The Baby Shop

I got one of the bundles other people in reviews are talking about, and am very happy I did. I just made sure I followed their instructions about receiving items, and I always called and kept up with them to make sure if something wasn’t in stock, that they ordered it for me and made sure it would be there on time. I also decided to get this contract early in my pregnancy to make sure everything arrived a lot earlier than my due date. All the employees I’ve dealt with were extremely helpful every time I called or went into the shop. I took one star away only because they accidentally sold the car seat I had been waiting for (and had them make sure to set it aside) to someone else. BUT the owner did drive all the way to the Temecula location just to pick one up for me.

I am not a customer of The Baby Shop, but I walk the Moreno Valley Mall and this morning I was shocked by the window display: about 15 tiny shirts some of which have the most offensive sayings on them, considering that they are meant for children around one year old.
‘BABY PIMP’ was the worst, but several should never been made. Society has become crude enough recently, there is no need to have gutter language on baby shirts.

It is so interesting that I got on here to write a review and found the same complaints I have. My husband and I signed up for a great package in February because we were due in july. Every month we paid a little of with the expectation that we would be able to pick it up in June to prepare for the baby. Four weeks before June we finalized all the unique items and were told they would be ready for pick up in two weeks. Since these were not custom items I was concerned they didn’t have them in stock but we went with it. The crib was late arriving, the stroller is still in route with them stating it was stuck at the port, and they would not give us anything for the inconvenience. Doing business with them over the past months we have come to the shop to find it closed during business hours. We had to wait for an hour and the explanation was they had twelve hour shifts so they had to close the store. But the store is in the mall. It’s supposed to stay open the whole day. We were told to pick up the stroller to come and find they hadn’t put it aside and sold it to someone else. And two days before my due date we are still waiting for it to arrive. Although all of this had gone wrong they refused to throw in extras or give discounts. We will not return to this store. The employees are nice but the owner limits their options and seems very greedy. It’s a shame because we expect to have another baby. But I’d rather pay more for better service and receive expected results.

DO NOT shop here. We ordered a bassinet from here MONTHS ago, was told that because of shipping problems we would not receive it until late February (NOW), which is fine because we have a couple weeks before baby arrives (Even though, as a new parent you want EVERYTHING set up and ready to do) We received a call this week stating it may not get here till the END of April? We went into the store, and asked if we could take the floor model (which has been there for YEARS) and the owner was only willing to do that if we still payed the FULL price for it. He was willing to give us a $ 30 gift card or $ 100 off bedding. soo…we were inconvenienced and he expects us to spend MORE money at his shop… we asked if he was willing to throw in the bedding (at this point we are down to the wire) that has also sat in the floor model for YEARS and would need to be dry cleaned (which will cost us a pretty penny) and he said he was only willing if we payed the $ 100 for it.
Are you kidding?
We have been loyal to this shop, bought other pieces of furniture here, planned on purchasing other big items, we will NEVER shop here again. As the owner of a store, he should value his customers and be willing to bend when things happen. WHY would he expect me to pay the SAME price for an older used floor model as I would for a brand new one? Makes absolutely no sense. As much as I would rather spend my money at family owned stores, it is very obvious that working with stores like BABIES R US, and places that value customer service are key for these emotional purchases.

Unilocal is not playing nice and has arbitrarily chosen to «remove» the second part of my original review of The Baby Shop because they claim «it’s not my first hand experience»? I’d like to know how they came to that conclusion. So please be advised I was not able to post my complete review of this store, but I hope you get an idea of their service with the first portion, though incomplete.

This is PART TWO to my wife’s review – Unfortunately, Unilocal only gives you limited space to post a review.
Why didn’t I look up his hours of operation you might ask? Well, he omits his hours of operation on his business card, and since he has no website, the only option is to call — BUT all you get is a FAX MACHINE when you do! This is also when I found out I could not exchange the expensive, «high end», impractical stroller that the manager had promised I could exchange.
Once I figured out I would probably go into labor early, I called to find out what items I would be able to pick up that day – it was only then that I was informed that I had to give them 3 WEEKS notice to get my stuff!!! Again, did not know this! Needless to say, I called the manager ready to blow a lid! He, of course, in order to appease me, decided to make an «exception» and allow me to choose another stroller and car seat – except I couldn’t find one because he didn’t have any other strollers in his «selection» that fit our needs. So, I told him the only thing that would make it right would be for him to refund me the price of stroller and car seat so I can purchase them somewhere else – rather than going home with something I wasn’t happy with. He agreed to refund me only part of the package price for stroller and car seat – $ 400. Except, his «competent» employee had NEVER done a refund (because they never issue any) and instead of issuing me a refund, she charged me an EXTRA $ 400 in addition to the amount I had finished paying to close out the layaway plan… I’m not even going to get into all the hoops and red tape it took to get that fixed as well! A COMPLETE NIGHTMARE! I was so done with that place that I was even willing to take the wrong diaper bag because they didn’t even get that right either — AND did I mentioned the crib that I picked had been discontinued and I had to get a floor model because they NEVER set one aside for me when I signed up for the package!!! And though he gave me a «small discount» on the crib, he refused to tell me what the actual charge for the crib was. He didn’t even have the courtesy to respond to my last few messages to clear this up! Yes ladies and gentlemen – do yourselves a huge favor, NEVER, EVER, SHOP THERE!!! PLEASE!