The Which? child car seat retailers best practice charter ensures the best help and advice
Trying to buy the right child car seat - one that is suitable for your child and your car and that fits your budget - can be a daunting experience.
Unless you really know what you're doing, it's likely that you will have to rely at some time or another, on advice given by shop staff – either in an independent specialist store or the mother and baby department of a national chain.
But just how good is the advice given?
Tests by TRL's Child Safety Centre have highlighted a growing problem of counterfeit child seats that may look and feel genuine but haven't been safety tested and could put a child's life at risk.
Advice
(1 November 2012)
In 2011 undercover researchers from Which? carried out an investigation into the quality of advice given by child seat retailers. They visited 43 stores – 7 from each of the big national retailers together with a selection of independent stores - across the country posing as parents of an 11 month old child ready to move into the next stage car seat.
Shop staff were rated on seven key points:
Overall 15 out of 43 stores didn't ask the weight of the child, and 20 recommended seats that weren’t compatible with the researcher's family car.
Half of the stores (49%) failed to install the seats correctly and two of the big retail chains failed to mention the importance of keeping a baby rear-facing for longer, in all of their seven stores visited.
Independent retailers demonstrated a generally high standard with a few exceptions and outperformed the national chains by a considerable margin.
The Which? best practice charter
Following their investigation, Which? gave detailed feedback to the retailers involved and has since worked with them to develop a "child car seat retailers best practice charter" - a set of 10 principles describing the knowledge and behaviour of shop staff involved in selling child seats or giving advice about choosing them.
Babies R Us, John Lewis, Mamas & Papas and Mothercare - all of which had stores checked as part of the Which? investigation - have signed up to the charter, together with the body representing independent specialists, the British Independent Retailers Association.
Child seat retailers best practice charter
Using a retailer that has signed up to the charter should ensure that you get the best advice and come away with the right child seat for your child – one that suits the child's current age/height; is compatible with your car and one that you know how and are able to fit correctly.
(1 November 2012)
