Mothercare Account Card

...found myself visiting my local Mothercare to have a browse at all this baby stuff, things I didn’t even know existed..but all at a price as they were manufactured conforming to BS standard wxyz, almost unheard of in my day. Astonished at the cost I enquired about any discount cards or schemes the store may operate. This is when I discovered the Mothercare account card.

The Mothercare account card is yet another Storecard offering ...
...shopping at all Mothercare and Mothercare World stores. The card can also be used at Bhs Stores. The card itself is operated by GE Capital, who are one of the largest credit card operators, operating cards store cards such as Debenhams, House of Fraser, Harrods, etc as well as major stores in the US such as Macy’s, JC Penny’s and so forth. (I have some interesting news for US residents who may own some of these GE capital Storecards, ... more

Babies are so cute (well, most of the time!), but they don’t come cheap (especially in the Western economy!) there’s an endless list of baby gadgets,
prams, cots, mattresses, safety equipment, car seats, children’s toys, etc that one might need. Recently I found myself visiting my local Mothercare to have a browse at all this baby stuff, things I didn’t even know existed..but all at a price as they were manufactured conforming to BS standard wxyz, almost unheard of in my day. Astonished at the cost I enquired about any discount cards or schemes the store may operate. This is when I discovered the Mothercare account card.

The Mothercare account card is yet another Storecard offering regular generous offers and discounts to its card holders whilst shopping at all Mothercare and Mothercare World stores. The card can also be used at Bhs Stores. The card itself is operated by GE Capital, who are one of the largest credit card operators, operating cards store cards such as Debenhams, House of Fraser, Harrods, etc as well as major stores in the US such as Macy’s, JC Penny’s and so forth. (I have some interesting news for US residents who may own some of these GE capital Storecards, which I will mention later under worldwide customer services* GE capital - is the company that operates most Store credit cards in UK/US)…so read on..

EASE OF APPLICATION

There are two ways to apply for the Mothercare storecard either in store or online. I applied in store and a decision was made immediately. The application form itself is straightforward and only took me 5 minutes to complete. To apply for the card you must be 18 years or over and be a UK resident. You or your partner must also be in permanent paid employment (with a minimum of 16 hours per week). I was accepted straight away allowing me to shop on the day entitling me to take advantage of a 10% discount on any purchases. I was also given a set of Mothercare vouchers to use in Store within the next 2 months. I will not discuss the online application as I did not apply using that method and separate category exists on Ciao about the Mothercare website should you be interested.

My rating:
Ease of application: 5/5

ACCOUNT CARD

The advantages:-

The main advantage of a Storecard is most definitely access to discounts and offers that would not be available to non-card holders. The first advantage is 10% off a first order placed in the Store or using the Mothercare home shopping site by telephone mail order or via the website. You also receive a second set of £10 off vouchers to use by a certain date. Secondly, one gets invited to Special discount days or Weekend events held at Mothercare stores. One can also get the latest Mothercare catalogue for free, which normally costs £1 to non-account holders. You can also use your Mothercare account card to withdraw cash from any Bhs Store, though please note you will be charged interest on these transactions and it will be billed to your account. You also get up to 56 days interest-free credit, so if you pay off your balance in full you will not be charged a penny in interest yet at the same time earn discounts off the full price.

The disadvantages:-

As with most Store credit cards the interest paid (APR) is not cheap and if you are not one who doesn’t pay off your balance in full at the end of the month you may be paying higher for this privilege. The APR for the Mothercare card is currently 26.0% if paid by direct debit (or 29.0% if paying by other methods), this is exactly the same as the Bhs card.

Comparison of interest rates to other store credit cards:

You will find this card is very similar with other store credit cards such as Harvey Nichols (26.5%), Allders (26.8%), Habitat (26.0%), Fraser card (27.5%), and slightly higher is Debenhams (28.0%), followed by Monsoon at 28.7% and Harrods of course is even higher at 28.9%. Though not all store cards have APR rates around 25-28%, you will find some lower such as John Lewis and Waitrose at currently at 13.0%.

My Overall rating:
Based on Interest charged on this store card: 3/5

STATEMENTS

Statements are usually sent out monthly depending on whether you have used your card that month or not. The statement itself is very clear to understand showing a list of your Mothercare transactions with details of which store/home shopping your purchases were made. The statement gives you a choice of either paying the balance in full or paying the minimum payment, which is either £4 or 4%. One of the good things I have found about this card statement is it gives you enough time before date it was prepared and the date the payment has to be sent. For example, there is a clear 3 weeks before payment is required. If you are careful you can plan when to buy your goods allowing you a maximum of 56 days interest free credit, which is a almost 8 weeks! I am quite pleased with generous 3-week period between receiving the statement and actually having to make a payment. Some store credit cards (like Next) only allow 2 weeks from when the statement is issued and when the payment has to reach them.

You can then choose to pay either by direct debit, or by using the Giro slip at the bottom of the statement, by post, by telephone banking or via internet banking (as I have done, by setting up this account in my internet account). There is also a facility to make payment using the Mothercare website, though one must be registered first and receive an online security ID to do so. I however, find it easier to pay by using any of the above methods.

My rating: 5/5

CUSTOMER SERVICE

As an account card holder I have telephone both the home shopping Mothercare service to find out if items are in stock using the 08453 30 40 30 telephone number and found staff to be most helpful. The phone lines are open 7 days a week allowing greater flexibility. If items are in stock, the goods are usually delivered within 3-5 working days.

One of the things I would like to have seen is the ability to pre-book goods and arrange a future delivery. This is especially important for expectant mothers who may not wish to have large items such as cots/prams etc delivered immediately and leave it until nearer the time of birth. For example, I recently wanted to order a cot, but don’t require it now (as I am moving house) when I telephoned customer services to ask if I can have it delivered later, they said I couldn’t and that if ordered now I would receive it in 3-5 days. I later found out about a Mothercare Nursery Plan through their catalogue which is a minimum spend of £100, whereby one pays off an initial 10% deposit and then make the final payment 10 days before you require the goods, but there is a £10 administration fee to do this. I know many other Stores that sell baby products that are willing to do this for free, such as the Coop stores, many also run Baby Clubs, allowing you to pay for items bit by bit (no interest charged), as long as the balance is fully paid before you request delivery. Generally, the customer services are fairly helpful though one can never be guaranteed if you will get through to a more knowledgeable call centre staff that will discuss all available options.

* And GE CAPITAL offers a WORLDWIDE Customer Service……(Telephone Customer Service)

Some interesting news I found out on my last trip to India which you may like to know especially if you are a US resident with one of these GE Capital store cards..next time you lift the phone to make a toll-free call to customer services..where do you think your call is being routed to? Some State in the USA? Well, no it is highly likely your phone call is being routed to India (even the city of Hyderabad!) yes, that’s right, just one quick call you made to enquire about your balance or query your charges..has gone to India, and although you may be mistaken by the american accent and friendly warm greeting by “Hi, this Sophie Seretti how may I help you….” ended by “thank you for your call, have a nice day”. GE Capital has invested heavily in training in India whereby local Indians are given american names and taught to put on American accents whilst working in Call centre. The call is sent via satellite and is crystal clear, you will have NO idea you are calling India. The gain, it saves GE Capital millions, they pay local Indians a fraction of what they would have to pay US employees on the minimum wage, plus they have faster turn over as the Indians selected are ones chosen for their high speed and efficiency in handling customer calls. The staff in India work midnight shifts to be on the same timescale as the USA.

Customer services (telephone)
My rating: 3/5
*amended to 2/5 November 2002 –see UPDATE*

If one is shopping in Mothercare store you can arrange to have help and advice on any baby or mother shopping matter e.g. car seat advice, which mattress to buy, bra fitting service etc by one of the trained Mothercare staff. I was unsure about which steam sterilising unit and bottle to buy and received helpful advice from a friendly member of staff who was not in any hurry and took her time showing and explaining the various units and bottles.

Customer services (in store)
My rating: 4/5

*UPDATE (November 2002)*

I have had to amend my Customer Service rating (telephone)recently following contact with GE Capital Customer services. Mothercare Storecard in line with many other GE Capital store cards send out promotional invitations offering account card holders 10% off. I received one such invitation informing me 10% off would be applied to shoppers between 11-17th November so I went shopping during that period with my card. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my 10% OFF voucher and thought Mothercare would acknowledge the transaction carried out on the card at the correct period, sadly, they required the voucher. I was told I could either bring the voucher into the store or contact customer services. Living miles away from Mothercare and travelling with a young baby, I chose the latter option.

NEWSFLASH! Just as I had mentioned in the earlier part of this opinion that US Storecard calls get routed to India my call to GE Capital querying a UK seasonal shopping event got routed to India too!! I was connected and the call went..”Hi, this is Tanya, how may I help you?” I knew straight away she is not Tanya and after she was unable to help me I asked her if she was in India she said yes, just outside Delhi! So there you have it UK Storecard calls are being routed via satellite to India too!

Sadly the telephone customer service is not always up to scratch, not at the fault of the country to where the customer service calls are routed to, but to the training the company provides its staff and they should be kept informed of seasonal shopping events e.g. Christmas. GE Capital obviously want to keep its profits high and costs low!

*END OF UPDATE*

Overall, as far as a store credit card goes the Mothercare card is average in terms of interest rates and quite competitive due to the generous time allowed for payments, and very helpful for in store advice and free catalogues and many discount days for account holders. Purchasing baby goods is an expensive business in the western economy and schemes such as these may be an enormous help particularly for initial purchases and first time mothers (CH junior is expected to arrive in July). On that basis, I award this store card a 4 star product rating. -CH

Overall rating: 4/5
* AMENDED OVERALL RATING: 3/5 (Nov. 2002)

An opinion of connoisseur_haggler© ciao.com 2002
 

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