Mamas and Papas Shop

having recently visited Mamas and Papas at Gateshead Metro Centre, i was very dissappointed with the sales advice i was given regarding child car seats. The assistant (young lady), who i believe was a manager, informed me that all seats are pretty much the same, and all fittings are similar. This was in total contrast to advice i was given by a member of staff at Mothercare, who gave me the [pros and cons of all the relevant seats, and the advice on which seat was best for my vehicle was spot on. I fear that the training / knowledge of staff at M&P is not as it should be, but i suppose what would you expect when the staff appear to be too young to have families themselves, and thus using the job as a pastime rather than being dedicated to offering specialist knowledge.

I would definately not go into M&P again.

Having said that I have only just started using my Urbo Pram so think that I may have to at some point as I have read that many people are having problems with wheels.

I ordered an Urbo pushchair with footmuff in August to be delivered to the store for the beginning of December. This was the only easy part of the whole process. Once they had my money they couldn't care less.

I received an email saying that my items had arrived so I set out on a 40-45min drive to collect. Upon arrival I was told only half of my order was there. I was not very happy with this and after alot of messing around managed to get them to send the footmuff to my home address. This item never arrived. I received an email with a track and trace link on it.

This link told me that they had tried to deliver a number of times but it had not arrived. I know no one had called as D-day was imminent so my partner was home. Apparently they tried three more times.

I returned to the store to find out what was going on, and to buy a replacement mattress for an Urbo carrycot I had bought second hand, only to find out that the address was incorrect. This was corrected and I was told it would arrive in the next day or two.

It never came.

I called customer services and was told that the address had not been changed so I cancelled the delivery as I had to return the mattress and would pick one up in store.

When I bought the replacement mattress, I was told the one I asked for was incorrect and I required a more expensive one. I purchased this to find it did not fit. When I returned to the store and was told no refund/exchange would be given as the item had been opened.

I was also told that they could not just give me a footmuff as they also didn't have this in stock and even if they did they couldn't until they had the original was returned.

So started a stupid debate with a manager that refused to listen to me. I explained that the mattress did not fit and that her staff member advised it was correct, she said it was. I produced my mattress cover only to be told that I had to buy another cover as it would not fit original. I asked why they do not sell a replacement mattress for their own carrycot only to be continually told it was correct. In the end she finally understood that I wanted a replacement and not an alternative mattress. She told me this mattress was not suitable for overnight sleeping and they did not have it in stock anyway. The packaging clearly stated the it was suitable for overnight use. The staff member who sold the mattress also did not change my address correctly but refused to admit her faults, so the debate went on eventually I walked out with a new mattress, the one I originally asked for and a footmuff. Both of which I was told were out of stock.

I also had to pay for the footmuff and wait for the original to be returned for my refund. I did this just so I could get out and hopefully never return.

I am still waiting for my refund.

AVOID M&P AT ALL COSTS.

I will never be buying anything from this store again and I advise anyone planning to purchase from Mama and Papas I strongly advise not to. My problems with this store initially started when I purchased the Luna, the staff member dealing with me seemed to have very little knowledge of the pushchairs on the shopfloor, which was fair enough as I could tell she was a new member of staff, however one of the other many senior members could have helped her rather than engaging in their own general chit chat in a store where I was the only customer. I returned the Luna the next day as the pushchair seemed so unstable and one of the front wheels were an inch clear off the floor. I did not want this pushchair again so asked if I could exchange it for the Ziko Frankie, the manager was very helpful and did just that, however within one week of taking this pushchair home I had trouble with the wheels, the front wheel became jammed and didn't have a "free run" like the other, the back wheels very stiff and the brakes kept coming undone. Upon taking this pushchair back the staff were very unhelpful, they did not want to exchange the pushchair a second time, we were offering to put upto £100 on top to buy a better quality model that did not have design issues. The manager at this branch refused to accept there was a fault in this pushchair despite my partner demonstrating the issues, after a heated discussion the manager practically shouted at us saying "a money on top exchange is at her discretion and she does not wish to do it" in her words we were going to have to settle for a "like for like" model. We accepted this and she went out back to get it, she dropped the box on her foot and had the audacity to blame it on my partner who was nowhere near her, it was clear the limp afterwards was an exaggeration. I was then left alone to unbox and assemble the pushchair myself despite and put my 7 month old son on the floor, there were at least 5 member of staff huddled together about 2 meters away not dealing with any customers as again the shop was pretty empty. After assembling the pushchair myself I went to walk out, the manager stopped me and asked my name, I told her what it was and she said I can't take the pushchair as I'd signed with "another" name, it turned out when I Exchanged the luna into the ziko frankie I was given a receipt to sign unknown to me after giving my address, the previous tenants name came up on the electoral roll, they accused me of using a false name whilst I explained that the name stated was the previous tenants and you can clearly tell what my name is by my signature anyway. We were allowed to leave the shop, even though during the argument about the name on the electoral roll she called myself and my partner round to look at the computer screen and lo and behold we saw all our neighbours details! 4 months later our Ziko packed in again, I started having the same wheel issues and took it to the Regents Street branch instead of returning to the Colliers Wood branch, the staff here were very helpful, they attempted to offer me a "loan pushchair" whilst they sent my Ziko off for repair, I point blank refused, I don't see why I have to push my son around in a scruffy, stained, dated stroller when I paid good money for the one I bought, I was then offered another like for like exchange which I will have to return again after 5 days as the frame has problems folding and the recliner is lopsided. I will never ever buy anything from here again. One word of advise NEVER EVER accept the "loan pushchairs" they are filthy, dated and often haven't even been cleaned of crumbs from the previous user. Stay in the shop until they offer a like for like exchange.

We read reviews before purchasing this product but have had nothing but problems with it from the start. We have recieved an awful service from Mamas and Papas staff with them being rude and being told there was nothing wrong even though it is clear that my poor baby is being bounced all over the place due to a fault in the chassis. I have even written to the chairman who again dismissed any problems saying they would pass my messages on to their design team.

This needs so much regular up keep that it's just not worth the money.

One major annoyance is that the rain cover zips onto the front of the hood and you need to leave the pram up to dry afterwards as the hood remains wet.

There are also issues with the car seat, if you have it too close to the back of your car seat the handle becomes stiff and there is nothing you can but take it back to the shop to be oiled. (Beware their lubricant is very smelly and you can't put your baby back in the seat for a good half hour.)

It was definitely a case of first time customer syndrome. I certainly won't be purchasing from mamas and papas again.