to expect a proper apology fro Mothercare for appalling service

[ChrisandChristina]

I have vowed never to use Mothercare again.

A sales assistant was so rude to my wife in their Brighton shop that she was reduced to tears.

The manager was useless when I complained to her and simply waffled on about investigating the incident I.E standard meaningless management speak

When I complained in writing to Mothercare customer services they sent us a £15 gift card to 'offset our disapointment'.... what an insult.

I will never spend another penny with them.

Just wondered if this was common for them and what experiences other people had had there.

[sungirltan]

agree strongly with lyingwitchinthewardrobe

don't let the bad side of mn get to you its usually v useful to new parents

[LadyBiscuit]

I'm not denying that the shop assistant was a bit crap. But you know they pay people minimum wage, what do you expect? I don't have any issue with being pissed off - I would have put the tops down and said 'forget it' and walked out. After all you can get breast pads in Boots.

What is ridiculous is the wife crying, the husband and the MIL getting involved and it all turning into a huge drama. Get a fucking grip. If that's all you have to worry about in your life, count your blessings.

[HecateTheCrone]

disagree away. It makes for interesting discussion. Be a dull world if we all saw everything the same way.

fwiw, I suspect that the woman in question may well have pnd (as I said in first post). Her reactions were not 'normal'. I remember when I had raging pnd I once slid down the wall and collapsed into hysterical sobbing because I thought we'd run out of nappies.

The woman should have just left it, but she didn't. People don't always do the sensible thing.

But. she queried it and was told that she could not have purchased it in the first place - even though she had and she had the reciept. so they were calling her a liar.

She had the shop assistant waving something in her face while again implying she was a liar - very unprofessional

The assistant continued to imply the woman was a liar.

The assistant then yelled across to other staff members, creating a scene and arguing with other staff members for several minutes. She then stormed off to find a manager.

She then came back and said that the woman couldn't have the top and shouldn't have had the first one - that wasn't really her fault was it? Yet somehow blamed for it?

Then she wanted details so that she could find out who sold it, creating yet MORE fuss and possibly making the lady 'responsible' for disciplinary action of another staff member.

All this time, this woman was getting more and more upset, a fact that was given no consideration by the staff member, who could have softened her manner. Perhaps not been confrontational. Perhaps not behaved as though the woman was a liar or trying to scam them?

When they did decide to just leave it, the assistant tried to bully them into leaving the receipt so that someone in the store could be blamed for all this! This - totally trivial thing!

The man had a sobbing wife and he decided to complain about the way the assistant treated her. Not about the top, not about not getting the tops, but about the manner in which the woman was dealt with.

The assistant refused to give her name to ensure perhaps that she could deny it was her, if a complaint was made.

She then stuck her hand up at the man's face and said she wasn't going to deal with him, walked off and sent the manager over. (how unprofessional is 'talk to the hand' ?!)

The manager did not care that the customer was in tears about the attitude of the staff member. and refused initially to apologise for the upset - not for the top, but for the way the customer was spoken to.

When the woman came back into the store, the manager could have said "I'm sorry you are upset" - but chose not to.

-

I think they should have just walked away. but they didn't. The OPs wife clearly has some sort of problem to become hysterical over this, but the behaviour of the assistant was very unprofessional indeed from start to finish. She could easily have talked and behaved in a way that would have calmed the situation, instead of being confrontational.

I can understand why the OP wants an apology. Unless I am reading the events wrongly.

and re the united thing - everyone's different. I always go for the united in public and in front of the kids and tear him a new one in private so regardless how wrong or daft I felt he was being, I'd step in over something that was upsetting him and he'd do the same for me. I appreciate that that's not how other people operate and that's fine. I'm not saying everyone should do things my way.

[theyoungvisiter]

"I would defend my wife to the end of the earth and no one has the right to upset her"

Look with the greatest respect, it's nice that you feel that way, but do you honestly expect the rest of the world to fall in line?

Your wife was lucky enough to benefit from a mistake first time round. Now you're having a hissy fit because they wouldn't let her benefit twice from the same mistake?

And now you've got a free £15 but you're still hissy?

doubly

[LadyBiscuit]

Hecate - if the woman has PND (and I don't pretend to be an expert), why on earth did her husband not just take her out of the shop rather than exacerbating the situation? Is it really worth causing so much upset to so many people over a couple of tops?

Maybe the shop assistant had horrible hyperemesis (sp), maybe she was feeling shit as well.

The fact is that everyone behaved badly in this situation, not just the staff.

[jenga079]

OP, I feel for your wife and understand why she got so upset and you defended her. She's clearly emotional at the moment and, if she's anything like me, it's hard to control those emotions if faced with any level of difficult situation.

However, it sounds like the member of staff was just doing her job and that Mothercare have now tried to make it up to you. I think you just need to leave it there. Walk away. Never shop there again. But don't expect anything else to be done about it.

[HecateTheCrone]

god knows why he didn't. That would have been sensible. But he didn't. And the situation played out as it did. And was very very badly handled. People who deal with the public are supposed to be trained how to deal with them.

People can be very unreasonable when you deal with the public you are supposed to know how to keep things calm.

I bet that the situation would never have happened if the assistant had said - right at the beginning "I'm sorry about that madam, someone had obviously made a mistake the last time you were in. These items are not in the 3 for 2. Would you like me to show you where the ones are that are in the promotion?"

instead of straight away going on the attack.

look, I am not defending the choice the OPs wife made to make a tit of herself over something so trivial but the situation became one that was needlessly agressive because of the initial response of the assistant.

Yes. they should have walked away.

[LadyBiscuit]

Hecate - hence someone's earlier comment that they should have gone to John Lewis

[HecateTheCrone]

well quite.

Nobody in JL would signal you to talk to the hand.

[ChaoticAngelofAnarchy]

Oh, I don't know, if I was feeling intimidated/threatened by a customer (the shop assistant may well have felt that way) I'd have stuck my hand out too, if only to keep some distance between us.

The OP might have got a bit more sympathy if he hadn't come across as a pompous ass...or is that just me

[majormayhem]

Again, I find myself agreeing with Hecate.

As to why OP went back into the shop to speak up for his wife... Well, I often find that men don't necessarily know how best to deal with their wive's tears. Especially if it is PND & she's feeling fragile.

[Drizzela]

Jeees only read OP and his your second post but wtf? If I was your wife this episode would have been filed under 'things i may mention to dp over dinner if conversation falls flat' and then in to 'stuff that was so irrelevent I forgot to mention it to dp, favouring a more interesting conversation about whether quilted loo roll is worth the price'

desperately needing nursing tops - what ever next?!

[LowRegNumber]

I didn't read it as a "talk to the hand" gesture, I read it more as a "Stop" gesture, I know I occasionally have to do it to my teens when they are in full flight about how terrible life is and how I have ruined everything ever and.. and.. sometimes when you cannot get a word into someones righteous ranting holding up a hand to indicate "stop" is the only way! This does not have to be as insolent as talk to the hand though!

[FancyALittle]

Meh. Take the 'insulting' £15, get something nice from another branch and forget the drama.

[Janefeelsold]

It was me who said you should go to JL instead.
Hecate, I said earlier pretty much what you've just said.
Yes, they over-reacted but the staff were unprofessional and I'm quite sure a simple explanation and apology would have sufficed.

The ridiculous conversation as described by the OP where the shop assistant debated with colleagues who had priced the stuff up and why wasn't she told would have driven me mad and I would probably have walked out-though maybe not if I needed the breastpads and was avery new, vurnerable mum.

[Gemsy83]

to Lying...people have the sheer audacity to voice their opinions on the posters behaviour and it makes them all bitches etc. Seriously

[Janefeelsold]

Well Gemsy, some of the comments the OP has received aren't at all nice. Disagreeing with him is one thing but lots of replies on here have been rude and unnecessary.

He received poor customer service. Fact. Maybe his reaction was a little OTT but they're a couple of new parents so... The sales assistant should have agreed there had been a problem, apologised but explained she couldn't sell the other top at the same price. Instead she demanded the receipt and basically accused the poor woman of lying. The behaviour of the staff was unprofessional and if you cannot be articulate, professional and diplomatic enough to politely difuse such a situation without drama then you shouldn't be in the job.

[HalfPastWine]

OP.... The shop assistant sounded very rude and in my opinion agree you received unacceptable customer service from her, she could clearly do with some training. She could have dealt with the 'pricing' part of the conversation in a much better way rather than shouting across the store.

[flippinpeedoff]

Brighton has loads of nice shops that sell nice maternity wear and that don'y smell like a nappy bin. Why does Mothercare always smell like a nappy bin?
Go to the big boots for the breast pads next time you're in town.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726]

Gemsy... If the cap fits... and yourself.

You said, "You sound like a pair of tits tbh. First child im pressuming?".

Plenty of people voiced their opinions without resorting to insults; some obviously can't and I'll call them as I see them. It is a pack mentality here sometimes with some posters and I'm not ok with that.

[mayorquimby]

ffs
seriously?
seriously?
that is one of the most pathetic tales I have ever heard about another adult.

[Gemsy83]

There is no other way to describe the behaviour. Sorry if you dissaprove but im just in shock over the total dramatics of it all and cannot believe people conduct themselves in such a manner in public.

[catchmeifyoucan]

So agree with gemsy and trying very hard (but failing) to understand why those who think the OP is some way behond hysterical should be labelled 'the bad side of mumsnet'. Errr - why? For not fawning over and agreeing with what is fundamentally the very worst sort of pompous overbearing behaviour?

[Gemsy83]

Im sure if certain regular posters WERE the shop assistant and had posted the scenario from her perspective the pair of tits would have been described as far more than a pair of tits. The OP his wife, MIL, Uncle Tom Cobbley and whoever else was involved in this Home and Away-esque drama were totally OTT and im not going to pander to the hysterics of it all. My bad.