Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased this play/swing set in February of this year. It’s been put together for some time now but I wanted to wait until my children got use out of it before reviewing—if I had reviewed it before, it would have only been a one star rating based on the material and terrible pre-drilling alone. I wanted to give the company a chance. After putting it together and having it for a while, it honestly didn’t improve the rating very much. Here are the pros and cons for brevity sake: Pros: -The company claims that all of the parts are kid-safe and no non toxic chemicals are used. I can tell you that upon unboxing I only smelled fragrant cedar. It appears to be untreated except for the stain. -The directions are pretty fantastic. I only struggled with one or two parts that weren’t labeled correctly. This was mostly due to the number/letter stamps not being very visible in several of the pieces. However, once I measured the boards and compared the size to the identification chart, it was simple enough to figure out. -The architecture of the play set seems well designed. Cons: -The support boards in several parts are too thin and flimsy. The floor of the playhouse is a joke, and there are not enough structural supports for around the windows. I make sure my kids don’t lean on the sides of the play set on top because enough pressure would cause those thin boards (held up only by bolts on the bottom and one 1 1/2 teenie piece of wood screwed across the slats) to buckle, sending your child tumbling head-first to the ground. -MANY of the pieces had cracks in them, or knots, or were bent or generally just unusable. I contacted Amazon about some of the frame pieces being cracked and rather than sending new parts, they refunded some of the order. I used this money to purchase wood from a store and have it cut to size. -SO MANY pieces have the absolute worst pre-drilling. Oh my goodness, the time I spent trying to fix their manufacturing mistakes—quality control in this company stinks. I expected much better out of this product, particularly since it’s a child’s play center. If I hadn’t replaced boards with new wood, I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting my kids play on this. The bench is leaning and uneven, for instance, because the drill holes are at least 1/2 inch off from the other. -Some of the bolts, screws, and other parts were damaged during manufacturing. Most of these things included extras in the bags, but there were 2 very important structural bolts that did not. Again, another trip to the store for new pieces. -The thinner wood pieces are prone to splintering when drilling in the included T bolts. The wood is simply not sturdy enough to withstand that sort of pressure or friction. -There are far too many places a kid can snag an elbow, and the curved top supports of the play house are far too low, even for my 5 year old. They keep hitting their head coming up the stairs. Some parts of it are just not designed well for the size child it says it can accommodate. -I feel uncomfortable with the weight limit it says it can hold. I HIGHLY doubt the top structure or even the swings can hold that much weight. All that said, I wish I had saved a little more and gotten a different playset. I won’t be buying from this company again, that’s for sure. I felt this was a good mid-grade option for my smaller-sized yard, but I’m extremely disappointed in this purchase. Oh well! I went through all the trouble of building it and replacing so many of the wood pieces I might as well make it work. Shrug!