So BABY (not So Baby Organics) - anyone ever bought anythig from them?

[macana]

I have recently, but the item still hasn't arrived, they aren't answering emails or voicemail messages, and I'm starting to think that they might have gone under.
Anyone ever bought anything from them??

Update
After I posted here yesterday the tracking number appeared in my inbox, but no courier details. I mailed her and she gave me the details but customers need the account number to track a parcel properly. The track number is live though, states parcel was picked up yesterday due for delivery today.
I'm staying in all day potty training
I must say since the paypal dispute was opened she has been very polite and responded when I have a query within a reasonable time.
I do hope the parcel turns up

how's the LO?

I have thought about getting the local news paper involed too mmm...

I was going to go in asking for a rufund when she would ask for the receipt I would show her my statement that should say it all to her I thought .

I would definately support involving the local paper - in fact going to contact them today. I would also be prepared to meet with other who have been ripped off by this company and turn up to get my money back.

Parcel has just arrived!

CASROCK - Hi how did it go with the newspaper ?

SORKYCAKEY - How did you manage to get hold of her ??

Am so at this.

Definatly get the paper involved.

How awful.

DO NOT TRADE WITH THIS COMPANY, THEY ARE USELESS!

They don't respond to emails and there phones are constantly engaged.

I am still waiting 1 month later for the second part of my order. They offered me a refund 2 weeks ago and I have not received it or heard anything since.

I am contacting my credit card company today to ask them to refund me on the basis that goods have not been received and the Company are ignoring me.

she did get in contact with me after me asking if she was still in business. she said my products would be delivered within 2 weeks. will have to wait and see and although i feel sick about it have to give her the benefit of the doubt. reading these testimonials however doesn't instill confidence.

have sent out warnings to friends who are mums and will definitely contact consumer direct if products don't arrive.
thanks for that Sorkycakey
there is another blog site that has similar stories about her so even more of a case!

www.reviewcentre.com/reviews202324.html

I waited for 3 weeks from purchase date, rang her but no joy, email but not contact. Paid via paypal and started a dispute straightaway.
All communication occurred via the paypal resolution centre.
I hope you all get somewhere with her, maybe she's working her way through the MNers.

There number is 01264 773695 which they seem to have removed from the website!

Babywaby, I was also thinking of contacting the local newspaper before I read today's posts. I think the Andover Advertiser might be a good starting point, but I'm sure there are plenty more. Casrock, did you contact them?

For those of you who are planning to meet up and visit (Andover is a bit far for me when I'm due in 2 weeks!) is there any way you can contact eachother personally, because it seems that AG is reading this discussion avidly.

Hi,

If you are paying by credit card and are not in a rush (ie don't need the goods within the month), then I think Sobaby are worth consideration.

We splashed out on a Leander cot from Sobaby on the 6th April. Couldn't get an answer to emails or phone calls and BigImagination immediately showed up on my credit card.

I then found this thread and panicked. First I contacted Paypoint, who were not interested. Then contacted RBS VISA, who told me I have to wait 30 days but that they would refund if necessary.

Two days ago I got an email notification that the order had been dispatched.

Today, to my relief/embarrassment/frustration, we received the cot.

The order wasn't quite complete, £15 set of sheets still to be dispatched, but I'm hopeful these will come eventually and the price of the Cot was much cheaper than anywhere else.

Not the best example of customer service but miles better than the experience I've had with Kiddicare.com, who we've just purchased our buggy from.

My guess (and as they don't appear to speak to anyone that is all it is) is that Ms Gordon is honest with a professional website but is out of her depth on the e-commerce front.

I feel bad for...
Ms Gordon and any employees, as I think she is damaging her business.
Individuals who will buy from more expensive websites, to play things safe.
And, most of awful, other customers who have not had their orders fulfilled yet or received appropriate communication from Sobaby.

Pop2b I notice this your first post.

Whilst I have received my order and I'm pleased you have yours I cannot agree that sobaby are worth considering.
Kiddicare are absolutely worth considering tho their customer service is excellent and you'll be hard pushed to find many negative experiences on MN.

Angela Gordon I suspect isn't crooked but perhaps is a bit out of her depth, which is a shame because the site looks great, sells all the right stuff and has the makings of a tidy little business.

She does however have the ability to turn things around, as I see it, by emailing all the outstanding orders and apologising, explaining any stock issues and letting people know if orders may take a few weeks to be delivered. I certainly wouldn't have had a problem waiting if I was informed it would be a while for the stock.
However, when people think that someone has taken their money and gone they are going to be upset, ESP for large items like cots and buggys.

I hope she gets back on her feet soon and if nothing else answers the emails people are sending her.

Thought I'd post with more information on this as it seems lots of people are having the same trouble. I ordered £400 worth of buggy in early April and heard nothing - same stories as everyone else, no email replies and phone rang off the hook.

My parents were down in the area for a wedding so I sent them to Andover today to investigate. The shop was empty/shut, but had a message saying they had moved premises. They went there, and the shop is not open yet, but deliveries were being brought into the shop and the door was open, so they went in. Ms Gordon said that they'd had lots of problems with the move, that they're aware of delivery problems and are working on sorting this out. The phone number disappeared from the website because BT apparently did not install her new line in a timely way. She gave my parents part of the order and promised that the rest would be delivered next week - and I have just received an email from her confirming this.

Not the end of the story until the rest arrives, but apparently she seemed professional, courteous and genuinely sorry. The new, larger premises were full of baby gear in preparation for opening. I agree with the above posters who said that she is not crooked but has had problems managing logistics and has been out of her depth.

Not excusing the customer service but hopefully this reassures some of you that you're aren't necessarily going to lose your money.

With regard to the post by footie, does anyone know where there actual address is now as I will need to send a later asking for a refund after the 30 days of recieving no item.

Pop2b nice to see you feel the need to post for the first time about how 'honest' and 'professional' Sobaby are. I'm still waiting for a refund for my item ordered at the end of Feb.

Footie: 'professional, courteous and genuinely sorry?? Also you first post on this discussion... I think many people will find that praise for AG slightly insulting, considering she has taken their money, not delivered anything and won't even give her customers the respect to respond to their communication.

And you both only ordered at the beginning of April. It's a miracle!

Sorkycakey I'm genuinely pleased you received your goods. I do remember you had Paypal on your side and threatened AG with legal action before your goods arrived. It must have worked.

I've heard many interesting tale which Angela Gordon has given for not being able to do her job properly, all different. Someone said she they'd been told she was on holiday, someone else was told that she had just got married, someone said she was overwhelmed with new business, now she has apparently 'moved premises'. I'm sure AG is a seemingly very charming woman who somehow wins people over with wonderful reasons for her incompetence.

But the proof is in the pudding, and she still owes a lot of people a lot of goods/refunds. And most people have had to threaten her with legal action before she pays up.

'Courteous and genuinely sorry'. That's obviously subjective.

Professional she is clearly NOT. Footie maybe she should share some of this fantastic new baby gear in her 'new, larger premises' with the people she legally owes it to.

As for whether she is crooked or not, that will be decided by Trading Standards who are apparently now invesigating, unless she manages to work her effortless charm on them too.

So, does anyone have the new address for Sobaby ?

Are they actually trading as a shop ?

Anyone know how it is legal for a company to take money from you under another name, like they have done so using tha name "Big Imagination", when there was nothing to say this was happening ? Very confusing if all retailers did this - how would you understand your credit card statement ?

Anyone had any response from Watchdog yet?
Anyone had any response from Trading Standards ?

I am still waiting a response from all.

I actually got a refund yesterday. I had an email from the moderator on Friday, saying that Angela Gordon had asked me to contact her about my post (7 May) about contacting the local Andover newspaper. I didn't contact her, but miraculously I received a refund on Monday morning from Paypal, so I guess Angela worked out which of her many disgruntled customers I was from my posts.

By the way, I'm under no illusion - I got this refund because she wanted to shut me up. My advice to you: make a fuss, threaten legal action, contact Trading Standards, threaten to contact the papers, send her letters like BeksH advises (15 April post). That's the only way to get your money/goods owed. She obviously doesn't respond to courteous emails.

Bex22, no answer from Watchdog yet, but I had a letter from Trading Standards saying they are assessing the case, to decide if it is civil or criminal in nature. I'm worried that AG will talk them around - she seems to have that off to a fine art if nothing else, so everyone please keep contacting Consumer Direct 08454 04 05 06 to let them know about your own complaints, and do mention that there are lots of other victims.

I?d like to be a ?cat among the pigeons? in this discussion, having been a customer of So Baby?s for over a year, from mid-pregnancy for the purchase of the pushchair, car seat and various little bits, through to today, having a happy, healthy baby requiring many extra accessories.

Firstly, before anyone assumes I am biased in any way, I can completely empathise with people who haven?t received their goods ? I too have been on the receiving end of the poor customer service/communication experienced of late. At one point, I did begin to fear that the shop had gone under because after taking almost £100 for various Grobags, my order was left incomplete for weeks and could not get a response from So Baby either by telephone or e-mail, despite repeated requests.

HOWEVER?my husband and I happened to be in the Andover area, and called into the shop to find out just what was going on. I can confirm that the owner had indeed been on holiday/honeymoon for a period of three weeks, and that at the time we visited, the shop was in the middle of moving to a new location. It is also true that the contact telephone number had to change because the shop move resulted in a change of telephone exchange. From what we saw, the business appeared to be doing well (there were enough of those expensive Leander cots in a big delivery at the front of the shop, anyway!) and we had a very pleasant conversation with Ms Gordon who explained that she was in the process of hiring more staff to help with the volume of enquiries/orders the website was generating. We resolved our Grobag problem, and swapped one item for something slightly more expensive at no extra charge to us.

Now, clearly there are lots of flaws in the way So Baby has handled queries and orders over the past few months, but if I look back across the past year in which I have been dealing with the shop, I have to say that I have only ever been pleased with the service I?ve received. So Baby has been reliably cheaper than almost any other website/shop that I have visited, items have been delivered promptly, or if there has been any delay, I have been kept informed of the progress. Whatever has happened recently, I can only hope that the situation begins to improve, because it would be such a shame for negative feedback on forums like this to harm the business overall.

Like Pop2b and Footie, I believe that So Baby is worth being given the benefit of the doubt, especially since I have been using both the website and visiting the shop for over a year. Each time I visit the shop, Ms Gordon remembers me by name, knows exactly what I have ordered in the past, and asks after my little girl.

I felt compelled to join Mumsnet today, just so that I could put some balance into the negative experiences that have been shared. Please don?t jump down my throat for speaking favourably about this shop ? I honestly would buy from So Baby again, and would continue to recommend it to my friends.

I last posted on this thread on 15 April with £500 of Phil & Teds buggy on outstanding order from So Baby (and being 8 days overdue with my 2nd baby!)

Pleased to say that I now have a) a lovely son and b) (perhaps as great a miracle??!!) a refund from So Baby.

Having kicked up lots of fuss as I was so appalled at the lack of service (specifically, I sent a strongly worded registered letter stating that under distance selling regulations, as 30 days had passed since my order was placed I was claiming a refund, plus contacting Trading Standards) I had an email from Angela Gordon at SoBaby entitled "Order Update" which I opened with anticipation... the precise and only wording was this:

"The comments for your order are:
BUGGY CANCELED AND REFUNDED"

Hurrah, I have my money back (and by the way, immediately ordered the item via Mothercare and had it delivered within 3 days - what a difference - and actually with the deal m'care had on, the price of the Vibe buggy was not much more with m'care). Ultimately that's what matters most, so I'm pleased. But such a lack of customer care - a little sentence included in the refund email saying something to the effect of 'we're really sorry for the inconvenience and apologise' would have gone a long way to mollifying me. Ah well.

So for those of you still lacking both your money and your items - persist; at worst case wait your 30 days after purchase and then send a registered letter demanding your refund. Good luck!

BeksH congratulation on your new baby and your long-awaited refund! Both wonderful news.

It's funny how people like VictoriaPlum01, keep crawling out of the woodwork, feeling 'compelled' to join Mumsnet with the sole purpose of telling us all how wonderful their service from SoBaby has been...

Call my cynical...

I too joined Mums.net for the first time to express my views on So Baby but fell foul of the censors. Vicky plum obviously did not have to wait over 7 weeks for her purchases to arrive. I did get excellent help from Trading Standard South East, I too reported my experinces to Watchdog and I sent a letter by registered post reminding Angela Gordon of my legal rights.The carseat finally arrived today and I am very pleased except that there is no instruction manual-is it supposed to have one? I would love to be able to say that it has been worthwhile supporting a woman embarking on a new business venture, but it hasn't. Without help from the Mums.net sisterhood I would have given up-Thank you, all of you, so much for the support and information. I hope to return to Mum.net again sometime-in jollier circumstances.