TOY'S R sUckS

Do you recall this story? Toy's R Us had a contest to award a $25,000 U.S. Savings Bond to the first American baby born in the U.S. in 2007. They quickly disqualified the first baby born just after the stroke of mid-night because her mother was not a citizen. Now we all know that any child born on U.S. soil is automatically a U.S. citizen and therefore this child was the winner. Toy's R Us decided to make up the rules as they went along. Of course, after public outcry they reversed their decision, but they had already stumbled in my book.

I remember when Toy's R Us was THE place to go for the latest and greatest toys and games. Looking back, I can see their slow decline as a friendly company. In 2005, after declining sales they were bought out by a consortium of investors.

The new owners have made changes more toward corporate America than towards a family, kid friendly environment. Don't bother buying an extended warranty through them, it isn't worth the paper it's written on.

The real kicker for us happened this past Christmas. My son received a present from an out-of-town grandma. This gift was something he already had, a Thomas The Train railroad set. It had a huge "Toy's R Us" label embedded into the packaging, not a sticker. There was no doubt where the gift came from. We decided to return it to our local store to exchange it for a different Thomas The Train set. Although it was just after Christmas and there was little doubt that the train set came from them, they refused to let us exchange it because we didn't have the receipt. We explained that Grandma didn't keep the receipt not to mention that she lived 600 miles away and it was too large to ship back to her, not that her store would accept it either without a receipt. They simply gave us a shrug of their shoulders and a too bad for you attitude. I let them know then and there they will never see us in their store or any other Toy's R Us store again!

When companies decide to shrug their shoulders at consumers, it's time to turn our backs on them. There are plenty of other places to buy toys and games. Without our business, they wouldn't exist.

Toy's R Us, I hope you go out of business, SOON!

And That's What I Think.

UPDATE: Here are some links to others that feel the same as me and/or had bad experiences w/ TRU
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Link 4
Link 5
Link 6
Link 7 - multiple examples
Link 8 - more multiple examples