Babee Tenda Safety Convertible Crib Review

When I was expecting my son, we got a card in the mail to attend a Baby Safety seminar and would recieve a free gift for attendance.  I drug my unwilling husband along with me.  The seminar ended up being a sales pitch for the Babee Tenda Safety Convertible Crib and Feeding Table.  Of course being a newly expectant mom I HAD to have these high end, supposedly extremely safe items.  We sat for over 2 hrs watching the demonstrations on the features and how these are the safest cribs in the country.  I fell sink, line and hooker and paid the $850 for the set. After all they gentleman said, "isn't your baby/child's safety above all?"  and think of the money you save buying ONE convertible crib instead of 3 differnet beds.  It did come with a no-name carriage style stroller... and a free gift for ordering which was a 4 page list of coupons you could order for only $1 per order (S&H).  To our surprise we tried several times to order the coupons of our choice and never recieved them.  We were also given a model number for the stroller with claims we could "google" it and see it was worth more than $200.  We could not find the stroller/model number ANYWHERE. 

But on to the crib.  The crib has no corner posts, double safety locks, and a firm mattress.  The most unique feature is that the crib sides do not drop down, and the mattress down not raise/lower.  On one side of the crob the side actually opens up like a gate for easy access to your baby.  The gate can then be removed later when your child starts climbing so they can get in and out of bed easily. 

The crib then converts to a toddler bed with side rails, and then a child size bed.  Our problem lies within the toddler bed.  The crib was ok, other than it is impossible to get sheets for it unless you order them direct from the website.  And the mattress is so stiff my son hated to sleep in it. The sheets are stiff, thin, and overpriced. 

When we converted the bed to a toddler bed for my son, the first day the rails ripped right off the bed!  The screw had actually snapped right in half!  My son was 27lbs!  Hardly enough to think maybe he was had put too much weight on them.  My husband drilled new holes and put a new screw in only for the rail to again rip off - right through the side of the headboard.  We were NOT pleased.  Within a month the other side did the same thing.   I contacted Babee Tenda becuase they are suppose to have a lifetime guarentee only to never hear back from them.  I contacted them AGAIN with pictures, and again I was ignored.  I called them and was told because we drilled a new hole the warranty was void.  They were suppose to get back to me about a possible headboard replacement (at my cost) and they never did.  Needless to say we are completely disappointed that we shelled out all this money for a bed with defaults and a company with empty promises.   I do NOT recommend spending the money on this crib.  There are other safe crib/toddler bed combos out there that are much better quality. 

Just a few added notes:

*the mattress length is about 2 inches bigger than a crib mattress.  So larger than a crib mattress but MUCH smaller than a twin or full mattress.  Making any kind of bedding either too big or too small for this bed.

*http://www.babeetenda.com for more info