Build-A-Bear Workshop Reviews 

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.

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.