Mum who lost her baby left DEVASTATED after trying to return stroller and car seat
A mum has written a heartbreaking open letter documenting her traumatic experience attempting to return baby things to a store after her son died.
Jessica Huchko sadly lost her baby at 24 weeks gestation, and grieving her child, she decided to return his stroller and baby seat to the shop she bought them in.
However, while you would expect a show of sensitivity and kindness from the store, according to the mum, she received anything but.
“I had to make the dreaded trip to your store soon after my loss to return my purchases,” she wrote in the open letter on her Facebook page. “I never expected that my son would not survive so I did not save the receipt. When I walked in to the store with my two returns, a very nice lady helped me at the return desk.
“She asked me if there was anything wrong with my purchases. I said no. She then asked, why are you returning them? I said, my son passed away a couple weeks ago and I cannot keep them. I could not help my emotions and started crying. She was obviously mortified for asking and continued to do the return.”
But it was when the manager was called that Jessica says the situation went from emotional to just plain hurtful.
“All I wanted to do was leave,” wrote Jessica. “So then I had to explain to her [the manager] why I was returning the items. More crying. My almost one year old daughter was looking at me so sad. The manager was able to find the car seat in the system but only offered me about half of what I paid for it. Then she had to look up the double stroller online and see how much it was.
“She finally discovered after being there for about a half an hour that the items were not showing because they were discontinued. I had just bought these a month prior! But the manager then looks at me and says she can only offer me two cents for the double stroller! Two freaking cents. TWO CENTS!?!?!?! Are you kidding me??????? It cost $179 just for the stroller and the car seat was about $80.
“I was so upset and frustrated with this place I started hysterically crying while everyone was watching me. I have never been more embarrassed in my life. I was still in complete mourning of losing my son and now this? I grabbed my store credit and ran out of the store. Your company will never receive my business again. I hope you hire more compassionate employees than this awful lady [the manager] who calls herself a human.”
Jessica’s post has since gone viral, with many people reaching out to comfort her, while roundly condemning the store’s handling of the situation.
And one supporter, Jessica Napoleone, went as far as to contact the store, thankfully receiving a positive response.
“Hi Jessica – thank you for bringing this to our attention,” the store responded. “We want to assure you that we were very touched by Jessica's post and are currently working with her to resolve this issue. Thank you for your concern.”