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.

He could have bought her breast pads. Or she could (and should) have said "look forget the top, I am not interested in the top. I will just take the pads." And if they had carried on with their steward's enquiry about the receipt, I would have walked out. Breast pads can be bought anywhere - Tesco, Asda, Boots, Superdrug etc etc.

It does sound like the sales assistant handled things badly by waving the reciept in your wife's face, etc. I'm not being funny though but Mothercare isn't known for its custoemr service. Haven't set foot in there for ten years but it seemed to be staffed by surly, grumpy young women with the odd more sensible older sales assistant.

Get breast pads from Boots and don't bother with nursing tops. I managed to b/f for 16 months without a single special top.

Don't go back to Mothercare. I had something similar with ELC when DD was a baby. Tried to take a faulty mbile back with no reciept. Which legally I can do. I wanted a replacement but they didn't have any and refused to give me a gift card. The manager said outright that I could be a shoplifter. I wrote to ehad office and complaiend and never even got a reply. I haven't set foot over the doorway since. So I think Mothercare did better than they did.

OP lacking a sense of perspective, I think. Understand your upset, but this is a fairly major over-reaction.

"Aahhhhhhhhhh, I see now. This is why mumsnet has gained a reputation for being a herd of nasty cows.

It's great that a couple of first-time parents who are clearly struggling have been told exactly how to pull their socks up and stop being a pair of pathetic, overdramatic tits.

That way they won't be shy about coming forward next time they need a bit of support."

TBF if they're looking for support because they cried when they didn't get their way in a shop and then complained to anyone who would listen about a sales assistant who was doing her job then I hope they are shy about coming forward.

God people on here can be horrible. If I was the OP I wouldn't bother posting here again. Everyone's entitled to think they are overeacting, but taking the bitch stance really doesn't equate to contructive advice or criticism.

Constructive.

I"m wondering whether the OP apologised to the pregnant staff member he reduced to tears.

Soupy, of course not. She gets paid an extraordinary amount of money to put up with members of the public being either condescending/abusive/indifferent. When she signed her contract she wavered all rights to actually take offense to such behaviour.

Well if the shop worker isn't going to just get on with her job and be kind to people, she deserves to be reprimanded...pregnant or otherwise.

I had shop people who think they have the moral highground because they earn £5.83 an hour, and get to stand behind the counter.

The customer is often rude, unaccommodating, nasty, spiteful, upset and hurtful, but always right.

Had this not have been Mothercare I'd take a different stance, however Mothercare are known for being wankers, so I won't.

Lady, the pregnant shopworker was told by her manager to inform OP and his wife that they couldnt have the offer. She was told by her manager to take details of the previous transaction from the original receipt, no doubt so they could reprimand the sales assistant that did the original transaction. She was getting on with her job. I highly doubt she demanded all these things rudely otherwise the OP would of said so.

The OP returned and demanded her full name. she does not have to give that out. The OP would of got plenty far enough with his complaint with just her first name and the shop name. She was well within her rights to refuse.
The fact that the poor assistant felt the need to actually put her hand up and walk away tells me that the OP was getting out of line.

No way does she deserve to be reprimanded.

The OP is just pissed off because he expected to get an offer that he wasnt entitled to with a few tears and some demanding.

As I said in my original comment. He should of been happy his wife received the 342 the previous week when really, she shouldnt of got it!

"The customer is often rude, unaccommodating, nasty, spiteful, upset and hurtful, but always right."

Bollocks. The customer is not always right. They are often wrong and as a sales assistant myself I have been known to refuse to deal with a customer who was in the wrong. (FWIW just because the shoes had a £3.99 sticker on the pair you happened to pick up does NOT mean I have to sell them to you at that price when they are actually £30. Nice try) That wasn't why I refused to deal with this woman obviously. I refused to deal with her because she shouted swore and flung the shoes at me.

You are however right on one thing LOTM- being pregnant is no excuse to give bad customer service or be rude. I don't think the sales assistant necessarily was rude or unhelpful but may have shown her frustration with the whole ridiculous situation when she shouldn't have done. But hey she'd just been told off in public by a stranger and maybe felt a bit threatened for all we know.

I have done this before. Let out a huge sigh when I didn't mean to after I was threatened with all sorts by a customer who sounded off a bit like the OP. Regretted it the minute I let it out as it just gave him more ammunition. Learnt my lesson and now inwardly roles my eyes and sigh heavily.

I don't accept that the shop girl has a leg to stand on. They should bend over backwards to ensure the customer is happy.

The shop girl clearly shouldn't handle that kind of situation and therefore shouldn't be front of house.

Lady, the shopworker is clearly old enough to be pregnant, so she is not a girl.

She shouldnt give over her full name to some random stranger, would you do that? I certainly wouldnt.

As I said earlier, I also think the shop worker was at fault.
She certainly did not conduct herself in a professional and articulate way. All she had to do was explain there had been a mix up and apologise for it.
Instead, she argued with the OP's wife that the previous top was different even though the woman was actually wearing it. That would had driven me potty too. Along with the ridiculous and unprofessional conversation about whose fault it was.

I'm also not sure why it's deemed ok for the shop assistant to cry when asked for her name but not for the OP's wife to cry after being told she was lying about the top.

And to call the OP and his wife a 'tit' simply for expecting articulate, polite professionalism is, quite frankly, more OTT then his reaction.

But the staff showed the couple that it wasnt the same top it had a different catalogue number. If a product is the same then the numbers would be identical.

We only have the OP's word for it that she was actually rude to begin with. Yes she walked off when the lunatic OP went back and demanded to know her full name to complain about her, but if someone got aggressive with me I'd walk off too.

Just because OP's missus bawled her eyes out doesn't mean the shop assistant was actually rude to her. Just sounds to me that the wife was sleep deprived, exhausted and just a tad emotional. It's amazing what can set a new mother off!

If I was a shop person and I thought I was in the right and argued so with customers, I'd give my full name no problem.

Girl/woman/person, either or.

Well we only have the OP's version of everything. You can't pick and chose from what he's told us.

And the top was the same so we can only deduce that they put it through wrongly the day before.

I think the nonsense conversation across the shop floor was cheap, tacky and unprofessional. The shop was in the wrong not to apologise straight off. The OP also stated that he expected the manager to come out and apologise but instead she went on about the other woman's risk assessment. More lack of professionalism!

She should have come out and tried to difuse the situation by explaining that whilst her staff did not need to give him their name, that they should have apologised about the clear mix up immediately rather than question the shopper's integrity.

They were in the wrong; not because they should have sold her the top at a reduced price nor because the customer is always right but because they handled it badly.

True, but I personally think the manager is the one at fault as she should have come over and spoken to the customer herself. It would have taken her a matter of minutes to deal with. Instead she left someone who may not have had much experience with lairy demanding customers deal with the situation. If OP wanted anyone's full name, rank and inside leg measurement it should have been the manager's.

It sounds a total farce tbh but not the shop assistant's fault really. Her manager left her to it instead of taking responsibilty herself. I have managers and supervisors who have done this to me and it's unfair and selfish of them.

"The fact that the poor assistant felt the need to actually put her hand up and walk away tells me that the OP was getting out of line. "

This is what makes me think that the OP was aggressive and threatening, whether he meant to be or not.

"I'm also not sure why it's deemed ok for the shop assistant to cry when asked for her name but not for the OP's wife to cry after being told she was lying about the top"

Well, I'm not sure why it is OK for the wife to cry when it is pointed out that she is not entitled to an offer but it is not OK for the assistant to cry when bullied by the OP.

saffy, I completely agree.

I didn't say it wasn't ok for the SA to cry. But the Op's wife didn't cry becuase she couldn't have the offer. She cried because instead of apologising and moving things along the SA engaged in unprofessional nonsense and kept her waiting whilst she debated, then consulted a colleague then consulted her manager.

I've seen it said that offers don't normally apply to sale stuff. Just want to point out that in Mothercare right now they do have an offer on sale stuff and I had a very similar conversation with the assitant (although we were both polite) as it didn't go through on the system, when she checked it out I was right and she had to manually put it through.

Storm in a teacup

If you are going to get this rattled about the small stuff, how will you deal with the big stuff?

Calm down

Oh I'm biased, Mothercare are always BU.

I still am sore from arguing with them 4 days post-birth over a faulty breast pupm. I was stitched to high heaven with a starving non-suckling baby leaning over the counter in pain as they argued that it worked. It had given up the ghost the night before when the motor made a funny noise and lost most its power. It sucked her hand, weakly. It did not suck milk as it was too weak. They refused to refund and after half hour I gave up and limped out.

I think learning what wankers they are is a learning curve for new mums.