Bounty Mum To Be Pack Not Worth 15 pounds. An Open Letter

Dear Bounty,

You were part of the tapestry of my new life as a Mum. 

I carried my Yellow Book everywhere with me everyday and what kept it clean and tidy, in my rucksack, was your Pregnancy Notes Folder, with lots of exciting literature. Marketing literature yes, but very exciting to read as a first time new mum. Here you created the first yellow square on my Bounty patchwork quilt.

I had a traumatic C section at 21:24 and all my husband was allowed to do was join me in the recovery room, accompany me upstairs and then alas, visiting hours meant I was then all too soon alone, despite being numb from the breast down, due to a full and effective spinal block.

Your newborn bountiful pack, was an exciting thing to have next to my bed at this lonely time. It provided me with a sample of the non bio washing detergent, which I later discovered was the only thing I could use with Aaron's eczema (which he's since grown out of thank to vigilant care and attention). You also provided try before you buy samples of bath products which were the first products used on him after the initial water only baths. I think there were wipes and Sudocrem etc... too. The pack was indeed bountiful therefore living up to your brand name. 

So here you provided the next square on my patchwork quilt, a pink one.

When Aaron was only two days old, your Bounty photographer, with a sunny disposition bounded into our open ward, and took great care and attention in taking a beautiful photo of my son. A photo I still treasure to this day. I was so grateful I got the biggest package and multiples of it too. Such is how another yellow square was created on the patchwork quilt you wove into the tapestry of my new life as a Mum.

There was a red mark on his eye. On the order form the photographer promised to edit it out pre-printing. She was very thoughtful and said it was no problem. I was impressed with her loving nature and trusted this would be done. A pink square sprung up on my new quilt.

When my order came, alas the pink mark on his eye was still present. It was an issue due to the money I'd spent, the fact that the image was to be on his birth announcements and a broken promise. I rung and a no-quibble re-print was agreed with me being allowed to keep the wrong ones. With a huge extended family in Ireland and the red mark barely being visible on the small keyring photos it meant I had a few spares to play with. Yet again I felt loving feelings towards Bounty and a blue square for my blue bundle of joy sprung up on my growing Bounty patchwork quilt.

The reprints arrived very soon. I'd ordered a CD so I would have a digital image to upload to photobox for the birth announcements. You can see the birth announcements in my PhotoBox testimonial video here:

Such it was, that a purple square was created for my Bounty quilt. The love and joy of his arrival was now posted far and wide across England and Ireland, with Aaron's smiling face, courtesy of Bounty adorning many sideboards. This pic was testimony to how alert, big and full of life my two day old son was. Nobody could ever doubt my memory as to how young he was. It was taken at "days old" even though he LOOKED weeks or months old. The Bounty photographer captured the very essence of him, which given I could hardly move, post C-section, was not otherwise a possibility for me.

Fast forward, and Bounty was at the brunt of a social media storm, where people were demanding they be banned from hospital wards. It gathered a lot of support particularly on Mumsnet and MANY blog posts and tweets were posted on the back of it. My friend Claire decided to say NO to the mutiny and I sided with her. She blogged about it too. 

By now my completed Bounty Patchwork Quilt was firmly part of the tapestry of my life and there was no way I was going to see Bounty getting this abuse, which I deemed undeserved (purely on personal experience) and ignore it.

Unfortunately, people didn't just debate the issue on Twitter, but fell out. Being MrsC blogged about it.

Fast forward 6 years and I am pregnant again. All I was concerned with was finally meeting my Midwife for the first time, and getting her assurance that my 1st scan would be imminent.

I met her this Monday and it was amazing as as she spent nearly 2 hours with me.

In addition to my yellow book (which incidentally is now orange) I got my bounty folder which is to provide a plastic wallet for the book.

I was shocked that there were only a few samples in there (mistakenly I think I must have been subconsciously comparing it to the newborn hospital one). Anyhow I Instagrammed my pic and got some VERY interesting feedback on there. The samples were Bepanthen (which is amazing stuff by the way), Pregnacare (which I take every day) and decaf teabags.

Everything's different this #pregnancy even the freebies. Only three now in #bountypack = decaf tea bags, 7 #pregnacare tablets, and a sachet of Bepanthen

A photo posted by Liska (@newmumonline) on Jul 6, 2015 at 4:48am PDT

I sat on the sofa and went through every single leaflet. I was thrilled to find a form stating that if I completed it and handed it in instore at Asda, Boots or Superdrug I would get a Mum To Be pack with contents worth "at least" 15 pounds.

Such was my excitement at reading this, I insisted Daddy drive to Boots after the school run. It wasn't at all convenient but I was in a "I'VE SEEN MY MIDWIFE" excitement bubble and I wanted to ride that rollercoaster.

I completed the form, thus giving Bounty ALL of my details (which they are well known for selling on allegedly), and gave it to the lovely lady in Boots who handed me my pack.

I got it home, only to find that the only try before you buy sample was a 10g TINY pot of Sudocrem.

Now I class this as:

• misleading
• an infringement of advertising standards
• a breach of their own statements on their own site
• a trading standards issue due to the mislabelling of the pack.

I tried my hardest to find a way of making the contents add up to the stated 15 pounds but:

• The Baby Product Guide states "worth 3 pounds" on its cover (but is an excuse to print money as it is effectively full of product adverts that the manufacturers/brands have paid to have featured)
• There's a free Pregnacare pen but I would not personally put a value on that as much as I swear by the brand.
• There's a "graze" voucher but it even states "try a box for free usually 3.99 pounds". Now this would be beneficial as I am grazing nonstop since pregnant, but I have received about 5 of these vouchers in the past year (and am yet to use them) so do not class it as of value, personally.
• There is a 10g tub of Sudocrem, but it is so tiny I would class it as the equivalent of those free perfume samples you get from the beauty counter - they don't have a value do they?

People on Twitter, including Nickie have asked me if there are money off vouchers that add up to the equivalent of 15 pounds, but no, there are not. Yes there are a couple on the back of the Sudocrem, but nothing of great significance.

I have read up on the issue on lots of forums and people have stated there USED TO BE a 20 pound voucher for Ocado. THAT would tip the contents of the bag into meeting Bounty's claims of "contents worth at least 15 pounds" but people online expressed that it wasn't really of value as you had to spend 80 to redeem it.

To prove that Bounty was once doing a Mum-To-Be Pack of value, you only have to look at this video:

This video, along with comments online, give a big-up to Asda as they add their own gift to the pack, when you hand over your data on the required Bounty form. I don't think this is currently fair on Boots, as people not only feel disappointed on redeeming it there, to find that they've missed out on the Asda gift, but with the current below-par Bounty Pack, they are more likely to Google this and discover this fact. So Boots, who I am quite loyal to, are doing Bounty a favour by stocking and issuing the packs, only to disappoint lots of Mums to Be like me.

Anyway, I think the video makes clear that there USED to be some nice bits in there, which there should be as Bounty clearly states on their site: "Your Mum-to-be Pack is stuffed with try-before-you-buy samples"

I do not think it is ethical or right of them to state this when it is (currently) far from true!

Having been a HR Manager for years who specialised in Employment Law, I tend to believe and hold great stock in the written word. If a form tells me, exchange this at Asda, Boots or Superdrug for a pack with contents worth at least 15 pounds I tend to believe it. If the pack then states the same on its bag, it's further reinforced and so the disappointment ensues.

It doesn't help that I managed our Customer Service Team, so again, hold great stock in the written word, having spent hours pouring over trading standards and the sale of goods act literature. I know this pack isn't sold as such, but allegedly they sell our contact details, and my price for that is for them to live up to what they've promised me.

So, with my first baby, Bounty piece by piece made me a patchwork quilt, lovingly made of squares that they embroidered with great service and value added to my life.

This time they have annoyed me beyond measure and thus far have not replied to a single one of my MANY tweets.

What a joke @BountyUK #ShowMeTheMoney surprised u haven't been complained about to ASA pic.twitter.com/kcNCHBRF8H

— Liska (@NewMumOnline) July 6, 2015

. @nickieohara pkt says "contents worth @ least £15" yet I get leaflets, Pregnacare PEN, Graze voucher, 10g Sudocrem! pic.twitter.com/KpZk1SnSoz

— Liska (@NewMumOnline) July 6, 2015

A blogger who takes this Bounty Mum to Be subject on eloquently discusses it in this post here: Bounty Mum To Be Pack. So as you can read, she got the catalogue, pen and graze voucher like me, but ALSO received the Ocado voucher, so clearly over time, the contents get less and less.

What gets my goat about this is their byline is

GIVING MUMS MORE.

When clearly their actions are

Giving MUMS LESS.

If the brands who supplied the plentiful try before you buy samples gave them in limited quantities which are now out of stock then Bounty need to either:

1. admit that the Mum to Be Packs are out of stock, or
2. do away with them, and focus on the pregnancy folder and the lovely bountiful pack in hospital (or is even that now lacking)? or
3. make a NEW sealed bag and NEW data collection forms, that do NOT promise that the contents will be worth at least 15 pounds.........!!!!!!!!!

Bounty THIS is how you make a decent pack of value: onegirlandacampervan.com/2015/06/19/emmas-diary-bump-to-baby-selections-pack/