Let me just start off by saying, I hate Babies “R” Us. I don’t know if Jenni and I have just been spoiled by the selection and quality of service at Buy Buy Baby, or if Babies ‘R’ Us is just that bad. Every time Jenni and I go into Buy Buy Baby we are greeted by a passionate and enthusiastic staff that goes out of their way to make sure we get the service and products we need. Most of the staff there know us by name and due date, even though we have only met some of them once. They have never made any fuss or made us go through any red tape when we have questions, returns or exchanges, and if there is anything they cannot do to help us, they are very apologetic and polite about it.
Babies “R” Us on the other hand has been the polar opposite experience for us. Jenni had a 20% off coupon for a breast pump at Babies ‘R’ Us. When went to buy it, Jenni got an employee’s attention to ask a question about it. The employee first rolled her eyes at being bothered, then quickly answered the question and before Jenni had even finished talking to her about the product, she turned her back to us and walked away. During the same visit, we wanted to look at diaper bags and accessories. We had to walk out of our way twice trying to get the right aisle because employees had left restocking ladders unattended blocking aisles. When we finally got to the aisle we wanted, we found a third ladder right in front of the diaper bags. Frustrated, Jenni went to the furniture desk where an employee was reading and asked him to move the ladder. The employee responded by saying that the ladder didn’t belong to his department and that it wasn’t his responsibility to move it. After facing Jenni’s “Pregnant Woman Wrath”, he decided to move it five feet so we could look at changing pads and bags… granted we still had to walk down a different aisle just to get to them since the ladder was still in the way.
My parents, bought Jenni and I our travel system, which was only available at Babies ‘R’ Us. When I was assembling the jogger, I noticed that the front wheel lock was broken and stuck in the lock position. So I called Babies ‘R’ Us. The person on the phone was very helpful and, after talking with her manager, agreed to let me bring it in for a new one. Later that afternoon when I went in to exchange it, the girl behind the desk had just gotten there and wasn’t sure who I talked to about the jogger. She went to get a manager and came back with the same lady who walked away from Jenni while we were looking at breast pumps. When she asked what I needed, I explained the situation to her. She began arguing with me, saying that she wasn’t the person I talked to earlier. I told her that I didn’t know the name of the manager who approved the exchange and that I’d called at 9:00 that morning. Her only response was that she wasn’t there at that time and that she wasn’t sure what I really want her to do about the jogger. I explained again that I had received a broken product and wanted it replaced with a new one.
The employee asked her if they couldn’t just go get a new box, and the manager responded by saying – in a pissed off tone – that the box also has a car seat and base in it and if they were to do that then she would have to open the box and assemble the jogger and that she really didn’t want to do that. I looked at her and bluntly told her that I had the other two pieces in the car – if that would inconvenience her less. I ran out to the car to get the other pieces and when I returned to the desk the manager was pushing a cart with the 50 pound travel system box in it. Without a word, she dumped the travel system out of the cart, and pushed the cart along with all others that had been left at the exit back to a stock room leaving me to haul the heavy, cumbersome box out to my car by hand.
As if that wasn’t enough, Jenni and I ventured back to Babies “R” Us to make a couple of exchanges. This time, we went to a different location. We had a couple of items that we just wanted to trade out for a different color and two bottles of soap that had burst and we needed to exchange. This manager returned them without a word and gave us a gift card and we went through the store picking up the replacement Items. Now, in most stores, all of these returns would have been treated as even exchanges, however when we went back to purchase the replacements, they charged us twice as much as the amount that we’d been given back at the beginning. When we asked why it wasn’t an even exchange she told us that since we had no gift receipts the items were returned for the lowest price they had been in the past 90 days. That even though the items are no longer that price she refused to let us do an even exchange. We decided that we wanted to void the return and only return the items we weren’t getting screwed on. The manager turned us over to a new employee and walked off leaving the employee to fumble her way through the system. She returned a moment later and the employee asked her how to fix something she’d voided incorrectly and the manager responded by chastising the employee because the employee wasn’t authorized to make voids, yet never offered to help. After several curt comments by the manager, the employee figured out what to do and was able to do what we had asked. So after 45 infuriating minutes we left carrying the same items we had entered the store with, still needing to return them.
I don’t know if any of you out there believe as I do, but this is no way to treat the people you depend on to make a living. Babies ‘R’ Us should really take some notes from Buy Buy Baby on how to treat their clientele. I can tell you, though, that, whether they step up their game or not, that is one store I will not revisit willingly.
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