We have a Bugaboo Chameleon, that I purchased when my daughter was born in February 2006. It has served us very well, both as a pram and a pushchair, and now that I have a second child (1 year old), it has been great for getting both kids to nursery, with my daughter ridding on the Bugaboo Board at the back. Over the past few years, I have recommended Bugaboo's to load of people, most who have bought one on my advice.

Unfortunately the unlocking mechanism broke recently, so the buggy can not be folded (it is locked in the down position). As it is out of warranty, Bugaboo will not fix the fault, and say that the only way to rectify the problem is to by a whole new chassis at a cost of £220 ($315). This has angered me as the buggy with accessories (travel bag, board, umbrella, car seat adaptors etc) cost us £770 which is over $1100 dollars (yes that is the price they charge in the UK). I always knew that the warranty only lasted a year, but when spending this sort of money (we are not wealthy by any means), I do expect a product to last long enough for more than 1 child. I am sure the fault is nothing more than a stripped thread or broken catch, but as the unit is sealed I have no way of finding out without risking damaging the unit more.

I resent the waste of paying hundreds of pounds to replace the whole unit, and know that for the price of a replacement chassis I could buy a perfectly good buggy from another manufacturer, but as none of my accessories will fit other buggies, they will then become obsolete too. I now regret both the purchase and the numerous recommendations I have made, resent the poor customer service I have received from both my retailer and Bugaboo, and consider replacing the whole unit to be extremely wasteful at a time when most of the world is looking to develop sustainability.

If anyone has experienced a similar fault, and knows how to fix it, or has a used chassis they are prepared to sell, then I would greatly appreciate them contacting me. If you are considering buying a product from Bugaboo, then unfortunately I can not longer endorse either the product or the customer service, despite the fact that for my first child, it really did serve us well. Shame.

Thanks Piers

AWW what a shame it is broken and that Bugaboo wont help except for suggesting a new Chassis... only thing i can think of to reduce cost of chassis is looking on Ebay maybe?

Good Luck

hi hun, we have the same pram hun, but can only advise what missy said. heres a link

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bugaboo-Camele...1%7C240%3A1318

or maybe google the problem see if anyone else has experienced it, i love our bugaboo but have definetly noticed the chassis not being very strong. x

I have this item in my watch list, whilst it looks hopefull at 99p, it has nearly a week to run. Over the last 2 weeks the only ones that have closed under £150 have been 'left overs' after Bugaboo sent a replacement.

thanks anyway.

As a newbie I had not realised that there was a product review section, I have placed the post there, so I wonder if a moderator may want to delete this one. If so, thank you very much to those who read it or replied.
Best Regards
Piers

A similar problem happened with our Bugaboo of three years, the thing stopped folding.

It turned out that the locking mechanisum had broken, which is a latch on the insied. I had some made up (as its out of warranty!!) and its an easy repair.

Let me know if you are still having problems as I can get soem more to fix.

James

James,

Any tips on how to get into the locking mechanism? - I, like you, figured it would be easy to replace the bits inside, but I want to prevent doing further damage whilst I am at it. My first thought was to lever off the silver hub cap, but am now thinking about drilling out the rivet from the central axle and going in from the other side. If you've done it successfully perhaps you could post the method? There seems to be plenty of people out there with this problem, or a similar one who need to get into the mechanism, but no-one to date has posted a solution for getting in there!

Cheers

MJ

Never seen so many dads in one thread ....is a buggaboo a mans pram ? would my hubby like it ?

Just wanted to say that Bugaboo are jerks for not being more helpful. I also find it disgraceful that they are trying to get you to replace a small part with something unnecessary and expensive. Very wasteful.
With the prices they charge, those strollers whould have lifetime warranties. At the very least, replacement parts should be easily accessed and reasonable.
It sounds like this is a common fault with this particular stroler, too. Bugaboo should be ashamed.

Bugaboo does pretty sporty-looking stuff, meant to appeal to both parents, I think.