Babies R’ Us hates us (and I presume you, too)

So my wife and I tried to return a few things to Babies R’ Us ^[1] that were given to us off of our baby registry: nothing was opened,  everything brand new, and still being sold in the store and online for the same retail price. We had all the gift receipts. The stuff was bought in June, and now it’s December, and we had no idea that there was this new hard-line ‘nothing-can-be-returned-after-90-days’ policy because on the gift receipt it says “Easy Returns.” Well, not so much… Beyond a few basic stipulations, nothing on the receipt mentions 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, or any kind of time or date limitation. It basically makes it seem like you can return the merchandise to a local store or via return labels, as long as you have a reason and a receipt (which is the case at many large retailers).

So we brought the stuff back to the store and were informed about this militant policy and how we couldn’t get store credit or anything 90 days after the initial purchase. I pointed out that everything was new with receipts, etc. I even offered to take 10% off retail value to get around the policy, since all we wanted was store credit. They said no, on the store level they couldn’t override the policy (2 managers told me this).

They said call the 800 customer service line and they might override it. So I got on the phone, in the store, and after 1 rep and 2 supervisors in their ‘call center,’ I was told they could not override the policy, that only the corporate office could. So I said connect me to the corporate office and they said they had no contact with the corporate office. So I kinda lost it on them and they miraculously found the number to the corporate office.

With the corporate office I explained to the poor receptionist  my situation and she connected me to one person (voicemail; so I called back), then another (voicemail; called back), then another (voicemail; gave up). I wanted to speak to an actual human in corporate to resolve the situation and get this override, but apparently the irony of a human working in corporate was lost on me at that time.

Anyway, I’m still in the store, making a scene, and by now another manager is there to appease me and my wife (an hour and a half has transpired by this point). He tries to help us by calling the online warehouse and asking them to take the return, but before calling he explains to us that the person who bought the gift would get the credit, not us. We’re so dumbfounded, flabbergasted, disgusted, infuriated (insert additional adjective here) that we can’t even begin to argue the stupidity of this, even as he calls someone at the warehouse who basically says, Nope, after 30 days the sale is null/void/final — no credit or refund for anyone.

But at least we returned to our apartment armed with the Babies R’ Us corporate number (973-617-3500), and a few names who may be in the customer service area who could override this policy (Peggy Morales, Barbara Edwards, and someone named Ruben).

The moral of the story is this: the Babies R’ Us return policy is ridiculous. They don’t print any of this on their receipts like every other major store does (at least not for online orders), and they expect you to go online and find their return policy (and if you are shopping at Babies R’ Us, presumably you have a child, and if you have a child, do you have the time to go online, without prompting, to randomly investigate a store’s return policy, when the gift receipt you have in hand says “Easy Returns”?).

Thus, we’ll no longer be shopping at Babies R’ Us. I mean really, you think we can’t find what we want at Target,  Buy Buy Baby, or Diapers.com? We told the last manager we spoke with that they were going to lose our business, and he said that this was something that was brought up on their conference call when the new policy was announced; and that the new owners/corporate anticipated this and this was what they thought was “in the best interests of the company.”

If you Google “Babies R’ Us return policy” you’ll find a lot of complaints, and everyone says they won’t shop there anymore (and I even found some jackass defending the policy because customers are stupid, but that is a different posting about corporate lackeys and sycophants).

Well, the customer is still always right in my eyes. They’ll be getting a few calls from us, and if you have been burned by Babies/Toys R’ Us, feel free to call their corporate headquarters in Wayne, NJ (again, that’s 973-617-3500; Peggy Morales, Barbara Edwards, and someone named Ruben) and let them know your displeasure. Don’t just send an email that can be easily deleted: call and harass, because honestly, that’s probably the only way to get anyone’s attention. I’m sure if they receive enough calls, they will start to reconsider what is “in the best interests of the company.”

And if Babies R’ Us can afford to piss people off and lose business, congratulations. Shows you not everyone’s hurting during the recession.

Happy Holidays.