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Currently we’re in the market for a pram, one of those things for transporting small people around in. In this capacity my self and my wife shopped around and decided we would get our selves a Bugaboo Cameleon, a bit pricey however it will fit quite nicely in our BMW mini. I did my usual shopping around and as expected their are major discounts to be found on the interweb. In the end we decided that a face to face sale would suit better so we’d have some one to talk to if it broke or what ever. Weeks of research later we roll up to JKUK also known as Babies247.com and ordered the Pram, car seat and other bits that I’m assured you need. The price we got from JKUK was as expected well over the odds and damn close to R.R.P, but hey I’m paying for the customer service and piece of mind, you can’t put a price on that!
Quote from website:
babies247 is the online division of JKUK and shares its core principles of outstanding range choice, impeccable service and advice and – most importantly – will never be beaten on price.
From the start we we’re informed that the pram would take 8 weeks to be delivered to the shop. This I knew was standard practice with this particular item as every other site selling them said the same (even the people on Ebay). So the 8 weeks come and go, we pop into their store so wifey can purchase some random stuff a magazine has explained how no new mother can be without, I ask the sales assistant how our order is progressing, she passes me over to a senior member of staff as she wasn’t trained on the their ordering system (fair enough). The senior member of staff opens up their ordering system (oh its an excel spreadsheet), and explains the pram hasn’t been delivered yet and as such the other items that we had ordered which have been coming in haven’t been assigned to our order (I had asked that when the car seat arrives, they ring me so i can pick it up, but oh well small over sight). They assure me they will chase the order and ring me during the week to tell me whats going on. Week passes nothing.
- I ring again to chase on a Tuesday morning get a lady on the phone, who couldn’t help me directly as she wasn’t aware how the spreadsheet worked, so she said she’d put a note on the managers desk to ring me when shes free (11:43am).
- I get to my lunch (13:30pm) nothing so I ring back again cant get to right person but they will pass the message on.
- (16:00) I ring again yet again cant get hold of the woman with the required MS Excel skill to read the column, delivered YES/NO
- 17:30 JKUK Excel division rings me back and explains that they are having trouble with the orders and she is seeking an alternative source which she will confirm by phone on Thursday
- Thursday goes past
- Friday Trundles by and nothing
- On the way home from work Sarah drops into JKUK aka Babies247.com
- The master of all things spreadsheet related explains that because they are having trouble getting hold of stock they are currently only dealing with customers who make a fuss.
- This is all part of their “Impeccable Service”
- She assures my wife that they will ring me on Tuesday to confirm that we will have the Car seat this weekend
- It’s worth noting the Baby seat isn’t a hard item to get hold of and I could of had one next day delivered through out this entire process
- Another note worthy point is Sarah my wife is close to popping and with a car seat you cant take your child home
- On the way home from work Sarah drops into JKUK aka Babies247.com
Today is Tuesday and I sit waiting for the Excel woman to ring, classic case of shockingly poor service. My current thinking is just cancel their order and get it from somewhere else, had a great chat with a woman from thebaby.co.uk and she was really helpful.
Another Website quote:
By shopping at babies247 you have nothing to worry about except making and enjoying your family memories.
I totally agree with the above quote nothing more irritating than the people who promised repeatedly to ring you back actually ring you back and ruining some decent memories you might be trying to create.
Would this sort of service make you think “NEVER SHOP AT JKUK or BABIES247.com” would you think your JKUK Complaint would be well received and briskly and efficiently acted upon (with heathly use of advanced excel macros and formulas no doubt)
These are some question I have raised and clearly have no answer for (for legal reasons). However other people do have answers, for example:
bat400 has said “babies247.com - promised much but delivered little” read more
ajswuk has said “babies274 dissapointing” read more
mgdanis said “A pathetic experience of digital shopping. I eventually canceled my order after three weeks waiting for it. Web site has been showing my order as pending with no more information. Numerous phone calls to the web site numbers remained unanswered and the staff in stores was not able to help. Beautiful web site but I am afraid there is nothing behind.”
A review by hatcher56134 on babies247.com
Advantages: very nice website
Disadvantages: They take your money, but don’t exchange it for goods, or refund you !
read the rest here
Hatcher56134 clearly pointing out its not all bad whilst your opinion may be “DO NOT TOUCH THIS COMPANY WITH A BARGE POLE!” its not all bad their web site is quite pretty. These sorts of thing should be taken into consideration when jumping to conclusions regard for example proclaiming that may be, JKUK are the sort of company you’d recommend your enemy’s to get their supplies from.
I will update later on when they phone back with all their Excel goodness!.
Stumble it!
Darren
April 29th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
It does of course depend on what version of Excel they’re using, 2007 is all over the place and I’m not certain how to make stuff bold.
Nicky Ellis
May 31st, 2008 at 1:42 am
Well, well, well it seems that we too are experiencing JKUK immense public relations and to date we too have been waiting for our promised refund for over three weeks!!!
As you so rightly say what a lovely website but their aftersales STINK !!
We only live 3 miles from their Bitterne shop but the item in question was £5 cheaper direct from the website so we studiply ordered online. Never again, and so we recommend to anyone considering purchasing through this company to think again… how about Mothercare LOL.
James Lloyd
May 31st, 2008 at 3:13 am
Hope you got your money back. I had to get the credit card company involved before they would give me a refund.
Nicky Ellis
June 10th, 2008 at 5:30 am
Hi James,
Well, after 5 phone calls, four promised calls back, one rant and a threat of contacting trading standards our long awaited refund has finally arrived. Their customer service is dire and the staff are very good at acting dumb. Needless to say we won’t be buying, or attempting to buy from them again, and have advised all my friends to do the same… Looks like JKUK has lost alot of business eh. Take care now.
ann butcher
July 16th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
We have been waiting for four months for delivery of cot and baby changing table. Baby is now two weeks old and all we get from babies 247 is the answer that delvery will take two more weeks. We have been told this three times. We seem unable to talk to them direct and our money was paid into the bank within a week of our original order placement
Are they just earning money from the orders placed and paid for during the interim? I am now going to cancel the order and should hope to get my money back - with interest -. Will keep you updated!
ann butcher
July 16th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I think the daily paper - i.e. The Echo - should be investigatig this company in the light of readers’ comments. Please give me any reason why this should not be done?
Louise Fleming
July 29th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
I also have fallen foul of these amateurish theives. I ordered a Graco parasol, only to have the same kind of experiences as listed above. I am surprised they are still allowed to trade - they are clearly unprofessional and don’t give two hoots about their customers or reputation. My experience is far too long a story to go into, but I would rather go without something than order from them.
Lando
July 30th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Everyone is so quick to be negative online, if you have a bad experience you have to tell everyone!!!! I on the other hand ordered my goods and was quoted a 2-4 week wait and as quoted I received all my goods within three weeks. The staff were very polite and helpful, and able to answer many questions that me or my partner may have had. In the store they give you their full attention as long as rewuired and helped choose the best suited car seat and push chair. Certain items were unavailable whether it be due to the colour of the item or the supplier but the staff did make us aware of these things when ordering.
James Lloyd
July 30th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Lando I believe the free speech on the web is a good thing, and these small companies should be using the internet as marketing tool. Look at people like play.com etc. People know longer stand for sub-standard service. I’m extremely happy your experience with JKUK was a good one, and I’m sure your not the first person to be happy with their service. However from the emails, comments and shear amount of traffic this page is getting I can only assume your experience is in the minority.
lando
July 31st, 2008 at 2:43 am
It is easy to believe I am part of the minority as you said due to the high volume of negativity, however is it fair to assume this just by internet reviews, when in fact many people who could have had great service are not quick to jump on a pc and write …JKUK, great service, really nice, got my pushchair in time…. when in fact they are happy just enjoying their newborns along with their goods they have purchased from jkuk.
James Lloyd
July 31st, 2008 at 3:06 am
I agree with what you say, people are very quick to judge. Though after my personal experience talking to other people who have used JKUK and/or Babies247.com you are the first with positive comments.
Assuming that mine and everyone else’s issues have been total mis-understanding or just customers/my self being unreasonable, they at the very least have a major customer service issue. Though the fact your willing to fight their corner, here can only be testament that they’ve kept at least some one happy! or your just on the payroll
lando
August 6th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
which store did you have your bad experience with? , I found the bournemouth store to be helpful.
James Lloyd
August 7th, 2008 at 8:03 am
I dealt with their HQ in Southampton, which from what I can make out the web site is run out of. Interestingly I have recently dealt with someone from another big baby retailer in southampton, who said they used to work there and this sort of service was typical.