AnnabelsMummy
Mummy to princess annabel
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Has anyone else had loads of problems with Mothercare?!
I bought a Buggaboo Donkey in double Mode, back in April, and we paid outright for it (no baby plan etc), my second daughter was born in June, and this was when we started using it.
The first time i took it out, i realised i couldn't use it because the tyres were completely deflated, so i phoned all my local mothercare stores, Bromley and Nugent - which although they would all be willing to sell me the product - they all refused to sort out any issues with it (nugent were just outright rude - i would have prefered to go there as i had no pushchair and 2 children to manage as well as a pushchair!). They all told me to go along to Bluewater, so that was what i did.
I went along to Bluewater, i had to go through the shopping center (pushing a double pushchair and carrying a newborn baby, and a toddler). After asking everyone, the lady in the store blew up the tyres and informed me they all come with no air in as they are air mailed... (didn't understand this as surely thy shouldn't offer home delivery if everyone needs specialist pumps?! and why was i not told this when i bought it?!)
Any way, as soon as i got home, the tyres were completely flat again - i had only walked the children out of the shopping center in it!
So i phoned the store back up and asked if there was a problem as i've had about 6 or 7 pushchairs and never had a problem like this.. it made it unusable..
They told me to buy a bicycle pump and blow them up every time they went down - we tried this, however they went down pretty much about half an hour after we put the children in them!
I phoned back again, and in the mean time my mum went out and bought me, a basic double stroller, as i had no buggy!!
It took me 6 weeks (with no use of buggy), for Mothercare to admit that there was a problem! then all they did was phone buggaboo who agreed to send innertubes, and they told me to return in 2 weeks to collect these! (ANOTHER 2 weeks with no pushchair!)
Finally i went back to the store with my mum who had pretty much had enough - we paid a lot for this pushchair, and bought it because it was convinient, and we felt my daughter needed a carrycot whilst she was so small!
We went back to Mothercare Bluewater, and ended up seeing the assisstant manager - NOT a nice experience!!
Firstly she tried to fob us off, then eventually when she realised how much of a problem there was she went on to explain to us that, although we had a faulty product we were past the 28 days and therefore other than repair there is nothing they could do (which is against the law, and misrepresentation of your rights, as with any faulty product - especially one of this price, you're entitled to a replacement, repair or refund!), the lady then went on to explain that "they've never had any problems with any buggaboo they've sold before" - which then we went to point out that maybe mine was just the one faulty one!, The manager then tried to explain that the other stores wouldn't accept the buggaboo donkey's in as they didn't sell this product and therefore weren't allowed to have anything to do with it (why was i not told this, and why would these stores accept money for a product they then couldn't do anything with if it went wrong), she then tried to fob me off by saying that because i clearly had bought it on the baby plan the problem wasn't directly a store problem.. (i didn't buy it on the baby plan - she was holding the receipt which said i had paid outright).
Eventually after calling her bluff on a couple of those points she said she'd send it for repair, and i'd receive it back within about 3 weeks - by which time my younger daughter probably wouldn't have a lot of use left in the carrycot, she also offered us a "kind gesture" gift voucher for a small amount, to be spent in store, and to go away as she wanted to see if buggaboo would give mothercare their money back before they issued a refund - even though our problem was with mothercare who sold US the pushchair, then they should speak to buggaboo after! - although it was just a fob off, she told us she wasn't in for 2 weeks though and nobody would be able to deal with it.
My mother and i went away, to think about what the lady had said, and we realised that amongst the other points she had told several lies to us!
After about an hour we went back and asked to see the assistant manager, whom told us "to go away and have a further think" as she was helping another customer, and was going off to do a carseat fitting with them - although every member of staff in mothercare is qualified to do a carseat fitting, however only she was able to deal with our problem, and not one other memeber of staff were doing anything!
Then we told her we'd wait, and another lady walked in with the same pushchair and same problem (either it was a coincidence and two people had the same issue, or it's more of a problem then she orginally let on) - then when we started to talk to the other lady about what was wrong with her pushchair the assistant manager soon came over to move us away and talk to us..
after saying that we would only accept a refund, she carried on trying to refuse thhen my mum also pulled her up on her "earlier lies" and we told her don't worry we'll just see her in the small claims court, she just shrugged it off, and told her we wouldn't get any where, and then my mum went on to say, she knows otherwise, as she does deal with the law everyday, although a different type - wouldn't be hard find out the exacts, but that she did already know her basic rights..
This was what made her refund the pushchair...!!
My point: Why should you have to be a lawyer etc, to get a refund or halfway decent customer service, i just thought this was appalling, and without my mum i would have been stuck with a really expensive but unusable buggy!!!!
I just think mine might well have been a faulty product - i don't think this is a massive problem with buggaboos, and all i ever wanted was the pushchair fixed!! i didn't ever want to refund it!
In future i would deffinatly avoid mothercare, however i would deffinatly consider buying my next double from john lewis as they're great! and even offered to help me with a tempory double and to phone buggaboo themselves for me!!!!
I bought a Buggaboo Donkey in double Mode, back in April, and we paid outright for it (no baby plan etc), my second daughter was born in June, and this was when we started using it.
The first time i took it out, i realised i couldn't use it because the tyres were completely deflated, so i phoned all my local mothercare stores, Bromley and Nugent - which although they would all be willing to sell me the product - they all refused to sort out any issues with it (nugent were just outright rude - i would have prefered to go there as i had no pushchair and 2 children to manage as well as a pushchair!). They all told me to go along to Bluewater, so that was what i did.
I went along to Bluewater, i had to go through the shopping center (pushing a double pushchair and carrying a newborn baby, and a toddler). After asking everyone, the lady in the store blew up the tyres and informed me they all come with no air in as they are air mailed... (didn't understand this as surely thy shouldn't offer home delivery if everyone needs specialist pumps?! and why was i not told this when i bought it?!)
Any way, as soon as i got home, the tyres were completely flat again - i had only walked the children out of the shopping center in it!
So i phoned the store back up and asked if there was a problem as i've had about 6 or 7 pushchairs and never had a problem like this.. it made it unusable..
They told me to buy a bicycle pump and blow them up every time they went down - we tried this, however they went down pretty much about half an hour after we put the children in them!
I phoned back again, and in the mean time my mum went out and bought me, a basic double stroller, as i had no buggy!!
It took me 6 weeks (with no use of buggy), for Mothercare to admit that there was a problem! then all they did was phone buggaboo who agreed to send innertubes, and they told me to return in 2 weeks to collect these! (ANOTHER 2 weeks with no pushchair!)
Finally i went back to the store with my mum who had pretty much had enough - we paid a lot for this pushchair, and bought it because it was convinient, and we felt my daughter needed a carrycot whilst she was so small!
We went back to Mothercare Bluewater, and ended up seeing the assisstant manager - NOT a nice experience!!
Firstly she tried to fob us off, then eventually when she realised how much of a problem there was she went on to explain to us that, although we had a faulty product we were past the 28 days and therefore other than repair there is nothing they could do (which is against the law, and misrepresentation of your rights, as with any faulty product - especially one of this price, you're entitled to a replacement, repair or refund!), the lady then went on to explain that "they've never had any problems with any buggaboo they've sold before" - which then we went to point out that maybe mine was just the one faulty one!, The manager then tried to explain that the other stores wouldn't accept the buggaboo donkey's in as they didn't sell this product and therefore weren't allowed to have anything to do with it (why was i not told this, and why would these stores accept money for a product they then couldn't do anything with if it went wrong), she then tried to fob me off by saying that because i clearly had bought it on the baby plan the problem wasn't directly a store problem.. (i didn't buy it on the baby plan - she was holding the receipt which said i had paid outright).
Eventually after calling her bluff on a couple of those points she said she'd send it for repair, and i'd receive it back within about 3 weeks - by which time my younger daughter probably wouldn't have a lot of use left in the carrycot, she also offered us a "kind gesture" gift voucher for a small amount, to be spent in store, and to go away as she wanted to see if buggaboo would give mothercare their money back before they issued a refund - even though our problem was with mothercare who sold US the pushchair, then they should speak to buggaboo after! - although it was just a fob off, she told us she wasn't in for 2 weeks though and nobody would be able to deal with it.
My mother and i went away, to think about what the lady had said, and we realised that amongst the other points she had told several lies to us!
After about an hour we went back and asked to see the assistant manager, whom told us "to go away and have a further think" as she was helping another customer, and was going off to do a carseat fitting with them - although every member of staff in mothercare is qualified to do a carseat fitting, however only she was able to deal with our problem, and not one other memeber of staff were doing anything!
Then we told her we'd wait, and another lady walked in with the same pushchair and same problem (either it was a coincidence and two people had the same issue, or it's more of a problem then she orginally let on) - then when we started to talk to the other lady about what was wrong with her pushchair the assistant manager soon came over to move us away and talk to us..
after saying that we would only accept a refund, she carried on trying to refuse thhen my mum also pulled her up on her "earlier lies" and we told her don't worry we'll just see her in the small claims court, she just shrugged it off, and told her we wouldn't get any where, and then my mum went on to say, she knows otherwise, as she does deal with the law everyday, although a different type - wouldn't be hard find out the exacts, but that she did already know her basic rights..
This was what made her refund the pushchair...!!
My point: Why should you have to be a lawyer etc, to get a refund or halfway decent customer service, i just thought this was appalling, and without my mum i would have been stuck with a really expensive but unusable buggy!!!!
I just think mine might well have been a faulty product - i don't think this is a massive problem with buggaboos, and all i ever wanted was the pushchair fixed!! i didn't ever want to refund it!
In future i would deffinatly avoid mothercare, however i would deffinatly consider buying my next double from john lewis as they're great! and even offered to help me with a tempory double and to phone buggaboo themselves for me!!!!
it's not the kind of service we offer in my store! It's true we're not meant to refund an item if it is past 28 days (this is stated in the gaurantee booklet u should when u purchase a pushcahir) because of how the manufacturers deal with the returns process and we have to get 'permission' to do it from them but u should have instantly been offered spare parts and a loan pushchair to use while u wait if one is available (although probably not the same as the one you had) Ur guarantee should start from when ur baby is due/born not when u buy it. So if ud have been given a proper guarantee (I'm guessing u weren't?) really u should have been offered a refund or replacement straight away 
