to expect to be able to buy a cot in an out of town branch of Mothercare?

[poorbuthappy]

Not a small town branch, but large branch on the outskirts of Cardiff?

Apparently they don't hold any stock of cots. Chuffing useless...dh now at a smaller branch which has stock?

Don't make no sense to me...

Ordering in store means 4 working days delivery - or paying for next day delivery on internet for £7.95 but then wouldn't be able to use our gift card.

Customer service anyone??

Customer service? They don't know what it means. We went to mothercare in Kew to get a car seat for DS2, paid for it and were told it would be delivered in 4 working days. Later they sent DH a message to say it wouldn't be delivered, ever (eh?), they couldn't refund his money on-line and he would have to go back to the shop.

John Lewis now, you order a car seat for DS2 on line, it comes within 24 hours and lo! is cheaper than Mothercouldntcare as well.

Mothercare are crap in general tbh. I would say go to John Lewis or an independant retailer if you have the choice - but of course if you've got a gift card you don't have the choice.

I wanted a travel cot a few weeks back. It had been reduced.

Big out of town store didn't have any left, could order online but discount wouldn't apply.

Why not sell me the display one then, I asked.

Oooh no, couldn't do that. It's against store policy.

Why?

It's against store policy.

GggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH

Can I give you a tip- I find mothercare ridiculously expensive- the majority of items are over-priced. I tend to shop at kiddie-care online which offers a lot of the same items at mothercare but much cheaper.
I enjoy the shopping experience of mothercare especially when you are pregnant and see all the lovely items but I hate the prices.

Oh they make me mad too. We ordered DD's cot from them, it arrived we started assembling it and realised we were missing four screws. At this point it was almost fully assembled (which took over two hours and a few rows to do)

When I called up they told me we should have checked all parts were present before starting but as a 'goodwill gesture' they would send us a new cot with no delivery charge but we would have to dismantle this one, pack it up and pay for couriers to return it to them ourselves. I was fuming. Why could they not just send the small missing parts?

On another occasion MIL came over with a huge bag of clothes for DD and DS, all too small or just horrid. I took them into the shop (hangers and tags still attached) asking to exchange them and they treated me like a criminal, they said no way without a reciept etc etc. In the end I left the shop and offered them on freecycle.

They are crap, they don't hold stock of cots, beds, furniture, decent pushchairs and some car seats

I was told they can order them in. I told them I'd order through the internet as I was so annoyed by the crap service I didn't want my money going on their store balance sheet.

Doesn't help you but they are rubbish.

We bought our car seat from Mothercare and asked if it would fit in our car. We were assured it would and they showed us how to fit it so we took it home, tried it in the car the way they had shown us and the belt just about went round it. We later looked at the instructions and the way they showed us how to fit it was completely wrong and when we did it the correct way it didn't fit in the car as the belt wouldn't go round it. By then we'd had it over the 24 hours you are allowed to own one before returning it so couldn't take it back. DP ended up using that as an excuse to upgrade his car!

They will go out of business if they aren't careful

I'd go John Lewis or even Ikea for certain things

I actively try not to buy from them.

Some of the stuff is nice, yes, but can always be got elsewhere.

Example: new splash mat for under DS's high chair: £12 farking quid

Art splash mat from ELC (lairy but perfectly serviceable): £4.

Had a similar experience trying to get a toddler bed last year (from what I assume is the same Mothercare store on the outskirts of Cardiff!!) I was told they don't keep them in stock and they offered to order one from their website, something I could do at home. On principle I then ordered one from John Lewis!

The online service is great, but our branch is rubbish too. I tried to buy some sleep bras and nursing tops, they only had massive or tiny, but the rails were still jammed full so you couldn't look through for sizes without everything falling on the floor. When I asked if they had middling sizes in stock the reply to everything was "we can order you one in" but they failed to see that their stock control was useless. Also a musical toy dd was given by my work colleagues didn't work, they'd sold out and wouldn't refund as I didn't have the receipt so I asked if they could check other stores and get one sent across, "no that's against our policy, it costs us too much to do that". Their only advice was that I could phone all the other nearby branches and then go there myself if someone had one.

Wrote a long, long message to the complaints dept who wrote back and said sorry for dismal service and they'd look into the stock problems. Still p'd me off like mad though.

Can I join in with the mothercare bashing? Everything costs more than it does in John Lewis and Boots.
In my local one the staff are sooo bad. I have been served v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y by a lady who continually asked the others if they would take over as she was going on her break in 2 minutes. She asked them all in turn and they all ignored her and I'm standing there thinking shut up about your fecking break and hand over the nappies. Then there was the guy who was telling his colleagues how he was going to beat the crap out of the person who had stolen his phone.

But my favourite was when I asked the cashier if she could refund some vests I had bought and transfer the money onto a gift card, fine, but then I wanted to put extra money onto the gift card, she told me I couldn't in shocked tones as though it was some elaborate scam rather than extra money for fecking mothercare!

I'm guessing that you mean Culverhouse Cross!

It is the most hopeless shop that I have ever had the misfortune to be a customer in!

If things aren't in stock and they offer to order them in (or order them for delivery to you) - make sure that they don't charge you the delivery charge. This has happened to me on two occaisions and both times I've said,"of course the delivery charge won't apply will it as I would have bought it here and now if you had it in stock" (while smiling sweetly!!)and they have dutifully removed the fee.

I tend to just use Mothercare to see things in the flesh before ordering them online from the cheapest place. Alternatively Smolanny's in Barry are very good and do their best to price match internet prices (just take a print out of the cheapest item that you find online).

I'm seriously considering sending this thread to them - not that they will care of course!
Does anyone know anyone high up in Mothercare?

Iwish - actually he started in the other branch and ended up in Culverhouse Cross! As I said it doesn't make sense because Newport Road is twice the size of Culvercross!!

Ha! Don't make me laugh about mothercare. I expected to be able to buy a cot from mothercare when DS when 10 weeks old. The sales assistant was both incompetent and indifferent, DS was having a complete melt down but she was impervious. Half an hour she took (I do not exaggerate) to try and type one effing code into their machine. In the end I walked out.

I eventually got a M&P cot from Argos. They cocked up the delivery because the idiot child let loose on the till couldn't seem to work it properly (they don't like it if you don't live at 14 Acacia Avenue, house names are anathema to them) but to be fair after losing the will to live and agreeing to have the cot delivered to branch rather than my house, the manager got wind of it, phoned me up, refunded the delivery charge and brought it to my house in her car. That's customer service.

Go to Eddershaws in Hadfield Road - much nicer with friendly staff - and they've got a cafe too (and a great selection of prams/pushchairs). Or if you can wait a few weeks, apparently there's a new Mamas and Papas shop opening near the new football stadium.

Mothercare are useless and I get far too worked up detailing the catalogue of problems I've had with them. I now go straight to John Lewis.

I actually bought both pushchairs from Eddershaws as I know the customer service there far surpasses anything experienced in any branch of Mothercare! But we had £50 vouchers for MC given to us when the twins were born. We knew eventually we would need another cot and it seemed like the logical thing to do...

For god's sake don't let me near the MP shop, I've only ever been in the 1 in Bristol once when preggies with DD1 and hubby had to drag me kicking and screaming from the shop because I wanted everything!

Mothercare are shit.

Overpriced and poor quality in a lot of cases.

I bought a maternity dress for a wedding when I was pregnant with DD2. She then arrived 6 weeks early and was in NICU for 6 weeks, so I didn't wear the dress. I finally managed to return it (unworn with all tags and a receipt) to the store where they told me I had left it too late for a refund and could only have a credit note, despite me explaining why I had taken a month to return the dress.

I told them very politely I was not accepting a credit note, wanted my money back and refused to leave until I had it. Cue lots of sniffs and aggro from the manageress but I got my money back.

Does anyone know when the M+P shop will be opening?