Grolier.com

After giving birth, I realised that the parent and baby company called 'Bounty' was trustworthy. After all, they see you in the hospital and give you lots of freebies in a bag and seem really nice and understanding of your needs as a new mother. So when you get a call at home from someone who says he is from Bounty, you assume that you will get great service. This happened to me and it turned out that this guy was calling from a company called Grolier. He asked me if I would like to receive a Disney DVD collection, to which I said no. He wouldn't accept this response and insisted that he would send them anyway and if I didn't want them, then I could return them with no charge.

They arrived and I immediately rang to return them, they asked why I asked for them when I didn't actually want them. I said that I said I didn't want them, but he insisted he would send them anyway. The advisor told me they did not do this, and refused to accept that he had insisted on sending them to me. She said they would look into it and in the meantime, would contact their couriers to arrange for them to be picked up. I have since retunred the DVD's via their couriers and I received a voice message from Grolier on our answering machine while I was out to be told that they had 'apparently' listened to our conversation on the recorded telephone call and I apparently said that I wanted to receive them!! I know for a fact that I did not do this because I always turn down cold calling. I dislike people calling me to sell their products. As I told the cold caller, if I want their products, I would contact them. He would not accept this response.

I never called them back because I just wanted to forget about the experience - the DVD's had been returned and the issue had been solved...or so I thought!

This Saturday morning, I have received my 'account statement' in the post (I never even wanted to open an account with them), and apparently I owe them £9.99 for the DVD's and they have added an additiional fee of £1.95 because I have not made any payment!! The cheek of it! I immediately phoned their customer service telephone number, but they 'conveniently' don't work weekends.

I am not happy about the service given at all and I never wanted all of this to happen. If the guy that I spoke to just accepted my refusal, I wouldn't have had this nonsense to deal with. I wonder how many of other new mum's have been conned by this company. Having a new baby is tiring and difficult enough without this hassle to worry about.

I will be submitting a complaint in the hope that I may just get an apology! The fact that the guy that called me had lied and said that he was calling from Bounty, who mother's like me trust and respect, only to be conned by a different company altogether.

To any new mother's out there that receive a call like this, I would advise you to stay clear and demand that your answer is well understood. Whether you choose to accept their offer or decline, that is up to you - just don't let them push you into anything you don't want.

It's a shame because they are ruining the reputation of Bounty.