To want dd's teddy back?

[MissingTeddy]

We gave dd(8)’s favourite teddy (her constant companion for 5 years) to John Lewis’ Teddy Bear Repair & Refresh service before Christmas to be cleaned and mended.

It’s been lost while in their care (or technically the care of Johnson's dry cleaning and/or the courier and/or the repair centre, who are all involved with the service).

She’s been asking almost daily when her bear is coming home and I haven’t yet told her it's lost.

The exact bear isn’t available new or secondhand anywhere online.

I’m sharing in the hope that someone might recognise it, have one tucked away, or know where I might find an identical replacement.

I’ll post a photo below. Any help hugely appreciated 💛

Wanted an AIBU to get more traffic so: AIBU to think the £35 compensation the dry cleaning company has offered isn't going to cut it with my dd and I somehow need to find an identical bear?

Now wish I'd just taken it to our local Repair Cafe who would have mended it while I waited!

Poor teddy. ☹️

Put the image in Google lens, it's showing same bear on ebay and other sites. Claim what you spend back plus compensation.

I can still remember losing my favourite doll when I was little- she got swept out to sea in Wales and i can vividly remember crying and crying in the hotel room.A kind man on a beachfront stall gave me a little rabbit to try and cheer me up, but all I wanted was my doll.

Incredibly sloppy and careless of whoever has lost it, as sentimental things are irreplaceable, and I guess the annoying thing is you don't know who to complain to either as there could be various companies responsible!

This is pretty close
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334567319081?chn=ps&_ul=GB&mkevt=1&mkcid=28&google_free_listing_action=view_item

£100?? The cheek. Did you take the offer?

Google Lens brought up quite a few on Ebay

Worse I just gave up and walked away. I can’t tell you how upset we were. I know it’s just a rug, but it was ours and precious to our family.

that is really awful (I had no idea they offered this type of service).

£35 is meaningless to a small child who’s precious Teddy they had and between them managed to lose .

I would post the JL head of customer service (or whatever it is called now) explaining the position step by step and asking her/him to ensure that they have properly checked about the heat eg was it refreshed , did it go to courier company - which one? What has happened to it and ask how they plan to explain to your daughter why her bear is not by her side

a few years ago I had a different issue with a beloved toy DS had (thankfully not his bear) with JL as we had to return it for a replacement only they didn’t replace it and everytine I chased it up I spoke to a different member of staff who promised it would be sent, only it wasn’t, then they denied having received the faulty one back etc etc. I got so angry about the run around they gave me I looked at who was I. Charge and sent a very polite but firm email telling them it wasn’t good enough , it was frankly shoddy customer service and I wanted it sorted by x date and that my then 7 year old didn’t understand why they had t done as they had promised - I was fortunate in that I received a personal phone call about it hugely apologising - a very lovely reply email with the tracking number for the replacement being delivered the next day and then the chap rang back to see that my son had received it and offered a £100 gift card for the inconvenience - I said I hadn’t written for a gift card I just wanted them to honour the replacement - chap said he was appalled at how awful it was and he sent my son a scooter and a handwritten card.

When we have had parcels from JL it was DPD that delivered I recall.

I had a JL parcel delivered by Evri yesterday.

Wow, so many replies, thank you everyone who has taken the time to offer advice and support. Some of the things suggested I've tried already but this has given me several new ideas. I have made a to do list for tomorrow and will report back if I have any luck.

No help just another bump

It's not a question of money, is it ... it's the bear! I still have mine, who celebrated his 74th birthday last Christmas. Okay, he's lost all his fur and most of his stuffing, but he's irreplaceable.

Your poor DD! What a lovely bear. I hope he's found. 🙏

74- I love that.

That's a good idea: reminds me of my beloved childhood picture book Tatty Ratty which is about a rabbit toy doing just that.

This is not adequate at all. It can’t be lost. It’s somewhere. It’s just no one has the time or inclination to look for it.

You should go to the press. John Lewis will do everything they can to put it right then. You need you and your daughter looking sad in a photo and then photos of her holding it as a baby. Contact SWNS news agency. They will get this in the papers.

Press attention is often the only way to get a business to fix something these days.

This. Tell the John Lewis customer care people you've contacted Martin Lewis and offered to go on his show to say how disappointing it is that their new service has carelessly lost a beloved bear, in the first few months of operation, and is offering paltry compensation and not even making the effort to find a replacement. 🤞 for you

Oh I'm sorry to hear that OP
I've been lurking here for years,and have seen a few of these appeals, and some kind mumsnetter always,always has one and offers it to the poster
I was so hoping the same thing would happen tonight.
Fingers crossed it might happen.
The bear is so cute 🙂

Would it be worth posting on the fb group family lockdown or whatever it is called now? You may find that someone may have one

Unfortunately have done a few image searches and looked around and the closest I can find in similarity is as others have posted the BAB one.

I'm so sorry she's been lost! 😭 I still have the same soft toy dog I've had since birth and he's irreplaceable (I did actually once try and find one-though ended duo not being the exact same so now he just has a brother 🤣) I would be heartbroken if I lost him and I'm in my 40s! 😞

Really hope you manage to find something, sorry I had no luck x

Good luck

Could you get one of the Build-a-Bear ones, and tell your daughter that her bear had a growth spurt while it was away?

Or maybe put an advert on FaceBook telling the story of what's happened, and giving the size and make of the bear that's missing, and ask if anyone has one that they no longer need/want would get in touch. You might strike lucky.

Thats awful! I still sleep with my childhood bear (we are both 53!)
We had a hairy moment when ds lost his bear (aged 1) Bought him a replacement, but he reclaimed it as " that's not BB, that an Uwun!!" We found BB, but then he had to gave both BB and Uwun for the next however many years!
I once left my bear in a hotel in France, and my parents drove 100 miles to retrieve him! Bears are precious and JL should be ashamed!

https://www.vinted.co.uk/items/7130517527-the-bear-factory