Matt and his wife are wonderfully generous people who buy great gifts for the families they adopt at Christmas. They bought a bike at Toys R Us for one of the families they adopted. They paid the ten bucks to have it assembled. “We’ll call you when it’s ready!” the store employees told them, all helpful and stuff. It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and that was the last time anyone at Toys R Us was helpful to Matt or his wife for several weeks. Apparently TRU actually doesn’t make calls to customers, and it was Matt or Mrs. Matt’s job to return to the store without being called, or the bike would disappear into the ether.

My wife and I adopt several families a year at Christmas time and shop for clothes and toys. We’ve used the Toys R Us/Babies R Us in [redacted], GA over the years and spent thousands of dollars there. Maybe not anymore. This is a copy of the email my wife sent to their customer service.

My husband and I bought a child’s bike on November 24, 2012 and paid the $10 fee to have it assembled. We were told that it should be ready in about 48 hours and that we would receive a call when ready. My husband spent at least 25 minutes selecting the perfect bike as well as a helmet. After several days of not receiving a call, my husband called the store on the 28th to find out if the bike was ready. He was told there wasn’t a bike ready and when he asked why we haven’t been called, my husband was advised that the store does not make calls out to customers in cases like this and he should call back later.

Both my husband and I were in the store on December 2 to buy some other non-related items and when we asked about the bike, we were told it wasn’t in the back and we should call the store back later. My husband called again today, December 3rd and was on hold for 38 minutes while someone tried to find the bike in the back. My husband couldn’t hold any longer since he was at work so we decided I would go by the store after work. When I arrived at customer service, there seemed to be confusion and they could not locate the bike. I was told that we were supposed to have picked up the bike within 48 hours but they would continuing searching. I waited 35 minutes before someone brought a bike out to me. I noticed the wheels had black skid marks on them and I asked one of the associates if that’s how they were supposed to look.

She told me that “our bikes come ready to ride and sometimes customers try them out in the store.” I was befuddled but took the bike to my vehicle as I was calling my husband. After talking, we decided I should take the bike back in for a refund because my husband specifically didn’t want a floor model and wanted an assembled bike so it would be in pristine condition. We feel we were given a floor model, as there shouldn’t be wear on the wheels if it was assembled directly out of the box. So, if this was the case, we should have been advised and have the $10 assembly fee refunded but NONE of this was mentioned. We spend a lot of money each year for several families we sponsor during the holidays as well as many baby shower gifts throughout the year.
We are very disappointed with this latest experience and hope that management revises these procedures and makes sure staff are consistently trained with the correct information.
Sincerely ~

After several hours, we are back to where we started, without the child’s bike I’d picked out and paid to have TRU assemble.

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