mothercare - "we can't sell you a car seat. It's raining"

[knickerelasticjones]

Don't know if I should post this in this topic as its not really a question of being unreasonable. But I though I would share with you all today's experience of genuine retain insanity.

Went into Mothercare today to get a stage three car seat for DD1. Had DDs 1 and 2 with me. Approached cash desk and said

Me - "Hello, I"d like to get a car seat for my daughter"
Assistant - "does it fit in your car?"
Me - "I don't know, I as I haven't bought the car seat yet" (I'm already thinking her first question is a bit inane, but hey! we all have our off days...)
Assistant - "Oh well we can't sell you a car seat now. It's raining"
Me - "Sorry?"
Assistant - "We would have to go and fit the car seat in your car and we can't do that now as it's raining"

(At this point I thought maybe there was a concern about the car seat getting wet, and perhaps they would show me round the seats available on the display in store, but more was to come...)

Me - "I'm a little confused"
Assistant - "It's health and safety. We might fall over in the rain."
Me - (really confused by now) "Sorry??"
Assistant - "It's for our own protection. We aren't allowed to sell car seats when its raining, as we might fall over when we walk to the car to check it fits".

This was followed by a grumpy silence from all three assistants who were looking at me as if to say "How DARE you put our very lives at risk by suggesting that we might sell you a car seat. Can't you see the RAIN".

No more help offered from them. Just lots of questions from DD1 as to why she couldn't have her new car seat. With me saying loudly " they can't sell us a car seat during the rain. We are NEVER coming here again." We went to Halfords.

Now I'm all for protecting the worker (a union person me) but seriously? You can't go out in the rain as you might fall over? Seriously?

I live in Scotland - if that's a valid excuse for staying in, I may never leave the house again....

Roll on the profit warning. I hate Mothercare - they seem to have a policy of employing people who genuinely dislike children, are disinterested in providing good (any) customer service and are generally not too keen on working at all.

Mothercare?? Has a name ever been so badly named? Really should be Motherhate!

Go to Argos as it is alot cheaper.

Very funny, have to say my experiences of Mothercare were always terrible too. Very disinterested staff but that takes the biscuit.

YANBU. Ridiculous.

My nearest Mothercare had an upstairs baby change room - and no lift

Sorry for my ignorence but does a Stage 3 car seat really need fitting? Am not been funny but personally I've bought 4 carseats without ever once having one "fitted" by a sales assistant - is it important? I've always thought it was sales guff "free fitting", blah, blah.

But very funny story.

Love the story. Can I add my favourite bit of sales assistant inanity - actually the customer services lady when I rang up Sainsbury's. I wanted directions to drive to their store car park and after pondering for a while, she told me to follow the 363 bus! Needless to say, I didn't ask her to elaborate on where I'd find one to follow, or when to stop following it....

"does it fit in your car?"
"I don't have a car."

I just bought a car seat to have at home because I don't drive and use it when people give us a lift.

Add me to the MC haters list! I bought a maternity T-shirt for £8 last pregnancy, it had marks on it, you could make out someones bra pattern! I didn't notice it till I got it home and just as I was breaking the tag off (the plastic tag was there but the paper tag ripped, IYSWIM). I took it back and was told they couldn't take it back because it wasn't in a saleable condition! I said that was the problem She said they couldn't have sold it looking like that. I told her I'm quite capable of doing my own washing! Customer Services were great, they called her and she said exactly the same thing to them and they said it was her decision. It was an £8 T-shirt and she threw away a customer and goodwill over £8!

Stripeyknickers - it's not a sales tactic. You really should check that car seats fit in your car properly - 70% of car seats are fitted incorrectly. They do not fit all cars. For example in my car the car seat only fits correctly in the front passenger seat and we can't find one that fits on the back seat at all.

But a Stage 3 carseat is a booster with a back. It balances on your backseat and the car seatbelt secures it - how can it not fit, unless your car is 12" wide?

P.M.S.L.

Another Mothercare hater too. They are totally inept, rude, disinterested, very young inexperienced sales staff IME.

The babychange/feed area in our old local one (before we moved city) was REVOLTING.

Maybe the OP should email HO and send a link to this thread with the email.

She didn't eant her hair wet ror her make up messed up....but tbh, as a customer..I do NOT give a shit...basically!

Am laughing my head off at this!
I work PT at my local Mothercare store.
We are only supposed to fit car seats if we've been trained. Training is few and far between.
I've not been trained, so have never fitted any in anyones' car.
However, I have sold plenty.

Definately complain about your sales assistants.
They were talking nonsense.
You'd hardly demand them to fit a carseat in the pouring rain anyway. I am sure if that was the case neither of you would want to be outside.

We aren't all bad I promise!

(coming from the sales assistant who got stung in a recent mystery shopper experience concerning travel cots, whereby I was asked by the mystery shopper for an alternative price as it was quite expensive, I could have recommended Argos etc, but no, I suggested she went to a car boot sale and got a 2nd hand one but brought a new travel cot mattress for £24.99 - apparently this is a brand damaging statement & I should have encouraged her to open a storecard and save £10!!!!) whoops! See - some of us genuinely want to help the customer!

PMSL at this thread - how feckin' ridiculous!!

Perhaps if they put one of those bright yellow "wet floor" warning cones outside the store, before taking the car seat out it would make it safer???

but, lizzie, shouldmyou even ayyrmpyr yo sell carsears///////////////////////no..... and that is where the responsibility lirrss...I am not confatable..and that is where things son't ;ook smmart or safe...

Our motercare was rubis, too, adn as closed down. Dont write to ead office, just let all teir sales fall to ridiculous levels so tey all ave to close. Can you tell I dont like moterare?

Bummer - my aitc isnt workin. Or jee. [anry]

oodnit!

Lizz I am selling mine and my parents travel cots at car boot this weekend - send your customers this way please!!!!

Are you sure she didn't say 'we can't sell you a carseat. It's training.....?'

I had different car seat madness at Mothercare in Glasgow city centre.

Me: I'd like to buy that one please.

Assistant bloke: I can't sell it to you without fitting it in your car.

Me: ok then, can we bring the car around for you to fit it?

Assistant: Er, no. We don't have the facilities to fit the car seats.

Me: so you're not going to sell me the car seat?

Assistant: You can go to our other branch in Anniesland and they'll fit it.

Me: Anniesland????? Er, where on earth.....??

Gave up at this point as head off brick wall was getting painful!
Emailed Mothercare and apparently bloke was only to happy to sell me a car seat and I misunderstood ????

AAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stripyknickers - i bought a stage 3 car seat and Mothercare staff told me it didn't need fitting with it being a stage 3, despite me asking for it to be fitted. Everytime i went round a corner in the seat, it fell to the side with dd (then aged 4) in it. I kept having to stop, get out of the car and straightening up the seat (and dd) each time i went round a corner

The seat most definitely did not fit adequately in my car!

I ended up giving it away to a friend in whose car it did fit and then buying a new one

oh no, lizzombie. I got lucky with my mystery shopper- had a ball with her. I think she guessed that we'd twigged her and played along.

what a load of b@ll@@@S
i think we should bouycot mothercare for being such scardy cats of the rain!!!;)

I had exactly the reverse issue with the A3 Babybarn. Hung around in there for AGES with DD (10m) while 4 (!) assistants helped one pregnant woman choose a buggy, and then got to buy the bigger car seat.

They have signs on the walls that say they've been "trained" by the car seat manufacturers to fit car seats. I bought the seat, asked the woman to fit it, and off we go. We get to the car, I take the old seat out and the woman gets the new one out of the box. Before she fits it she says
"I can fit it for you, but then I have to take it out again."

For liability reasons.

SURELY if they've been trained by the manufacturer, and they fit the seat according to the training, and we come a cropper, the MANUFACTURER is liable!?! Bloody litigation paranoid wallies.

MC left the neighbours delivery in my garden, they literally chucked it over the wall!ripped and soggy boxes etc

i find them a bitty unpredictable.

i use Glasgow pram centre, always reliable