Bad Service from Kiddicare.com

[Posterpots]

Hello Mum's

I just wanted to share my bad experience I've had with Kiddicare.com

We ordered a cotbed at the end of July and each month since then an email arrived to say that there was a supplier issue, and it wouldn't be arriving till November!!

However, the mattress arrived first, within days of the original order which basically bound us to keeping our order with Kiddicare..I requested a refund, but this would only be given once the mattress was collected. Oh and I would have to wait in between 8am-6pm for the courier, otherwise I would have to pay for it to be returned!!! I was on the phone for nearly 30 minutes at my expense so the assistant suggested I emailed for future enquiries.

So I ended up paying an extra £60 for a different cotbed just to get it the next day as we were desperate.

The assistant inputted the difference incorrectly, instead of £59.99, she put it £5,999.99 unbeknown to me, so of course, she soon rang me to tell me it had been declined. In the meantime, the bank was ringing my husband to tell him about someone trying to make a large withdrawal from the account, giving us a huge panic as we didn't know the assistant made such an error and thought someone was stealing our money.

Kiddicare only gave us a slight reduction in us upgrading our cotbed, despite it being their fault our original order was delayed. My poor baby has been sleeping in her pram for months whilst waiting for this cot.

Once it arrived today, the instructions were so poor that we ended up having to use the cotbed without the drop down sides as they didn't make sense.

Kiddicare has got a bad reputation and I was hesitant when placing my original order, but decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and boy do I wish I had listened to my instincts. I always go on forums and check reviews from other people when I make big purchases and ok, sometimes I get obsessive about who's said what and end up more confused than ever LOL but I think reading other people's experiences on services is so useful.

For such inconvenience, you would expect someone as big as Kiddicare to offer a free upgrade at least. The assistant said if we were to make a future purchase, then a discount would be considered. I will never shop with Kiddicare ever again and will make sure my friends won't too. I checked their returns policy, if I didn't like the cot once it arrived and it would be my expense to return! Ridiculous!!

Sorry for my rant!

Maybe there are others out there who were lucky enough to have had a great service from them but I was clearly very unlucky here.

 

[jayne191284]

I have never had anything but fantastic service from them and we ordered quite a few times.

Sorry you have had such a bad time with them

xx

 

[loopy_lou]

Always had good service but we got our cot from them (arrived a week earlier then we expected it but luckly i was home) and your right the instructions were mental ! Nice cot though

 

[MrsBop]

I've never had any problems either, sorry you did! All cot/cotbed instructions are confusing though I struggled both with my sons Mothercare cot and my daughters Mamas & Papas so you're not alone there! xx

 

[Posterpots]

Am glad you all had a good service, I have managed to get a refund for the upgrade we paid for, but it still doesn't make it ok. I know I won't be bowing to cheap prices again!

 

[summer rain]

I used to order without problem from Kiddicare but I have also had a horrendous experience with them lately. I think there is such a thing as a small-ish company just getting bigger than they can handle. In my case I ordered a co-sleeper which it said would fit our bed on the website; but I noticed a week after ordering it; that it would only fit very specific bed heights. I put my postcode and delivery reference into their site but it said the 7 day period was over; yes by a matter of hours. Any other company I have ordered from would have used their discretion and issued a returns number anyway; but kiddicare refused to even though really the issue with the wrong info being on the item was totally their fault. Instead they said I'd have to return it under my own steam which I did at great cost; and then they claimed the package was lost and never arrived to them even though I had the tracking info that it had been signed for. It was only when I went on a wild goose chase to prove to them it had been delivered and signed for that they begrudgingly refunded me; then I returned the sheets seperately via royal mail because there was no way I was spending another £6, again they claimed the package was lost and didn't arrive and I'd have to prove it had arrived to them. A few days later though a refund for those mysteriously appeared back on my card. No apology, no nothing. They have also not clarified the item listing on their site to save others the trouble. Never, ever again.

 

[Posterpots]

I used to order without problem from Kiddicare but I have also had a horrendous experience with them lately. I think there is such a thing as a small-ish company just getting bigger than they can handle. In my case I ordered a co-sleeper which it said would fit our bed on the website; but I noticed a week after ordering it; that it would only fit very specific bed heights. I put my postcode and delivery reference into their site but it said the 7 day period was over; yes by a matter of hours. Any other company I have ordered from would have used their discretion and issued a returns number anyway; but kiddicare refused to even though really the issue with the wrong info being on the item was totally their fault. Instead they said I'd have to return it under my own steam which I did at great cost; and then they claimed the package was lost and never arrived to them even though I had the tracking info that it had been signed for. It was only when I went on a wild goose chase to prove to them it had been delivered and signed for that they begrudgingly refunded me; then I returned the sheets seperately via royal mail because there was no way I was spending another £6, again they claimed the package was lost and didn't arrive and I'd have to prove it had arrived to them. A few days later though a refund for those mysteriously appeared back on my card. No apology, no nothing. They have also not clarified the item listing on their site to save others the trouble. Never, ever again.

Sorry to hear you have had bad service too. That's shameful on them Summer Rain! Especially when you had evidence to say they had signed for it. I have learnt my lesson and won't be going to them again, and tell all my friends with babies not to either.

I went on the forum on the kiddicare website, and got a fairly quick response from a rep from kiddicare, he was the one who arranged for my refund. Maybe you should have a rant on there, and they will issue an apology?

I saw them on The Apprentice last week and was livid; free advertising for them!! Grrrrr!

 

[summer rain]

I just gave up on them to be honest; I told them I will not be ordering again and they can see from their records I have been quite a regular customer in the past. I am telling others to be wary also. They have so many customers that individual customers don't really matter. I wrote to them 3 or 4 times regarding the fact the details were wrong about this product to begin with hence I should have been given a returns number and the discount on the courier return and its completely been ignored. I also saw them on the apprentice and OH said 'uh oh aren't those the people that messed you about?' lol.

 

[Dragonfly]

How weird that I actually managed to get a pram changed off them 10 months after buying it! my son was like 8 month old and he grew out of it. Was a britex one and suppose to do till the of 5. We sent pics and they refunded me and picked up the pram. I think i was very lucky to get that now reading this. I dont order of them they charge £20 for deliver to me and i even got delivery back again! but not worth it for me to order. I cant believe they are so awkward with everyone else as its usually me that gets bad service.

 

[summer rain]

Thats good to know; they just don't seem consistent. Even their info on the site regarding the timeframes for returns is very contradictory; some of it says 21 days, some says 28 and some says you have to return if you have a returns number within 7 days; other articles say if you have a returns number you have 28 days from then to return it. I had to pay £21 to return the co-sleeper (which was in perfect condition, I only opened it slightly to check all contents were present when I first received it) and another £3 or £4 to return the fitted sheets I bought. I wouldn't mind if I had just changed my mind; but the reason I had to return was completely their fault.

 

[AnnabelsMummy]

i ordered a blanket off there, although it's not a big item, i never recieved it, i rang and rang, and emailed and didn't get any where no refund or nothing, they claimed i'd recieved the item and they had evidence to proove it, so i asked them to forward me the evidence, and i didn't have any further contact with them no evidence, just recieved a random refund (including postage) in my account
xx

 

[k8y]

We bought our car seat from kiddie care and the head rest doesnt stay in place, it slips back down again so it woudnt protect the top part of the head you cannot tighten the seat belt tight enough so my little boy gets his arms out all the time so I constantly have to stop the car to put him back in, and its supposed to last him till he is 4, but already at 18 months the head rest setting is on the highest and dont think it will last much longer. I emailled them saying I was unhappy as the seat was not safe for him to use... I get an email back saying I should educate my son not to get out of his seat.. Thats it !!!!!

 

[summer rain]

Jokers. Annabel's Mummy thats similar with what happened with the sheets I returned seperately. my husband actually lost the royal mail recorded receipt for them but I called their bluff and said he'd try and track them; a few days later I got a hurriedly written email saying 'we've found those now and a refund has been issued' and sure enough it was.

 

[SKATERBUN]

First time I used them I had a really bad service, to cut a long story short, ordered a travel system, they kept putting my pre order date back further and sent the item in 3 separate parts so couldnt really cancel the order without the hassle of sending the first item back etc at my own cost, nearly didnt get the travel system until LO was born!
First part of order was trackable but rest wasn't, what a waste of time!
Anyway wont use them again. Now use Precious little ones . com

 

[aob1013]

Lots of people i know have had terrible service from them, i've steered clear!

 

[amylou1992]

just want to say a big thank you to people who commented on this thread, was looking to order my double buggy from kiddie care but after reading this im going to steer well clear and buy it from boots.com or mothercare

 

[firstprincess]

have never had anything but brilliant service from them myself. shame. x

 

[stuu3270]

I have to say that we have always had good and timely service from Kiddiecare. When there have been slight problems we were firm and direct. They sorted out the issue quickly and to our satisfaction. Sorry to hear of your bad experience. Don't let it put you off them as they often have some very good prices.

 

[lodie]

thanks for letting us know. I've used kiddisave based in walsall & had excellent customer service so far

 

[beanfluff]

If you have problems post on their facebook page for all to see. they are pretty good at sorting things then !! xx