MNHQ here: thoughts on Mothercare (NOW CLOSED)

[FinnMumsnet]

Hello,

The BBC have been in touch with Mumsnet to gauge your opinions on Mothercare.

We'd love to hear anything and everything you've got to say -- do you shop at Mothercare? (Or have you in the past?) If so, what do you like about it? If not, why not? How does it compare to the alternatives? What does it do well, and what less well? Have your views changed over time?

Please feel free to post in as much or as little detail as you'd like.

Thanks,
MNHQ

[Haggard1]

Positives:
Personal care products are better than boots.
Baby clothes was pretty well

Negatives:
Why put maternity bras on racks to the floor? At 8 months pregnant I was on all fours on a filthy floor looking for my size (I was allergic to most high street brands) with staff ignoring me.

They always seem to have the wrong sizes - even online

Yy to badly fitting clothes

Lots of pink for girls and blue for boys

Staff ignore you

When a new mum, I without fail forgot every money off voucher.

I've got so bored with mothercare shops and online I only use when desperate.

[VanillaLatteAndCake]

Agree with others that it is an expensive option. Supermarket ranges (for clothes) are cheaper and just as good. I do like the range of clothes at Mothercare but I only tend to shop online during sale periods. I like the Mothercare shops which have a cafe. Although food & drink options are limited, they expect customers to have children with them and so you don't feel like a burden as is the case in some cafes.

[badabing36]

The elc toys are great, they have some really good value stuff mixed in with the expensive stuff.

The staff are nice in my store, but they didn't know much about the car seats when I asked. Agree that there aren't enough of them but that is the same thing in every shop you go in these days.

Clothes are nice but a bit too much baby blue and baby pink. Little bird range is lovely but pricey, Christmas clothes are really nice this year.

They had a breastfeeding area in my store and a working toilet. They also put old issues of gurgle magazine in there which you can just take if you like, it's very hot in there though, I don't think there air con works.

Expensive for big items like car seats, furniture and breast pumps.

I always used to go when buying presents for nephews before I had my own as I didn't know where else to go for kids stuff.

[nc060]

Overpriced, can never find a member of staff when looking for one. Had issues returning a buggy three months after purchase because they wheels had disinter grated but wheels were not covered by warranty. Clearly wasn't fit for purpose. Took it into store and I'm sure it was only exchanged because there was a woman at the other till just completing her purchase of a pram and they didn't want to lose the sale! I don't rate them, don't have the same reputation that they used too!

[WaitrosePigeon]

My nearest has closed down now. Probably to do with the rude staff there. Abrupt was a good way to describe them.

[Daisiesandgerberas]

I'm disabled. Couldn't access area I wanted so asked member of staff to possibly remove strewn a-la-jumble-sale clothing & large abandoned toys from floor. I got told by staff it wasn't their job. Further insult: That person didn't ask anyone else.

Same store:
Fire alarm activated. Staff carried on, commenting that it's never happened before so it wouldn't be genuine. No announcement made, no tannoy nor were we approached & told to vacate. After 3 minutes I made the decision to leave on the basis that as it was so rare it may well have been real

Same store:
I wanted to buy clothing. No prices on items. If staff can't even price items on shelves, I can't be bothered to assume it's for sale.

Formal complaint made re item no.1.

Was ignored.

Re-sent.

A year on...still no acknowledgement. Wouldn't very happily name & shame the branch but fear it will out me.

[SpeckledyBanana]

I had good service with a faulty pram, which they replaced twice without quibble (in-store).

[SaltySeaBird]

My local one is good. Bright, clean, spacious, good toilet and changing facilities. They have a good range and we're very helpful with car seats and buggys.

But. Their pricing is not competitive. They do price match with several stores (not Amazon, but do against others) and I've used that policy nearly every time I've brought something.

I did get car seat demonstrations and then brought from Amazon as the difference was too much to ignore.

[HopelesslydevotedtoGu]

I've seen some terribly fitted slings, with baby's head rolling around far too low down, where the mum has proudly said the sling was fitted in Mothercare.

[JillyBoel]

I liked the maternity jeans, and LOVED the maternity cardigan I bought last time. The nursing bras were also ok, serviceable, not too expensive. Most importantly, I really liked being able to buy instore (rather than online) - almost nowhere else seems to do this now!
I found them perfectly helpful re car seats (I think we've bought 3 from Mothercare) although we had thoroughly researched the ones we wanted, so didn't really have questions.
Love the Little Bird range - nice materials and bright colours. I do find that Mothercare clothes come up really small, though.

[anyname123]

I hate the shop, only venture there now if DD is bought something from there that I want to take back. Very overpriced, staff at my local store for the most part very young, not knowledgeable. One older lady wrks there, advised me to go to The Entertainer a few doors up as they were selling same item for 1/4 of the price. The Store Manager never wants to serve / help anyone, she just tracks down one of the staff to do it. Local store is in a shopping centre, so absolutely no chance of trying prams etc Ilford fit in creating boot, absolutely ludicrous.

[Misspilly88]

I really like the little bird clothing. There needs to be more stuff like that on the market

[Belager]

I love the babygros as they wash well and are better sized for my DD than most other places, the sizing is on par with m&s.
However the stores I've visited are badly laid out, hard to navigate a small buggy round!, and the staff very unhelpful.
Also not happy with their delivery, ordered stuff for pregnancy at 20 weeks in the sale, everything was "in stock". This included maternity pads, knickers etc. Most stuff didn't arrive until AFTER my birth and therefore were no longer needed.

[OverScentedFanjo]

My local one always seems empty of customers.

Strange layout, big tall shelving units, have to peer round to see what's round the corner. Clarks shoes hidden away in a dull corner.

It has an air of decay about it.

[Azure83]

I've been to my local one three times while pregnant, gave up and never going in again:

1. Maternity tights - no range of sizes, shelves practically bare
   
2. Pram / car seat questions - staff not available and once located, had no idea
   
3. Maternity bra fitting - no female staff available, only two male cashiers and I was not prepared to undress in front of either of them at 8 months pregnant!

[Kelpie78]

Vastly over priced. Fitted out car seat wrongly twice.

[RagTagAndBobtail]

One of my local stores I avoid like the plague-small and cramped, never anything in stock. I do find most things in mothercare expensive, you can generally find most items cheaper. However, another local store is an outlet and if you drop on you can get real bargains, sometimes on the same items on sale at full price in the other store! The outlet staff have always been friendly and helpful. We recently upgraded both our car seats there and found two of the team very helpful and knowledgable, but others not so much.

[DuggeeSchmuggee]

The staff are really friendly at my local store, they have a baby changing and breastfeeding room (which is nice but a little dirty).

It's not very well laid out though, the lift to the second floor is so small that I can only just fit my pushchair in, and they have crammed so many clothes racks in that you can barely push a pram round

[aforestgrewandgrew]

Absolutely can't stand mothercare.

It should be unbeatable. I reckon it's a store most new mothers go onto at least once. You would expect them to be experts on things like car seats and slings. But they're not, they haven't a clue it'a just commercialised crap.

Take slings for example, baby born slings are known to be bad for babies' development, wrap slings are much better. So Mother care should stock and recommend wrap slings, coz they're baby experts right? No, they stock baby bjorns coz they're popular.

Or how about car seats? When the research made it clear that back facing was much safer, Mothercare went out and stocked up on at least a couple of models and trained their staff - right? Wrong. When DD was little they didn't have one extended rear facing seat and the staff had no fuking clue about safety.

Then there's the clothes - overpriced twee pink and blue gendered nonsense.

Except for Little Bird. The one range that is the exception to the rule. Little Bird is awesome, we buy it online.

[aforestgrewandgrew]

The Cunting Mothercare thread a few years back summed up their customer care well. Hopefully they've improved since then!

(Still giggling at the thread title! )

For those of you who missed it, it was a thread about some appalling customer care over a buggy sold by Mothercare to a MNer.


Mothercare got wind of the thread but IIRC instead of taking the opportunity to resolve the ongoing appalling treatment of the OP by their representatives, they contacted MN to ask for the title to be changed, which wasn't the smartest move.

[BadgeronaMoped]

I loved their sleepsuits, lots of packs with nice unisex designs, plus as a PP has mentioned, they go up to a size 2 - 3.
DS1 loves the Little Bird range, as do I, I also like their printed PJs with non-branded designs on.

I find their customer service very hit and miss.

[Easylikeasonntagmorgan]

I've never found the customer service good. Staff are always difficult to find and unhelpful/disinterested. Don't bother going there now.

[Mumteedum]

Appalling online service. Awful clunky website and item was cancelled via email after waiting for it.

This was a few years ago to be fair but have looked online again since and didn't see much improvement.

Oh and yes, it's expensive for what it is.

[SquedgieBeckenheim]

Got outdated advice there regarding car seats.
Generally difficult to find staff to help.
Generally over priced.
Do shop there sometimes though!