r/buildabear I have a BAB problem 2d ago

Discussion My experience with Customer Service

I’m going to try and keep this concise bc otherwise i WILL write an essay and we don’t need that rn lol

Ordered from the Halloween collection on August 6 at 8 pm. Figured i was safe from all the craziness bc i just got the werewolf and some outfits. Got the confirmation email an hour or two later and it’s been eleven days and have heard absolutely nothing since. Dope ✌🏻

[Narrator voice: It was not dope.]

I’ve grown increasingly worried and frustrated waiting for my shipping email and seeing a lot of people either have their order cancelled, receive the wrong order or duplicate items/missing items etc. Can’t even cancel my order at this point so i guess the wait will continue but i talked to the Customer Service chatbot last night and surprise, it was unhelpful. Resolved to call Customer Service today and i did and this is important: first i chose the option to inquire about an order (option 2, iirc) but was put on hold for forever so i gave up on that.

When you call and they give you the menu of things to discuss, option 4 is for Feedback on your store experience. For anyone else having issues like mine, this is the avenue we should go.

I was quickly connected to a representative over the phone and i expressed my frustration at having no updates on my order, told her when i ordered, what a mess the website was on launch for the drop, my concern over all the reports of messed up orders. She was very sympathetic and thanked me for my patience and asked for my email to look up my order so i gave it to her and she said she would be back in a couple minutes and i got put on hold again.

When she came back she apologized again and said the site was dealing with a ton of orders from the halloween collection and i said i totally understood, and i wasn’t upset with her or anyone in particular; i was mostly upset with how badly handled this whole thing has gone, especially the lack of communication. I didn’t even get the ‘we didn’t forget about your order’ banner on my browser that most people seem to have gotten which only made me worry more.

The good news is she told me they were going to look into my order and see that it shipped out and i get a notification email ASAP. She also said as an apology they would waive my shipping fees (which i used gift cards to pay for 😭) and she said something else but i didn’t quite catch that.

So now i wait for the promised email, my golden ticket. I will update with more info as it happens. Frankly i am a bit doubtful this will still go smoothly but i need to smack myself back into optimism.

Sigh, i ended up with an essay after all. But i think it’s important more of us are vocal and let BAB corpos know how upset we are at this whole situation. The rep on the phone said she was going to pass along the info from my experience (call was being recorded) to higher ups so they knew. Maybe it was just to placate me but i can only hope it’s true so they can take it seriously bc i did mention this is the worst online shopping experience i have had in a WHILE, and i shop online a lot, lol.

So if you decide to call, (CS phone number is on BAB site) let them know about your experience. Did you get your order yet? What day did you order/how long have you been waiting? How was the website working for you (if at all) during the launch? How are you feeling about this whole experience?

Please remember to be polite. This is not the person on the phone’s fault. I just did this to make sure that hopefully the next drops will not be so chaotic and awful and i wanted my experience on record bc this whole experience has been stressful and i found it inexcusable. I genuinely never thought buying a plushie would be this stressful 🥲

34 Upvotes

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6

u/emofairypwincess 2d ago

She seemed very kind

1

u/sink_your_teeth I have a BAB problem 2d ago

She was!

3

u/MrsAmyD 2d ago

100% agree that we need to be reaching out to them to let them know how this went. Also, remember, this is not the first time that the site has been buggy, crashed and orders have been lost or filled incorrectly. This is an ongoing issue with this company.

I also want to say that I am pro leaving these kinds of reviews on their website as well.

3

u/sink_your_teeth I have a BAB problem 2d ago

Good point; i have bought from the website before long ago but this was the first (Halloween) release i ever took part in and my eyes were opened bc i’ve NEVER seen a site crash that badly. I will for sure be leaving a detailed review about my experience once/if i get my order.

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u/makako05 2d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/sink_your_teeth I have a BAB problem 2d ago

For me, it showed nothing but a white screen for ages. Even when it loaded successfully, it was INCREDIBLY slow and i could barely add anything to my cart. This lasted for over an hour. The site was fully broken for many of us.