Once Upon a Child- Elgin, IL — Local services in Elgin

I have never been treated this rudely by an employee. I went in on 8/17/22 to drop off 4 bins of clothing and shoes. Items that I spent HOURS washing, folding, separating, pairing together to make it easier for whomever would be tasked to go through it. I also went on their website to see if there were any particular rules about what they accepted, the process, etc. (there was VERY little info/rules -- only info about the large categories for which they buy). I entered the store and a tallish woman with straight brown hair in an orange t-shirt wearing knee pads states, "You CAN'T bring in overflowing bins." No greeting, no THANK YOU for bringing in things for which we will GIVE YOU PENNIES on the dollar while we mark them up 100-200%. No gratitude. I was so shocked I didn't say anything other than, "I have 3 other bins to get from my car." The same woman says, "Well I hope one of them has some space in them or you will have to take some clothes back with you." I explained to her that I hadn't sold here before and therefore wasn't aware of the rules. She then began to rapid-fire: "You bring them in. We review them. You give us 3-5 days to review and we expect you to come and pick up the bins the day we call you....which of these will you be taking back with you?" She went on, "Everyone is here doing the same thing as you....back to school and all." Her communication was harsh, matter of fact, and terse. Again, never once did she express gratitude that I brought my neatly folded and clean, not to mention brand named, items in. I placed a review on FaceBook and the next day got a call from James at the store stating I needed to come and pick up my items. He said he didn't know the details, but the owners thought it was best. So, the owners, instead of trying to resolve the problem, offer me an apology asked me to come and get my items (without reviewing them to determine if they wanted to buy any). I said, "If this is how the owners are choosing to deal with this, than I wish them well. It's not how I run any of my businesses and I'm sad for them that they choose thos path lacking in ethics and professionalism." I couldn't believe it. I will never be spending any money in this store again and I have three growing kids....

HORRIBLE customer service. Went to drop off some of our baby items here. Young girl at the front very politely indicated items they accepted and gave us drop off instructions. I took the items they accepted and an older lady with short hair started inspecting everything. My wife had taped metal parts together to make sure everything was complete and that's when this became an issue. With a hypocrite smile and a rude tone of voice she told me that they couldn't take anything since it was taped and it was going to leave glue behind. I assumed they could just clean it off so I even asked if it was something they could clean off and in front of customers in line and with a demanding tone she said YOU CAN CLEAN IT OFF, then you can bring it back to me ready to put it up for sale. At this point I was pretty upset at the way she was talking to me in front of other customers so I offered to just leave it to them as a donation instead of sale and she just continued to refuse. She repeated that I needed to bring everything ready for them to just put up for sale or they won't take it. A customer in line suggested that at this point I should just take it to goodwill which we did. These ppl act and treat you as if they are paying customers top dollar for their items. Thanks to people like us that take the time to pack things, put them together and drive out to their dirty and unorganized store is how they also stay in business they should not have this attitude and service towards the public. First and last time I drive to this place with such...

If this place wasn't close to my home, I would never go there. In terms of selling, they are not at all mindful of the needs of their customers. They will only look through one medium box at a time and take several days to a week (but do not commit to an exact day) - but then only give you 2 days to pick up your payment. They really should commit to a specific date range so a seller could know if they will be available or not or extend the timeframe for payment. This location should also be required to take down their signage that they make offers on the spot - this has not been the case for several years. They wouldn't even accept the items that they didn't purchase for donation. The small amount of money that you you can make (given the limited quantity they accept at a time) simply does not justify the hassle and time of dealing with them.

As far as purchasing, I am consistently underwhelmed. They advertise that they sell brand name items; however, only about 10-20% of the items on the shelves are actually brand name. Today the majority of the clothing items I saw were from Wal-mart, Target, or Kohls. Many of the items could be purchased new on sale for about the same cost.

The quality of this store has really gone down over the years. The younger cashier we dealt with was polite; however, a woman that appeared to be a manager was very rude when she shoved a box of the unpurchased items at us and demanded that we take it with us. If this is required, it should be clearly explained at...