Why is everything they tell you at BRU wrong?

[smcdonald2]

This may be specific to MY BRU, I don't know. But the employees don't know any more about baby products than your average teenager working at Wal-Mart.

In one trip, I heard BRU staff tell people the following:
1. Maclarens are really unsafe strollers and no one buys them anymore.
2. The Graco Snugride 35 car seat works with the original Graco base.
3. There are lots more Graco car seat colors available on the website. (No.)
4. They don't have BumGenius diapers because "they only carry major brands, like Pampers."

And in ANOTHER trip, I asked if my glider of choice came in other colors. They said yes, you can see all the colors on the website. Is the glider on the website? No.

I've heard other local moms say the same thing, and I just think, how many first-timers who don't know about the BBB go there with absolutely no knowledge and think these people are the experts? I shudder to think about the "safe car seat installation demos" they give on Saturday. What are they saying? "Just bungee-cord it to the headrest, it will be fine."

Sigh.

[GvilleGirl]

Yesterday we went to BRU to see how a Marathon fit in our car and my daughter before ordering it online. Fit daughter great, so grabbed it to take out to the car to test and realized it didn't have latch attached. The guy told us it must not come with latch. Hmmm. Yeah, that's right, must have put it on all the other models, just not the marathon. And funny how the sign right in front of the seat says latch. He was a big help as he stared us down the entire time. I despise that store!

[SnuggleBuggles]

I've heard other local moms say the same thing, and I just think, how many first-timers who don't know about the BBB go there with absolutely no knowledge and think these people are the experts? I shudder to think about the "safe car seat installation demos" they give on Saturday. What are they saying? "Just bungee-cord it to the headrest, it will be fine."

Sigh.

Don't you feel terrible for them? Sometimes I see that deer in headlights look or the people registering for products that the BBB score terribly and I mention the book (I even say they can check it out at the library so they know I am not trying to sound like I want them to buy it or something). 99% of the time I get a basic "mind your own business" type reply. I hate that. I'm sincerely trying to help. Guess they'll buy their matching 35lb stroller, PnP, bedding set...and never know how they could have saved money or had better deals/ nicer stuff.

Beth

[TwoBees]

This may be specific to MY BRU, I don't know. But the employees don't know any more about baby products than your average teenager working at Wal-Mart.




In general, that is because the employees ARE teenagers, they just work at BRU instead of walmart.

My BRU is awful. I never ask for help, because I never get it. If I want an intelligent salesperson, I come to this board first, or drive the hour plus to Buy Buy Baby.

[AshleyAnn]

Don't you feel terrible for them? Sometimes I see that deer in headlights look or the people registering for products that the BBB score terribly and I mention the book (I even say they can check it out at the library so they know I am not trying to sound like I want them to buy it or something). 99% of the time I get a basic "mind your own business" type reply. I hate that. I'm sincerely trying to help. Guess they'll buy their matching 35lb stroller, PnP, bedding set...and never know how they could have saved money or had better deals/ nicer stuff.

Beth

VERY! I do not understand the people who want the car seat to match the swing which matches the high chair which matches the swing. How often is all the gear together after the baby shower? My swing and high chair match but they haven't seen each other after I set up the nursery - swing went in the livingroom and the high chair went to storage.

I do attempt to give advice whenever I see an opening. Generally you can tell when a couple has reached the point where they are at thier wits end trying to make heads and tails of the products and are both going "HELP!" and you can kind of jump in. But I also worked there at one time and I sometimes use that as a lead in.

[mommylamb]

It's funny though because the people at Buy buy Baby actually seem to have knowledge about the products they sell. BRU should model business practices after them.

[MamaSnoo]

I do not understand the people who want the car seat to match the swing which matches the high chair which matches the swing.

ROTFLMAO........I actually got a matching swing (looked nice in my house) and snugride carseat (did NOT match my car or DH's). I can only blame pregnancy brain. DD was 6 mos old before I emerged from the fog and realized that I could have chosen the seat to match my car. Now, of course her convertible seat does look ok in my car. Ooooooooops!

[AnnieW625]

It's funny though because the people at Buy buy Baby actually seem to have knowledge about the products they sell. BRU should model business practices after them.

and of course we don't have them in CA yet!

I have never had good luck at my stores either, although the staff is usually pretty nice at the registers, but then even at the non chain baby store near me I have never felt like I have gotten excellent help there either (although I did need to exchange something defective and they were great) so I think that is why I spend so much time here looking at things first.

[lorinick]

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[mommylamb]

Funny the BBB in my area is BRU staff that left and went their. As for the rest of the staff at my local BBB isn't great. I always ask questions at BBB to see if they know the answer they don't. They bs, so if I didn't know the answer I would think they were correct. I work at BRU but I find my info on this site and car-seat.org. BRU shouldn't have teenages since they have to be at least 18 to work there. I love sharing what I know with my dept.

Wow, that's too bad. The BBB staff at the store near me are really good. They'll even tell you not to buy something if they think it's not a necessary thing or if there's an equally good product at a better price. I spent a good half hour going over the pros and cons of various gates with the guy who works in the baby proofing section.

[AshleyAnn]

ROTFLMAO........I actually got a matching swing (looked nice in my house) and snugride carseat (did NOT match my car or DH's). I can only blame pregnancy brain. DD was 6 mos old before I emerged from the fog and realized that I could have chosen the seat to match my car. Now, of course her convertible seat does look ok in my car. Ooooooooops!

Hee hee my car seat doesn't even match my stroller!

[arivecchi]

I will be forever grateful to the friend who recommended Baby Bargains to me. It was nice to have all that knowledge before I started buying baby gear. It opened up my eyes to the fact that I needed to research these products and not just waltz in to BRU. While it is disappointing that BRU does not train its employees, it is even more disappointing that some buyers just rely on their advice without doing their own research. Heck, people do more research when buying appliances!

[crl]

Even worse, I had an employee at a local, high-end kids store (CitiKids) tell me that the Moutain Buggy Swift was an old model that had been around a long time and discontinued. Wrong. First ones were 2009 and they had already released a 2010 when the salesperson told me that. And they sell Mountain Buggies, although there was no Swift on the floor. He was no teenager and he acted like I was an idiot. People pay very high prices in that store, at least you'd think you'd get good salespeople!

Catherine

[superclam]

Even worse, I had an employee at a local, high-end kids store (CitiKids) tell me that the Moutain Buggy Swift was an old model that had been around a long time and discontinued. Wrong. First ones were 2009 and they had already released a 2010 when the salesperson told me that. And they sell Mountain Buggies, although there was no Swift on the floor. He was no teenager and he acted like I was an idiot. People pay very high prices in that store, at least you'd think you'd get good salespeople!

Catherine

Wow Catherine. Citikids is too overpriced to be that non-knowledgeable. Their prices are always above the MSRP. If you are in the Bay Area, Lullaby Lane in San Bruno is great. It is a family owned store as well stocked as Citikids but with a lot of expertise. Downside is that they are always crowded and busy, so you don't always get the help you need right away, or you don't get the help from the few experts they have on hand. I have also found Rockridge Kids in Oakland to be great. The experts kind of have an attitude but so far they've been the most knowledgeable of the bunch, giving me useful tips that I have never seen or heard anywhere else before.

What's great about Lullaby Lane is that they match prices and take competitor's coupons, so I have used BRU 15% off coupons there for both of my carseats. They also don't stock large quantities of inventory, so you are almost guaranteed to get something current. That is, when I was researching my last car seat, everywhere else had them in stock manufactured about 6+mo ago. Given that carseats only have 6 years of useful life, I felt jipped buying something that had already run 6-9 mo of its useful life in a warehouse. At Lullaby Lane, we got ours and it was manufactured within the last month or two.

[ewpmsw]

The staff at our BRU is hit-or-miss with being helpful. Seems like the people on the floor are much more friendly than the ones at customer service or the registry desk. ??? I learned really fast not to ask any of them for advice on a product. Watching the saleskid turn the box over and read me what it said was pretty unhelpful, since I'd just done that myself!

A friend offered to go with me to register my first time and was a great help. Other parents and BBB were the best source of info when I was registering and deciding on furniture, strollers, etc. Haven't really found a baby, kids' or box store with people who can give good advice on products. More often, it takes some researching and review-reading to get a good idea of what's what.

I feel like BRU is pretty limited when it comes to products I want, esp. the ones given good reviews in the BB book. Mine gave me out-of-date coupons when I registered and has yet to get me on their coupon mailing list since I registered in 2008.

[mama2zoe]

At our BRU (near Atlanta, GA) some are great and some are not... OK, most are not. But way back when we were registering (had read the BBB, but couldn't remember everything!), the guy who helped us with the strollers was really good (showed us everything, though we did end up getting a Graco Metrolite, which we're very happy with but I know lots of you don't like:) And the guy who helped me with the strollers again last year (ended up only getting a clearance umbrella Chicco b/c I liked the print:) was alo very helpful. Other than that, it's hit or miss... We got matching (sold separately, but was a "travel system") carseat and stroller and got the pack-n-play to match too (only b/c we liked the unisex pattern), but got a different patter for swing and high chair.

So, short answer...depends on the person!

[lorinick]

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[catsnkid]

I was given some misinformation there about tubes on breast pumps. Told they are not available at all. Not true, but BRU doesn't sell them, that is true. Glad I read BB. My only regret is my Evenflo pack n play.

[ewpmsw]

A friend gave me some BRU coupons today with this advice, based on her experience there this week: "They're going to tell you this promotion isn't going on. Just keep asking around until you find someone who knows about it."

It's a "stuff a bag" promo from their own coupon mailer. Sad.