Rant I HATE SHOPPING FOR BABY STUFF

SSCmomma

No one sells anything in store anymore! I live fairly close to 2 major mettopolitan areas yet if I want to buy anything for my soon to be baby I have to order online and hope for the best. I am NOT spending hundreds of dollars on a crib or furniture without seeing it and checking the quality! Had to vent. Thank you.

MNgirl326

eh, i ordered my crib online and had it delivered to the store (JCpenny) and i picked it up. 

We brought it home and set it up and looked it over.  We decided to keep it and it held up great and we will use it again for this baby.

Had it not worked, we would have been able to bring it back to the store and return it.  i checked the return policy before i bought it. 

Take a deep breath and try and relax, read the reviews online, baby bargins and talk to friends.    Unless you are looking at a brand that no one has ever heard of, chances are your crib will be fine.  

MNgirl326

Also - do you realize how many people pull and tug and rattle the baby furniture at baby stores every day to "check the quality"?  Probably over 100,  Even the best most high quality furniture is not going to be able to hold up to all that every single day.  So, the show room furniture begins to wear and look not as nice and then people assume the quality isn't as good and then they don't order it.   Even though in an every day household, with every day wear, it would be fine.   There are reasons they dont' keep a ton of display furniture out there.  

Samiantha101

Where the heck are you shopping at? We don't have a lot of stores to choose from, but there is a BRU, a local furniture store, and a local baby store where I saw literally dozens of floor models.

minirella

There isn't a lot where I live but I travel to Houston & Austin occasionally for work and if I have time I stop at IKEA/BRU/BuyBuyBaby to see things in person. I haven't had a problem but I'm usually not looking for anything specific either.

SSCmomma

We have a BRU about 45 minutes away and they are smaller than many so they only have a few floor models. Also only have white or dark brown in store. I just don't like shopping sight unseen online pictures are very deceiving. Just my opinion.

MNgirl326

SSCmomma said:

We have a BRU about 45 minutes away and they are smaller than many so they only have a few floor models. Also only have white or dark brown in store. I just don't like shopping sight unseen online pictures are very deceiving. Just my opinion.

What are you so worried about?  I'm not being snarky, maybe we can help.

Is it the color?   you said, they only have white and dark brown, is there another color you are looking for?   Do they have other pieces of furniture in that brand in the color you are looking for so you could see the color you are looking for?

Honestly, customer reviews are there for a reason.  If you are looking online, read the reviews.  People will be honest and will say if the picture was inaccurate or if the quality didn't hold up.  

OP - if you are unwilling to try online, you are going to have to go with what stores have.  Target has a few models, BRU, furniture stores, etc all have a few models.  They simply do not have room in their stores for every model and color crib that they carry.  

good luck.

firsttimeaussiemum

I love love love baby shopping!!! I brought all the major things like cot change table ect on line from good brands with good reviews. I'm in Australia so we have a lot less baby stores then some of you do in the us. But baby shopping is the most awesome shopping I have ever done. I even got crazy excited about buying a cot mattres. I hope baby shopping gets more enjoyable for you and you can find what you want.

Good luck hun:)

tbarker14

I live in a remote area, there are no stores around. I had to order everything online. Crib, mattress, car seat, EVERYTHING! The reviews are helpful, pictures there was a few things that I wasn't so sure about. So I had some family check them out in the store. When all my purchases came in the mail. It was exciting and there has been no issues with any of the things we ordered online.
Hope everything works out for you.

nova99

I agree! I actually ended up ordering my stuff online from Amazon because it was after Christmas and everything was basically half price. We had gone to babies r us, and when they gave me that super peppy curtesy call, I was like, your store kind of sucks. I shouldn't have to drive to your store to order things online.

Beevol

I have a Babies R Us and a Buy Buy Baby within 10 minute drive (not to mention furniture stores) and I still bought a crib on amazon. It was cheaper and had better reviews. I research the heck out of just about every purchase I make though (reviews, price comparisons, etc) though, that's just my style. 

SSCmomma

I know things are never going to be the way they used to be before the internet. I just miss the old days I guess and wanted to vent. I also realize it is trivial but its just a frustration of mine. Sorry to have taken up anyone's time.

SSCmomma

I can today provide one of the reasons that online shopping sucks.  I attempted to order a crib and dresser from BRU since I am familiar with the brand (Baby Cache) and they were offering 20% off nursery furniture online orders.  Well the crib is available for pickup in store but the dresser is only available if they ship it to me at $125.00 extra.  Online it says available for in store pickup but when I try to select a store to pick up at there are none on the East Coast.  I am not available to sit home and wait for deliveries, refuse to pay $125 extra for something I could easily have taken care of for free and don't want to be stuck trying to return a huge dresser if it shows up damaged from being shipped standard freight.  Prior to internet shopping, you knew who/what you were dealing with before you put money or time into a large purchase. 

MNgirl326

SSCmomma said:

I can today provide one of the reasons that online shopping sucks.  I attempted to order a crib and dresser from BRU since I am familiar with the brand (Baby Cache) and they were offering 20% off nursery furniture online orders.  Well the crib is available for pickup in store but the dresser is only available if they ship it to me at $125.00 extra.  Online it says available for in store pickup but when I try to select a store to pick up at there are none on the East Coast.  I am not available to sit home and wait for deliveries, refuse to pay $125 extra for something I could easily have taken care of for free and don't want to be stuck trying to return a huge dresser if it shows up damaged from being shipped standard freight.  Prior to internet shopping, you knew who/what you were dealing with before you put money or time into a large purchase. 

You could have run into the same problem or similar problems before the days of internet.  When I was in junior high  my parents bought me some nice bedroom furniture (I want to stay it was like Hom Furniture or slumberland or something) - the furniture store had two options - have delivered at the house for about $100 more or have it delivered to that store. But it couldn't be delivered to the store because of some reason.  I don't remember what.  

So they had to suck it up and have it delivered to the house.  My mom had to take a day off a work and wait for it to be delivered.   But then when they delivered it, there was something wrong so my mom had to have it picked up and a new one delivered.  Taking even more time off of work.    This was in 1995 - the days BEFORE internet shopping.  Almost identical problem with a 20 year difference.

Furniture shopping can be annoying - no matter if you are using the internet or not.   It's expensive to ship from warehouses and things that are in the storeroom are often damaged and so they have to ship new pieces to you anyway.

I"m sorry you are having such a hard time, but it isn't the internets fault.  It's just kind of a is what it is type situation and anytime you are ordering furniture, you risk it being a big pain in the butt. 

MNgirl326

Also never trust a 20% off sale- its all a ploy to get you to order from them.  They know full well they charge extra for shipping.   That also isn't an internet thing, that's a BRU thing.

Its the same reason they mark their prices up and then send you 20% off coupons in the mail.  You think you are getting a good deal, but in reality you aren't. 

BRU is a big corportate company, they know exactly what they are doing.

SSCmomma

I just informed my husband we won't be registering at BRU.  I'll buy what I can in stores and do without the rest.  Shouldn't have wasted so much time with BRU or the internet searching.