Customer Reviews

Wide Spaces Swing Gate

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(57)

 

 

This has to be the worst gate on the market! My 13 month old son opens it by leaning on it. He pulled on the gate yesterday and broke it off the hinges.

DO NOT BUY!!!!!

I purchased this gate because we needed one that opened and also would work for wide spaces. Not only can my son open it (he was 7 months old when we purchased it) by leaning on it but to make matters worse the gate fell apart this time and fell on him. I had already called Evenflo and they said that was the first time they had heard that a child could lean on it and it popped open. They said they would send us a new one. After another week or so with the old gate it when it completely fell part and fell on top of my little boy. I called Evenflo again because I had not received the new gate and told them that under no circumstances did I want the same gate again. This is a piece of CRAP! and Evenflo needs to address the lack of safety associated with this gate before someone is really hurt.

I would like to write only one thing. It is the worst gate i ever saw. I installed it today. It made me so frustrated. Just logging here to write the review so that nobody else would have to go thru this punishment.
THIS GATE SUCKS...

I like to add some more details so people really know what is wrong with this gate:

1) painful installation
2) flimsy (very flimsy) wood and joints
3) it came off the hinges just when my daughter leaned and tried to pull it.
4) most importantly, it could be dangerous since because of the above reason little kids could get hurt
5) Evenflo should recall this product before it is too late and before it loses its reputation
6) painful return since u have to take out everything off and put them in the box and go to the store just for this purpose wasting lot of precious time.
7) PLEASE DONT BUY THIS.

We have a 60" opening that we needed a gate for and my husband and I went to a babies r us store to buy a gate. We did this before we read reviews of gates and now I'm wishing we had read them before buying a gate. ...I was so disappointed with this product that I feel I need to say something too. It is truly challenging to install. I did not find it too difficult, but I am in the construction industry, so I'm used to 1/8" precision. I feel that the average person is not, making it difficult to install for most people. The worst part is the locking mechanism. It's VERY hard to open. My hands were raw from trying to opening it. I even called Evenflo because I thought mine was defective. (the manual says "easy") It wasn't. It's just a horrible product. If you have the full size 60" opening, the swinging part of the gate is large and awkward. I'm looking for an accordian style gate now. And the gate is unstable. Just don't buy this gate. I don't even know why it's still being made.

The only thing good about this gate is the look! It is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to install. My engineer husband was so frustrated with the vague, backwards instructions, he almost gave up numerous times! Once we finally got the gate togethor, we realized how flimsy this gate is! I am afraid that my 8-month old daughter will either break one of the slats, or push this gate so hard that the screws will come out the wall, because there is so much "give". I would definately NOT trust it at the top of stairs! Now, after 2 hours of frustration putting it together, we are considering taking it apart and looking for another gate!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! It is so hard to find a sturdy gate that fits a larger opening than the average! The pressure mounted gates seem to work the best, but they are a pain to get by if it's in a high traffic area! -Vicki

This gate took my husband and I almost 2 hours to install. Then once you make 8 holes in your walls, you find out it is the most difficult gate to open, and the latch is a piece of garbage. The most frustrating part is that after you finally install it and realize you hate it and you have put so much time and energy into it - not to mention its now attached to your walls - - you don't want to return it and start over....

This is the only gate I could find that would fit at the top of a staircase that is more than 60" wide, and does not go straight across. It started out easy to install, until you get to the point where you have to measure the length of the gate. I ended up less than 1/8" off in my measurement, and the gate would not close! I had to do that entire part over. Once assembled, the locking mechanism is still quite difficult to use, especially if the gate and the wall are not at a perfect 90 degree angle.

One important note: There is NO WAY I would use this at the top of the stairs without fastening the the "foot" to the floor. The manuafacturer does not provide any hardware or instructions for this, but if you are stuck using this gate you should really add that step to the installation.

This is the worst gate I've ever seen. Big safety hazard. It is so flimsy even after installed properly and securely. My husband is an engineer and everything possible was tried. It also can be opened by just leaning on it. Tell me this is not a big safety problem. Also, if you have nails (what woman doesn't) you cannot open this gate due to the latch design but this doesn't matter because once again, just lean on it and it opens. I did read the reviews before I bought this but this gate was the only one wide enough even with two add on panels to fit the space between our kitchen and family room because we have a big step down. Should have listened because now I have to patch up all the holes in my wall and the banister. Just returned this with the add on panels at Babies R Us today and Evenflo is going to get a call from me tomorrow regarding the safety hazards. This gate deserves zero stars but I had had to give it something to submit the review.

I bought these gates today to install around a fireplace. After reviewing the directions for 10 minutes, I realized I'd be spending an entire Saturday figuring out how to install them from the 20+ pages of instructions. Back they go... I wish I had read the other reviews here first.

I have now had this gate for 2 months. I would like to recommend the gate but I have frustrations with it. When installing the gate I recommend that you screw the plastic platform to the floor, otherwise it will not be very secure. Also if you are going through the gate alot you will find that the plastic latch that you open it with will wear out and break. One of the main reason I thought I would purchase more of an expensive gate was I thought it would last longer. I was wrong. I like the gate I wish it would last longer.