Important information
- Customer Complaint:Build-A-Bear Workshop complaints generally pertain to damaged merchandise, shipping problems, difficulty obtaining a refund, and difficulty reaching a representative of the company. The company has addressed all complaints brought to its attention.
Complaints
This profile includes complaints for Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc.'s headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see
Customer Complaints Summary
- 103 total complaints in the last 3 years.
- 32 complaints closed in the last 12 months.
If you've experienced an issue
Submit a ComplaintThe complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.
Initial Complaint
Date:12/05/2022
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Purchased November 26th online for buy onilne and pickup in-store. Made several trips to the store, which is an hour away, only for them to be closed. I checked the store hours ahead of time and it said they were open, when I arrived at the store they technically should have been open but no one was there and the store was closed (as seen in the photos). I spoke to someone online and asked that they ship it instead. They said they could not do that and I would have to cancel and place the order again. I agreed to have them cancel the order and place a new one, problem was when I placed my original order my items were on sale. They refuse to honor. the price I paid because they don't do price adjustments, but in this case I'm not placing the order again just because I wanted to, it's literally because I cannot get the item from the store in which I ordered it, since they never seem to be open when they are supposed to be. I have spoken with two different customer service reps and tried to call their phone system, which ironically also said it was closed even though it was supposed to be open until 5:00 pm CST and I called at 4:00 pm.
Business Response
Date: 01/17/2023
We contacted ******* and are happy to assist with placing a new order and honoring her original discount and free shipping. Thank you!Initial Complaint
Date:10/26/2022
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I ordered two gift cards for my little cousins who will be coming in December, so well in advance. Build a Bear stated it would arrive on October 10th at the latest, but I still have received nothing. I frankly want it to arrive because I bought two $50 gift cards for them which amounts to $100 (its quite a lot of money) and for it not to be here still is quite ridiculous. Im not even sure they shipped it out like they said they did. I simply want it to arrive without all this hassle, but I dont think it will and I just want a refund at this point. I reached out to them too. They said it can take up to 21 business days (even though their website says **** business days). It has now been more than 21 business days, and I have not received anything. Really, if it has shipped from inside the US to *****, in what is likely an envelope, it should not take this long (even with **** or ******* I have usually received things from these carriers much faster (within a week or two most of the time but this is just not right). Im trying to be as understanding as I can of anything that *** have happened, but I am starting to doubt Ill even receive this gift card. Im just very disappointed as of now, but I am somewhat hopeful that a solution *** be found.Business Response
Date: 11/02/2022
**********'s lost physical gift cards were replaced with two $50 egift cards. Thank you!Customer Answer
Date: 11/02/2022
Better Business Bureau:
I find that this works just fine. Thank you.Initial Complaint
Date:10/17/2022
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Build a bear workshop gave me 14 reward certificates with a value of $10 each. They all expire on dates between March and April of 2023. They are now claiming these were all sent in error and refusing to honor any of them. I'd like to receive the $140 in store credits that I am owed.
My bonus club account is under the email *******************
I have attached a screenshot of all the rewards I have received they are refusing to honor as well as an image of their term and conditions on these certificates that do not say they will be voided if sent in error. I also have a screenshot from their representative showing them as canceled in their system, however that email says it is confidential. I'm now allowed if I am allowed to share that with the BBB legaly.Business Response
Date: 11/02/2022
The Reward Certificates issued to **** were issued in error and not earned through purchases. When the error was discovered, the Certificates were cancelled. We have had several detailed interactions with **** regarding her account. After a thorough review, 52 additional points were added to ****** account and a listing of all of her transactions was provided to **** on 10/25/22. The account totals are completely correct and the account is in good-standing and functioning correctly. Thank you!Customer Answer
Date: 11/02/2022
Complaint: ********
I am rejecting this response because: rather those certificates were issued in error or not they were still issued to me. They should remain active until the expiration date listed on them. No one in the fine print do they say if they are issued in error they will be revoked and canceled.Additionally through out the multiple interactions I had with the company over the phone and email they repeatedly lied to me and were incredibly rude. They claimed they had included points earned through in store purchases when I asked multiple times. The supervisor later confirmed that was false and they had not. They also sent me an email detailing my purchases showing the total number of point I earned to be 78 yet claimed the 66 points I had received was correct. There own documentation showed it was not yet they denied this and would not respond to emails showing they were incorrect.They also counted not how certificates I had been issued but how many I had redeemed. The certificates are good for 6 months. Having redeemed certificates does not show they were rewarded and issued within that time frame. Yet the company continued to only count certificates redeemed not issued. They have not told me how many were issued and don't seem to be able to.Furthermore since this complaint was filed they fraudulently charged me for shipping I did not agree to pay. I called to demand a refund which I was rewarded but the money was gone from my account for multiple days while this issue was resolved. Money I needed and never agreed to pay to someone I know could not access because of this fraud. Over the phone they stated this was a known issue they had received multiple complaints of. Yet they were still running their site fraudulently over charging people. They only were even aware it was an issue that occurred on my account because I called. Had I not, they would have not returned my money.
Sincerely,
**** ******
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