of the product comes along with detailed warranty information that can be tough to sift through, especially when you have a million other tasks to deal with surrounding your new addition! 

What is a Warranty?
First, we should start by defining what exactly a warranty is! It’s a term we’ve all heard, but the meaning can be a little foggy, especially if you’ve never had to take action on product while it was under warranty. The legal language will likely fluctuate, but typically, a warranty means the original purchaser of a given product is guaranteed to receive an item that is free from material and workmanship defects when used under normal conditions for a given period of time from the date of purchase. It also states that if the product purchased shows defects in material or workmanship under normal usage, the manufacturer will repair or replace the product free of charge during the warranty period.

So the bottom line is that most reputable baby gear companies will promise to make it right if the product you purchased does not live up to their manufacturing standards, as long as too much time hasn’t passed and you haven’t gone totally rogue in terms of usage.

Warranty 101
The main factor you’ll want to wrap your mind around with a warranty is probably obvious - the amount of time. A longer warranty doesn’t necessarily correlate to a higher quality product - use a combination of brand reputation, reputable media sources, and recommendations from friends and experts to determine which items are best for you - but it’s certainly a plus. That said: Warranties are going to vary depending on product category and brand.

One way to keep track of everything is to take a day - maybe it’s the same day you go back through your baby registry to write thank-you notes - and create a calendar or chart that notes all of your warranties for your big ticket items, as well as the contact information should you need to make a call about a product issue. 

It’s also a really good idea to register your products as soon as you receive or purchase them. This makes it easy for the company to contact you in case of a recall, and vice versa if you experience a defect within your warranty period and need to report it. Most baby gear comes with a registration card or QR code that makes it super-easy to scan or mail in your registration.

Finally: If you plan to mix and match baby gear under one usage case - for example, creating a travel system with a stroller and car seat from two different brands - make sure you take note of the different warranty terms for each element