It's a plastic Nerf toy. They could ship him 10 of them and it'd cost them $10. How does this require that much of an escalation?

My experience with Hasbro was much better. I also had a Nerf product which broke soon after I bought it. It was a discontinued model, so I filed a request on Hasbro's website.

I received a response a few days later saying that it could not be replaced because they did not have any in stock, but they sent me a similar item for free.

Plus I returned to defective item to the store and got store credit. So, I got a new Nerf dart gun for free.

Hasbro emails are (usually) the initial of the first name followed by the last name at Hasbro.com

ie:
John Smith
JSmith[at]hasbro.com

@grossmont:
Something for nothing, huh?

I don't think nerf's warranty covered the abuse I put those guns through when I was young.

You know, I understand wanting Hasbro to uphold their end of the deal, but for this? Come on, I'm sure it would have been much easier to walk back into whatever store the gun was bought at, return it and buy another. It isn't like there's a shortage of Nerf guns, there's always an aisle devoted to them at every Target, Walmart, Meijer, Kmart and toy store I've ever been in.

To me, this is just abusing the availability of CEO emails and EECB.

I'm always confused why people put themselves through so much anguish over getting a product replaced by a company. Almost every retail store I know of has at least a 14 day return policy that's almost no questions asked beyond "do you have a receipt?" While I can appreciate needed to contact a CEO for certain issues that seem to be completely unresolvable this case is a prime example of why CEOs want to keep their e-mail private.

@Aidan Roche: I'm guessing this guy bought directly from Hasbro. Probably the cheapest move, but not the most foresighted one.

I used to love Nerf guns back when they used air bladders. You could take them apart, superglue the safety pressure release, reassemble, and leave welts on your victims. Now they just suck and I have no more left. Actually people bought them from me for more than I paid because they were modified and no longer made.

Should have bought the ArrowStorm.

@thrashanddestroy: Um, it was pre-ordered DIRECT from Hasbro's online store as it was the N-Strike Vulcan (see Kotaku in Oct).
And there IS a shortage of this item. It was a gift as well. Their customer service requested a mail return. But guess what, 6-8weeks later, still nothing.

I do not see this as a case of abusing the EECB as I would like to contact them direct, not email bomb them. Hasbro's customer service (though arrogant with my friend but not me) has run out of solutions other than to state it went out of their hands to corporate and
no one there had any further options.

And I do appreciate Chris's help with this. I'll be "writing" Hasbro's corp after the holidays.

@Pandrogas: It was a pre-order, that was posted way back on a link (via Gawker).

I love how folks are quick to judge. Hasbro's Customer service options were exhausted. Sure, the toy was only $40.
But where is the replacement? Explain that to a 6yr old.