Target Baby Club Portable Cot Issue

[shazdee]

My DH and I received a Target Baby Club when our daughter was born 19 weeks ago and have just gone to use it for the first time when his Mum was baby-sitting. We had a LOT of trouble getting it to go up as the sides wouldn't click into position, but after about half an hour finally got it up. Then when we went to take it down discovered that only 2 of the sides would collapse. So now my mother-in-law is stuck with a half-collapsed portable cot in her lounge-room and after 5 different people trying can't get it down! I've searched all over the net and can't find any manufacturer's sites or any others with advice on this problem-it was manufactured by a company called Wisdomland Inc and imported by Target. Normally when something is faulty I would just take it back to the store but in this case we can't get it down to return it to the store! Has anyone else come across this issue? Any advice would be much appreciated!!

[rhyb]

I have that one and had difficulty setting it up. Make sure you pull the centre right up and then it should let you collapse the sides.
HTH

[~breeze~]

Originally Posted by rhyb

I have that one and had difficulty setting it up. Make sure you pull the centre right up and then it should let you collapse the sides.
HTH

Yep, I was going to suggest that too! Make sure the bottom centre bit is up & if some of the sides dont collapse pull them all back up & do them one by one in order IYKWIM (clockwise or anti-clockwise) They should all collapse then.
Good luck! (Your poor MIL having it stuck in her lounge room!)

[~Trish~]

There is a universal trick with portacots:

When setting it up: Make sure the floor/base is not pushed down flat until all the sides are clicked into place. So try and keep the base up as much as possible, otherwise you will find that not all the sides will stay up.

When packing it up: Pull the floor/base up first before trying to collapse the side rails down. Otherwise you will have the problems described in your post.

Like ~breeze~ said, start again by getting all the sides back up, then pull the floor up and collapse the side rails.

The reason portacots are like this is for safety reasons, so that your baby can't collapse the side rails while they are in it IYKWIM.

HTH

[AliBaby]

I think they are all difficult to get up and down in some way. We have a childcare galaxy and I find it difficult unless I do what Trish said.

[shazdee]

Sadly, there is nothing mentioned there that we haven't tried already! I used to work in a motel where I regularly had to put up portable cots for guests and while they were often difficult they were nowhere this hard! I've tried to pull the sides back up and start again, but now the 2 sides that are down won't click back into position again, which is why it is stuck half up! Between me, DH, MIL, FIL and SIL we must have spent about 3 hours trying to get it down and none of us can manage it. My SIL has 2 children of her own and she said hers is nowhere near as difficult-she thinks it's faulty! Since posting last night I've visited 2 other Mum's in my new mum's group to check theirs out thinking maybe they knew something I don't. One was a Child Care and the other a Steelcraft and while they were difficult they were nowhere near as hard as this one!

[~Trish~]

How annoying! Can you pull the base slightly up so you can click the sides back into place?

I have fought with many a stubborn portacot, they are so frustrating!

[~Raven~]

You sure the base has been pulled up when you're trying to undo or put up the sides? If it has a little fabric handle sewn onto the middle of it. Hold it and give it a bit of a shake as it may not have released the safety catch.

I remember a friend of mine had a different type that you had to twist the bar to get it to collapse or stand up. It was about 8 years ago though and I'm not sure they make them like that anymore.

[shazdee]

Yep, we've made sure that the safety catch has released. It has a little metal ring that pulls it up and you can feel when it releases! We have tried it with the base in every position we could think of but the last 2 stubborn sides just won't release or click back into position. When you press on the button there is no movement or anything, which wasn't the case with the other 2 sides. I'll have to go out on the weekend and try again-wish me luck!

[klclark78]

I also have a target babyclub portacot and bought it a few months ago. Pulled it out last night to check it out as we're going away this weekend, and found neither I nor my husband could pull it back down! We have also used other portacots before and really got annoyed! So I rang Target this morning to ask how I could bring it back to return it (it wouldn't fit in my car in that state!) and one lady there suggested twisting the handle.
So I fiddled and fiddled with it and I found the answer and its so easy!!!

You have to pull the handle up and TWIST it ANTICLOCKWISE and it comes right up, and the sides are SO eady to collapse. And no where on the instructions does it say to does that, very annoying.

So there it is, hopefully this is clear and helps.

[shazdee]

Thanks for that, I'll go out on the weekend and give it a try!! Cross your fingers for me!!

[shazdee]

I just wanted to say a big thank you klclark78-it worked! To be honest I went out very sceptical but I did what you suggested and it worked right away! I thought maybe it was a fluke so I put it back up and tried again 4 or 5 more times and it worked without any problem! I was planning on taking it back but now that I can actually get it up and down I'll be keeping it!! So you are my new hero klclark78-thanks again!

[klclark78]

You are very welcome shazdee!! gotta say I yahoo'd so loud I scared my 9 month old when I was able to collapse that portacot! Poor thing didn't know what his crazy mummy was doing! I ended up keeping it too.
Glad to be of service!!