Angel Baby Bedding may use a cherubic, winged infant as its company symbol, but customers say its business practices are anything but heavenly.

Better Business Bureau says consumers may want to consider alternatives before dealing with Angel Baby Bedding and its owner, Laura Barton Helvey, of Farmington, Mo.  Helvey says on her website that she has operated the online business since October 2005.

Despite Helvey’s online promise that “we will do what is the best for our customers,” consumers tell BBB that they have waited months for orders that never arrived.  They also said they have been unable to speak with Helvey or anyone else at Angel Baby Bedding for help in addressing their concerns.

BBB has received more than 40 complaints against the business from more than 20 states and Canada. Most of those complaints occurred in the past 12 months.  Angel Baby Bedding has an “F” grade with the BBB, the lowest grade possible, for failing to respond to customer complaints.

Kim States, BBB President, said Angel Baby Bedding’s customer service record “leaves much to be desired. A business’ communication with its customers is critical to its success, and when that breaks down, both the customers and business suffer.”

A woman from Alberta, Canada, said she ordered a bedding set from Angel Baby Bedding’s online store in late November of last year, more than three months before her baby’s due date.  The cost was $485 Canadian. As of last week, she still had not received the items.  She wants a refund. “I don’t want it and I don’t want to be charged for it,” she said of the order.  She said she recently ordered the same items from another online business and received them in a few days.

In an e-mail response to BBB, Helvey said customers who have filed complaints will be receiving packages “within 4-7 days.  We have a late shipment and customers cannot read a ship policy to save their lives.”  She said she has felt “no reason for me to jump on the complaints via BBB when I am e-mailing the customers as well.

“Getting customers’ e-mails done, packages out, etc. creates a larger priority than 10-20 complaints out of over 3,000 orders for the last 12 months.”

On her website, angelbabybedding.com, Helvey says the business sells a variety of products worldwide, including nursery accessories, baby feeding items, baby health care items and baby furniture.

“Finally an Online Baby Bedding Store Better than the Rest,” says the site.  “We are not shy in saying that we will do what is the best for our customers, and our customer service team is the most knowledgeable, polite and helpful team in the online baby bedding industry.”

The website describes Helvey as a wife and mother of two living in rural Farmington.  “I like people, I enjoy doing good for people and giving them a break,” she says on the site.

But several customers said their dealings with the business have been anything but smooth.

A woman from West Bend, Wis., who is expecting a baby in May, said she paid Angel Baby Bedding $229 for bedding products on Jan. 16.  As of last week, she had not received her order.  She said she has (more…)