Buying for baby appointment

[Flyingsaucer22]

Evening! What are people’s thoughts on the mamas and papas buying for baby appointments? Are they good for first time parents? Are the John Lewis appointments better? Thanks :)

We have a JL appointment booked so no idea but hoping for answers!

We did a John Lewis one in December and it was fantastic. No pressure to buy, really knowledgeable staff member, got to try out loads of prams and car seats plus demos of other items, asked a ton of questions, don’t know how we’d have chosen without it. And it’s free! Highly recommend

I think it depends on who you get. I had a John Lewis one and it was awful. Literally, a 'so what are you after' kind of thing, and then if for example I said bedding, she added it to an online wish list. As I was leaving, a couple were having one with a different staff member, and a completely different experience. Theirs sounded excellent. I hung back and eavesdropped whilst pretending to browse for a few minutes as she was so knowledgeable.

John Lewis are independent and can offer a wide range of brands , that alone has got to be better than Mamas & papas . John Lewis staff also aren’t on any commission ( ex partner here ) , unsure if m&p are or not .

My honest experience of Mamas and Papas is that they are poorly trained staff that will go to any length to sell you products they know little-to-nothing about. We recently adopted twins, were told the pram we were buying was ‘perfect’ as it’ll take them through to 4 years old. Placed our 14 month old in and it was immediately clear the seat was too small. Tried to return. No chance as the box had been opened and it was not resellable. Nearly a thousand pounds, wasted. We will contact our credit card company, but Mamas and Papas should be ashamed.

I wasn't able to find a date for the buying for baby appointment but I did manage to get 6% cashback with https://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/ruthmatiti

No pressure to use this link but if anyone wants to you will get an extra 10 pound bonus back on top of your cashback. I spent 1000 on a travel system and got 60 back so it's good!