(elifins)
Long before the national robot hamster shortage began, before fights broke out over the toy critters, and even before Consumerist took notice of the trend, Stacey’s daughters wanted Zhu Zhu Pets for Christmas. She ordered two hamsters and a playset for them from Target.com in mid-September, and waited for them to come off backorder. And waited. Finally, less than two weeks before Christmas, Target canceled her order.
In mid-September we saw a commercial for Zhu Zhu pets & my girls were fascinated…we placed an order with Target on the same day, in my mother’s name for the Zhu Zhu Pet Hamster Starter House. We ordered 2. My kids had been through quite a lot with our house flooding in GA, living in a hotel room over a month while the house was repaired- I wanted a good Christmas for them this year, to make up for a lot of horrible memories. We had no idea what a hot item these things were going to be.
The item showed up as on back order, but said would ship they would within 2-4 weeks so we ordered it, thinking we had plenty of time for Xmas. After a month we contacted them and were told, “they will be in by the end of next week and you should have them the first week of November.” Two weeks later the process repeats itself and we’re continually told “one more week….”
Here we are December 12th, and we get an email from our friends at Target telling us that they’re unable to fill our order and have canceled it for us, and not charged our credit card. This is what we received:
“Dear [Stacey's mother],
I’m sorry to hear about the cancellation of the
Cepia Zhu Zhu PetHamster from your order.Unfortunately, our supplier wasn’t able to get us
any this Zhu Zhu PetHamster Toy as we expected, even though
it looked like they would when you placed your order.
Because of this, we had to cancel this item from your order.
You haven’t been charged for this, as we only charge you
when we ship your items.”Notice how they blame the supplier? The supplier sent them a shipment every Sunday! They just chose to give it to the people IN the store and not those of us who preordered online MONTHS ago……aren’t they sweet to do this?! Leave us hanging 13 days before Christmas?
Now the only option left is to go on eBay and order them where the price for these $8.00 hamsters is now upwards of $30.00. The “fun house starter set” we ordered is now going for over $50.00. My girls are so sure they are getting one, I can’t let them down.
THANKS TARGET FOR PUNISHING RESPONSIBLE SHOPPERS.
Stacey’s main complaint against Target is that while her order was canceled, the discounter actually does have Zhu Zhu Pets in stock–in its brick-and-mortar stores. Some of them. Sometimes. If you really, really like standing in line.
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I feel really bad for Stacey and her children and am disappointed with way a lot of commenters are ripping on her. With the way people are making false assumptions about a person they don’t know about, it kind of kills any motivation to send your own stories in when you’ll just be destroyed by people who have no idea of what’s going on.
Sure, they’re $8 Hamsters but after the flooding and the losses they encountered during the year she just wanted to have a good Christmas with her kids. She wants to see them happy. She said she will wants the toys and the story is just about Target.com and what they did. When I was six I thought Christmas was all about gifts, it wasn’t until a few years later that I valued it for what it really was.
Relax people, she’s just a mom that loves her kids. No need to get so mean.
But surely she could have just gone and bought something else for them? I certainly didn’t always get what I wanted for Christmas every year. That’s just part of life. If the kids will only be happy with one specific toy and that specific toy only they are in for a life of disappointment.
It’s not ripping on her as wondering why on earth 2 crappy Chinese toys are such a big deal when there are 3 billion other crappy Chinese toys out there to choose from. At 3 years old or whatever I am sure they will be happy with a load of things. It’s the whole “but I was in a flood and these are the only things that will save Christmas” attitude of the article that was odd.
Like I said, Santa didn’t always bring me what I wanted, no matter what, either. He doesn’t for a lot of kids and they all cope. Again, that’s just part of life.
Ok, I see these stupid rats everywhere, but maybe not anywhere people are looking for them. You want one? Go to a CVS in/near an office park. They will have shelves full. They have some of the playsets, but I don’t care enough to know if they have any particular one. Seriously, these things creep me the hell out. You ever hear the noises they make?
That said, Target was entirely crappy to the OP and there’s no excuse for that.
Please tell me the whole “Ruins Christmas” thing is a joke. Worse things can happen, I’m sure you know. I can’t even begin to imagine what you and your family must have gone through with the flood. But if they are “so sure they are getting one, can’t let them down,” then start calling stores now to try to find some.
Yes, of course, Target screwed up big time here. I’m not absolving them from any of the blame. But if this really going to ruin Christmas, you need to start looking at other options.
I DARE you to vote with your dollars and never, ever shop at Target again. I’m not being sarcastic, I swear.
I was kinda surprised the other day, I went to Hallmark store near work to get some stuff to wrap a present. When I checked out, behind the counter were at least 20 Zhu Zhu pets for sale. I thought those things were supposed to cause mass riots or something.
I contemplated buying them and selling them on E-bay. But I’m not that mean.
The same thing happened to me! I bought 2 tom tom 340S gps systems online on Thanksgiving day that I was giving for Christmas gifts. I just got an email from target saying they basically sold more than they had and blamed tom tom for not sending them enough. I really don’t care whether tom tom didn’t send them enough or not. What I care about is the fact TARGET sold me the item, not tom tom, and Target never sent the item to me and refuses to do anything for THEIR mistake. Oh, and the best part is that I went into the target store and they have the exact gps system I bought online. I paid $97 for it online and they have them in the stores for $250 but won’t let me have the in store one for the $97 I paid for it. I asked the lady I spoke with at the corporate office if this happens all the time and she told me this is the only time target has made the mistake of selling an item online that they couldn’t fullfill. I didn’t believe her and this just confims that! Target must do this quite often. How is a business allowed to continue to operate that screws customers over and does absolutely nothing to make things right with the customer???
People, I have a secret for you. Amazon.com runs the target website not target. Zhu, Zhu pets are being shipped to target stores this week! most targets will have them by tomorrow. This will be a massive shippment of between one and two pallets. Let me repeat myself Target does not run its website, thats why the prices and availbility are completely different.