Second car seat base

It has been a whole week without a post and I have been getting complaints.

Let’s see… what to write about…

We bought a travel system a while ago. It is currently in the box in the garage, so I have no good pictures of it. If you click this link though, it will show you the item. For the life of me, I could not find a second base online. I spent hours entering every variation I could think of for “Evenflo Aura Elite Travel System- Oh So Big.” I found na-da! Google, Evenflo, Babies R’ Us, etc. searches were all useless to me. When I looked at the Evenflo website it said to call a 1-800 number to purchase a second base. I thought that was my only option, so I called on a furlough day (so many places are not open during non-business hours).

There was a good ten-minute wait to talk to someone. I went out in the garage because I figured they were going to need the model name to link it up to the appropriate base. Once I got the lady on the phone she asked what car seat I had. I told her that I had the Evenflo Aura Elite Travel System. She then stated that that was the name of the travel system but that there was a specific name for the car seat inside. I asked in an almost teasing manner, “I don’t know the name of the specific seat, but it is a neutral color and has animals on the fabric. Does that help?” Her cold response: “No.” She then said that it would be listed as Embrace or Discovery at the bottom of the box. I looked and looked, but saw nothing of the sort. (Imagine pregnant lady doing squatted laps around a 2.5’ x 2.5’ x 3.5’ box.) When that approach proved fruitless, she stated that I would have to look at the car seat itself. I asked if she could look it up based on any of the codes listed on the box. The answer was a definite no.

Now let me tell you, those boxes are difficult to get into! It has more staples and glue holding it together than all the glue and staples I’ve ever used in all of my grade school projects combined! Lainey and I struggled getting into the box but we finally managed to get it open. Then it came time to actually FIND the car seat amongst the stroller, car base, cardboard, random packing paper, and pamphlets in the box. Alas, we did find it after making an enormous mess! “It is an Embrace,” I said exhaustedly. The lady told me the cost and the amount of shipping and handling. I said okay. THEN (and only then) she stated that I could get it at any Babies R’ Us or Walmart in my area, and that Walmart would order without shipping charges if it is not carried by that particular store. I responded, “Well, I do not support the evil company called Walmart, however I did look online at Babies R’ Us to add it to the registry but was unable to find it.” “Well, you have to enter the name of the car seat not the travel system to find it,” she said. “You sure?” A cold “yes” was given. “Well I’m sorry to have wasted your time, but I will just go and do that then.”

I got online and searched “Embrace car base.” I half expected it to not show up based on my previous searching experiences, however, it ended up being the first hit on the list. (Headdesk.)