Disgruntled Baby Shop customer (you all know which store I am referring to!)

B

BabyHappy

Registered User
Is it just me or does everyone have really bad experiences at that baby store we all love to hate!

I have gone there today to buy baby formula to find it is out of stock for 2 weeks. Ok I should have been more organised and stocked up on it but it is not just me. I was surrounded by two other mothers in the same position!!

I just cannot believe that a store selling such a critical item as baby formula has such bad processes for ordering and tracking of stock that it allows it to run out. It is totally unacceptable.

I want to warn all mothers out there using formula to buy it from a source where you have a back up rather then just relying on this store.

Would welcome other views?
 
one of the many reasons i never went for "designer" formula.... i wanted to be able to pop into the supermarket or pharmacy to be able to buy some. so much easier (and cheaper, too!)
 
Yes that is what I am now going to do! I have learnt my lesson and will not give that store another dollar of my money.

The store's attitude just disgusts me. Additionally they are a complete rip off and for a shop that caters to babies, you cannot even push a stroller round it!
 
My local Park n Shop is just as likely to be out of something for months as a baby shop.

If it is the store I'm thinking of, I've had a bad experience too. I purchased a trampoline and the sales woman assured me that the delivery men would set it up. Of course, they didn't. Didn't know anything about it. Didn't know they were supposed to. Didn't know how to do it. I ended up putting it together myself and it took hours. That was the last time I shopped there. They just don't care about customers at all.

Toys Club and the ELC shop in Princes Building have much better customer service. Although neither are much help with formula.
 
If it's the store I'm thinking about, yes I have pet peeves with them...

BUT for Christmas, we bought my daughter a rocking horse and when we set it up, it was rocking slightly crooked. Some people might not even make a big deal out of it, but my husband is a perfectionist and he wanted a replacement. The one that we bought, we brought it home and assembled it ourselves. After we called to complain, they came to our house to pick it up and brought us one that they had already assembled and checked that it was fine. So we had a pretty good experience there...

That has nothing to do with formula though...
 
Why can`t you just say the name of the store, who cares?
I finally ascertained which one it was anyway, I think:)
I have a similar problem with formula. I got stuck with my son liking this one hard to find brand(Bellamy`s) and there are only a few shops in HK that sell it and they are out of it half the time... Very infuriating. This, by the way, is a HK-wide problem with keeping consistent stock in general. Last time I went to B2B for it, I just called ahead and asked them if it was in stock. Saves the trip to Central for me.
I find it easier now just to order online in HK.
 
I am sorry but I still have no clue about which baby store you all are talking about... :(

Wild guess.. Eugene??
 
me too... I cant figure out which is this store..Although I get all my formula from Park n shop and they run out of it so frequently !!
 
Bumps to babes, yes?

I had the same experience with infacol - poor little mite was having horrible experience with tummy pain in the early days and having finally found something that helped they were out of stock for two months. Fortunately for us as he grew older the problem went away but honestly how hard is it to predict what stock you're going to need!?
 
jane01 said:
My local Park n Shop is just as likely to be out of something for months as a baby shop.
Click to expand...

Really? Well, I guess it depends on the "something"--they certainly shouldn't be out of an essential like baby formula for months! And the nice thing is that HK has thousands of Park n Shops conveniently placed so if you can't get it at one you'll likely find it at another.
 
we have two park n shop in kennedy town and if it is out of stock in one of them then we happily trod along to the second one and if it is not there (rarely happens!) then we happily trod along to watsons or mannings. :)
 
Yes it is bumps to babes. I was avoiding saying the name in order to be fair and discrete.

The key point here is that B2B is the only stockist of this item in HK. You cannot go to another store to get the item like with Park N Shop.
Additionally, it is not the issue of being able to call ahead, it is fundamentally that they are stocking a critical item to feed a baby. It is not appropriate to run out of stock of baby formula when you are only store that stock it. It is a no brainer!

I want to warn other mother's of this when they make the decision to buy baby formula from this store.
 
Sorry, I've got no problem with naming and shaming ;-) and I agree with you Babyhappy, I couldn't find infacol anywhere else and we needed it then. The whole premise of their business is that they stock items that for the most part you can't get elsewhere in Hong Kong and they make a lot of money out of some of us that way, the least they can do is ensure a consistent supply of these items, it can't be that hard!

I spoke to the staff about it on several occasions but they are obviously not empowered to make changes - I feel that if they can organise themselves enough to send me out a marketing email every couple of weeks then they can organise themselves to have consistent stock levels.

On the upside surely someone somewhere with enough money will spot the gap in the market and launch against them - I'd do it tomorrow with the right backing... anyone got a few mil to spare for stock... anyone... hello....

...sigh.
 
What we have done with b2b is often tell the staff when a particular item we need is out of stock to call us when it comes in and we buy a bigger quantity to avoid Any problems
 
I've found that most shops in general don't seem to stock enough baby food. My 7 month old is still not eating a lot of solids and the only solids he will eat so far are the baby apples in a jar. Both the Wellcome supermarkets near our house have been out of them for the last month because I bought the last 2 jars and the only other type they have is chicken and gravy... Sorry if you live near me and I stole the last ones ;) I should just make my own but have no idea how.
 
buy apples, peel them, cut into small pieces. add a little water and a sprinkle of cinnamon. cover, heat in microwave until soft. cool, puree... done.
 
mm, for me I mix avocado and apple together because my LO won't eat just apple or just avocado, she needs it mixed. ;) And it more nutritious for her anyway, so I love to make it for her.

What I do is peel an apple, cut into small pieces; cut half an avocado, cut into small pieces; put them all in a blender, add some milk (any milk your baby is taking), that's it!!
 
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