Crib Parts - Lessons in Customer Service

My irritation level just skyrocketed.

Remember how we broke a plastic piece off our crib and I spent two weeks trying to order new parts? I tried contacting the company that made the crib, Child Craft, multiple times. The phone number didn't work, no response to email, no response to the online order? I finally gave up and located another company called Products America that offered the part and ordered it from them. The customer service lady there was awesome, very nice, offered to print off assembly instructions for me, and shipped my part the next day. I had it in my hands two days later, crib is assembled and everybody in the Hall household is happy.

Except apparently Child Craft decided to fill my order and ship my parts on Monday. That wouldn't have irritated me quite so much if they'd communicated with me at all. I have no idea how much they've charged me, as I had requested the part as a miscellaneous item and didn't even know if they stocked them. I received no response to the email or the order. The parts are non refundable. AND come to find out the reason I've gotten no response is because they've been closed for the past two months after being bought out by another company.

I realize I have no actual legal complaint. I placed the order, I gave them a debit card number, they shipped the part. Eventually. My issue here is the customer service. Seriously, if you have an baby and you break a critical part off of you crib are you going to let your kid sleep in an unsafe crib for two months while you wait for a part or are you going to go ahead and make other arrangements? Did it not occur to the company that maybe they should contact the people who have ordered stuff, tell them what was going on and confirm their orders? Better yet, would it have killed them to put a notice on their website that they were temporarily closed and not taking orders for parts?

So with that I'm guessing we're out another $30. I told Greg that it probably wasn't a bad idea to keep some spare parts around, since there's a better than average chance of me breaking it again. But if any of you have a Child Craft drop side crib and break an assembly guide off, let me know. I have extras.