Upset at toys r us

[Scooterbec122]

Ok I just need to rant a minute.  A couple of weeks ago I went to toys r us and they had te spitfire and bonbon funkco ponies. Ok I'm a little OCD over paint jobs so I went through and picked the best and went to buy them. When I went to check out the guy said they weren't avaliable until 9/2 and he put my name on them and said he would save them. So I go there today to get then and they don't have them   They don't even know whr they are so they go all over looking for them and come back with 2 messed up ones and others I already have. She said the guy shouldn't have done that and tried calling but could only leave a message. So I left without a pony because I didnt want a messed up one. Plus if they were to come out today they should have had them out and not in the back. I'm just frustrated over it all

[June]

I totally understand your paint job OCD! I'm sorry that I have no good advice about this, except maybe wait a few days or weeks.
I wanted to buy a couple of funkos too, but when I saw them in person I wasn't impressed with how they turn out, so I just gave up on them completely...

[Scooterbec122]

Glad I'm not the only one that is OCD over the paint haha just realized I spelt funko wrong

[Brandi]

I'm the same way over paint jobs and flaws. Sorry that happened to you.

[Sunshine]

First of all, totally understood about the paint jobs - you shouldn't, WE SHOULDN'T have to pay for BAD QUALITY jobs from the factory! That's just unacceptable. BUT the fact that someone sold something that was "held" for someone else? THAT irks me to no end. That happened to us with a Dishwasher that we were getting from Sears. Called the local store, they had the exact model we wanted, we couldn't pick it up until the next day because we already had a washer/dryer and microwave and floor tile on the back of the truck and had no room. They said fine, no problem. Go in the next day, some idiot sold it out from under us! We had to drive to the next nearest Sears which is over an hour away, just to get another one.... so I totally know how frustrating that can be. Why even offer to hold something if no one honors it? Srsly... I hope you can find some nice paint job ones. I was lucky and found some decent ones, they do have a bit of factory dirt in there with them but the paint looks okay. Still irked a little about the poor quality of the molds though, with the "cracks" in the tails and whatnot...

[Majesty]

I'm sorry that happened to you.  Why would they be out on the shelf it they weren't available yet.  Anyway, they would probably be the same price as the other funko vinyls so they should have probably scanned one of those and charged you for those but you get the ones you wanted.  As compensation I think it's fair.

My guess is someone put them back on the shelf, but then they would run into the same issue if someone else tried to buy them.

[Diamond]

I'm sorry that happened to you.  Why would they be out on the shelf it they weren't available yet.  Anyway, they would probably be the same price as the other funko vinyls so they should have probably scanned one of those and charged you for those but you get the ones you wanted.  As compensation I think it's fair.

My guess is someone put them back on the shelf, but then they would run into the same issue if someone else tried to buy them.

They can go out because your average truck person has to get so many boxes done and hour and not all manufactures clearly mark their boxes for what we at R Us call a roto hold.  That said I know I have seen them out before the date at my local TRU so I am surprised he would not sell em too you if they where already on the floor. 

As to selling what you had on hold, we are not allowed to hold things for that long, so he should not have offered.  Most likely they where cleaned out of hold at the end of the night.  So I am sorry they where not there for you but it is not company policy. 

As to the quality, I can get you the exact numbers of how many of these ponies are just in my areas DC - they are mass produced and cheaply to sell at that price point and for both the manufacturer and TRU to make some money.  They are not meant as an investment quality collectible.  They are meant to be a fun collectable that little kids can still play with and not worry about. 

To be honest, the best way to get better quality is stop buying em, you would all need to boycott to get Hasbro to even think about listening.  But even then, they need to watch there bottom line and I do not see the quality improving anytime soon.  Most toy lines are not designed for the discriminating collector, they are meant for the kid who in a few months is gonna loose interest and even put em in the trash or donate to your local charity. 

[Foxtale]

I feel your pain. The quality on the Funkos are sub-par so it take me a very long time to comb through the selections to find a good one. I can not imagine them doing that to me, I would be so pissed. >.<

[achab1984]

I totally understand were you are coming from. I went to one today and wanted to get a few. But they all had issues! Does that new Rainbow Dash have something in her hair? They all looked like there hair was all greasy!

[Aitsuki]

That's outrageous! Seriously, TRU has some serious customer service problems.... my mom says so all the time. They used to be great, probably the best... now, it seems that they went out of their way to hire idiots.....I remember hunting down the first Fan Favorites set.... I called and called to like, five different TRUs.... I kept telling them easy ways to find it! "Black pony, big pony set, seven ponies, big box, my little pony exclusive, collector's set" anything I could because even with the codes they couldn't even find it on their databases, let alone their shelves. I probably listened a total of an hour of the stupid don't wanna grow up hold song!! All I wanted was for them to look at the shelf and say 'yeah, we got it' or 'nope, doesn't seem to be here right now'...... Seriously!!! It's not hard. Hasbro even has set aisles for their boy and girl toys in TRU!! You don't have to be a genius to figure out if it's in stock or not.

[LittleSpiffy]

I stopped in at TRU today to pick up a Bon Bon & Spitfire.  I selected the best of the worst when it came to Bon Bon - so many little flaws, but the others? OMG.  I didn't bother buying a Spitfire today.  They were ALL horrid looking (major scratches, missing eyeliner, dirt, one was missing a chunk of paint on her face).

You need a for that hold ordeal.  While I was at TRU, the place was super busy due to the Labor Day Sale.  Apparently there was a certain model of baby monitor that everyone wanted.  A woman nearly lost it when she saw them behind the Customer Service Desk with "hold" tags on them.  She was edging toward yelling when speaking to a manager.  Apparently she was told that they couldn't hold them for her, she raced to the store to get one (oh, yeah, it was pouring rain all morning), and was told they were out of stock.  She went to Customer Service to get a raincheck when she spotted THREE of them with big ole "HOLD" tags.  I don't want to call any employee a liar, but an employee said that all three people were shopping in the store.  The woman called the employee on it asking her if the customers were in the store, why on earth wouldn't they have the monitors in their carts?

My Funko pony issues seemed like nothing compared to this poor soul.  She needed a too.

Post Merge: September 02, 2013, 09:34:33 PM

I totally understand were you are coming from. I went to one today and wanted to get a few. But they all had issues! Does that new Rainbow Dash have something in her hair? They all looked like there hair was all greasy!

Yup - it's glue.

[Scooterbec122]

Thanks everybody it makes me feel better it know that others feel the same as me. It is also nice to know what policies, etc they have. The woman there today said that he shouldn't have held it. The one thing I don't completely understand is why they were out before they were suppose to be and now that they are released they are no where displayed but they have them in the back. I guess maybe it had to do with what was said about having to put out so many boxes. And I agree the lady with the monitor problem was having  a rough time!

Post Merge: September 03, 2013, 09:14:17 AM

So me and my sister went back to toys r us today and I found a spitfire that looked ok but not great so I was going to get it. As we were going to check out the guy who put the ponies on hold came up and asked if I was there yesterday and he said he would check again because he put them in the back. He found them!! He said they were sitting right there and  he doesn't know how they missed them. He is awesome and is always super nice. So I am very happy today! 

[Alzatia]

I work at Toys R Us. And yes. We do have customer service problems. There is a lot that is wrong with the company.

But. You can't really blame the employees for not knowing about the September 2nd street date. My store got the box in last week, box said nothing about street date. Managers where never notified of anything. And I was able to buy the figures no problem.

Another thing, sadly not all employees are at the store as much as they'd like to. And a lot of important details get passed them and they never find out. That's one of the downsides of having a team composed of mostly part-timers.

Also, I've heard some TRU's cash registers didn't allow for these figures to be sold.  As to why only some. It's beyond me. I feel like this is just a miscomunication between distributors and stores. Or at the least, a miscomunication from the one's who make the layout maps for the stores and the stores themselves. Another way we find out about street dates is when we get the isle resets. Which inform us of new and upcoming merchandise at times.

I personally had printed out the MLP isle reset out of curiosity several weeks ago. Atleast for my store it says nothing specific about the exclusive vinyl figures.

As to the best way to track down merchandise with Toys "R" Us.  SKN numbers and/or UPC numbers. We enter those in the SIS system or RF Guns and we can instantly know details about the items. You can find these numbers at the TRU website if the item of interest is listed. Just click the additional info tab and you'll find them.

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[hathorcat]

I agree with Diamond and Alzatia, the boxes reportedly had no street date so of course staff would have popped them on shelves. The street date preventing sale was probably only in TRUs computerised system which therefore meant the only point at which staff may know the item was not for sale was when they beeped it through the till. These things happen a lot in retail - especially if a box is not stamped with a street date. As frustrating as it is the staff did their job correctly by not selling.

The problem was probably that staff took the items off shelves after discovering they were out early and put them in storage. They were only due out on shelves on the 2nd September the day you visited so perhaps they simply had not had time to put them on shelves as yet. I know retail can be a stressful and busy job, its not always possible to get everything out on the exact street date.

As to condition - I cant help but wonder if some of this line are now being rushed. Funko are not known for poor quality. And while I do think that for a $15 item you cannot expect perfection, I dont think Funko or their retailers are helping with the speed of turnover.

That is great you did get them in the end. You will find sometimes with ponies you need determination and patience!