It has become more and more evident to me that the long held belief that large companies often value their employees and suppliers less then their profits has spread like an insipid cancer to their apparent disregard for their customers. This approach is a dangerous one for the companies. Its dangers lye in the democratization of information on the internet. It is far more difficult to silence disgruntled consumers on the internet then it is in print, and with a little know how it is far easier for those disgruntled consumers to get their grievances under the noses of other would be consumers. This is why I am documenting my experience, and this is just one in many, and mothercare are not alone.

I would urge everyone who has ever had an either extremely positive or negative experience with a company, large or small to voice their opinion. Just state the facts, don’t be rude, don’t slander and don’t be aggressive but approach the subject with forthright vigor, confidence that its YOUR RIGHTS & YOUR MONEY and above all have a laugh, then maybe we will be listened to and maybe things will either change or disappear.

I will now recount a personal experience and explain how I believe Mothercare have alienated me to the point that I will no longer be a customer of theirs.

Online order placed at Mothercare.com

The company is the UK retail giant servicing parents and young children and goes by the name of Mothercare, but I don’t believe they do care at all.

The adventure began with us deciding that we needed to get an easily portable travel cot for our son over Christmas and for out imminent travels to New Zealand. After looking on line at several sites I decide that despite Mothercare being a little more expensive, I decided that with the date being the 17th of December and there being an announcement on the home page that they would deliver for Christmas, that Mothercare was the one. I ordered the travel cot and parted with my cash.

Pretty shortly afterwards I received an email conformation of the order stating “We aim to deliver this item within 18 working days” oh well I though they probably haven’t updated the copy on their email broadcast system. I was even more overjoyed on the 19th December to receive an email that the cot had been dispatched.

The Mothercare Santa did not deliver as insinuated

Christmas came and went but the cot did not, so I phoned them back on the 12th January to see what was happening, and was told that ‘the statement on the web site had only applied to certain items’ and argued that this was not clear at all, to no comment from the customer service man. We then went on a counting exercise counting off days and dropping others seemingly at random and was told that the new delivery date would be the 14th of January. So we waited and the 14th came and nothing else did.

I phoned back on the evening of the 15th stating that the cot had not been delivered and was told that the lady would chase the supplier and get back to me that day. She did not!!! So I phoned back in the evening to see what had happened and was told that the supplier was closed now and there was nothing more that could be done and that a note would be left with the lady who said she would phone me back, and I was asked to phone back in the morning. I did.

Mothercare don’t care enough to reply to my emails

But not before I filled out a contact on line stating my annoyance and asking them to look into it. I have yet to receive a reply to this email.

On the 16th January I phoned back, and was told I should have received it a while ago, I agreed. I was then told that they would despatch it the next day and it would be with me on the 19th January. They tried to deliver the cot but unfortunately I was out so it was redelivered on the 21st. This is where the fun really started.

To hard a structure for a Sculptor and Ex-boy scout to put away

I unpacked the cot with great excitement, and placed in it the travel cot mattress that I was told would be the only ones that would fit it when visiting a Mothercare store in Leicester, they didn’t fit!!! never the less we improvised and used a folded bed sheet. All going great so far… not quite… when it came to put the thing away, despite the claims that ” Packs away into a carry bag for maximum portability” & “Self erects in seconds yet folds flat for easy storage” could I get it folded, could I hell. Now I would like to think that I know how structures work and things fit together with being trained as a Sculptor and a boy Scout for many years, but nothing was happening at all, it would not fold flat. I read and re-read the instructions and just couldn’t make it work. Then I decided to look on line to see if there where any clues.

Mothercare only want positive customer feedback on Mothercare.com

Nothing online in the way of help, so I visited the Mothercare.com web site to ask them and left a comment on the product reviews section stating that it wasn’t as easy to put away as they would lead you to believe, and being a charitable sole, if I worked it out I would post back to help others out. The customer review was never authorized! It seams that customer reviews have to be positive only!

Refunded postage and packing but only because it broke

So back to the instructions and the part where it read “Don’t be afraid to push hard it wont snap” well I did and it did, in two… So I phoned up Mothercare again… to report that not only had it arrived shockingly late, it was also faulty. I was told that they would refund my £4.95 postage and packaging because it had arrived late, would I have gotten this back if it had not broke? No I doubt it. I was told that they would send two couriers out today the 23rd of January one to pick it up and one to drop it off, ands would I like them to arrive in the morning or the afternoon, I chose the morning as I had meetings in the afternoon. The van arrived to pick up the package at 1:40 in the afternoon… I phoned to see where the cot was, stating that I was told it would be delivered this morning, I was then informed that I should not have been told this, as they cant say when it would be delivered. After expressing my annoyance I was told that the lady would phone the supplier to see when it would be delivered and phone me back, I explained that I had been there before with these promises, but to here credit she did phone me back and said that the cot would be delivered sometime this week…

Don’t make me laugh

Time will tell. However over the weekend whilst looking for a pushchair last weekend in the Northampton store I was told that I could order the pram we wanted either from the brochure or the web site and it would be delivered within the week… OHH how I laughed and walked out empty handed.

What next?

Well I have since contacted Mothercare customer services with the url of this document and an explanatory note and have heard nothing back other then a computer generated acceptance of my email.

But I will now not purchase anything else for my children from Mothercare, I will make a point of mentioning this experience when the conversation sways its way and I shall publish this article on-line and syndicate it across my connections with several leading parenting publications. All it would have taken would have been an acknowledgement that they had failed, that they valued my patronage as well as my money and that they would take my criticisms on board and attempt to remedy the situation for future consumers.