I ordered a Fisher Price Smart Cycle for my 4 yr old grandson from Toys R Us on Dec, 2 2007 and received a Fisher Price House Learning Home for a 1 yr old child on December 10, 2007. I called ToysRus and they admitted sending the wrong order but I was told I had to return the item and I would be charged the cost on my credit card until the merchandise received had been returned. I was also told the item originally ordered would be an additional charge to my credit card in the same amount and the item would not be guaranteed for Christmas delivery. I told the "extremely" rude customer rep that those terms were not acceptable to me and requested to speak to her supervisor, I was hung up on. I cannot afford to add an additional $120 to my credit card without an immediate refund from this company. I requested they deliver the correct item and pick up the one they sent in error but that request was refused.

I hope something can be done about this and I am stunned that a company like Toys R Us can adhere to such a shameful customer service policy. After all, the mistake was theirs and I have email documents to confirm my order.

Think twice before you use this company.

I can’t say enough good things about this easel. Unfortunately I can’t recommend buying it from ToysRUs.ca.

This is now the second time that I have tried to make a purchase with Toys R Us online here in Canada and unfortunately this is the second time in a row that I’ve had problems.

In each instance ToysRUs wound up shipping me the wrong item, but the last instance was in a class all by itself:

Several weeks before Christmas, my wife placed an order for an art easel for our son. We order a red one. Just before Christmas the easel arrives – unfortunately it is ‘hot pink’.

My wife calls customer service. They don’t offer to ship out the correct one immediately and have the courier pick up the wrong one. Instead they tell her that she needs to physically return the easel to a store across town where they will exchange the easel for the correct one. This easel is larger than I am, and my city is socked in with several feet of snow and an ongoing snowstorm and she is supposed haul this thing 10 miles through a blizzard to rectify their mistake?

As it turns out the store apparently doesn’t take returns and exchanges for online purchases…

***good thing nobody told us to return it there***

Now I’m calling customer service where I get the run around from several employees, none of whom are interested in or able to do anything for me.

Please let me say right here that I realize that Christmas doesn’t come from a box or a store, but this is my child’s primary Christmas present and nobody that I talk to at customer service really seems to care or be interested in helping me salvage my son’s Christmas present.

“Yes there is a shipping warehouse here in my city, yes they have several easels in stock that aren’t hot pink, and no, we aren’t interested/able/willing to simply pick up the phone and ask someone at the warehouse to check that the right one is there and then send out the correct item so that it will arrive here in time for Christmas… that’s not our policy. Instead you will have to wait 10 days for the item to ship”

Perhaps they think it is an Easter present? That might explain why they aren’t interested in shipping it in time for Christmas and why the last one was hot pink…


They also inform me that that the hot pink easels may in fact be in the shipping bins meant for the red ones by mistake, but rather than have someone check immediately so that other people don’t receive the wrong order, ToysRUs insists that it would be more prudent to file some paperwork and have someone check it out several days later…


Anyhow, I finally get a supervisor on the phone who then proceeds to talk over me every time I open my mouth. I am trying very hard to be polite and patient but it is becoming painfully clear that this person has no interest in listening to me at all. And by listening to me I simply mean hearing me out, which is often enough to satisfy a frustrated customer.

I actually have to politely explain to him that I will listen to anything that he has to say with an open mind and then ask him in return if he would then extend to me the same courtesy? Alas no… I can barely get 3 words out of my mouth when he is again finishing my sentences for me and telling me I am wrong without having any idea of what I was actually trying to say.

My Christmas good cheer eventually evaporates and I let the guy know that I don’t want a 10 dollar gift card mailed to me – I want the situation resolved in a satisfactory manner or my status as a ToysRUs customer will come to an abrupt end.

After much pressure from me I finally get him to offer to send the correct item for free which is not unreasonable given that I have now spent several hours on the phone and had an unsuccessful jaunt across town and back in the middle of a snowstorm with a hot pink easel and I still have no Christmas present for my son.

He tells me to take the hot pink easel to my local post office and present them with the packing slip bar code, which he assures me is used as prepaid postage to return the item using Canada Post. Apparently he will then call me on Friday to personally confirm for me that the item was shipped (At first I was told that I had to call him back, and that only then would the item ship??? Apparently my time must be seen as some sort of infinite resource like ’solar power’ or some such).

Out into the snowstorm I go again with my 6 foot hot pink easel. This time I get to my local Canada post, eventually arrive at the front of the line and only then do I discover that ‘no’, Canada Post will not accept the barcode on the shipping paperwork as return postage for the easel which now seems to be turning into the 6 foot hot pink cross that I am destined to bear back and forth across the very snowy greater Vancouver area.

After much debate and an angry crowd growing behind me, we get the post office manager involved. I suspect that he notices that the idea of plunging back into the snow yet again with my little parcel is not an option for me and that I’m starting to lose it in the middle of the now crowded post office so he suggests that I just refuse to accept the parcel and ToysRUs can deal with the return bill.

Back home I go through the snow…

Friday rolls around and what a surprise: no call. Tuesday rolls around and I finally give up and call them back. Yes my easel is in and yes the bin has been checked and ‘no’ it has not been shipped.

Would I like a 10% off coupon?

Thank you but what I would really prefer if it is not terribly too much trouble is for you to perhaps return a small fraction of all my lost time, maybe lower my blood pressure ever so slightly, possibly provide me with a modicum of customer service and a tiny bit of follow through, or oh… perhaps, only if it’s not too, too much trouble, an art easel if you happen to have one to spare that isn’t say… pink?

At this point I learn they can ship it to me overnight.

After all of that, after missing Christmas you now tell me that you can ship it overnight? Really? At this point I’m pretty much speechless so I just thank the person for their time.

Wednesday comes and goes – no easel.
Thursday – no easel.
Friday – the original supervisor finally gets around a week from when he had promised to call me to let me know that they might have an easel.
The weekend comes and goes no easel.

About 10 days later my overnight easel finally arrives. I’m almost too scared to open the package at this point. I’m willing to bet my wife a week’s worth of vacuuming that it will turn out to be hot pink.

I wonder if anyone has bothered to refund the original purchase on my credit card yet?

I ordered 2 items from Toysrus.com on 11/24/99. I received one right away. When I hadn't received the other within two weeks, I contacted their customer service (30 minute wait on the phone) and they assured me it would be out within 4 days. After 4 days, I checked my order status online. It still hadn't shipped. I called customer service (only 20 minutes this time) and I was told it was shipping that day (at 8 pm) without my even telling them what my order number was. When the order would have arrived if it had shipped when it had been promised to ship hadn't arrived, I called again (40 minutes). I was told that either I could cancel the order or wait it out. They couldn't find any reason why my order hadn't shipped within 3 weeks or do anything to check up on the order or re-prioritize it. I was told that a supervisor would be contacted, but nothing has happened. I have left messages on their web site and only get automated responses. I was informed that the last message I left outlining my problem was too long and I would have to trim it down. Customer service can only tell me that my only option is to either wait or cancel my order. I would like a name, address, or phone number where I could reach someone who cared. As I write this I am on hold with them once again.

I hope that this experience will help other people who are considering ordering from Toysrus.com... DON'T!

July 14, I submitted a complaint about ToysRUs on how unproffessional the staff was to me while trying to purchase a toy for my grandson's birthday. I was told that the item I had selected was not for sale due to it being placed on the shelf by mistake. When I called the 1800 number I did not get any satisfaction So I wrote a letter to the corporate office of ToysRus ( you can find the address on their Web site) I must say that they have been very accommodating in trying to rectify the situation. At this time I am satisfied with the results. I so far have received 3 calls and The company is sending me a gift card to purchase the toy I was denied.

ToysRUs has LOST my business for being uncooperative, uncaring, and dishonest. I spent the first four months of my pregnancy looking for just the right crib, and I found it at ToysRUs/BabiesRUs. After repeatedly trying to order it online (which was impossible), I found one at our local store. Only One! But, they assured me that this was an item they stocked and that they would have another.

Over the next few months I checked back in repeatedly, and they never had one. With three weeks until my due date, I pursued the matter more vigorously, only to find that they won't have one...any time soon. When I asked about getting one from a different store, I was told that a transfer wouldn't be approved by the manager. When I called customer service, I was told that they were sorry, but couldn't help me. When I called stores over two hours away (the next closest ones), I was told it was an online item only (untrue).

I couldn't find anyone to help me. In fact, they didn't even seem concerned that they had me waiting for months for an item that they were never going to have, and that I had nowhere else to get it. I spent good money on the first crib, and now have to find a different one for the other baby, because they won't let me return the first. See...I already assembled it.