USA Baby Childspace

unfortunately, because they’re closed now, you will never get to experience the full level of fuck-​waddery that is usa baby.
we are expecting our first baby in early november. in late june, we heard about usa baby’s giant semi-​annual sale, so we decided to check it out. the store was ridiculously over-​priced, but we did find a crib, mattress, dresser, and glider that were semi-​affordable and that we were happy with. most of the salespeople were snotty assholes, but my husband managed to charm one woman into helping us, and she ended up doing a pretty good job of attending to our order.
when we got to the register to check out, we were informed that the furniture would all be custom-​made and ordered and stuff, so it would take about 3 months for us to get it. fine, mid-​september was still 6 or 7 weeks before the baby was due, so we thought that would be ok. thankfully (because of recent events), we were given the option to pay half up front and half when we picked up the furniture.
fast forward to this week when we receive a letter letting us know that usa baby is closed. no furniture will be forthcoming. and, if you paid by credit card, contact your credit card company (we did not). and if you paid by cash/​check, email them for a refund. we paid by debit card, so i emailed them. the response i got was an impersonal «We apologize for the inconvenience. Please contact your credit card company/​bank as soon as possible.» are you effing kidding me? apparently not.
the most recent development is an article letting us know that «customers who paid by debit card may be out of luck». so, we’re just waiting to see if we’re screwed out of $ 1,000 or not. regardless, i can’t even believe that business can be conducted like this. i hope the ass hats that owned and operated this establishment first go to jail, and then burn in hell.

USA Baby will never get an ounce of my time or money again. My advice to anyone: don’t bother shopping here.
My baby’s due date was August 9^th, so my husband and I thought we had plenty of time back in April to purchase a recliner for our nursery. We found the chair we wanted and compared prices with 3 other Austin stores. Not only was USA Baby one of the most expensive [by several hundred dollars, I might add!], but it also quoted us the longest lead-​tie for delivery on the chair (they promised delivery within 12 weeks, while other stores promised it within 4 – 8 weeks). So why did we buy from them? Because we live in Austin and wanted to support a local shop instead of a major chain like Babies R Us or Buy Buy Baby, and we figured we didn’t really need the chair until late July anyway, to be on the safe side, so a 12-​week turnaround would be fine. BUYING FROM USA BABY WAS A BIG MISTAKE.
Here we are, past my due date, and our recliner has not yet arrived. Funny, I’d say, because 12 weeks have long since passed, and we haven’t heard a peep from USA Baby. No apologies, no nothing. My husband keeps calling them and finally got them to agree to provide us with a «loaner» chair. It took several angry phone calls to arrange this, and a ton of aggravation on my part, especially since they made it sound like such an inconvenience to THEM, as if we didn’t just spend almost $ 1000 at their store, to buy a piece of furniture that we could’ve easily (and more happily) purchased somewhere else.
Geez, if they can’t appreciate our business enough to (1) provide a better lead-​time quote for delivery, (2) apologize for inconveniencing US and making US worry about whether we’ll ever receive this recliner, and (3) treat us with the basic respect and compassion deserving of any customer, then screw them.
I imagine they’ll go out of business soon enough, given their craptastic customer service and horribly unreasonable prices, so hopefully this Unilocal review will become obsolete and nobody else will have to suffer with a purchase from this awful store.

First off, the location sucks for me because it is way south of where I live. Even so, the radio kept having commercials announcing a «once a trimester» sale. Having a little one, I was intrigued. Thus, the family loaded up and we headed to USA Baby.
The sale was decent. I didn’t feel as if I couldn’t have gotten the same deal somewhere up north. When we went it was really crowded and that kind of bugged me. Even so, I really had a nice experience and walked out with a new stroller. They have a room solely dedicated to clearance merchandise which I thought was cool.
In addition, they have these big belly piggy banks that I have never seen anywhere else. (I wish I knew if anyone else carried them) I LOVED them! However, I just couldn’t justify spending $ 60 on a piggy bank. Isn’t the dang thing supposed to help you SAVE money?
If I lived closer I’d go back.

USA Baby is a locally-​owned franchise outlet. So when you spend your money there, maybe a bit more of it stays in the community than at the really big chains. Either way, Chuck the owner is incredibly helpful.
New to all this baby mishigas, my husband and I went to him for a primer on the mysteries of car seats, strollers, gliders and other occult wisdom. He was full of helpful, practical advice and did not automatically try to sell us the most expensive stuff in the store. They do stock some high end things, but most of the main selections are mid-​range. They also have some items that are hard to find elsewhere. The other employees are friendly and helpful as well.
Cons — smaller selection of some items than the big stores, and an unwieldy registry. You have to fill it out a big form by hand, and then you can’t edit it online. Still, I plan to get what I can at USA Baby, as the service can’t be beat.