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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

BuyBuyBaby Success!

In contrast to Babies 'R Us, as mentioned earlier, BuyBuyBaby was almost exactly the opposite. Serach called them up, since they're about a half hour away from us, and asked what they have in stock. They said we should let them check, and they'll call back in a few minutes. As they close at 9:30 and it was already 7:45, Serach called back again, and a manager answered and promised to call back within a few minutes with the answer. Five minutes later, he did, telling us that of the kind we wanted, they had three in stock, one of each color (blue, normal/oak, cherry wood). Two minutes after that, the original saleslady called back with the same information.

I drove out to the store, walked in, and as soon as I walked in there was a man standing there who seemed to be a manager. He quickly pointed me to the back, where the furniture was. I noted that there were as many employees in each quarter of the store than in the entire Babies 'R Us, which is about the same size. When I got to the back, there were two employees at the (smaller) furniture desk, one of whom immediately asked how she could help; the other was helping someone else. I started to tell her that I'd called about a bed, and she pointed me straight away to the beds I was interested in, coming over a couple of minutes later to help out. When I called Serach to double-check which color we wanted, she said to just come over when I was ready and tell her. About five minutes later, I walked over, and she asked my last name; when I told her, she wrote it on a piece of paper that I noticed was already filled out, including my first name, which Serach had given an hour earlier when she called.

I asked if she had filled it out ahead of time, and she said she had, except the color and last name, which she hadn't known. She then gave me the paper, said I should just hand it in at checkout, and the item would be waiting by the door. It was. Had I not also spent a few minutes buying a gate and nightlight, I could have been in and out in less than ten minutes - shorter than the time spent waiting to get a sales representative in Babies 'R Us.

Oh - and Elianna now has a bed to sleep in, too. :)

9 comments:

  1. so.. will it be put together by the time she turns 4?

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  2. Heya all! Just droppin in to say hello. :)

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  3. Huzzah for calling in advance.

    I was gonna say on your earlier post -- it is wise, when making a big purchase like that, to verify that the store has it in stock, otherwise you can end up with the frustrations of your experience at BRU.

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  4. Pobody - Already was by the time you wrote that. :)

    Apple - In general when making "big" purchases, it makes sense to call. But this wasn't really a "big" purchase (just a milestone one), and with Target next door, it didn't need an advance call. Even if they had some in stock, it was no guarantee to buy, and I had stuff to get at Target anyway.

    The disappointment here with BRU was that this is something that you'd reasonably expect them to have in stock. While it sounds like a "large" item, it comes in a pretty thin, reasonably sized box and you'd expect them to carry at least some. More importantly, I didn't like the game of "oh, looks like we're out of stock", followed by "well, we actually never carry stock". Don't make a customer walk around for a while and wait, then make him sit there while you click around for 5 minutes, when you know you *never* have what he wants in stock. It's a clear ploy to make it sound like "oh, we just ran out, can I order one for you?" when it's really just deception.

    Misleading people is wrong.

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  5. Of course! BRU was unscrupulous. Just saying it's a good strategy to call in advance so you don't waste your time shlepping for no reason. I'll even call, say, a Borders store to see if they have a book in stock before going so I don't waste my time and/or end up making an impulse purchase.

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  6. Calling in advance is great, but typically not worthwhile these days at large stores unless a) you have nothing else you need to get and b) know exactly what you're asking for. Since we were willing to take any of a few models (and reasonably could expect them to be in stock) and we also needed other items both from BRU and right there, there was no reason to call and waste 15 minutes on hold. Plus, especially on products like that [where they know only a few stores carry it], stores will often answer "whatever we have in store is what there is" but won't tell you what's in store, saying you'll have to come in and see for yourself.

    Another thing we bought was a gate. I actually had it in my cart at BRU, but put it back on the shelf after being disgusted by the bed information. (I debated leaving it right there, but figured that wasn't nice. :) ) I later got the same gate for the same price at BuyBuyBaby (which I found out later guarantees that particular gate at the lowest price you find anywhere).

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  7. I love BuyBuyBaby. I bought my double stroller their when my kids were little. They were extremely helpful.

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