Brett's Luggage would not fix manufacturing defect, overcharged, rude, slow service Sudbury Massachusetts

At Brett's Luggage in Sudbury, I experienced the worst customer service I have encountered in the ten years I've lived in the greater Boston area.

My Maclaren baby stroller, after 18 months of moderate use, had a left rear wheel (there are four pairs of wheels) that was extremely worn, while all other wheels were fine. As the stroller was not abused, this clearly seemed a manufacturing defect. Maclaren gave no explanation or apology and sent me to Brett's, the nearest authorized repair center, who would decide whether or not I should pay for the problem.

I phoned John, the owner of Brett's, who said he would need to see the stroller to determine whether the worn wheel was a manufacturing defect. He said it would take a week to fix. We brought it in, and asked why wheel would be worn out and the others not. I told him that I had read on a consumer website that many others had the same problem with the left rear wheel, but this wasn't relevant to him because he said he'd never seen the problem before.

He said that maybe the brake was wearing against the wheel. But we have never used the brakes, and even if the brakes caused this kind of wear, I think that would still be the manufacturer's fault and not ours. He joked that maybe we were taking too many left turns, and then said that (not jokingly) that if he were a scientist maybe he could tell us what exactly was causing it. It wasn't anything we'd done, he said, but he also didn't consider it a manufacturing defect. So he didn't know what it was, but he insisted we pay $35 for a new pair of left rear wheels. He now said it would take a week and a half.

In fact, it took three weeks to be repaired. When we went to pick it up, we dealt with the repairman, who ought to be the one to determine what is and isn't a manufacturing defect. He had been on vacation. He and the manager, Becky, were nice and apologized for John's treatment of us, and said if they'd dealt with us, they would have given us a loaner stroller.

They gave us our stroller back, and it had only ONE left rear wheel replaced. The repairman said, John told me to only replace one. So they kindly offered to replace all four rear wheels if we could wait a half hour.

In summary, John made us pay to fix the wheel, it took three times as long as he originally said it would, he charged us for a pair of wheels but only told the repairman to replace one, and treated us rudely throughout the whole ordeal. Brett's Luggage should not be an authorized service center and as far as I'm concerned should not even be in business if this is how they treat customers. I feel badly for the nice people who have to work for this man and for other customers who have to put up with him. Please spread the word about John, owner of Brett's Luggage, and let's please make him accountable for the way he treats his customers

John
Brighton, Massachusetts
U.S.A.