Bounty makes plans to improve services following Mumsnet attack
Bounty is rolling out a new feedback service in the wake of an attack from Mumsnet that accused the parenting brand of “harassing” new mums in maternity wards.
It will roll out the “How did we do” feedback scheme this month in a bid to gain insights from new mums to improve the services it offers. The brand says the launch of the scheme was already planned and is not in response to Mumsnet’s report.
Mumsnet has called for Bounty staff to be banned from marketing to new mothers on maternity wards after finding 82 per cent of new mums feel it is “unacceptable” for the NHS to allow commercial organisations to operate on wards.
Mumsnet surveyed 1,000 mothers who have given birth in the last year about their experience with Bounty and its staff. More than half (56 per cent) felt a Bounty rep invaded their privacy, 60 per cent were not told their information would be passed on to third parties and in 17 per cent of cases Bounty reps were accused of implying parents would not be able to claim child benefit unless they joined Bounty.
Bounty’s Newborn pack, which includes products samples from brands including Pampers, was rated as “poor” by 53 per cent of mums.
Justine Roberts, Mumsnet CEO, says: “Our users believe it’s time for the Government to clamp down on Bounty’s harassment tactics to obtain data from new mothers. There is a time and a place for direct sales, and it’s not on postnatal wards, hours after women have given birth. Women rightly expect hospital wards to be a safe place and targeting new mothers at their most vulnerable is simply not on.”
The issue has gained traction on social media and Mumsnet forums.
A Bounty spokesperson says the brand is “saddened” to hear of individual situations where its staff have “fallen short of the high standards that mums demand of us and we demand of ourselves”.
In a statement in response to the Mumsnet survey, Bounty says: “Many of us here at Bounty are mums ourselves and know what a special time it is just after giving birth. Everyone is aware of the unique and special environment in which we are offering mums our service. We meet thousands of mums every day and treasure this special position and take our responsibilities very seriously. So it is extremely disappointing to hear about this.
“We take any short fall in our quality standard/code of practice very seriously and would ask anyone who feels they have a complaint with us to get in touch and as with our normal best practice, we would deal with that promptly and professionally.”
Bounty visits 2,000 new mums each day and claims 96 per cent of all mums choose to join its scheme.
It claims an independently run research panel of 37,000 participants found 90 per cent of its members are happy with the quality of its service and staff.
Bounty previously updated its code of conduct last year to address previous criticism.
