Build-A-Bear Workshop Reviews 

Very disappointed with the experience. Such a ripoff. Staff knew exactly how to hard sell using the children - very crafty. Some children were too young to understand the extras like scent, sound and £5 for heart?? Yet the staff kept promoting the accessories and clothes to the children. My older children couldn’t even find the price tag on the things. You get a shock when you’re at the counter and parents just pay to avoid disappointing the children. Not worth it unless the parents know the tactics and strictly inform the staff beforehand not to promote the extra accessories or just ask to show the children things that’s within a budget. Everything is so overpriced and the service is not very good either. Best ethical approach would be for the staff to discuss with parents beforehand especially if they walk in with a bunch of kids. Eye-watering approx £50+ per child - just over £300 for 6. My fault too, should have done my research.

Will never be going into another build a bear again. My experience was in Exeter.

build a bear was so good to me in the shop they loved having me there and soon as i enterd the shop they had come over to me and said hi can i help u with anything and like how can i help u today abut the shop and yeh

I ordered a gift online to be shipped to me, and I ordered the special blue gift box. The order came and the box was damaged. I contacted customer service about the issue. They said they would be happy to send me another replacement. It arrived a few days later and was damaged worse than the first one. It was folded along the sides of the box instead of the creases.

I then contacted them again with pictures and said that I wanted a refund and asked to go pick up a box at no cost for my inconvenience (the gift box is $3). The closest store to me is in a mall (which I detest going to) that is 20-25 minutes away. I told them all of this and they said that I could have one or the other but not both. And their apology was nothing but lip service.

I gave them every chance to make it right, and they refused.

To see just how bad the damage was, I've posted pictures of both boxes I was sent.

And this was their final response to me:

"We are always listening to our Guests and are happy to pass along your request to the appropriate department for consideration."

I was nothing but nice and complimentary throughout the process. They just don't care because they are a garbage company. They only care about their bottom line, not the customer. Again this was all over a $3 gift box.

Absolutely appalling customer service. I have 2 gift cards from build bear. Went to use them in store and it says one has been used and the other isnt activated.
Store were no help and said to contact customer service. Been going round in circles with customer service now for 3 days. They say the one card was used on a certain date, though i have the receipt to say it wasnt. The other card they keep saying i need to take the receipt into the store. As i dont know who got us this card as my kids had many cards for christmas i need the date to attempt to track doen a receipt. They finally gave me a date today - but that is the date i tried to use the card. Absolute joke. I am now out of pocket by £20. Ive asked for them to simply issue a voucher for the same value to use in store and i can scrap the cards but they wont.
We have been going to build a bear virtually every month and i have spent hundreds of pound with this company. They are money grabbing robbers and there customer service is horrendous!

Purchased 2 bears- Gandalf (along with a gift box) and a HP Trivia gift box bear. Chose the option to have bears dressed. Arrived in a cardboard box, which upon opening had a HP bear in a box, a loose scarf, brown bear and set of clothing just thrown in. No dressed bears and no gift box. The Gandalf outfit looked as though it had been through several washes as it was all bobbled and the beard and hair don't fit the bear.
I will go so far as to say the Gandalf bear looks as though it has come from a jumble sale despite costing £36.40 plus postage. At least the HP bear looks new I suppose.

WILL NEVER ORDER ONLINE FROM HERE AGAIN.

Really poor! You are pressured by staff to buy extras probably trained to sell in this way. We had a £30 budget and was well within this till a staff member went on to take my daughter to the outfits ask her if she likes mermaids then dress the bear in a mermaids outfit leaving me in a position that ended up costing £48! Total rip off and pushing all the extras on the child not acceptable at all. Do not recommend .

Ordered 2 bears, one each for my 2 grandsons. They arrived just stuffed in a box, no paper or not even in another box. The box looked like it had been through a beating and had cracks in it to the point you could see what was inside. Never again will I place an online order with them. This is totally unacceptable.

I wouldn’t buy anything online from here. Bought my son a bear and outfit for Christmas. It came missing the outfit. I talked to support and they said they would send another outfit. I got the email saying it was shipped. Two weeks later and the tracking never updated. I contacted support again and they tried saying they shipped it and they couldn’t do anything else. When I called their bluff and told them I have the tracking number they said they would figure it out and get back to me. That was four days ago. Guess I’ll just have to go to a store and spend even more money to get the outfit

Built and ordered on 12/4/23 and was delivered 12/13/23 missing the gift card that was also purchased, and they sent the wrong birth certificate. We named ours Penelope and the bday of 12/25/23, and we got Laquena 11/11/23.
I called to get it corrected and shipped to where there bear was sent, since I requested at the time of purchase to include the birth certificate but I made the mistake of believing they would send what I selected and purchased correctly, but was told they are sorry they can’t fix their mistake and mail the correct certificate, but I will need to go into the store.
The link they sent is not equivalent to the birth certificate that should have been sent with the bear, and it was still wrong.
If y’all don’t want the person you’re gifting to be disappointed, and you don’t want added stress of trying to fix their mistake and still get items delivered in time for Christmas, don’t gift them a build a bear.
Spend your money somewhere that values quality and their customers.
It’s cute and the idea is fun, but the way they don’t take accountability for mistakes, causes too much of a hassle to make it worth it.

Build a bear Belconnen, useless as!!. Has a sign on the door saying be back at 1:50, the sign changes time to 2:35. Pathetic. It’s Christmas time, why are you shut. Just lost a customer you hopeless store

The item I ordered is an online exclusive, so no way of getting it from a store. The item that arrived looks completely different to that on the website. The quality is rubbish and is nothing like what is represented on the website. It came without any protective packaging, and arrived (via DPD) in a torn brown box, with a torn certificate inside. When I called Customer Services, they were unable to offer any help at first. I stated I wanted to return the item and was told I could do this at any store (including Hamley's concessions - I specifically clarified this a number of times as the Hamley's store is most convenient for me) when I arrived at Hamley's and explained the situation, they looked at me like I was from another planet, and stated very clearly that they had never heard of online BAB returns coming to store. They were unable to help and I am stuck with a poor quality product. Build a Bear used to sell quality products; they no longer do so and have lost a customer. Dreadful.

I received the wrong order for all 5 bears. They are not returning my calls, emails or attempts on Facebook. Once they have the money they don't care what you are dealing with. Terrible service.

Very disappointing service and no interest in offering customer service of any kind. Been purchasing with them for many years and even kept support online when many stores closed. Well not anymore - will not spend my money on an organisation that does not care about its customers. Once they have your money - no interest at all. This is Sydney Australia - trust me do not waste your money - they don't deserve your support. You can get cheaper and nicer bears in many department stores. I regret supporting them all these years but Build a Bear - you need to Build on your customer service if you want to survive in this service industry. You have lost a loyal customer.

We had a birthday party arranged last month, and staff in the branch were absolutely brilliant. They kept in touch regularly and looked after the kids with so much care and lots of fun. The kids had a great time and we felt like the service from the store was better than we ever could have expected.
I’ve had to knock off a star because of the customer service support online, which is absolutely awful.
If you need help with the website or with making bookings, you’ll wait several days for a response, and staff repeat the same questions without reading your replies thoroughly. A query that could be answered in one message ended up taking over 2 weeks.
Thankfully the store staff were great, so our overall experience was good. However if you need online support, then be ready for some frustration.

Absolutely terrrible. Apart from it being ridiculously expensive, I was then given a £10 gift voucher off a future purchase. The gift voucher didn't work and I ended up paying full price on the following order, which then never arrived, and I later found out it had been delivered to a wrong address, with all my details on an order form inside the parcel. The company therefore supplied a complete stranger with my name, address, phone number and payment details of the order.

I found out a year ago I cannot have more children (I have a son who is ten and is embarrassed by hugs now). I have my wonderful stuffed bear with a heartbeat that I sleep with when I feel clucky. He’s been wonderful. I love my grey patchwork Huckleberry Bear! So cuddly and helps with my longing for a newborn. Thanks Build-a-Bear!

Took my 2 kids for a treat for being good in the summer holidays. The staff there were lovely. The girl that served us, i think her name was Kayla, was amazing. My son is autistic, she was really good with him. The first 2 teddys we had were faulty, we were given free scents as compensation.

The customer service has always been great when we have been to visit.

Need to review prices though as it is horrendously expensive, but customer service was very good

Build A Bear store in Birmingham.
At the time I was not with my daughter who was shopping with her Grandmother and Aunty.
They were on a shopping trip to buy me a birthday present.
Not a huge budget but for something personal as it is a milestone birthday.
My daughter seeing the shop instantly wanted a teddy bear.
At the time of my daughters visit my mother (her nan) was taken ill and needed to leave the store as she felt faint and dizzy.
My sister (her aunty) was then stuck between leaving my daughter and checking on my mom.
Feeling my daughter was completely safe with the assistant chose to stand by the door in between the too.
By the time my daughter had got to the till the bear was £75 !!
I feel the shopping assistant was completely wrong taking advantage of my daughter who described the experience as scary, not knowing how to say no....
My daughter suffers with anxiety anyway so would have probably say yes even if given a price and inside really worrying.
At the till she didn't have no where near enough money and then had to spend her own birthday money of £50 on my present with her Aunty then having to also pay part of the cost and also feeling terrible if she told my daughter she couldn't buy what she thought she wanted to give me.
The whole experience was overwhelming for my daughter and exhausting for my sister all while my mom felt like she was going to pass out.

I have tried submitting an order multiple times online on various days and this website is seriously the worst I have ever seen. It deletes my cart, doesn't recognize my login and never let me submit my order.

Ordered a limited Kuromi w/Sleeper. Received the box and ONLY the sleeper and certificates were in the box. Emailed them and received a reply stating they were out of stock and would do a "partial" payment if I wanted to keep the sleeper (WHY WOULD I KEEP THE SLEEPER?!). I requested they check their facility or find out if perhaps it would be coming at a later date. NOPE. They did not try and track it at all. Did absolutely NOTHING to assist except send a form email. Tried to call them via telephone several times and all times it rang several times then disconnected. I would not suggest purchasing anything online with this company. They have no integrity whatsoever - I see numerous complaint about this type of thing happening (researched reviews after the fact). I am amazed that they only produced a limited amount of what would be a "hot" item. Shame on you Build-a-Bear. My daughter is on the spectrum and suffers from BPD and had a major break after opening basically an empty box. It caused much strife and emotional damage and it took several hours to even remotely calm her down. I'm sure there will be no accountability for the harm you have done to my daughter. Do I want a refund? NO - I want what I ordered and paid for! Even if THEY have to go on eBay and purchase it from a "scalper" for the ridiculous price of over $100! Without a doubt the worst experience EVER. Never again Build-a-Bear - NEVER AGAIN.