Complain about a product or service

Burlington Coat Factory's Baby Depot

Burlington Coat Factory • Returns • Price disputes • Defective items • Discount coupons • Baby Depot

Laura of Upper Marlboro MD (4/28/05):
I was planning on making a trip to Burlington Coat Factory's Baby Depot to get a new stroller. The night before I decided to go on the internet to print a coupon. When I did a Google search, to my surprise, many websites popped up citing problems from several different people being refused the use of their coupons at Baby Depot. I decided to go ahead and go to the store to get what I wanted, hoping that the same thing wouldn't happen to me.

Well, sure enough, my experience was just like the other women who had posted their complaints. I was immediatley told that they wouldn't take it. When I asked why, they called the manager and he said that they wouldn't honor them. He didn't even have the decency to come up and speak to me personally.

So, I asked to see him. He came up, finally, and repeated himself that they wouldn't take it. I asked why and he said that I had photocopied it! When I explained to him that I had downloaded it, he acted like he didn't even hear me and just repeated that he wouldn't accept a photocopy.

I was so embarrassed. He made me feel like I was doing something wrong! My point is this: If you aren't going to accept the coupons, do not make them available on the internet. I am, or was, a loyal customer of Burlington Coat Factory, but this incident has somewhat tainted my feelings toward the store. There are ways to talk to people and this manager definitely didn't have that ability. Frustrating!

Kent of Los Gatos CA (3/28/05):
My wife went to Burlington Coat factory to buy a bassinet for our upcoming baby. They didn't have it in stock so she had to order it. They had her place a deposit on the bassinet in the amount of $67. It was to be in stock in the next 6-12 weeks. We never heard from them and after 14 weeks we when into the store to find out the they had never ordered the bassinet in the first place and it would take us another 6 to 12 weeks to get it.

Our baby was a month old at this time. A bassinet is something you only use for the first couple of months. So our baby would have outgrown the bassinet before we ever recieved it. So we requested our money back. The manager said she would send in our request to corporate and as of today we still have not recieved the refund or any word from corporate.

Amber of Lakemoor IL (4/3/05)
My husband and I purchased a C & T (Jackie) crib from Baby Depot in Burlington Coat Factory. While shopping we spent quite a bit of time comparing the features offered on the various cribs on their showroom floor. As most cribs are, this crib was very heavy and not the easiest to transport home.

After getting home and taking the crib pieces out of the box we discovered that the crib had a wood mattress support, instead of a metal mattress support. Having a metal mattress support was an important detail that we felt very strongly about when selecting a crib. The display model at Baby Depot had a metal mattess support. That is the product that we assumed we were purchasing. I called Baby Depot and the sales person said that the company changed how they made the crib but they hadn't changed the floor model on display.

He said I could bring the crib back and select a different crib if I wanted to. Because we are expecting our baby VERY SOON, it is difficult for us to get this crib back to the store to exchange it, and I am not interested in any of the other cribs that they have (and they have made it very clear that they only offer store credits) we are stuck with a crib that doesn't meet the expectations we had when we made the purchase from Baby Depot. We are definitely dissatisfield customers.

Denise of Millbury MA (9/8/03):
On 9/6/03 Burlington Caot Factory was having a Grand Opening for their new store in our area. My husband and I went in and purchased a crib mattress for $52.49 on our credit card for our granddaughter. When we got home we discovered our son had already purchased a crib mattress earlier that day. My husband and I took our mattress back to Burlington the next day expecting no problem in returning the item and receiving a credit back on our charge card as you would expect with any store when you return an item with the receipt the day after purchase.

Much to our shock the store does not offer refunds of any kind but will only issue a store credit. I had no desire for a store credit and voiced this to the manager who very sharply told me too bad it's company policy and there's nothing I could do about it. I asked for the home office number which I called first thing on Monday 9/8/03. The girl in the customer service dept was rude while saying our policy is posted at all registers and I should have seen it. I said I had not seen it and if I had I would have thought twice about making the purchase.

She said because of the discounted prices and the large array of items sold by the store I should be able to find something else to buy or I could give the credit to someone else. I said I did not want to give the credit away and I had no need for anything else in the store. I said the store was FORCING me to use my money there whether I wanted to or not. The girl disagreed with that statement and again said I could save the credit and use it for something at a later time.

My arguement is that the store, because of its policy in giving store credits for all returns is FORCING me to spend my money there whether I want to or not. I don't have money to throw away on just anything -- especially $ 50.00! So I can't justify giving the credit away or "finding" something else to buy just to use up the credit. I think their return policy is terrible. (I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way)

Erica of Apopka FL (8/18/03):
My cousin, who lives in IL, was pregnant and registered for gifts at Burlington Coat Factory's Baby Depot. I live in FL, but I went to the Burlington web site on June 17 to order her a gift. I bought her a Diaper Genie and a diaper folding kit, but when the items arrived at her house, the box contained a Diaper Genie and a video I didn't order, but no diaper folding kit.

I emailed Burlington and got a reply that the correct item was being sent out, but that my cousin needed to send back the $15 video. They said they'd send her prepaid UPS labels to do it. My cousin emailed them her info, and they emailed us both to say they'd sent the labels. After a few days, I got an email (sent to and addressed to my cousin) that the video had not been returned, so she should do it. Since the email was to her, I didn't reply, figuring she had it under control. Three weeks passed without incident, and then, I got a letter from a lawyer demanding the $15.81 for the video or they'd take action against us!

I immediately called my cousin and emailed Burlington (they don't have a phone number on their website). My cousin said she never got the labels and that her email account was acting up and she'd never gotten the last few emails, either. My husband called the lawyer and spoke with a paralegal, who said that they'd "take care of it." My husband called back a week later, and things had not been taken care of. The lawyer insisted that we owed the money for the video that we'd never ordered in the first place.

My husband wanted to talk to someone else, so they said someone would call the next day. No one ever called. My husband then called back today (8/18), a week after that last call. The people in the lawyer's office kept insisting that we owe the money, and finally, my husband convinced them to give him the number of someone at Burlington. He called the number and spoke with someone named Joyce. Joyce insisted that she'd emailed the prepaid labels to my cousin three times, and that, since she hadn't received a "failure delivery" notice, they must have been received.

My husband, who is an Internet programmer, said that the lack of a "failure delivery" notice does not mean an email reached its destination, and she should try using the postal service to send the labels if she wanted delivery confirmation. She refused. She said she'd try one more time to email the labels to my cousin, and if they don't get the video back within a few days, they'll continue to take action.

I was under the impression that there was a law that made it impossible for a company to force someone to pay for an item they didn't order. My husband mentioned this to Joyce, and she claimed that that was incorrect, because if it were true, their lawyers would know about it. Overall, everyone at Burlington and at the law firm was rude and refused to consider that we didn't deliberately "forget" to return the video. They're also insanely pursuing all this action and taking up so much of our time for a grand total of $15.81.

Erica's husband is right. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Mail Order Rule covers situations like this. The lawyers in question ought to refresh their memory.

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