Babies R Us nightmare

[Kai1970]

I just wanted to let everyone know about a crazy experience I just recently had at BRU. I had just gotten done bragging about the great customer service I had received at the BRU store near our home (I should have known better)...Any way, I had just received a Baby Bjorn as a gift, off of my BRU registry. My husband's aunt did not attach a gift receipt, but told me that she got it BRU and to double check, I found that the item was indicated as "purchased" on my online registry. I went to BRU to return the item, because a friend was kind enough to lend me her Bjorn and was told that I had been either "red lined" or "red flagged" by the BRU headquarters, as a customer that had returned too many things and was no longer allowed to return items purchased at BRU without a gift receipt. The item I was wanting to return was still in it's original box, the seal had not even been broken. The manager asked me if I had returned a lot of items recently - he made me feel like some kind of criminal. Well, of course I had returned a bunch of things, I had just had my first baby!!! Never once had I asked for cash back, always store credit. I spent every last dime in that store and intended on spending 100s of dollars more. The manager didn't seem to care. It was my fault that I returned too many items - that's what he said. And further, there was nothing they could do about it - the "red flagging" came from corporate. (I don't even want to get into a discussion re the nightmare I had with BRU's online registry and the fact that their system kept multiplying the number of items that I wanted, i.e. I would indicate that I wanted 1 baby bjorn and the system would show that I was registered for 4!!!!!!)

The end of the story is that I called the customer service number from the store. The man helping me had no idea what I was talking about and said he had never heard of this. He promised someone would call me back from their HQ within 2 working days. A week has gone by and nothing....I ended up leaving the store in total disgust. I told the manager that I would do everything possible to not buy any more items in his store, rather go to Target, etc. And on my way out, a women from the registry department stopped me and whispered that I should just have someone else, i.e. a family member or friend, come and return the item for me. Isn't that crazy?!? I couldn't believe it. I was/am so angry. I just wanted to let everyone know about this. And I hope that the Baby Bargains books, in the future, report on this horrible policy.

[cuca_]

Sorry about your bad experience. Customer service at my local BRU is atrocious. I know several people on these boards have had similar experiences at Target. I think it is a ridiculous policy.

If I were you I would write a letter to someone at the corporate headquarters.

Carmen

[chlobo]

I'm just curious, how much stuff did you return?

I only ask because I returned a lot of stuff right after my shower and then returned several items since. I had heard about the "flagging" policy so I figured my # was just about up. For the last return I had my husband do it so as not to tempt the gods.

I'm just wondering what's going to happen next time.

It's such a brain dead policy because you registered there, guaranteeing them business & you only get a store credit, which takes nothing away from their bottom line. Why should they even care if you return stuff? It's totally irritating.

[candybomiller]

I think I can answer this one. And note, that just because I know the reason doesn't mean that I agree with it!

Retailers have had a lot of problems with people returning things that aren't actually from their store. For example (I'm guilty of this!) we received a snugli that we had no intention of ever using. I have no idea where the person bought it, but we returned it to Wal*Mart. People who return things "excessively" are flagged for the potential that they might be up to suspicious activity with returning things that didn't actually come from the store.

Now, I think that it's absolutely ridiculous not to take an item back when it's on the registry and there's a receipt. That's absurd. But, some people find receipts, go someplace to buy an item cheaper then return the item at the store where they found the receipt and the price was higher. Oddly enough - or perhaps not - ebay has become a big reason for the retailers changing the way they do returns.

I know it's stupid. And I certainly don't agree with it. I think it unnecessarily punishes people who would be loyal customers otherwise. Unfotunately, my vote doesn't count.

[DebbieJ]

I say just have your husband return it.

One of the reasons all stores are now so tough with returns w/o a receipt is shoplifting. I used to work in CS at a dept store and people would shoplift and then return the items for cash. That's why no store will give you cash w/o a receipt anymore. We had our "frequent fliers" that I could recognize and it would kill me to hand them cash.

~ deb
Mommy to my sweet boy
B born 12/03

[C99]

Oh, I absolutely hate BRU and have let everyone I know about my horrible experiences there. It's not so much that one thing they've done was crappy or out of line, but when taken collectively, my experiences there leave a lot to be desired. I flat-out won't go or buy anything at BRU. I know that the registry is popular simply because they are one of the only stores that offer baby merchandise and are across the country. But the prices stink, the sales are wonky, the clothing (even basics like onesies and socks) is too seasonal to work on a registry, and the C/S is the pits. I suppose I make matters worse for people like you who get things from your BRU registry, but I absolutely won't give BRU another cent of my money. I can find almost anything for a better price than it is listed at BRU and even if I couldn't find a better price, I still wouldn't buy it at BRU.

But then again, I have quite a list of stores I won't buy from (BRU, Wal-Mart, J.Crew) due to negative shopping experiences or questionable business practices, so maybe I am not the best person to talk to about this. :)

[candybomiller]

I totally agree with BRU and Wal*Mart, but what happened at J. Crew?? Should I be boycotting them too?

[C99]

LOL. I just don't like the quality of the clothes for the prices. Now, the J.Crew thing is old... I stopped shopping there in 1997 because I got frustrated with how expensive (relatively, at the time) was and how badly it wore. Now, everything is that expensive and it all wears like crap, but at the time, I thought that for $80, a sweater should not pill on the second wearing!

[Melanie]

That is very crazy. I would totally understand if you didn't have it on your registry, or maybe you'd *just* registered a few days before (i.e. something that made it look like a fake one), but really. How insulting! It's not as if they couldn't turn around and sell it.

I had a bad experience there...basically I was told they had something, drove far with my tiny baby, they didn't have it. Had to nurse and change him, mother's room was NASTY, bathroom was NASTY. Let them know on the way out (nicely said that the rooms could "use some attention"), the kid shrugged it off "we're short staffed today," and didn't make a move to call anyone to remedy it. I sent a complaint to corporate about the visit and then was contacted by a woman at the store who proceeded to argue my complaint, like I was lying about the events ("We have a seperate cleaning staff, so they couldn't have said that." "Did you ask if we CARRY it or if it was INSTOCK?" blah blah blah). GRRRR. Later, I was dumb enough to take my friend to register at that same store. Bad idea with a toddler, I forgot how long it took, so with an impending toddler meltdown looming we hastily left. I had an item in my cart I meant to buy, but had forgotten about. My friend went to take it back into the store but saw an employee in the parking lot collecting carts so she was giving it to him and apologizing, he said, "Well, you've gotten it this far, why don't you just keep it?" (we didn't)

We ought to compile our BRU experiences and then send them to the CEO.

[mamaturk]

They are silly to have a policy like that. I also have been "red flagged" at BRU. They are going to lose a lot of once loyal customers if they keep it up!!

[tippy]

For any of you that have a Buy Buy Baby nearby go there! It is a gazillion times better than BRU. The staff, the store layout, the return policy...They are online as well, (althoug not all their merchandise is listed) so if you wanted to do your registry and add products that aren't listed on line you could put a comment note on your registry for people ordering on line and they could call the store to order an item. I know this sounds like a PITA but it's a great store and just an idea for how you might be able to use them even if not in your area.

[dowlinal]

I totally second the BuyBuyBaby recomendation. I think I returned or exchanged about half of my registry with absolutely no problems. They don't make you fill out any paperwork so I don't think that they keep track. I honestly can't say enough good things about the store. When my husbands 70 year old aunt went there to buy us a gift some clerk actually spent 2 hours walking her around the store helping her find everything on my registry and read the boxes to her because she forgot her glasses.

Also, with my registry everything was listed in the online registry but not everything was available to be purchased online. It just said to call one of the stores to purchase those items

[jk3]

I love BuyBuyBaby for the reasons mentioned above. The salespeople are highly trained and know a ton about the products. Returns are a breeze, with a receipt or without. I really cannot say enough about this store! Our Babies R Us doen't seem as problematic. The people who work there seem to not care too much-mostly a bunch of teenagers-so I've never had a problem with returns, again with or w/o a receipt.

Jenn
DS 6/3/03

[KYBelle1102]

It makes me wonder how close I am to getting red-flagged. I was pretty good about hanging on to receipts, but I know I had a lot of stuff that I returned that didn't. Also, if you haven't noticed, BRU uses their own bar codes in lieu of the regular item bar codes. I didn't realize that and tried to return an indentical item to one I had a receipt for. The barcodes/SKU numbers didn't match so they wouldn't let me return it for credit. It was only a $6.00 stuffed animal that I didn't want or need, so I even tried to tell them to just keep it--put their own code on it. Nope. Couldn't leave it with them.

Overall, I haven't had many bad experiences--except my entire registry record getting deleted, but that was BRU Corporate/IT dept. I agree their prices aren't the cheapest and they're inconsistent on their mailing coupon books (Sometimes i get them, sometimes I don't), but overall, it's convenient for me for one-stop shopping.

[JMS]

How exactly do they red-flag you? Based on your name (in the system) or simply by recognition?

I don't blame you for never wanting to shop there again. I had problem after problem with my registry at BRU. The short of it is that the system was often down, items that I registered for online wouldn't show on a store printed registry, I live and registered in a different state than my shower which created a many problems as well... etc, etc,.. the list goes on and on and it frustrates me just to think about it.

I also agree that their prices are not great, nor are their sales. My problem is that there is no where else to go that has everything in one location. It does take me almost a 1/2 hour to get there though. I also once called for a item, was told that they had it (after a salesperson checked the stock), and when I arrived (the same day) they didn't have it. Very irrating.

[proggoddess]

Looks like many stores are cracking down:

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0307/14/ltm.15.html

It's dishonest people that spoil everything for us regular folks. Very annoying to be punished when you personally didn't do anything wrong! Write a letter to the company and complain!