Buildabear Reviews 389

Spent £150 in the shop, purchased gift cards for my daughter which i have attempted to use online for the last week and the order keeps failing. Contacted via chat and telephone and the reconmendation is use a different payment method. I have £40 worth of gift cards that i have wasted my money on. Never again

As always, i'm very happy with Build a bear uk services. They work so fast and well 🥰 Thank you 😊 Kind regards from France 🥰 Flore

Never had an Issue with any of the Teddies I have bought from build a bear in the past until now.

Build a bear were doing a promotion for the 30th Anniversary for Pokémon - So I decided to get the GIANT GENGAR for my Nephew. Did this to annoy my sister.
Ordered the Gengar and 4 £10 Gift Cards on the 20th January as I was getting them for £5 - Used 2 Gift Cards to help pay for this I had Previously.
Order was successfully done on their website, got an Order Number and money had come out my bank from Paypal.

3 Days later I still have no confirmation Email regarding this.
1st call to build a bear was no help at all and she basically stated that the Gift Cards should still have the £10 on them as the purchase hadn't went through. Call ended, I wasn't happy.
20 minutes later I call again and get someone different. Give her the Order number on my Paypal account, Doesn't exist. Explained that I was getting a refund from them anyways (1st Call) then explained I used £20 in gift cards for this purchase. The lady at the Customer Service then checked it out and I was then gifted my £20 Gift cards back with an apology, Nothing else.

1st time I've had an Issue that's literally annoyed me.
I will most likely buy from them again, but think their system needs a little working as orders that don't exist should then not take money from that persons bank/paypal accounts.

Awful online shopping experience. I have been trying to order a gift card for a Christmas present for weeks and keep getting an error message. I tried 5 different cards, trying both Apple Pay and entering card details manually, I even asked a couple of friends if they could try to get it to work. Nothing worked. Spoke with customer service who said it was my bank blocking the transaction (5 different banks seems unlikely). When I said I use the all the accounts regularly with no issues I then got told I can’t use Apple Pay to buy a gift card online. When I told them I tried to get a friend to purchase it on their phone with their bank details they said they will look into it and get back to me in a few minutes and then disconnected the chat.

Sending out half finished bears with their back unstitched. Then trying to palm us off with a £5 refund but in dollars. Bunch of criminals this company don’t buy online from them. Jokers

Very disappointed, tried to order the clothing twice, both times not recieved. Customer service not very helpful.

I wish I had read these reviews before making a purchase online!

I used to shop at BaB years ago when they had a shop in Uxbridge but my kids got older, so there was no need.

It is my Great Nephews 1st Christmas and wanted to buy something special. We recorded our voice online, placed the £45 order and it arrived in a manky, flimsy cardboard box with everything just thrown in.
Where's the trademark BaB box its presented in? That's what makes the gift !

Anyway, I press the paw to hear the recording. Why is it so muffled!? I can barely hear it!

We take it to the concession store in Westfield where they tried to charge us to replace it! Charge us for your mistake!? Although the girl was lovely, she was only following a stupid policy.

Instead, I decided to call BaB instead where he agreed to replace the bear but we would need to re-record on my account online. For some reason, it wouldn't allow us to record so my daughter ended up going to Hamleys in Oxford Street, just to do a new recording! (TFL travel is not free!)

Plus she had to pay 95p for a gift box. That £45 wasn't enough that you can't spare a little box!? Crazy.

I will NEVER shop there again but it's taught me to check TP for reviews before purchasing!!

Would be zero stars if trust pilot allowed it.

Well all i can say is its really disappointing to see build-a-bear join the practices of scamming sites which is pretty much how i feel they now operating.

They lure you into buying more on site with attractive offers of add X at full price and you get Y at a reduced £5 so you add more to cart to take advantage off the offers but then remove the promotional items and keep all the full price items at check out without notifications.

This review is a warning to other customers.

Build-A-Bear UK advertised a promotion offering SKOOSHERZ plush toys for £5 each with any regular-priced purchase. I relied on that offer and added three qualifying full-price items specifically so I could also purchase three SKOOSHERZ at the £5 promotional price.

The SKOOSHERZ were clearly visible in my basket at checkout. I confirmed the order and proceeded to payment.

During the payment process, the three promotional items were removed without notice. They did not appear on the final order, and when my delivery arrived, the SKOOSHERZ were missing.

I contacted customer services immediately. The agent confirmed this was a checkout system error on their end, yet refused to honour the promotion or provide a reasonable remedy.

To be clear:

The promotion induced me to spend more

The items were present at checkout

They were removed during payment without notification

The error was acknowledged

The promotion was not honoured

I explained that I made additional purchases in reliance on the promotion. Had the error not occurred, I would have received the promotional items as offered and this would have been a straightforward, happy purchase.

Instead, after admitting the checkout fault, the representative attempted to justify the removal by claiming the promotion didn’t qualify because I had purchased a shopping bag that was also “on offer,” therefore “you can’t add an offer over another offer.” This was never made clear at the time of purchase, and it does not change the core issue: the promotional items were shown in my basket, then removed during payment, without warning.

If the promotion was going to be invalidated, the website should have clearly prevented it before payment, or at minimum notified me clearly so I could decide whether to proceed. That didn’t happen.

The cost to resolve this fairly would have been £12 — the difference between what I should have paid (£15) and what it now costs to repurchase the same items. Instead, I spent hours dealing with customer service, was repeatedly told this was “feedback” rather than a complaint, and was offered an inadequate £5 goodwill credit.

And it matters because I would not have spent this amount otherwise. If the promotion had not been presented and then removed, I would have made a much smaller purchase (in my case, I would have bought the one item I actually wanted and my total spend would have been around £8). The promotion was the reason I bought extra.

In my experience, advertising an offer, encouraging customers to spend more, showing the offer at checkout, then removing it during payment without warning feels deceptive and resulted in financial disadvantage.

This falls well below the standard expected of a UK retailer and raises serious concerns about the reliability of their online checkout and complaint handling.

If you shop online with Build-A-Bear, screenshot your basket and promotions before payment. I won’t be ordering from them again.

I also encourage anyone who has experienced similar issues — particularly where a complaint is dismissed as “feedback” — to report it to the appropriate UK consumer enforcement bodies. I believe this conduct raises concerns under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs), specifically misleading actions or omissions that influence a consumer’s transactional decisions. I will be referring my experience to Trading Standards and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Order: U2877340
Case reference: 01520769

I recall a time when BaB seemed to care about their customers and their products, but not anymore, it seems.

My daughter wanted to order two bears for her and her brother, so I placed an order last week. There wasn’t an order confirmation email, so I had to chase it up. Funnily enough, the email appeared during my chat with an agent.

The bears have just arrived, and I’m so disappointed in the care that was lacking when packaging these items, which certainly aren’t cheap. They were seemingly shoved in a cardboard box, which had been damaged (contents ok, thankfully). The clothes were sat screwed up at the bottom of said box. I would have expected an extra layer of protection of the contents, especially as the box could easily be damaged (also worth noting there is a lot of rain today, so I’m thankful it didn’t get soggy).

Very disappointed BaB.

Don't order on online with this company.

They don't care and only follow the script, if any thing goes wrong with an order you are on your own. They don't understand the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and their obligations. They also don't like it when you challenge them on this.

Some choice quotes:
"Build-a-bear don't refund money"
"Right now, I can tell you the order has failed"
"We need to refund your money until you can place another order"

On a side note - the local store was very helpful

Visited the lakeside store to let our 2 year old spend her gift voucher, from the minute we walked in it wasn’t your usual ‘build a bear’ experience, both colleagues were just stood behind the counter leaning on the back wall chatting. We’ve then gone down to look at the accessories to go with her bear, we were showing her all the bits and bobs she could get and then showed her the little wheelchair and opened it up to show her what it was, the male staff member then came over and told us we wasn’t allowed to open it up and that it has to stay shut because it might get broken… If you are that worried about them being broken and don’t want children in a children’s toy shop playing with it maybe it should either be on the top shelf out of arm’s reach (not on the lowest shelf in the shop) or even packages up in a box, the best part is that we were actually going to buy that item but wasn’t trusted enough to touch it before purchasing! We put the stuff back on the shelf and left straight after. We will have to travel to a different store (after travelling an hour to this one) and hope that she can enjoy choosing what she would like to spend her money on without being told off in the process! Little hint for the staff working there don’t work in a toy/kids shop if you don’t like children!

I recently purchased 2 bears from the Brighton store I found the staff very helpful and knowledgeable especially Ginger and Jack. Many thanks for my bear experience, we will be back.

Customer service is terrible. No reply to emails. Phone call was awful too and not able to understand the lady on the other end, due to poor line and accent. Gift cards take over two weeks to arrive and this is not explained on the website, so unable to put in my daughters birthday card. They were as useful as a chocolate teapot.

An update, gift card did not arrive and on phoning them again, was told it takes 3 weeks to arrive. They refused a refund, so had to get resolver involved to get my money back, who are an outside complaint company who helped me get my money back after the gift card was clearly lost. Never again will I deal with this company, they are horrible.

Horrendous experience trying to buy a gift card online. Repeatedly told via an error message that there may be too much traffic. Pathetic. Never has it been so difficult to give a business your money. Off to spend it elsewhere.

Just received my online exclusive order. Absolutely gobsmacked at how it has arrived, just dumped in a huge box that could have held 6 or 7 bears!! no care whatsoever was taken no packaging just loose in the box. Had to pay £5 for del as wouldn't allow store collection . As a company you obviously don't care as your reviews are appalling you should be ashamed of yourselves .

I’ve been trying for SIX days to place an online order but it fails every time - always blaming “high volume" or "poor connection” (my connection is fine, and I’ve even tried at 2–3am so highly unlikely to be busy). Customer service takes 2–3 days to reply each time and am now on my third contact with them, which adds to frustration. Can't help but wonder if the issue is linked to my attempt to also purchase their "bonus" (discounted) gift cards as other voucher codes (for delivery etc.) also don’t work. Cynic is me suspects if I remove those and try to only purchase bears and full price gift cards it will miraculously work. This was meant to be a birthday treat for my daughter and her friends, am very tempted to tell her she'll have to choose something else and spending money elsewhere! That'll be nearly £200 they lose in one sale and I suspect I'm one of hundreds in similar boat; doubt it'll be long before we see these stores closing en masse and company will only have themselves to blame - whole process has been an absolute farce.

Tried to place an order when an offer was available and wouldn’t take me to the payment page. Clearly a facade that they were actually offering a discount as customer service has been a joke since. Already totally overpriced!

Package delivered in a battered box
They have a box to mark this is a gift but then expect you to purchase an extra gift box went in the chat and they ended it as they couldn’t answer my question very poor customer service

They must hire idiots to work in their customer service department. My package was delivered to the wrong house and then stolen as DPD (more idiots) had left my package in full view of the street! I contacted the morons at build a bear and they said I needed to contact DPD and put in a claim with them. Absolutely not and completely incorrect. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 clearly states the customers contract is with the seller alone. The seller has the legal obligation to ensure parcels/packages are delivered safely to the correct address and in as new condition. Apparently the morons at build a bear have never heard of this act and blatantly infringed on my rights covered by this. They are finally giving me a refund but they have neglected to send me their formal complaints procedure because apparently they can only read 1-2 sentences per email. I am reporting to Trading Standards because they shouldn’t get away with infringing on people’s rights.

Ordered a couple of exclusive online-only bears, and they arrived in a tatty, opened box held together by a single strip of scrunched up tape - put on by a concerned courier.

The box was still gaping open when it arrived!

As a result, the bears smelt of some kind of overly fragrant chemical (assumedly from the courier van) and the costume we ordered was all crumpled up, including a hat that could not be straightened.

The worst part of all, however, was the disrespectful attitude of customer services, who didn't answer our questions about reordering, told us that they wouldn't refund the postage costs (which is illegal) - and patronisingly made closing statements about bear hugs and the importance of good customer service!

If we do not get this resolved, we will start a chargeback through the bank!