Buildabear Reviews 

Ordered an item to Southampton. Arrived for collection to be told they don’t have the item. On checking the find it had been delivered incorrectly to Bournemouth. I asked if it could be diverted to my home address but they said I would have to go through customer services online.

I did this. The first email reply they asked me to wait 7 days and it will automatically cancel, and to order to the correct location (blaming me for the mistake). I have to email again to correct them as again ask for it to be directed to my home. I get a reply saying they will help but I need to call their help line.

I call the helpline which takes me 45mins to get through. The lady is very helpful send assured me that the item would be sent on ‘rush’ to my home and apologised for the mistake.

What in fact had happened was that she cancelled the order and sent me nothing. It took about 3weeks for the refund, so ignore that 7days refund rubbish. And I am without my order, missing the birthday that it was for.

Such time wasted and the worst customer service I have seen in a long time.

Order at your own risk!!!

FAO, my reference was U1765207, on the off chance that you decide it would be a good idea to look at the performance of your customer service.

So disappointed ordered bears for my grandchildren for Christmas. Still no dispatched, reduced by almost £20.00.emailed to see if they could provide a voucher for the difference to be told to return items to store, they haven’t been dispatched how can I return, just called customer service 25 minutes in the queue to be disconnected. Just rubbish

Paid £75 for sonic with voice, knuckles and shoes and ring for sonic. All came squashed together in a standard brown box used for posting along with both certificates. These should be in individual build a bear boxes, how are you supposed to gift these.

Ordered an advent calender for my daughter two weeks ago, online it said processing. Contacted the call centre, waited half an hour to the most annoying voice in the world then spoke to a person who was either stoned or half dead. Told me they had cancelled the order but I had no notification of this. I now have a very upset daughter. Absolutely terrible service, avoid

They have no UK customer service reps so it’s very difficult to get an answer from them.

Royal Mail lost my parcel from build a bear without even trying to deliver it and they refused to send out another to me to my address as there must be an issue with my address since they couldn’t deliver it (the reason they couldn’t deliver to my address being they lost it before they did)

They then ignored me when I tried to provide another address for them to use and also after that ignored me when I said to send a refund instead both times they just sent a generic copy and pasted message.

Finally they said in order to get my refund I’d have to call them up, I spent 50 minutes on hold to then be disconnected and told that the line was closed when I tried to call back even though it was within the operating hours they had stated in their emails. So I ended up having to claim back the money via PayPal as I could not waste any more time trying to get in touch with them.

I only ever come to trustpilot if I feel strongly enough about bad service to be that bothered and this is only the third company to date to have that dubious honour.

First off. Its a rip off. Its exploitative. Not all that unusual for kids toy brands, but £30 for a teddy with a scarf and hat, then you find out when you get to checkout that they are also adding a fiver for shipping. £35 for something that at best is worth about £10. Yes, I chose to buy it, and I can afford it, but I feel for the parents who in a cost of living crisis are having to choose between heating an this, because of the pressure they feel due to exploitative marketing and pricing.

Then the thing arrives with the wrong date on the birth certificate, i.e. different to what we typed in on the website. A silly thing, but important to the child who specifically asked for the date of birth to be Christmas day.

Its a mistake, but for the cost of this, you would expect gold plated customer service, but no. In a phone queue full of adverts for an hour, not because of high volume (I was fourth in the queue at the start of the hour) but because they are deliberately making it hard for you to report issues by having no more than one person answering the phones.

When I got through, the person told me to go to a shop, and only when I refused and argued did they agree to send out a new birth certificate by post. Something about the interaction left me feeling that I was being handled, and I don't have much faith that the certificate will arrive. The staff member was polite, but this was very thinly veiled, probably because she is dealing with frustrated people all day who have been waiting for an hour on the phone.

So, while waiting in the queue I wrote this review and will repeat my experience to as many people as I can, in the hope that they can make a more informed choice than I did.

Disappointed no scent added to both bears which I paid for have to now go into the store to complain and get this added!!!

Such a poor service wished i'd looked at the reviews online before i ordered alway's go to the store thought i'd order online for quickness what a huge mistake never shop there again

Ordered what was meant to be an amazing surprise for my daughter for Christmas, turned up in a battered box, no gift box (even thought I had ticked the box to say it was a gift) and the scent that I paid extra for was nonexistent! Contacted Customer Services to be told that they would just refund me the money for the scent and that the website is confusing so that is why I didn't get my gift box! Now I have to travel 25 miles to get this rectified and re-done or take a refund for a Christmas present! not happy at all.

5 stars purely for the customer service we experienced with Colleen from the Trafford Centre store. Went as a treat for my daughters 6th Birthday and Colleen was so lovely and helpful, she just made the experience so magical for my daughter. A credit to the company!

They don't read emails properly, but instead give stock responses - like talking to a robot. Very frustrating.

I ordered mr chubby cubby back in April he looked nice and fluffy when I initially received him. However now after six months he looks worn out, his hair is scruffy and it almost looks like some of the stuffing has dissolved as he appears deflated now….the bears do not have very long longevity at all.

Online customer service is shockingly bad. I contacted them last week about a £10 voucher that hadn’t arrived. It took a few days going back and forth with them blaming me before they finally gave in and sent it to me.
I tried to use the voucher today but it wouldn’t work. I read though all the exclusions and the t&c’s before contacting them again to make sure it should be valid on my purchases. I also tried it on a number of items but it wouldn’t work for any of them (I’m arranging a teddy bear picnic, so I had 10 different bears & outfits in the basket, none of which were on the excluded list).
I emailed them again stating the problem and emphasising the items I wanted to purchase weren’t on the exclusion list. Their reply: “We would like to remind you that there is a list of excluded items that can not be purchased using coupons or any promotions, this list was shared with you in a previous mail”. They clearly hadn’t read my email, which I found very frustrating.

Only positives were that they would reply to my emails quickly, even if they didn’t help the problem!

I want to say a huuuuuuge thank you to Ben who hosted my daughter Daisy's 9th birthday at the Build-a-Bear Milton Keynes. He was absolutely amazing, so charismatic and kept the energy up for over an hour. The vibe was absolutely amazing and he made Daisy and her guests feel very special. It was such great fun. Ben is awesome and an assett to you!

Wish I had read the reviews before placing an online order. This was a gift for my nephews birthday, I ordered the dinosaur and asked for it to be dressed with the accessories I ordered and gift boxed. It arrived with the accessories stuffed at the bottom and in a gift box which was ripped and was too small for the teddy. I’ve contacted them about this and to date I’ve received no response. I would not recommend and will not be buying from here again.

This was the saddest outing we have ever had with our nursery children! We took 12 of our under 5's to build a bear, hoping for a magical experience. Poor service, poor experience. We will not be returning.

Such a shame! I have always associated Build A Bear with something magical, hence, I took my child to Hamley’s yesterday for a birthday bear - remembering how special it was with my eldest child.

The staff were all very nice if a bit lack lustre when making the bear. Something about the choice of bears seemed off too from my previous experience here about 3 years ago. I’ve just realised what it is. All the bears looked much cheaper than they used to and it’s because most have awful sewn on eyes now instead of beaded eyes! The difference is huge. Many look like fairground freebies. A bit deflating to be honest.

As stated, the process was also a little lacklustre - I remember it used to feel special making the bear, adding the heartbeats, rubbing the heart and making a wish, asking where you wanted the scent etc. Unfortunately it was just a bit blah yesterday and we’re weren’t asked where we wanted the scent so now it’s in the back! Even though it was dead the whole thing happened very quickly.

This brings me on to the price. The bears are much cheaper now than they were a few years ago - perhaps half price, from around £60 to £30. This company don’t seem to know who they are. They’ve reduced prices for an inferior product and customer experience. In an effort to sell more bears management have completely failed to understand that the magic and the quality were what MADE Build A Bear such a special experience! I would happily pay £60 on a special occasion for this! However, I won’t ever pay £30 again for a mediocre teddy as this is far too expensive and not value for money. So my question would be - who is your target market? £30 is still a lot of money for most people. Nobody wants to buy a product that is still pricey but low quality. In my opinion, a complete strategy overall is needed quickly.

Absolute disaster, bought the online exclusive wolf from build a bear that arrived with very little stuffing, emailed them and had to return it and they would send output a replacement, great! A week later the new one arrived, issue missing heart beat, fragrance etc ? Phoned and got a bored guy who said, nah we will refund you the cost of the missing parts !, explained that this was a gift and a the accessories were part of the gift, not interested? Refund or nothing, so what a complete waste of money and time ordering online, they are a half hearted mob who really don’t give a monkey’s uncle who or what you have ordered, requesting a full refund and they can take their half full poor excuse for a wolf back, really disappointed in this lot, upset my daughter with their poor customer service and quality.

Ordered my daughter a teddy from here as she loved it!! Fast delivery great experience

First ever visit to Build-a-Bear and it will be the last! An awful experience in the Birmingham Bullring store today. High pressure up-selling to a 9 year old from every member of staff we encountered. Appalling. All staff are clearly working to a sales script (one even admitted to having slipped up and said the wrong thing at the wrong time!)
Can’t say I’ve ever been in a store with such blatant sales pressure. Consequently, an awful experience. It needs to stop! Dreadful.