Build-A-Bear Workshop Reviews 

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.

I ordered a limited-edition bear from the American website, as the bear was unavailable in Australia. The bear was not packaged properly for international postage. The bear was placed loosely in a box and so when it arrived, it was damaged. I contacted Build-A-Bear and was told they would only refund the cost of the bear if I posted the bear back to them. I explained that was not viable as postage was expensive and I would be out of pocket, even after a full refund. I emailed several times and was told the same thing. Build-A-Bear then emailed me a free postage label, but that was useless as it was only valid for postage in the USA. I was only requesting a partial refund to cover the cost of having the bear fixed so that it would be presentable. Build-A-Bear is now not responding to my emails. Build-A-Bear was at fault because they failed to package the bear securely. I would highly recommend not dealing with this company.

No longer the Build a Bear it used to be. Low stock in the stores, bears not as nice as they used to be. Only one type of bear in white which was not available in the store. Ordered bear online from the local store. Item never delivered. Called store numerous times, item had to be re-ordered, still waiting. Wanted a plain shirt with monogram, no longer available. Had to order shirt from another vendor.

We visited the Cardiff store with my 7 year old ASD son, the staff member who helped fill the bear for him sneered and ridiculed him for putting his hands over his ears because of the noise of the machine. That not being enough she continued with sniggering at him and then made a snidey comment towards me about how I clearly don’t hoover my house then if he can’t cope with the sound of their machine. Absolutely disgusting behaviour towards any child, to ridicule and embarrass anyway in this manner is abhorrent, let alone an autistic child. Never have I come across such tone deaf ableist behaviour in a shop. Utterly shameful.

Went to build a bear with my 2 daughters (4 and 2) this past weekend and was truly touched by how good of an experience we had. The staff at the natick, MA location clearly knew how to let kids be kids and were very patient as we took forever to choose which plush toys we wanted to build. I saw the look in my 4 year olds eyes during the heart ceremony and know it’s something she viewed as magical and will remember forever and even the 2 year old got into it.

Despite having hundreds of kids roaming through per day they kept the store surprisingly clean and overall offered an amazing experience that we throughly enjoyed. Customizing toys is an amazing business model and the way they gear it so effectively towards their customers (big and small) is incredible

AWFUL customer service. The item I ordered was delivered filthy dirty so I contacted them. All they could offer was a return and they REFUSED to refund my shipping fee - even though the item was damaged! Will never order from them again. Very disappointed with the very poor service and the quality of the item. They clearly don’t care about their customers in the UK!

The WORST customer service ever. I would give "-1" star if I could. Shop anywhere else, please. Don't waste your time and money shopping here. I will not ever order from this place again.

Placed an order on Feb 25, 2023. Shipping said delivery March 16, 2023. It is now March 21, 2023 and delivery date is now April 10, 2023. Contacted customer service and all they told me was delivery date is April 10. Very dissatisfied!!!!

My daughter wanted to buy a bear from the B-a-B vending machine at JFK airport. When selecting the bear the display mentioned it was out of stock, even though the bear was sitting in the window, ready to be sold! So she was VERY disappointed.
After our return home I contacted customer support about this and if they could offer a solution.
The only positive thing is that they respond quickly, but the respond was completely useless. Sending a link to order online (but we do not live in the USA or UK, so I can not order online, I already told them that), plus if I would be able to order the 15 USD bear would cost over 30 USD instead because of shipping and taxes...
After getting back to customer support about this I got a standard reply that due to shipping restrictions... etc. etc,, it was currently not possible to order online in Europe...
So nothing about the issue that arose at the vending machine or any support offered from Build-a-bear. Very disappointed.

Ordered online since we live so far from a build a bear for my son and niece and nephew. Paid extra for expedited shipping and my order still hasn't been made. Tried to get the order canceled and was told I had to wait until I got the product and then started a return. My order was supposed to arrive on the 24th of February and still nothing. I Will not ever order from this place again.

Worst customer service! Tried calling to ask question regarding shipping. Was on hold for over 20 minutes and still holding. Chatting was no better. Never answered question just provided link.

Went to hull build a bear was helped by assistant Lael. Very polite and helpful nothing was too much. Tried several outfits on bear no pressure to buy. Would highly recommend.

Went in for a birthday bear for my 2 year old!
Picking and filling the birthday bear was a lovely experience for my little one and choosing an accessory was fun.
However on payment the staff member was rude to me told me ask how old she was I clearly stated 2 years old yet she said she's 3 she's just put 3 fingers up. (this did not happen as my 2 year old does not yet know her age on her fingers)

The cheek I was actually charged £3 and not the £2 as well as the accessory item.

Yes it only £1 but the rudeness and principal is absolutely disgusting I will definitely AVOID BAB in the Trafford Centre.

Completely spoiled my experience. Never again

Wow what an absolutely terrible company. I ordered a custom bear as a gift for my girlfriend. We are in a long-distance relationship and this was supposed to be a way of keeping us connected.

I took a lot of time picking out the bear and clothes that closely resemble me and had the order shipped in time for her birthday. I had it all planned out to be dressed exactly like the bear and it was going to be a sweet thoughtful gift.

The order arrived about a week before I was to see her and I asked her not to open it until I got there. Several days after the order was delivered I received a mysterious refund on a portion of the order but wasn't given a reason why.

I contacted Build-A-Bear to find out what for and it turns out the clothes that I chose were suddenly out of stock. So basically they sent a naked bear to my girlfriend but didn't alert me in the many weeks from when I placed my order until when it was delivered that this was the case.

When I complained and said I wanted a refund since it wasn't what I ordered and my surprise was basically ruined (bear and clothes are online exclusives which is why I couldn't build it in store) all they wanted to offer was a small gift card.

When I asked if it was normal procedure to just send out orders that they knew were completely wrong they pretty much confirmed that yes that was how their production pipeline worked. That the warehouse that builds the bears "do their best" to accommodate which I assume includes just completely ignoring a customer's actual order and sending whatever they want without alerting the customer at all.

Needless to say the only saving grace here is that I had instructed my girlfriend not to open it until I arrived. So, now I have a small window of time to just completely disappear that naked bear and find her something else meaningful as a gift.

I definitely would never ever trust Build-A-Bear to provide you with anything that is special or unique. They don't seem to care at all whether their customers are happy or even get what they ordered. I wish I could give them zero stars.

Worst customer service. Ordered something for a newborn baby coming. Got sent an email saying it shipped but didn’t have any tracking, so I contacted them. They told me they didn’t provide tracking and to wait 40 days. The shipment date passed so I contacted them and they told me it actually was never shipped and they don’t know what happened and they’d give me a refund. The baby is about to be born now so it won’t arrive in time. What an absolute joke. I will never shop here.

Do not purchase through online store. No communication, promise of Xmas delivery and parcel is just sitting in Sydney. No solutions. Horrible experience.

Absolutely appalling customer service. Outfit arrived completely loose in the shipping package with no hanger and no packaging. Looked like I'd bought it from eBay. Waited 40 minutes to get through on phone about returning it despite being told 30 minutes before that I was next in queue (obviously a lie) and finally gave up. Also they are BREAKING UK CONSUMER LAW by saying that shipping costs will not be refunded. I will be contacting Trading Standards about this.

The Teddy itself is lovely however the tshirt option was a poor fit and it would have been nice to have the requested name put on to the collar of the cat plush.

Our experience was excellent! The computer used to create and print the birth certificate was not working and the employee was really helpful in getting it to work. All employees showed great customer service and made our daughter happy!

We received our LOTR bears; Gandalf and Frodo, all the way over in Australia. We're very happy with the quality of the bears, so soft, and the audio is good. When I first purchased the bears, a double deduction came out of my account. I contacted customer service, and they were very friendly, prompt and helpful - the second deduction disappeared within a few days.