As much as we’d all love to believe that everything we give to our loved ones — and everything we receive from them — this holiday season will be exactly what we want and need, and that it will fit our bodies and/or be compatible with everything we already own. But odds are that a lot of us will be returning at least one thing to a store in the days and weeks after Christmas, so it helps to know retailers’ return policies. [More]
toys r us
Retailers Try To Win Over Employees Who Work This Thanksgiving
By 11.27.13
The Thanksgiving barrier has been breached by retailers, and the previously untouchable holiday is now just another day on which to have a big sale. In an attempt to win over employees who may not be too thrilled about having to eat Thanksgiving dinner at noon so they can make it to work on time, some stores are providing perks to workers who sacrifice their Turkey Day in the name of doorbuster deals. [More]
Price-Matching At Toys ‘R’ Us: No Stacking Discounts On The Lower Price
By 11.26.13
Richard thought that he found a great deal between a sale on a Nintendo 3DS game at Walmart and a promotion with the Toys ‘R’ Us credit card. The store employees stood in his way, not understanding the store’s price-match policy the way he did. He tried to convince corporate to intervene: no luck. No stacked discounts for him. [More]
Amazon, Best Buy, United Airlines Make Consumer Reports’ Naughty List
By 11.26.13
While the bearded guy at the North Pole is making his list and checking it twice before he heads out to deliver toys and/or coal on Dec. 24/25, our pals at Consumer Reports have already decided who they think deserves a shiny black hunk of anthracite in their stockings. [More]
Police: Parents Took Their 7 Kids Along For Toys ‘R’ Us Shoplifting Spree
By 11.18.13
It’s bad enough to go around taking things off store shelves and then not paying for them, but bringing along all seven of your children to help you shoplift is a whole new level of bad consumering. Yes, consumering. [More]
You Won’t Be Enjoying Thanksgiving Dinner Because Retailers Can’t Wait For Black Friday
By 11.12.13
It’s time to face facts: Retailers are jumping on the Let’s Start Offering Big Sales On Thanksgiving Day bandwagon left and right, so you probably won’t be enjoying your dinner very much this year. Target, Toys ‘R’ Us and Kohl’s have all announced they’ll be open earlier than ever on Thanksgiving this year, and Walmart probably will too. [More]
October Recall Roundup: Never Trust An Ant
By 10.22.13
The federal government shutdown meant that our friends over at the Consumer Products Safety Commission weren’t diligently posting recalls to their website as usual, but that doesn’t mean that there were no dangerous products recalled since our last Roundup in September. Nope. [More]
Why Did My Free Gift Card Cost $10?
By 10.8.13
Mike is confused. He took advantage of a Babies ‘R’ Us deal promising a free $10 gift card with the purchase of a certain amount of Pampers brand disposable diapers. In the checkout line, he was confused when the cashier added the gift card and his total purchase went up by $10. That’s not how “free” works! [More]
Petition Asks Toys ‘R’ Us To Ditch Gender-Specific Marketing
By 9.24.13
A group have parents have started a campaign asking Toys ‘R’ Us to stop marketing its toys along gender lines, saying the retailer is getting more extreme in its separation between the sexes. Just this month over in the United Kingdom, the company said t would drop gender references in its stores across the pond and market products in a more neutral way. [More]
March Recall Roundup: This Garlic Slicer Prefers Human Fingers
By 3.11.13
In this month’s Recall Roundup for consumer goods, crossbows fire at will, snorkeling masks buckle under pressure, and garlic slicers are out to slice your fingers instead. [More]
When It Comes To Children, 10 Pounds Actually Makes A Big Difference
By 3.4.13
10 pounds doesn’t seem like much of a weight difference, unless you’re talking about the difference between a 15-pound infant and a 25-pound toddler. Reader O. had this problem when shopping for a playard (does no one say “play pen” anymore?) with a bassinet and changing table included. The shelf tag for the changing table claimed that it was good for up to 25 pounds: not bad. Except it is kind of bad, because it’s not true. [More]
I Want Toys ‘R’ Us Protection Plan Help, Manager Threatens To Call Cops
By 2.19.13
It wasn’t very long ago at all that Esdras went to Toys ‘R’ Us and bought a tablet for his son. Barely four months ago, he picked up the KD Interactive Android tablet, along with a protection plan. A protection plan is generally a good idea when you combine a toddler and an electronic device, even if it is one designed especially for kids. Where Esdras got confused, though, was when the cashier gave him incorrect instructions regarding the protection plan. Just bring the item back if he had any problems, he was told. No plan brochure, no details, nothing. [More]
4 Years Later, Toys ‘R’ Us Won’t Remove Dead Kid From Their Birthday Club
By 1.24.13
The Toys ‘R’ Us Birthday Club is a cute program for kids 10 and under: they get a card, small gift, and coupon from company mascot Geoffrey the giraffe. The problem comes when the unthinkable happens, and a child’s name needs to be taken off the list. That happened to Lyndsey’s family, when their middle daughter Kamryn died before her second birthday. The problem was that Toys ‘R’ Us kept sending birthday cards. For four years. Nothing the family did could make them stop. [More]
Accidentally Sexist Toy Mixup Means My Niece Gets Pink Car Instead Of Awesome Shark Plane
By 1.15.13
At left is the totally awesome shark plane that J’s parents bought for Christmas for his niece. It’s an online-only item from Toys ‘R’ Us. Any child would be lucky to receive such a fun and cool-looking gift, right? The problem is that thanks to an accidentally sexist shipping mixup, they didn’t get the plane: they got a pink pedal car instead, a week before Christmas. This kind of thing happens all the time, though, so Toys ‘R’ Us should be able to handle a vehicle swap with no problem. Right? [More]
Inventory Error Means I Can’t Make Toys ‘R’ Us Price-Match Itself
By 1.14.13
Sam wanted to take Toys ‘R’ Us up on its price matching policy. He wanted to perform the daring–and generally not allowed–maneuver of asking a store to match its own online-only price. Here’s the catch, though: the item that he wanted should have been available for in-store pickup, so he could order it online and pick it up in the store. The same exact item was sitting in the store inventory. [More]
Toys ‘R’ Us Popup Store Pushed Rewards Program I Can’t Possibly Use
By 1.9.13
If you spend a lot of money at Toys ‘R’ Us, the chain’s rewards program may appeal to you. You earn rewards vouchers through in-store or online purchases, which you can exchange for even more toys after the holiday season. Why would anyone have a problem with that? Well, because you can only use them in-store. Employees recruited customers for the program in the chain’s holiday season pop-up stores, in areas that don’t have a year-round Toys R Us store. Now that the pop-up stores are gone, they just have some useless pieces of paper. [More]
Competitors Accuse Walmart Of Providing Inaccurate Price Comparisons In Ads
By 1.4.13
For several months, Walmart has been running a series of ads touting its Low Price Guarantee and calling out specific competitors for their higher prices. But those retailers are now fighting back with complaints in several states. [More]
My Toys ‘R’ Us Package Is Simultaneously Shipped And Out Of Stock
By 12.26.12
Angela ordered a toy from Toys ‘R’ Us last week. She understood the risk inherent in ordering just a few days before Christmas, but didn’t expect the non-shipping wackiness that would ensue. The company issued out a shipping label and had a UPS number ready to go, but the item never left the warehouse. They claimed that the item was “shipped,” but UPS never got it. That label was out in the ether, but it turned out that the item was out of stock. It was shipped, but not shipped. [More]
