Woman offered pennies for baby items from Babies ‘R’ Us after late-term miscarriage

A Connecticut mother said she felt humiliated when she was offered pennies when returning a stroller last week at a local Babies “R” Us after she delivered her stillborn son.

Jessica Huchko told CBS affiliate WFSB that she had purchased a car seat and stroller to prepare for her fourth child – a son.

READ MORE: Coquitlam couple who lost baby during childbirth finds hope and help after reaching out on social media

Huchko said she suffered a miscarriage six months into her pregnancy and the baby items served no purpose for the Huchkos, except as a reminder of the son and brother that would never sit in them.

“Every time I would see them, I would either get mad or upset. I needed them out of the house,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Every time I would see them, I would either get mad or upset. I needed them out of the house," she said.

Not expecting to have to return the items, she had thrown out the receipt. But she had the card she made the purchase with as well as her store loyalty card.

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The employee at the store asked Huchko why she was returning the car seat and stroller.

“It triggered something inside of me, that a tear just rolled down my face and I had to say, ‘My son passed away and I can’t use them,’” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It triggered something inside of me, that a tear just rolled down my face and I had to say, 'My son passed away and I can't use them,'" she said.

Huchko said the employee “was obviously mortified for asking” and tried to process the return, but couldn’t find the items in the store’s system.

READ MORE: ‘I’m still a mom’: After daughter was stillborn, Surrey woman wants to help others

A manager was called over and Huchko had to repeat her reasoning. She said she couldn’t stop crying and grew more anxious as a line formed behind her.

The manager discovered that both the car seat and stroller were discontinued and offered to refund half of the cost of the car seat.

But when she looked up the stroller she allegedly turned to Huchko and said, “It’s coming up as two cents.”

“I said, ‘So you’re offering me two cents for a double stroller?’” Huchko said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I said, 'So you're offering me two cents for a double stroller?'" Huchko said.

Huchko told WFSB that she paid USD$179 for the stroller and USD$80 for the car seat.

“It was worse than a slap in the face,” she said, adding that she wished there was better sensitivity training for the employees.

“For someone in my place, returning a product because of a loss of a child – there is no policy, no employee training,” she said.

After WFSB reported on the incident, Babies “R” Us apologized to Huchko and promised a full refund.

In a statement they said, “We are deeply sorry for her experience in our store, and more importantly for her loss. The store leadership has provided coaching to the team members to help ensure similar situations are handled with more care in the future.”

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