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 Three Strikes and Babies R Us is Out!
Posted Thu February 19, 2009 12:00 pm, by Pete F. written to Toys R Us
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Good day. Before I continue with the details of my complaint, I would like to point out that "Theresa" employed at your Bensalem, PA Babies R Us location is the exception to everything else I am about convey to you. She is a beacon of customer service, and the *only* reason my "likelihood to use or recommend Babies R Us again" is "probably not" instead of "not even if I was on fire and they were giving away free fire extinguishers".
My husband and I are expecting our first child on March 17th, and we were getting harassed about not being registered anywhere so people could see what we needed. We did not want to use Babies R Us from the beginning, but decided to do so simply because we thought it would be the most convenient and accessible option for our friends and family. We currently live in Cherry Hill, NJ, and did our registry at your Cherry Hill location on Route 38 across from the Cherry Hill Mall. Other options we were considering at the time included Burlington Coat Factory, Buy Buy Baby, Target, and even Wal-Mart has an impressive Winnie-the-Pooh selection to choose from. But instead, for convenience, we went with Babies R Us because they are more or less the recognized giant in this area. The problem is, we did not expect the blatant disregard for customer service that comes along with a company complacent in their temporary status at the top.
The first issue we had was with the registry itself. We spent three hours going through your store scanning item after item, and then mailing your provided registry cards in all of our invitations. But, the registry was not available online under the given registry number as it should have been. People using your provided cards to access our list were simply being told "registry not found". I attempted to call your service number to get this resolved, and this was where my negative experience with your customer service started. The "specialist" I had reached was familiar with the type of problem we were having and that it was fairly common, but was completely disinterested in making any effort to help me get it fixed in your system. Instead, she recommended that I just go contact every friend and family member who had already received one of your printed cards, and just explain to them the new different way they needed to look up the information when they went online. How is that a customer service oriented solution? "Our system is messed up, but just go call/write 25-30 people and give them each instructions on how to work around it". When I pushed the point that I wanted her to fix it for me, she made it very clear by her tone that she was not pleased with my asking her to do work, but did finally go and get it fixed.
The second issue happened when I tried to purchase a crib at your Cherry Hill location. At first, this was actually a positive experience. Mark at Cherry Hill was very knowledgeable and helpful in making our selection, and when the crib we wanted was in short supply, he told us we could pay for it now and he would put it aside for us to pick up later, just call before we came in to get it. A few days later after we arranged to use a truck to pick up the crib, I call the store only to be told they have no idea who I am, no record of my purchase, and aren't even sure if they have any of that particular crib left. I explained to them repeatedly that I had already paid for it and was told it had been put aside on hold for us, but was told back just as repeatedly that they have no record of it whatsoever. This did eventually get resolved, and Mark was very helpful and apologetic when we did come to pick up the crib, but it doesn't change the fact that it took several calls to managers and a lot of frustration for me, to simply pick up a crib I had already paid you in full for.
The third issue just came up this week, and that is with our stroller. We received E-Mail notification that the stroller was about to be out of supply and recommended that we might want to come pick it up now to make sure we got it. Since we registered for a matching stroller and car-seat and the car-seat had already been purchased by someone else, I quickly called the Cherry Hill location again to find out if they still had one in stock other than the floor model that I could come pick up now. This was the final straw in my customer service experience, since it was literally as if I had to pull a tooth from her mouth each time she should have taken one more little step in an effort to assist me. Her basic response was "no, we don't have any". I asked what I was supposed to do and was told I could try another Babies R Us. So I had to ask her if she could please check other stores and warehouses to see if maybe there was one somewhere else that could be sent to her store. It didn't make her happy, but she called Deptford and told me they didn't have it either. So I had to ask if there was maybe another place she could check, and her response was more or less "they're the only other nearby Jersey store". So then I had to remind her that Philadelphia was also fairly close, so could she please check if any stores there had it. At this point she was completely done even pretending to try to help me, bluntly gave me the number to the Bensalem, PA store, and told me I should give them a call and see if maybe they have it. I have never spoken to somebody so disinterested in helping keep a $200 sale within their company in the middle of a recession.
Three strikes, you're out. Right now, if I could, I would take my printed registry and go duplicate it at another store and just tell everyone to shop there instead. Afterall, it wouldn't be any more work than what your Technical Support recommended I do anyway instead of them fixing my online registry listing for me. BUT, my first shower is this weekend and I can't do anything like that on such short notice. I am simply stuck, which honestly, based on your customer service, seems like what you count on. Instead of making people *WANT* to shop Babies R Us, you rely on the "where else are they going to go, we're the biggest store around" factor to drive your business model instead. And maybe that works most of the time, but it will cost you significant business this time.
First, I will never use Babies R Us myself again. Like I said, not even if I was on fire and you were giving away free fire extinguishers. But, I also have a large family in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area, and work as a nurse with a significant number of women from the North Jersey area as well. And you have essentially made it my mission to make sure none of those women use your company for any of their upcoming registries either. You have literally just lost thousands upon thousands of dollars of business to Target, who by the way, is expanding and improving their baby department every day.
Back to my point from the beginning of this letter, Theresa over in Bensalem has been absolutely, beyond words, FANTASTIC. You really should promote her to some type of regional customer service trainer, because she's the only one in your company who truly understands it. Theresa went above and beyond to help me find that stroller as well as another big-ticket "short supply" item on my list for me as well. She was pro-active, she was helpful, she was friendly, she made sure to coordinate with other stores to hold my items, and above everything else, didn't make me feel like I was a problem simply for trying to buy things you claim to sell.
I am saying this to you in all sincerity, if it wasn't for Theresa, I would actually go through the effort of returning *ALL* of my large ticket gifts to your store for the cash and then go buy the exact same items somewhere else. It has already been pointed out to me by your staff that I have to make sure every item from my registry is given to me with a gift receipt because "if there's a problem", I can only bring them back with that receipt. But the problem is your service, and if not for Theresa, I would bring all those gifts back for the cash and then go re-buy them from another company just to spite you the profits.
I know it's likely nobody will truly bother to do anything to try to make it up to me for the two months of hassles and inconvenience I've had dealing with your company, but at the very least, please take this letter to heart and consider improving your customer service for other mothers going forward. I'd assume you already know this, but expectant mothers are an awful group of customers to leave so severely dissatisfied and unappreciated.
Sincerely,
Melinda F.
Cherry Hill, NJ
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by sarahsmile Posted Fri February 20, 2009 @ 10:59 AM
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I was right there with you on the lousey CS.You had my total sympathy
until you went the *i'll tell everyone I know or will ever meet in the
future to never shop at Babies R Us* route.
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by ed w. Posted Fri February 20, 2009 @ 9:59 AM
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It sounds like they really messed. Never going to shop there again?
That's OK. Making it a quest that your friends and families and
coworkers stop shopping there is the typical upset customer reaction.
Why spend the time? Don't shop there - get over it.
You talk about the "time" all this took and then state your "mission"
is to get people not to shop there. Seems like that would take some
time.
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by MA Cunningham Posted Fri February 20, 2009 @ 9:22 AM
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but the nice thing about BRU's online registry (as well as the
in-store kiosks) is they can be searched by entering the information
about the mother or father to find the registry.
Hopefully, your guests will notice that when they go to purchase your
gifts (in spite of the round-about method suggested by their tech
support!) and it will all be fine anyway.
I'm glad that it ultimately worked out, you got what you needed and
that you gave proper credit to Theresa for all her help to you.
Good luck on your new addition :)
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by BellaSera Posted Thu February 19, 2009 @ 6:29 PM
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I registered at BRU two years ago and had nothing but a positive
experience. They were 100% helpful in every way and have continued to
be every time I've gone since. I'm not trying to discount your
frustrations, but I think it goes to show that not every location is
the same.
I hope they take your complaint seriously. However, I do want to point
out that Target has the same policy as BRU: you have to have an
original receipt or gift receipt with every return, and only two
returns without reciept are allowed per year as long as they under
$35.
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I know!
by MA Cunningham Sun February 22, 2009 @ 12:59 AM
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SHARED LETTERS 
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