Week 11

Poor Customer Service Encountered by people around the world in the Internet

Case 1 from James
I was looking for the Barbie & The Diamond Castle Playset for my daughter for Christmas. I had looked everywhere. I looked at all the WalMarts, Targets, and KMarts in El Paso, TX and Las Cruces NM. I had also had to travel for work so I checked the Deming NM and Silver City NM WalMarts also. I was not able to find it anywhere.

On 12/12 I went onto Toys R Us web page to try to order it there. They were out of stock but they had this feature that you could get an email when it was in stock. I get email on my phone so I thought that would be great because no mater where I was I would get the email and then I could order the Barbie & The Diamond Castle Playset right then and there, so I signed up for the notifications. The next morning on 12/13 @ 6:30 AM I got the email that said they were back in stock. I got up from my bed and ran up stairs and ordered it over the phone.

The guy I talked to told me that it was in stock and would ship within one to two business days. That would make it ship on 12/15 or 12/16 because it was Saturday. He assured me that I would have it on time for Christmas. The Toys R Us web page also said if you order anything before 12/19 you would get it by Christmas Eve. The guy told me I qualified for some makeup kit for free also I just had to pay for the shipping. I said fine and added it to the order.

On 12/13 @ 7:28 AM I got the email confirming my order with the items in stock and ready to ship. At 10:30 AM I got another email from Toys R Us saying the items are being processed and I would be charged $111.46 for the items with shipping.

On 12/15 without fail the first item was shipped. I went on to track it and found out that it was just the makeup kit from Toys R Us. Not the Barbie & The Diamond Castle Playset that I had really ordered. Just like clock work the Makeup kit arrived from Toys R Us on 12/17, but the item I really ordered still had not shipped out. I then called Toys R Us when I got home from work and the person I talked to said that she was not sure why it had not shipped out but would look into it but I should still not have any issue with getting it here before Christmas. I said OK thanks.

I waited until 12/19 to call again to see what was the stauts because it still showed processing the Barbie & diamond Castle Playset on the Toys R Us web site. When I finally got to a person it was around 12 PM. The lady I talked to told me that it had still not shipped out and could not understand why. She put me on hold for about 10 min and said that she would get an email to her supervisor and they would be calling me back. She also told me I would be getting it before Christmas. Once again Toys R Us was lying to me.

I never received a call from anyone. I got an email @ 4:22 PM on 12/19 saying that the item had shipped. I went on UPS to see when I would be getting it and it only said the billing information had been received. I had to wait until 12/20 to see when I would be getting it. I was glad it had finally shipped.

So today 12/20 I went onto UPS.com to track my Barbie & The Diamond Castle Playset and what a surprise. I was not getting it until 12/30. THAT IS FIVE DAYS AFTER CHRISTMAS. I am so disappointed. I called Toys R Us again now for the fourth time and talked to another lady. She told me there was nothing she could do for me. She said the package was too heavy or they could have expedited it. Why was I not called? I would have paid the extra to get it on time. I was told I would be called by a manager. It seems to me that the managers at Toys R Us are afraid to talk to the customers. The lady on the phone from Toys R Us told me that she would have to send another email to the manager and they would call me. I told her I wanted her to ship me a new doll house and make it two day. Then I would get it by Christmas and I would send back the one that gets here on 12/30. She said that she would send that request to the manager in the email. I asked if I could talk to a manager and she said there are no managers there. I asked it there was another phone number I could call to talk to someone above her and she said NO. I asked how long it takes for a manager to call me and she said, I don’t know. I can’t believe this is the way Toys R Us runs it business. I am a manager for a major communications company and if one of my customers, I don’t care who it is, wanted to talk to me I would expect my techs to put me on the phone with them right then and there. I would never treat a customer like Toys R Us is treating me. If we are nothing else in this would we are all connected by the human race. How is it that Toys R Us is so disconnected that they can’t simply talk to their customers? An email has to decide if my daughter is going to have a good Christmas or not. Man Toys R Us you really blew it.

Here is the info. if you would like to do a internal investigation. I sure you will not but I really don’t care at this point. I will also be posting this on every site I can find so that everyone will know what Toys R Us did to me and my child on Christmas.

Case 2 from J.White
I placed an on-line order on 7/9/06 for a baby shower gift which I would need to receive by 7/21/06. The web site stated that the gift would be shipped within 2 – 3 days and with regular ground service would take 7 days for shipping.

Not having received my order by 7/18/06, I sent and email inquiry and called customer service. The customer service representative indicated that the gift had not yet been shipped. I expressed concern, as I needed the gift by 7/21/06. I provided the same information in my email inquiry. The customer service representative said she would send a notice to have the gift shipped “overnight” and that this shipping would be of no cost to me. She said she would send email verification to me.

When I did not receive the gift the next day, did not received that promised email verification, and still had not gotten an email response to my email inquiry, I called again. The customer service representative said that she could not access my account and that I should call back another time.

The next day, today, 7/20/06, one day away from the baby shower, I called once again. The customer service representative told me that the package still had not shipped and assured me that it would be shipped out ground service in the next few days. I explained my situation and what I had been told. She told me that I would have not been told that it would be “overnighted”, as they do not do that.

At this point, I asked for a supervisor. The supervisor, Ryan, said that the gift had not yet been shipped, but that it was a high priority and would ship in the next few days. I told him that would do me no good, as I needed it the next day and expressed my extreme dissatisfaction with Babies R Us. After 9 days when the package was stated to ship in 2 to 3 days and had not yet left the warehouse, no one had the courtesy to send me an email or to even respond to my email inquiry. I am also dissatisfied that I was given misleading information. Had I been given accurate information, I would have had time to purchase a gift for the baby shower which is tomorrow.

Additionally, when I told Ryan to cancel my order, he said there was no guarantee that he would be able to do that and if I receive it, I would only need to take it to the post office and attach the label for free return shipping.

This is absolutely terrible service. I ordered an item 2 evenings ago from Dicks Sporting Goods, ground service, and it arrived on my porch today.

After all this, upon writing this letter, I just received email notification that this gift has been shipped. I have never been more disgusted with a merchant.

If I receive this gift, after I have requested cancellation of my order, I am going to dispute the charges on my credit card and someone from Babies R Us can come to my home when it is convenient for me, and pick up the gift.

I am appalled at the terrible service and inconvenience this has caused me.

Case 3 from Johnny
VERY UPSET AND SHOCKED!!! Today I went to The toys r us in NORTH BERGEN, NJ (By Route 3) What a disappointment. I drove down there with my 2 year old daughter to buy her some things. I had a $15 gift card that was given from a friend, my Toys r us credit card, and a $10 coupon off a $50 purchase with my credit card.

All my items came to about $126.00. They used the gift certificate but WOULD not honor the coupon because it does not come into effect until tomorrow....SUNDAY!!!! I nicely asked if there was anything that could be done. The girl at the register said no. So I asked if I could possibly speak to a manager or supervisor...maybe there’s something they can do to help me out. She called a girl on a phone over at customer service (who by the way was in eye sight) the "young girl" looked at me turned around and said "no." So, after I paid for my stuff I went over to her and politely again asked her if anything could be done. "JESSICA" rudely replied "NO...IF U WANT...YOU CAN COME BACK TOMORROW WITH ALL THE STUFF AND WE'LL SAVE YOU THE $10." (FYI: One of the boxes were huge) Wow...her attitude was unbelievable and ghetto. If there's going to be someone at customer service, please...TRAIN them how to speak to customers, and shut "the hood" off. I didn't go in there to by GUM and give an expired coupon for it...I spent Money...and I wish to be respected and treated like a valued customer. I'm still trying to figure out, where was the manager? Why wasn't there anything that could be done? This has happened to me before and the coupon was honored! I wish I could but I don't have time to drive all the way back down there to save $10 when I had just spent it on gas. When I was younger I worked in retail and never was it so unorganized and never was the customer wrong and disrespected. Yes, I felt disrespected. This is why I'm writing.

Case 4 from Robinson
I'm very upset with Toys R Us right now because I placed an order for my 2 children for Christmas and was told I would receive it before Christmas. Well, everything came except 1 item. There was a different tracking number for the item and when I tracked it, the site said that we would receive it December 28th.

I received my other packages on December 19th. Not really sure how that happened, but I called the call center and I don't advise ANYONE to do that. Their customer service is very poor and they were not helpful and did not jump at the offer to try and assist me. Instead they put the blame on me and said I ordered too late when in fact I placed my order on the 15th. They said there was nothing that they could do for me, and that they were not going to refund my shipping because they didn't do anything wrong.However, I work in a call center myself and have for 3 years I knew that was BS.

On top of that, the guy "claimed" that he was a Supervisor, however, he talked over me, and not once did he sympathize with me. Where I work, we take pride in our "first call resolution." Toys R Us, obviously has no idea what that means.

After talking with them for an hour they finally decided they would refund my shipping. Are you kidding me? I never got nasty with them, I never called anyone names, I never over stepped my boundaries, just asked for good old fashioned customer service, and apparently these days that's hard to find. Now, my child's gift will arrive late, and I'm going to have to explain that too him. A gift which I couldn't find in the stores in the first place.

I'll never shop with them again, and I'm sure going over their heads at this point is worthless because I have a feeling they're just going to blow me off. However, I will go on every site I can that offers ratings for them, and explain that their customer service is the worst I've ever experience and hope that the word will be passed around.

Case 5 from Christy
We bought a kids car costing $299.00. We also paid $39.99 for a year services. We had an issue with the car about 4 months ago. Toys R Us asked us to take the car to a 3rd party service provider. Though this provider was about 60 miles from our location, we went and dropped it.

The service location called after few weeks saying that they couldn't repair it and it should be fixed only by the manufacturer. They asked us to take the car back with out any resolution.

After a lot of phone calls and instore meetings with Toys r Us, they finally gave us another number (manufacturer), who is supposed to service the car. This company doesn't have a service center in Hoston and has no partners who can fix the car.

Now we are in a situation where no one has the capabilities to fix the car and no one is willing to give the refund. When ever we call Toys R Us or the manufacturer, their constant answer is to blame the other party and not help in resolve the issue.

We told Toys R Us that it is their responsibility to fix it as we bought the car & the extended warranty from them. They seem to think that it is not their responsibility to fix but only to sell the extended warranty. The customer service representative and her manager are rude and completely unwilling to help us. I learnt my lesson never to buy anything from them again.

If you think Toys R Us service is better than Walmart or Target, think again... At least Walmart and Target are much cheaper!