Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

DD just got so scared in Asda she wet herself (angryangryangryangryangry)

123 replies

sherby · 11/09/2008 13:16

Firstly tell me if you think I am being unreasonable and then help me write a complaint letter, I am so frigging incensed I can't think straight

Went to Asda to get a globe (on special if you want one) and they have all the Halloween stuff out. DD is 3 and seems to be quite sensitive atm so I avoided going near it all and went to go get some milk

Walked around the corner and straight into a 6ft odd animated monster/vampire thing that they had nowhere near the Halloween stuff just randomly at the end of the milk aisle . I am not exaggerating when I say this thing looked so bloody real and its eyes were flicking back and forward it was horrible. DD screamed and I mean bloody screamed, I picked her up and she wet herself , she has been dry for over well over 9mths odd.

An employee came over and said 'so sorry that is the second child in 10 mins to scream at that thing'. DD was clinging on to me and asking if it could walk and it was going to get her. So I went to try to get out of the store and she was so upset, saying she could hear it coming.

All day she has been asking me over and over where it is is it still in the shop can it drive a car, can it walk

So AIBU to think that given that most of their customers in the daytime have preschool children that they should have thought slightly about scaring the frigging wits out of them.

I did complain to the cs people but DD was screaming so much we had to leave. They just said oh yeah we'll tell the manager

OP posts:

ShyBaby · 25/09/2008 00:23

Well ds was all for wanting to know how he worked in great detail, dd just thought he was really clever. (sinister little child )

blueskythinker · 25/09/2008 00:53

I have just e-mailed the Daily Mail (hangs head in shame) with the title 'Can we do something about this monster in Asda'. They will probably be disappointed that it is a halloween figure, and not a paedophile.

twentypence · 25/09/2008 01:08

lol bluesky thinker!

blueskythinker · 29/09/2008 21:33

Well I complained to Asda, and got the following reply:

Thank you for your message.

I'm really sorry to hear about the distress caused by the Halloween butler, which is in some of our stores.

It was certainly not our intention to upset anyone, and I'm concerned this has been the case. Our Halloween products should be all in one place and the butler figure should be kept with them, to minimise the effect.

I've asked our store to check this, and also keep an eye on feedback received from our customers. I've also contacted our buying team who have confirmed that this has been a very popular product, but we are monitoring any complaints we get.

Once again, I'm sorry about your experience. Thanks for taking the time to contact us, and please let me know if there's anything else I can help you with.

Kind regards

I had many things I wanted to write, but managed to constrain myself to this:

blueskythinker · 29/09/2008 21:36

Asda,
Thank you for your reply. The butler figure was in the halloween aisle, however it was clearly visible from both ends of the aisle, which we had to walk past.

I think more fundamentally, Asda is supposed to be a family friendly store (I note you are also currently running a baby event), and so I do not expect to have to be wary of what parts of the shop I bring my children to. I would suggest that this item would be more appropriate for online shopping. I am aware that mine is not an isolated complaint, and in fact the issue has been reported in some newspapers. I am also aware that this figure has cause so much distress to some children that they have actually wet themselves.

Monitoring complaints is not going to help me deal with my traumatised 3 year old, who has been having nightmares and expressing fear about the item ever since. I would again ask that you provide an assurance that you will remove this offensive item from your stores.

Regards, Blueskythinker

please complain to asda if you have had a bad experience

ShyBaby · 29/09/2008 21:38

They must have had a fair few complaints because he has been removed from our local Asda!

Nappyzoneneedssleep · 29/09/2008 21:43

i saw something similar in ours last week - i steered dd 5 away from aisle as i knew she would pap herself and also i didnt know if it was real or not myself eg.. a person dressed up.

lovemybuggy · 29/09/2008 22:11

Crikey thats awful,poor little love
Id def write and complain,
Hope your DD is ok,

Lemontart · 29/09/2008 22:18

ooh your poor little DD! I hope she will forget about it soon and not give nightmares.
My DD1 was/is the same way and the halloween aisle in Asda has given stress and upset on previous years. In fact, I am sure there was a similar thread this time last year about exactly this.
Interestingly, our DD2 loves that awful monster with the googy moving eyes!! I have to take her up that aisle and dawdle for ages while DH and DD1 stay two aisles away in the shampoo section..

FairLadyRantALot · 29/09/2008 22:33

my Kids love that Butler (reminds me of that guy form Rocky Horror Picture show)....

but not good if you child gets upset by it....it does look a bit spooky and freaky....

saying that, I think it might be a good idea to take your dd back to see and be prepared to see it and hopefully she will realise it is not real and ust a silly figure....but could undersand if you rather not do that....

falcon · 29/09/2008 22:45

It should have been in the Halloween aisle certainly.

I do think complaining about it being in the halloween aisle is a bit much though, this isn't directed at the op btw.

Halloween is about witches,ghosts, monsters, vampires etc, of course there are less sinister costumes but they are a big part of it, and it's exactly what I'd expect to find in the Halloween aisle.

Putting it by the till is a bit dumb though, and in my local Asda it's at the dvd section.

surprise · 30/09/2008 21:25

vote with your feet - don't shop there any more.

MollyCherry · 03/10/2008 00:16

BSt I've only just come back to this thread since it first started. Hope your LO is getting over the shock.

The day after you originally posted I had to go back to our Asda in Brighton and they had moved theirs from the CD aisle to Halloween section, and I was quite impressed that they'd taken notice - but obviously not judging from other people posting.

FWIW my DD (just turned 4) is quite easily freaked out and had been asking to stay home from nursery on Halloween as they dress up. She saw it and was absolutely fascinated by it. DH (39) not so keen though

blueskythinker · 04/10/2008 14:22

loisandluce · 05/10/2008 18:30

Just to say I'm right there with you - while explaining to frightened 3 year old DD that the man was just pretend (knocking his head and encouraging her to hold his hand to show her it wasn't real) my 1 year old son turned round in the shopping trolly, caught sight of it and started screaming in terror! Not great thinking on the part of ASDA - it is increadibly 'life like'.

zorrosmrs · 14/10/2008 23:01

oh dear....anyway, does anyone know how to get hold of the 'butler's' little mate??...he is much smaller than the butler and has a bald head....my local asda had one on show but i can't find another one anywhere. my kids are much older and they love the butler but we need his little gimp friend....

Tryharder · 14/10/2008 23:18

LOL

Just seen this thread and showed it to DP. Our DS1 was also traumatised by a lifelike monster thing with a green face. He now refuses to go into Asda so we have to do our shopping at Morrisons or Sainsburys instead

I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I didnt actually realise that the monster was a toy. I thought it was an Asda employee with face paint on and a wig. No, seriously...

TheSmallClanger · 14/10/2008 23:21

I commented on this near to the beginning, but I've seen the butler thing for myself now and it actually made me jump a bit.

saffiw · 14/10/2008 23:34

I was in Tesco last week and had the shock of my life. I went around a corner and saw a trolley with a skellington in it. It was so realistic that I had to hold in a scream, luckily I didn't pee myself. I would ring them up and complain about the monster.

handlemecarefully · 14/10/2008 23:54

Not wishing to be inflammatory but just pondering...this sort of thing would never and has never scared my children. I'm not sure why...but we've always has a no nonsense, brisk 'don't be ridiculous, it's just pretend' approach to stuff. Genuine question - is it best to be empathetic in these circumstances - or does that simply perpetuate things...? / perhaps better to be matter of fact /dismissive? (waffling now)

MaryWizz · 30/10/2008 21:26

The first time I came accross this thing was in our local Co-op. Right by the door, groaning and moaning and eyes flashing. Terrified my 3 year old boy. I had to carry him past it and when I complained about it to the staff I was looked at as though I was talking gibberish. So later that evening when little one was still bothered by it I phoned the Co-op Customer Services to complain. After two weeks I was called back to be told that the item was part of a promotion called the theatre of halloween or some such twoddle and that it had been well received and compliments had been made about it. They assured me though that the store had been asked to move the item away from the door which they never have. I was made to feel that I was over-reacting. When we tried another Co-op in another village they had the same thing and it happened again. We decided then to shop at Morrisons (much more low key Halloween stuff which is fine, we are not anti-Halloween). Reading the postings on this site has made me feel much better, thank you. As an adult I can see the funny side to it although I wouldn't buy one myself, but as a mum I am not happy about the reponse I got. I hope you complained. They need to know when they make a mistake.

Nighbynight · 30/10/2008 21:54

hmc
my approach is to shake its hand.

you cant win really. My children were once terrified of a large, bearded, ho-hoing father christmas. They confused him with the disney yeti in that film.

CoffeeAndCarrotCake · 30/10/2008 22:36

OMG - absolutely PMSL!!! I know this sounds completely insensitive and of course YANBU (I'd have wrestled it to the floor and stomped on it if it had made my DD scared) but just the thought of MNers across the country being accosted by "groaning and moaning and eyes flashing" monsters and things in supermarket milk aisles and being too terrified to do the shopping is just hilarious!

Then again, maybe I'm just a bit odd when it comes to things like that. I took DD to a county fair when she was only just walking and a man dressed as a giant banana suddenly stepped out in fron of her. She literally fell over in shock and I found that hilarious too - she was fine - just shocked to see a giant walking waving banana.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Swipe left for the next trending thread