just had a run in with the maternity ward bounty photographer

[StateofConfusion]

And having previously defended them and loved my pictures of my eldest children todays 'rep' has made me agree they need to be removed from wards!

She arrived originally before breakfast turned on the lights and opened curtains waking me and the other Mum up, then continued to talk over the peadiatrician who was checking my dd over.

Eventually she sulked off but apparently came back when I was asleep (how dare I?) Last time she came back as I'd just settled dd and was eating lunch which had just arrived.

I said No photos at the minute thanks she got most insistant that its for security reasons?? (I'm going home today) and said she'd just lean round and take them, dd was asleep on my lap in a v pillow whilst I ate. I said again, not right now I'm eating she left brochures and went off muttering quite loudly.

I'm hormonal so ofc this has upset me, but not as much as the first time mum across they way! WHY are these people allowed to just walk around a maternity ward being so fucking rude!

a lot of those mums don't know that you are the reason for those horrible aggressive home security scare mongering calls that they get during the peak of their PND, they think it's coincidence!

I've just googled & they do ask for CRB checks on some of the vacancies advertised.

I bet none of the senior people at Bounty would have the guts to come on here for a webchat and defend themselves.

What do you think, Dontbeatmeup?

I really don't think any of those mums or your friends would really think you had a "lovely job" if they knew what you were collecting women's info for!

Why would a HV think to contact Bounty if a baby died?

Bounty aren't anyone official they are just a company hoping to make a quick buck, it isn't down to a HV to contact them when something happens. How ridiculous.
Should the HVs contact the Early Learning Centre to remove toddlers from their birthday club if they die too?

I very much doubt the community MWs contact Bounty much either, if you hadn't noticed the NHS inc MWs are rather stretched.

did you even know yourself?

did you know that if you contact them to tell them your baby/child has died, they DO NOT pass that on to the companies that they have already sold your info to?

did you know that they sell to companies such as the home security ones that use scare mongering at a time when they know women with PND are likely to be most vulnerable?

did you know that about your lovely job? do you still think it's lovely?

Dontbeatmeupitsxmas - are the Bounty ladies supposed to check in with the midwives to see if there's women that they shouldn't hassle - i.e. women with babies in SCBU/NICU or with stillborn babies - can you answer that question?

Because that sort of thing just causes unneccessary additional distress to vunerable women.

You know what, I think some of you should back right off. She didnt have to come on here at all, or answer any questions. If you don't like what Bounty does then get hold of their management or better yet, the heads of maternity services who enter into these contracts.
To rip into a single individual for the job they is disgraceful.

Yes purpletinsel every morning I check with the midwife in charge for babies in scbu, mums who are poorly or csections who should rest and see them in a few days. Anyway, I have the mother in law coming for Christmas so I really need some sleep, as a longtime mumsnetter myself, apart from the few stupid personal Insults, it was genuinely thought provoking tonight. Will make sure I look after all the new mums as usual but with extra clarity r.e info gathered.

Does no-one else think we should try to get someone on for a webchat?

'look after all the new mums'?!

There's some real confusion going on here re: the distinction between hospital staff & sales reps.

No wonder it's sometimes hard for those 'new mums' to tell the difference. Buggers got me twice (out of three) with their poxy sudocreme samples & I'm normally as hardbitten & sceptical as they come wrt cold sellers.

Thanks sacro, it's only a part time job and there's not many of them around at the moment.

Eh? Some people here have had very unpleasant, unacceptable experiences.

If dontbeatmeup doesn't like it, she can hide the thread. She hasn't been asked to post - she has chosen chosen to join in a thread full of very angry women.

Her choice. People are not going to go easy on Bounty because someone has admitted to working for them. That's not the point.

This job should not exist. There is not going to be a middle ground here.

If someone started a thread saying 'I'm in £50k of debt because of door-to-door loan salesmen', and someone came on saying 'Actually I'm a door-to-door loan salesman', it wouldn't change the fact that it's an unacceptable job to do.

Dontbeatmeup's job is not going anywhere. She is anonymous. She makes money from exploiting vulnerable women, whose details are then sold on.

If she wants to defend herself about that - good for her.

But don't ask people to go easy on her.

To rip into a single individual for the job they is disgraceful.

Why if it effectively breaking the law...? Especially if they are naively unaware of why and are still defending their job after being told why its a problem and why its distressing.

I'd love to know whether Dontbeatmeupitsxmas would change the way she works after reading this thread and stop going on the ward and harassing woman in a vulnerable position. I sincerely doubt it, as I still get the impression that she thinks its ok to go onto the ward.

Given a lot of women don't even know about the Bounty lady before going on a ward, then they can't tell the midwife to tell the bounty lady to fuck off in advance. At best from what Dontbeatmeupitsxmas says, she gets them in the end when the midwife sees fit. Not when the woman decides to make a free decision to approach the Bounty Lady. Its the wrong way round and thats the entire problem here.

Do you think salespeople have any place on a maternity ward? It's that simple really. They are salespeople, who take details of mothers and sell them on for profit. They're not some benevolent organisation that exist to provide free sudocreme for all. They pay hospitals kick backs from their sales for the right to get their hands on new mothers when they are exhausted post labour.

If you want to spend money on pictures of your baby there are dozens of companies that will happily take your money off you. Only one has bought the right to wander around the wards outside of visiting times, often indistinguishable from hospital staff.

Tell me dontbeatmeup, if you are not targeted, how exactly are you paid by Bounty? As all of the job ads I have seen (and there are many) say the OTE is made up of performance related pay and commission. If you are coming on here to defend the job you do, then at least give us the courtesy of being honest.

I cannot quite get my head around the fact that after DD2 was born my 75 year old MIL was forced to stand outside the ward while DH & DD1 visited me as she wasn't immediate family, and yet these commission earning sales reps are allowed to wander the wards at will, opening closed doors and pulling back closed curtains on new mothers. And then pressure them to spend money on unasked for photographs and sign away their personal data.

It. Is. Fucking. Outrageous.

Something has to be done about this. I see the NCT have already highlighted it. I think it's time for MN to join forces and get this vile practice stopped.

Sorry dontbeatmeup, I guess it will mean you'll be out of a job soon. I hope you manage to find a position with a more ethical organisation.

As people have said earlier, imagine if salespeople were allowed to wander through other hospital departments like this. If someone pushed back the curtain in A&E and asked where you had your accident whilst offering you a drink and a sandwich. And handed you a form to fill out. I'm sure ambulance chasing personal injury firms would be willing to pay for the privilege.

Definitely shouldn't be allowed.

Rindercella there was a thread on this subject earlier in the year. MNHQ were asked about a campaign on it. They said they would look into it as it was clearly a massive problem that was causing a lot of distress, but clearly its not gone any further.

I guess one of the problems with that is that Bounty itself its a direct competitor to MN with its parenting forums and that maybe caused them to have a conflict of interests.

Would be interesting to know exactly why MNHQ never took the ball and ran with it as a campaign though.

Look after? Really? Do you provide medication? Clean sheets? Perform necessary medical checks? Offer BF support or help to the bathroom? Or do you collect personal data to be sold on to private companies and encourage someone to spend money on photos?

btw... 'Look after' someone and then selling to them in this context would also constitute an abuse of a position of power... perhaps by making someone feel obliged to buy off you.

Aggressive Sales.

looking after*

It's the underhand way it's done. It's reasonable to assume that someone approaching you with forms to fill in and a child benefit form to give you, who is wandering around during staff only time, is hospital staff. And your boundaries are down as well, because when you've had half a dozen people looking up your vagina, being asked your address hardly seems intrusive.

Red, thank you. I hadn't seen the thread from earlier in the year. It had crossed my mind that MN & Bounty are in competition. Thankfully though MNHQ hasn't yet recruited a load of commission based sales reps to hound vulnerable mothers in the first few hours/days postpartum in their hospital beds on a supposedly secure maternity ward.

Sales people have no place in hospital wards but why rip in to a employee at the very bottom and demand they change things they are in no position to do.

Her employer sends her there, her employer arranged the deal with the hospital and the hospital accept money from her employer for her being there.

She didnt lie when she said she's not a sales person, I don't know even one photographer who would actively describe themselves as anything other than a photographer. And not many people who collect names ect and give out sample packs would describe themselves as sales people either.

Unless you think she should quit her job instantly and be unemployed what else do you think she has the power to change or do?

Not steal details when the mother refuses to provide them,
Not pressure with insults or refusals to leave if service declined,
Not say she has to take the photo for anything other than a keep sake and be open about it being optional.
Don't use the child benefit lie.
Dont approach mothers with ill babies unless mw says its ok.
Dont refuse to hear the word no.

She's already said she personally does none of these things

Take out your anger on the people who can change it,the ones who don't risk getting the sack from a low paid job by refusing to go to work so will still be able to eat the next day.