Toys R US Canceled Order - Choo Choo Express

[andrews_dad]

Totally frustrated. My son's two fav things in the world are trains and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Thus, he is totally in love with the Mickey Mouse Choo Choo Express special. The Choo Choo train (the play toy train, not the DVD movie) has been a hot item this Xmas season. It has been in and out of stock on many websites, very hard to find in store. Toys R US has had it pop up as In Stock each morning for the past week or so, only to have it change ot out of stock in an hour or less. Well, early this week I thought I hit the jackpot. Got it as in stock, ordered online at Toys R Us dot com for $45.99. Paid with PayPal to get $20 back. Used my Rewards R Us code. Was so excited! Got the email that the order was placed and that I could track the progress. Been checking progress every day, and it has not changed, has not shipped, etc. Called to inquire this AM. Found out my order had been canceled as the item was not out of stock. A few minutes after the call I rec'd a email stating it was canceled and my Toys R Us Credit card would be credited the full amount. Ugh.

 

[MissFitt]

Toys R Us did the same thing to me a few weeks ago with a Nintendo DS.

Same situation, bought online, paid via PayPal.

I got confirmation e-mails from both Toys R Us and PayPal and then a few hours later I got the e-mail saying that the order was cancelled due to a problem with PayPal (and when I went back to the web site, the item was no longer in stock)

I called customer service who did nothing regarding the situation so I went to the web site again, found the customer service e-mail and wrote a reallyu nasty letter to them.

Next day I got an e-mail saying that the item was being shipped and I also received a phone call from Toys R Us saying it was all a mistake. It wasn't -- they obviously sold a product to me and when they actually went to get it to ship, they did not have any. I'm sure they pull this with a bunch of people and most give up.

I say raise hell with them!

 

[andrews_dad]

Thanks. I will indeed look for an email addy to send a nice little Christmas note.

 

[nd5056]

Toys R Us did the same thing to me a few weeks ago with a Nintendo DS.

Same situation, bought online, paid via PayPal.

I got confirmation e-mails from both Toys R Us and PayPal and then a few hours later I got the e-mail saying that the order was cancelled due to a problem with PayPal (and when I went back to the web site, the item was no longer in stock)

I called customer service who did nothing regarding the situation so I went to the web site again, found the customer service e-mail and wrote a reallyu nasty letter to them.

Next day I got an e-mail saying that the item was being shipped and I also received a phone call from Toys R Us saying it was all a mistake. It wasn't -- they obviously sold a product to me and when they actually went to get it to ship, they did not have any. I'm sure they pull this with a bunch of people and most give up.

I say raise hell with them!

Yup, went the same route back in Dec. 2008 and Dec. 2007.

Same PayPal deal, same scenario and responds. And if I believed in 2007 it could have been a mistake, 2008 proved to me that they do it deliberately. When I saw the advertisement this year, I couldn’t help my self but laugh, fool me once…

Bait & switch tactics. I think I’ll report this to the BBB and PayPal, if you all want to do the same (I know I did contact PayPal in 2008).

Something should be done about this, there is no mistake about this 3 times in a row…


.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

Toys R Us website is awful but at christmas it's even worse. They are known for this stuff the last few years. The cancel or they don't ship in time etc. Very , very disorganized.

Keep an eye on that refund. I'm still waiting for one from 11/30!! I have called numerous times, emailed and I just keep getting the run around.

 

[WaltD4Me]

Same thing happened to me last year. Paypal deal, item never shipped after order confirmation, finally informed it was cancelled and out of stock.

I shop at Toys R Us as little as possible. Their policies and customer service are the absolute worst. I had two problems with them this year in the store too. Seems they go out of their way to put the nastiest employees at the customer service desk. I ended up doing most of my toy shopping at Amazon and Target. If Toys R Us goes under it will entirely be their own fault.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I called customer service who did nothing regarding the situation so I went to the web site again, found the customer service e-mail and wrote a reallyu nasty letter to them.

Complaint letter = good. Letter detailing course of events, customer's unhappiness, ideal results = good. Nasty letter which will be read by one or many people whose fault it was not that there was a problem = bad.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Bait & switch tactics.

Accepting more orders than a business can fulfill is bad, but NOT bait & switch. Understand people being upset, but (paraphrasing Syms) "an educated consumer is the best customer".

Bait & switch is a specific situation where the retailer advertises/promises an item at a certain price, but has few, one, or none of the item in stock and instead sells (or attempts to sell) every customer a higher-priced item.

Running out of stock, even daily, especially online, while disappointing to the consumer is (a) not bait & switch and (b) primarily the result of the retailer wanting to sell as many of the item as possible at the advertised/posted price.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

Accepting more orders than a business can fulfill is bad, but NOT bait & switch. Understand people being upset, but (paraphrasing Syms) "an educated consumer is the best customer".

Bait & switch is a specific situation where the retailer advertises/promises an item at a certain price, but has few, one, or none of the item in stock and instead sells (or attempts to sell) every customer a higher-priced item.

They do that too. They have refused me rainchecks, toys r us doesn't do rainchecks was the exact words out of the employees mouth. It was not a "no rainchecks" item and there is a very clear raincheck policy on their site. They don't care, the policy is there to keep them out of trouble with the law but they do not give them out.

I still shop there sometimes when I have to but in general I avoid them. Their customer service and policies are ar joke and it's always a nightmare to deal with them.

 

[agnes!]

And this is why I do most of my online shopping at Amazon.Com. That AmazonPrime membership is one of the best things I ever did, can't beat FREE (or, at least, no additional charge eh?) 2-Day shipping plus the ordered items actually show up.

agnes!

ETA: Just checked out the item at Amazon...*wow*, that $45.99 is sure a deal. Amazon does seem to have it available but the price is nowhere near what you got, from various vendors it starts at $65.99 & goes up to $99.99.

 

[Hannathy]

Have you checked the stores lately? because all 6 stores in my area show it in stock. So if you just want it I would think you could find it or are you mad at not getting $20 off?

 

[MomtoGKC]

They did that to me, too. I ordered Mario Kart during the buy one get one half off video games deal. I paid full price for Mario but got a DS game for DD 1/2 off. I paid with a credit card, everything went fine. A few hours later I get the, "item is backordered it will ship when it is ready" e-mail. I was worried so I bought another copy of the game at Target later that week. So glad I did because I got the e-mail last night saying the order was cancelled! Now I'm wondering if they're going to charge me full price for the DS game? I'll have to go back and see what I was charged there.

 

[Blue.Fairy2]

And this is why I do most of my online shopping at Amazon.Com. That AmazonPrime membership is one of the best things I ever did, can't beat FREE (or, at least, no additional charge eh?) 2-Day shipping plus the ordered items actually show up.

agnes!

ETA: Just checked out the item at Amazon...*wow*, that $45.99 is sure a deal. Amazon does seem to have it available but the price is nowhere near what you got, from various vendors it starts at $65.99 & goes up to $99.99.

I can not agree with you more...I LOVE amazon!!!!! I have received everything I have ordered gotten the best prices, no tax and free shipping on most. No fighting crowds, rain, traffic

 

[nd5056]

Accepting more orders than a business can fulfill is bad, but NOT bait & switch. Understand people being upset, but (paraphrasing Syms) "an educated consumer is the best customer".

FYI, those items I purchased with the PayPal deal were in stock all the time. And my cancellation E-mail arrived almost instantly the first time around. Why couldn't they fulfill my order while the deal was still on?

Toys R Us CS told me that the problem was:


1. PayPal fault
2. Toys R Us web site fault
3. It was a cloudy day...
4. ...

as you can see, i got educated quite well within those calls I made, I have not set my foot on their store ever since.

 

[andrews_dad]

Have you checked the stores lately? because all 6 stores in my area show it in stock. So if you just want it I would think you could find it or are you mad at not getting $20 off?

No, I am not much of an in-store shopper .. especially this time of the year. I am often online or bust. With a toddler plus a pregnant wife, crowds and lines and hassles and the family just don't mix.

 

[kwhite1022]

No, I am not much of an in-store shopper .. especially this time of the year. I am often online or bust. With a toddler plus a pregnant wife, crowds and lines and hassles and the family just don't mix.

Ok, but you minus the fam seems like it would be pretty easy to zip in and out of a store....my hubby does it all the time for me, as with 3 kids, my out and about time with out them is limited. Just a suggestion.

 

[Hannathy]

Ok, but you minus the fam seems like it would be pretty easy to zip in and out of a store....my hubby does it all the time for me, as with 3 kids, my out and about time with out them is limited. Just a suggestion.

Yes if the item isn't important enough to zip into the store to get (and if it is from Santa then why would the child be with you?) then it hardly seems important enough to complain about the order being canceled...........

 

[loveysbydesign]

My Walmart has them in stock all the time...I know you're not into stores but you may want to try there! Do you live in PA???

 

[3boymthr]

You're not the only one having problems with TRU. I had the same thing happen last year.

This year I'm having a different difficulty with them. My kids wanted a DS game when they first saw it on TV. So I bought it when it was on sale with the BOGO 1/2. Now they don't want the game. I'm within my 60 days but I can't return it because although I paid $18.99 for the game the packing slip says I paid $0 for it . "Oh, that must have been a printing error." Okay so take it back and refund my money. "I'm sorry we can't do that the computer system won't let us because the receipt says you didn't pay for it."

 

[bumbershoot]

Toys R Us CS told me that the problem was:


1. PayPal fault
2. Toys R Us web site fault
3. It was a cloudy day...
4. ...

Doubt that #3 was actually said, but seriously, the CS reps don't have access to every bit of information there is. All a CS rep can generally do is guess what happened based on their past experience.