In our book, we relate tales from consumers who are
frustrated with the service they get at chains like Babies R Us. Today, a reader
chimes in with her experience at BRU, especially the
registry:

Dear Denise and
Alan,

I love your books! I bought your
Bridal Bargains book when I was engaged and I recently bought your Baby Bargains
book. I thought you might like to know about our recent experience with Babies
R Us.

We registered at Babies R Us in
November of 2005 and have been amazed at how awful their customer service has
been. If something is purchased from your registry it takes at least 48 hours
for it to appear on your registry online. If something is purchased online,
Babies R Us recommends that you call their 1-888-babyrus number to tell them so
that it is reflected correctly.

Each
individual store that items are purchased at is responsible for updating
purchases off your registry. It appears there is no centralized tracking system
for registries. Therefore, if an employee forgets to input a registry purchase,
you are out of luck.

I purposely bought
something in a store off my own registry and after 5 days it had still not
appeared as being purchased when I checked my registry online. I called Babies
R Us and they told me this happens frequently during busy times of the year.
Needless to say, we received multiples of many items at my shower last
week.

When Babies R Us discontinues items
most stores discount those items, but some stores continue to sell them at full
price. However, the stores selling them at full price don’t let you know these
items are being discontinued. We learned this while shopping for our crib and
changing table.

Our in-store customer
service has been just bad. There was an open box cutter in our cart, the
person working the registry desk did not know how to do registries, the cashier
could not figure out how to ring up items that were discounted, the salesperson
in the furniture dept told us she could not help us because she was ready to go
home, etc. We called Babies R Us to let them know and their customer service
representative told us someone above her would call us back in 2-5 days. After
3 weeks, we had not been contacted so I called again. They assured me someone
would call us back within 24-72 hours. It’s been 72 hours and we are still
waiting for a call.

Overall our
experience at Babies R Us has been awful and I thought you might want to know.
I hope others have been luck at Babies R
Us.

Gratefully,
Rita
B.