Katies Playpen Ltd 254 Blackfen Road, Sidcup DA15 8PW

"I went into the shop and found a pram I liked, so I decided to order it, I ordered it in November 2022. I was told I would receive a phone call in the beginning of January 2023 to arrange for it to be delivered. I waited for this phone call and never received it, I waited 3 weeks and nothing. I then phoned up and was told someone would call me back and again I did not receive any phone calls. I decided to go into the shop, I spoke to a lady who looked into my order and then told me it was not in stock and that they were waiting for the manufactures to send it to them. I complained as I would have still expected a phone call to notify me of the update. The lady said that the manufactures and everyone is closed at the beginning of January, my thought was so why say you would call me then. The lady then said that they would know on Friday and that she would call me, again nothing. I went back into the shop and complained again, the lady was saying they were short staffed in which I said as a customer is not my problem and had to say if I don’t get the pram by this Friday I would get a refund as I’ve seen the pram elsewhere and would have got it by now. The lady was really apologetic and clearly didn’t want to lose my business. To my surprise she calls me on that Friday to tell me the pram would be there for collection on Saturday or following Monday, I said thanks I will see when it arrives as I may still want a refund as that’s what I’m entitled to. To my dismay I said collection you said it would be delivered, she replied saying we don’t do deliveries. I’m so glad I was not on my own when ordering it because even the people I was with also heard it would be delivered. Overall the service received was awful I had to do all the chasing, and deal with the stress and being pregnant you would think they would sort it out. As a small business you would think they would want to retain and keep customers. I had to say I will get a refund for them to do something about it. I would definitely not go in there to buy anything ever again and I do not recommend it to anyone. This experience of going into Katie’s playpen was the worst I have ever experienced in any retail shop or business!! Disgusting customer service."

"Went into the shop, ordered some items then once left noticed that we had been over charged by £100.00, went back in and they sorted it after some time of talking to managers? Was told item would be delivered 2/4 weeks which it wasn’t. My partner phoned a couple of times only to be spoken to rudely. On the 5th week I phoned to which they said it wasn’t their fault and passed the blame to on their suppliers. Item was delivered the following week with not even a sorry and not great quality like described. Will definitely not be using here again. Such a shame as it is a local shop but would rather travel out and deal with more pleasant people."

"The shop has a good range of products but the customer service is minimal and staff do not make you feel at all welcome. Having already spent a lot of money on our first visit there, we were also interested in a couple of other items- including a car seat. However, the service was very rushed and it felt like they just wanted us to choose, pay and leave. I went back to collect some outstanding items from my first order and again was made to feel unwelcome. There were a couple of other bits I was looking to buy whilst I was there, which I was asking about at the counter. The door was opened for me to leave before I finished speaking to the member of staff and I ended up leaving without even looking around. Buying baby stuff is meant to be enjoyable/ exciting- staff should remember that - they may have explained about a particular pram hundreds of times - but it’s the first time for the customer. I will buy online in the future."

"Nice layout and beautiful products. Prices are adequate but competitors will be favoured. The missing stars are from the welcome from the one member of staff on site. I appreciate the current situation and will comply with hand sanitising if that's what's required especially in a business that sells baby items. However, I was very quickly grunted at to use the stuff by the entrance when the polite response on my admission could have been ''Would you mind using the hand sanitiser please? It's nice to see new customers'' etc etc, you get my drift. I then asked about changing bags and if they came with the changing mat. I was told ''They all come with a mat'' No ''Let me show you the bags'' or ''which type are you interested in?'' I was just left to my own devices. I must come to the conclusion that customer care is not a top priority for this business and I shall definitely not be visiting again."

"Excellent customer service. I needed an unusual cot sized mattress, which only a few places stock - at quite short notice. After ordering it, as it wasn't in stock, the shop collected it from the manufacturers and got it to me in less time than another company took to reply. It took the stress out of a difficult situation for me (daughter coming with baby to visit very ill granny).THANK YOU"