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December 22, 2006
The Toys R Us ordering story
Thanks to Toysrus.com's stupid wishlist system -- you can make one, but nobody gets to see it except you -- I decided to buy myself some Christmas presents from them this year. Among the items were four 12" Marvel action figures: Iron Man (gold armor variant), Venom, Hulk, and Wolverine (unmasked variant).
Sure enough, after I placed the order, I soon got emails confirming the stuff was on its way, albeit in two different shipments. But warning bells went off when each item on the emailed receipt was simply labeled "12" Marvel figure." No mention of which character.
The first box arrives. It contains Venom and Iron Man, and a notice saying one of my items has been back-ordered (though they charged me for it anyway). The back-ordered item, according to the receipt, is Hulk.
Then I check order status online. Apparently, UPS claims both packages were delivered to me (i.e. also the one with Wolverine), even though only one was. I call both UPS and Toys R Us customer service, and initiate the procedures to see what happened to Wolvie. Normally, I'd expect maybe Wolvie got left with the building manager, but not so this time.
Two nights later I'm doing laundry, and the manager surprises me with a package he says came that day. It's the right size...could it be?
Nope. It's another Venom.
Great. I call TRU customer service again, and they say they'll send me a prepaid UPS shipping label to ship it back. I tell them that if I'm going to have to drive to a UPS place anyway, how about I just return it at a store? They tell me that should be fine.
So I do that. And Toys R Us stores really are hellish this time of year, for employees and customers. Waiting forever with rowdy kids, phones going off all over the place, and refund desk employees who can't do anything without a manager, who by-the-by just decided to go on break.
After going through about five levels of employee, I'm told flat-out that I cannot return it at the store. The item is "coming up red" when they try to scan the barcode on their computer. They tell me I have to call customer service and ask them.
It takes me about five repetitions to explain to them that I am here precisely BECAUSE I called customer service.
"Well call them again, and tell them it's coming up red."
The drive back home from lower La Cienega is no fun. It never is.
I call again.
It turns out that because the last person I talked to initiated proceedings to send me a return shipping label, that was now the only way I could send it back. Joy.
So I did that, about a week ago.
CUT TO: Today. I get a phone call from a guy at the front gate. He has a package that's for me, that got delivered to his building down the street.
I let him in, and he gives it to me. "It's Wolverine!" he says. Turns out he found it opened, on his porch. There is no Luke or analagous apartment number in his building, but he and his boyfriend are big comic book fans, and they knew this was a highly collectible toy.
The figure seems fine. Nothing's missing. But it isn't the unmasked variant.
Thankfully, I prefer the masked version. But when I ordered online, only the variant had been available.
Side note: After ordering the figures for myself (but before receiving them), I ordered the same Hulk figure for my brother Adam.
He received his.
Mine is still back-ordered. Customer service lady told me it was ready to ship, but no email has been sent confirming that.
Posted by LYT at December 22, 2006 5:44 PM [Message Board]