in being very angry with Mamas and Papas "flagship store"?

[bellabelly]

So, for a treat, took ourselves off this afternoon to new flagship store on Regent Sreet - excited to have a look at some of the things we'll need to be buying before the twins arrive in August.

There were only TWO twin buggies to try out in the whole shop. Almost EVERYTHING v expensive - eg, cots £595 not including mattress or bedding . (We asked if we'd get a discount for buying 2 but assistant told us no...) Went to their cafe to sit down and recover with cake and a hot drink. My hot chocolate was cold - had to ask waiter to warm it up. DH's pain chocolat totally hard and stale (he was allowed to swap it for a croissant when he complained). Two drinks and two pastries cost us £12!!!

On way, DH suggested taking catalogue. We picked one up then noticed £1 charge written on front cover. Decided to forget it and put it back. Assistant asks if all ok and I mention not impressed with having to pay for catalogue. She replies "Oh but it goes to charity" as if I'M being awful scrooge not wishing to pay!!!

A I being unreasonable? Was so excited to be going there but have come away DETERMINED not to buy anything from there EVER!

congratulations on twins bella!!!

Mamas and Papas stores ummmmm well crap service, overpriced and most definately crappest ever customer service I would avoid like the plague!!!

Independent nursery shops are by far the best, or if you shop online somewhere like the Glasgow Pram centre, or Pramworld are good.

Why not drag your dh to the baby show you would get loads of great prices there and loads of ideas as well.

if you use discount vouchers.com there are often discounts of places like mothercare and john lewis

SHopping for new baby/babies is great fun hopefully the next place you go you will get better service and have more fun

Thank you all for helpful suggestions about where to go instead of Ms and Ps.
My dad is visiting next weekend so am going to be cheeky and see if he fancies making us a couple of cots as part of his grandfatherly role...

I bought a highchair from M&P it was a painted wooden one, after a week of using it the finish was wearing off and it looked awful. I rang the customer services several times and got no help, I e mailed and got no help, so I took the highchair back to the shop on a very busy saturday and staggered into the store with it (it was really heavy) went to the tills and declared very loudly that I was very unhappy with it, and that I had made 7 phone calls to try and get it sorted out with no joy so I was bringing it back for them to sort out the manager very quickly came out and gave me a new chair

But shame you had to go to those lengths to get it sorted.

Congrats
The cafe in Habitat on Regent St is great, quiet, great value, coffee/ tea under £1 and baby changing facilities in the loos. The cakes look nice but I haven't tasted them
I would second the baby show suggestion I thought it was great.
if you go to the m and P website and ask for a catalogue you don't have to pay. Argos has some of their stuff cheaper but would agree it's a rip off. we haven't bought anything from them.. kiddiecare for us

THink M&P stuff is getting worse and worse. They are trying to 'keep up' and get trendy but get it spectacularly wrong quite a lot.

Don't think it's unreasonable to not give discount for 2 really. They are just too overpriced for things like furniture - although kids furniture in general is overpriced, making the most out of pregnancy brain of course. M&P is always packed. Good friends went in there while pg with first a couple of months ago and assistants tried to force a list of "Essentials" on them. Nearly gave them heart failure on the spot and this from a couple for whom money is no object.

The brand seems to be seen as quite posh, and have seen several friends morph into devotees. Am not one at all myself, but not quite sure why. Have just a car seat from there.

Have not read all posts but M&P customer service is crap IMHO and we had a look in their flagship store and were not impressed. £12 for two pastries and drinks is ridiculous. John Lewis (very near to M&P...) do a good range of cots.

Good place if you want discounts for buying more than one of something is Kiddicare.com. They are FAB and also often cheaper than high street. Just had a quick look and loads of cots for less than £100.

Good luck with the twins!

If you really want M&P stuff (not a fan myself, except of the rocking horses) and you're in London with a car, then try their outlet warehouse in Barking - it's off the A13 (first right after the A406 roundabout when heading East), the addy is on their website.

It's up some stairs and is all a bit of a jumble sale, but they have tons of stuff and it's good reductions (it would need to be, imho!). I try not to go as I'd just end up drooling over all the rocking horses....

My sis is a bit of a label queen and she was insistent on M&P stuff for their nursery - looked v. dull and ugly to me, but then it'd be a dull world if we all liked the same things...

Oh, and there's generally a bacon buttie van in the nearby carpark - bit better value than their cafe by the sounds of things!

The best double buggy that I have ever had and still have is the Mountain Buggy double Urban it is fantastic so light and easy to push much better than any of the crappy M&P ones and you can get proper carrycots for it.