1. Skip to navigation
  2. Skip to content
  3. Skip to sidebar

Consumer Affairs


Is this your Business?

Toys R Us - Gift Cards


Consumer Complaints & Reviews

My dear and longtime friend purchased a Toys R Us gift card in the amount of $30.00 for my son's first birthday in January 2011. The gift card does not have an expiration date. On May 5, 2012, I went to use the gift card and it was invalid! I called the customer service number on the back of the card. The representative told me that she can see that the $30.00 was placed on the card and the card was activated in January 2011 and that the card was then deactivated on June 17, 2011 and no reason was documented as to why. She further explained that I was accurate, that the gift card did not have an expiration date and should not have been deactivated. She advised me that she would escalate the situation to Corporate Headquarters to have them investigate and contact me within 3 to 5 business days with a resolution as to what happened and why.

On May 8, 2012, I received a call from a representative from Toys R Us. I called back at 8:35 EST and spoke with a representative Bryan employee ID #**. I provided him with my case reference #**. He advised me that I would have to contact the purchaser and the purchaser would have to contact their financial institution. I told him that didn't make any sense. I advised him, I was supposed to receive a call telling me what happened and why my card was deactivated when it should not have been because their was no expiration date. The representative advised me that he did not know why. He advised me that he only sees that I am to do this. I asked him, "When were these notes put in?" He advised me on March of 2011. I then asked him, "Who investigated the cause for the deactivation? Who authorized the deactivation and why?" Bryan then advised me he did not know.

I then advised Bryan that I was supposed to receive a call from someone who can answer these questions and who was supposed to provide me with this information. I then advised Bryan that I wanted to speak to his direct report. Bryan advised me that he was not going to provide me with that person's name. I asked to be transferred to a manager, he refused and just kept indicating that everyone in that department were "supervisors". I advised Bryan that as far as I was concerned, Toys R Us stole my money! Bryan advised me it wasn't my money because I wasn't the original purchaser. I advised Bryan it is a gift card, it should be assumed that the gift card would be a gift and once that gift is given, it belongs to the cardholder and that is me! And so as far as I was concerned, Toys R Us stole my gift and I want answers!

Needless to say, Bryan never provided me with any information. Absolutely no explanation as to why they deactivated my gift card after 5 months of purchase when there isn't an expiration date on the gift card. I thought about letting it slide but then I thought, how many others have they stolen from? It's $30.00 from me, but how many other $30.00 or more could their be with millions of customers and thousands of gift cards purchased every year. They need to be held accountable for stealing, this is not a way to add to their bottom line.

My two children were given gift cards by their grandma to Toys R Us to go pick out a special toy. My husband and I took my two children ages 2 and 6 into the Huntington Beach, CA store. We walked around with them for about two hours while they decided which toy they were each going to decide on. When it was time to check out and pay, we went through the ringing up process and when I handed him the gift cards, he said he could not accept that because their system was down. How do you not accept prepaid gift cards? How is that even legal? So I told him I was not satisfied with that. He sent me over to guest services where the girl proceeds to tell me the same thing. She calls up the manager.

When he comes up, he told me I wouldn't be able to purchase the items we just spent hours picking out, and while my kids are so excited to bring these new toys in, exactly what we told them we were there to do. I asked the manager that basically he was saying they were not going to find a way to complete my transaction even though they can see the amount of the gift cards. His attitude was basically "no and what do you want me to do about it?" No apology, nothing, nothing. I expressed how frustrated I am with the situation. His response was to tell me that he's frustrated. I don't think the situation is about him so I don't really care that he's frustrated. I asked if she could return the gift cards then. His response was, "No, they're non refundable." So here I am with a gift card that cannot be returned and that I could not use. Still hasn't been resolved. Try to call the 1800 customer service and that was basically no help either. She said she would put in a complaint, but offered no solution to the problem I am in. Horrible customer service and shocked by the situation I am dealing with.

Back in December during the Christmas Rush, my wife went into Toys R Us (TRU) to do an exchange of one item we had recently purchased for a different one. Because the item in question had been paid for with a gift card initially, she was told they could not do it as an exchange nor a refund but could only give her the return balance on another gift card. No big deal, right?

She took the gift card. She then went to purchase the new item, and when she went to pay, she attempted to use the gift card. At this point, she was told she could not use it until the following day because it had not yet been activated. That was issue #1. I've never had a problem doing a transaction like this before nor has my wife. But because it was two nights before Christmas, and we were pressed for time, she put the gift card away and paid for the items. This was December 23.

On March 23, we went into Toys R Us to purchase a birthday gift for a friend of our son's. Naturally, out came the gift card with a balance of $21 and change. Then issue #2 arose, as my wife was informed that the gift card had expired! We were both shocked, because we have never heard of anything like this, where a gift card was expired 3 months after issuance. Then the employee pointed out that the gift card was a promotional card that expired on January 28!

They gave us the wrong gift card! Instead of giving us a normal card, they "accidentally" (not sure I even believe that at this point) gave us a promo card. No one at the store could help us. They told us to call the 800 number. The representative on the phone was worthless and said that even though my wife had the receipt showing the card balance, there was nothing they could do to help us. When my wife asked to speak with a supervisor, the representative on the phone said she could not do that but would forward our information along and someone would contact us in a few days.

A week later, we still have not heard anything; and I do not expect that we will. The original gift card was purchased using our money, so this translates into TRU directly stealing that money from us. As a result of their theft, our family will no longer provide TRU with our business. I hope they are happy to have lost over $1000 per year of business over a measly $21 and change. People beware! Always look at the gift cards they give you and make sure they do not have expiration dates. Otherwise, you could be TRU's next victim!

I believe that Toys R Us/Babies R Us handles their promotional gift cards in an illegal and unethical manner. I took part in a promotion that offered $25 gift card with the purchase of 2 value boxes of Pampers diapers (88 ct. or higher) plus one value box of Pampers baby wipes. I believed the offer to be a great deal because I was in essence saving $25 by purchasing a larger quantity product. I did not realize that the $25 promotional card had an expiration date until I tried to use it a month after it had expired. I was floored! An expiration date on a gift card--I thought that was illegal in the state of CA where I live. I was told by the clerk that if the company's HQ/business offices are in a different state, such as NJ where TRU/BRU is headquartered, then they go by the laws of that state, not the consumer's state that the card was issued in. Also, because it was marketed as a "promotional gift card" rather than a standard gift card, the expiration date is allowed in the state of CA.

I'd like to hear from any lawyers out there if that is in fact true. It sounds a little like a loophole to me, but hey, you can't put anything past big business nowadays, can you? What a scam! The way I see it, TRU/BRU just robbed me of $25 because I didn't use my money in their store fast enough for them. With practices like this, you can bet that I will be purchasing my diapers elsewhere from now and I will most definitely be telling my story and airing my dissatisfaction on as many mommy blogs and baby-friendly websites as I can direct my mouse to!

For the holidays, Toys R Us is giving you $25 on a gift card for every two video games that you purchased. I purchased games and was given a $100 gift card. A week later, we decided to go with a different game system so I returned to games. I was expecting a full refund but they only gave me back my money minus the gift card. I said that I didn't want the gift card but they stated this is the policy for the return. I thought the gift card was good until January 31, 2012 and went to the store to make a purchase on the weekend at our local store.

It is getting ready for renovations so merchandise in the store is very limited. I decided to order online instead which I was doing today when I realized that my gift card expired on January 28th and not the 31st. I contacted the number on the promotional card and they stated that there is nothing that they can do about it. So I was not given the opportunity to get my money back when I made the return in addition to now being at a complete loss of the gift card. So I paid $100 for merchandise that I do not have that I returned to them. I am completely unhappy with Toys R Us!

I purchased an iTunes gift card worth $25 on Christmas for my son. After opening the card and trying to redeem it, it continuously gave error messages. I took the card with my receipt to the store of purchase and spoke with a cashier. She said that they couldn't give me my money back as they do not refund gift cards. After this I asked to speak to the manager and was told, "The manager will not help you; she'll be helping me," which I found very rude.

I then spoke with the manager, and was told I cannot be refunded my money even though the card was non-functional. I was told that it was not their problem, and that I had to contact Apple even though I purchased the card at Toys 'R' Us. I then went to the Apple Store and was told that it was Toys 'R' Us' problem because the card was not purchased from them. I did not receive any value for the gift card which was $25. Money has not been refunded and card is still non-functional.

Toys R Us was running a promotion where if you purchased $50.00 worth of Fisher Price items, you received a $39.99 Kid Tough Camera. However, the link provided to add the camera to your cart so it could be deducted at checkout, indicated that the camera was sold out. When I inquired by email, customer service representative said that they were sorry but the promotion was "While Supplies Last".

However, I had viewed this camera the day before and so it was on my 'recently viewed' items at the bottom of the page. When I selected that link, the same camera was available for purchase. It seems rather odd that you can view a link to buy the camera, but not the link provided 'for free'. The item that was available for purchase had the same item number as the link they provided for the free item, but the recently viewed page had a different item number for the same camera. My theory is that they had a huge response and so made the camera look unavailable by utilizing a different item number.

Luckily, I spoke with a nice customer service representative by the phone after a few email exchanges. I helped her find the camera on the website. I had to pay for it but am supposed to get reimbursed for it. I just feel like this promotion was more than they expected and didn't want to lose any more money and so they made the camera ($39.99 value) look unavailable when, in fact it was.

I received a gift certificate in April 2011 with the purchase of a game for a Nintendo 3DS. I was never told it had an expiration date. I never thought to look. Today, August 19, 2011, I tried to use it. I was told it expired on July 31, 2011.

I am writing to you because I feel that the way Toys R Us handles their promotional gift cards is illegal. I took part in a TRU promotion where they were giving away a free $15 gift card with the purchase of 2 boxes of (Huggies) diapers and one box of (Huggies) baby wipes. My receipt reflects my purchase of two boxes of diapers at a lower price ($34.91), a box of baby wipes at a lower price, and payment of $15 for the $15 gift card. At the time I didn't really care how they decided to itemize it.

A few weeks later I decided to return one of the (unopened) boxes of diapers for a larger size; however they were only willing to credit me for the lower amount reflected on my receipt since I had received the $15 gift card. Since the promotion was no longer going on, I would have had to pay full price ($41.99) for the larger sized diapers. I opted not to return the diapers.

The gift card has since 'expired'. In California (where I live) it is legal for promotional gift cards to have an expiration date - however I did pay for the gift card, so doesn't this make it no different than any other gift card? It seems as though in order for this to be compliant with the law they would either have to 1) honor returns at the lower, discounted price and honor the laws associated with gift cards (no expiration); or 2) honor returns at the regular price (and void the gift card if they choose).

In other words, I paid a total of $84.82 (not including the box of wipes I also purchased as part of the promotion) but the full value of my return was only $69.82 because I paid for the gift card. The promotion itself was for a limited time - had I chosen to exchange the box of diapers for the larger size after the promotion was over I would have officially paid $7.08 towards that gift card which later expired. I'm not worried about the $15; my concern is the consistently unethical business practices I've observed of TRU. I am a pretty heavy shopper and I have never noticed it blatant fraud - anywhere else. I'm just throwing this out there because I feel that there is potential for a class action suit, something that would hopefully get their attention and cause them to stop.

Some other examples of TRU's questionable practices (though not as blatant as the previously mentioned): They have this reward system, where for every $150 you spend they give you a reward certificate of $5. You must spend all of the $150 by a certain deadline (every 3 months), then the reward certificate expires 2 weeks after they mail it to you. They do not apply the value of the promotional gift cards toward your running total - so they get you again there. If you do redeem the $15 gift card you are once again penalized monetarily as it counts against your reward certificate.

While I consider the reward program a colossal waste of time & generally don't participate in it, I have attempted to get them to comply with rewards owed to me after large purchases, to no avail. 2 of my largest purchases, of which I have receipts for, never showed up in their system one for over $600 and another for $350. I asked them about it (even faxed one of the receipts) and it went nowhere, became more hassle than it was worth. A similar case you may be familiar with: Dupler v. Old Navy LLC and The Gap, Inc.

I had a Toys R Us rewards card, which I neglected to use on a couple of occasions this past month. I approached the customer service desk and was told to self-serve online in my rewards account. I completed my registration for my rewards online. Then I went to enter the retroactive receipt information and an error spewed that the retro receipts were not permitted. They are only two weeks old. Sucks!

I went to the Toys R Us store in Escondido, CA to return an item. I was in a hurry and asked the representative to issue either cash, store credit or gift card that I could turn around the use right away. I had planned to pick up a few more items. I was there for one hour! The store representative who seemed to be a supervisor at the time screwed up and issued a gift card that required me to wait six hours before using. I waited around as other reps tried to help. The help got worse as they tried to void the entire transaction.

At this time, due to the void, the computer did not recognize the original purchase. Finally after an hour, one of the reps were able to issue another credit and allowed me to get on my way. I will ban using Toys R Us and will tell all my friends and family.

I feel I have been cheated! I bought 2 diaper boxes and was given a $20 gift card. Nobody told me gift cards expire in CA. However, they sent me a replacement card for the expired one loaded with $0. Now when I call up to inquire, I have been following up with them for 2 months now, I am finally told to produce receipt for my purchase, purchase that was made 6 months ago. It seems they can't find my purchase history with my membership number. I am told that it's private customer information and even the corporate office can't help me.

My purchase information is so private that neither I nor they can access it. How convenient! It seems to me like they just don't want customers to use their gift card offers and the so very polite guy I spoke to from their corporate office, Richardson someone, just didn't care for the pain I went through for following this up. His tone was contemptuous as if I am begging for $20, which is something they promised and I paid for! I don't care about the stupid $20, but I just felt cheated!

There was a special offer that if you bought 2 boxes of Pampers Dry Max diapers, you would get $20 gift cards. I did. My mistake was I didn't look at the gift card carefully. Living in CA where there's no expiration date for gift cards, I didn't think I would need to check on that. Plus the card is full of pictures and with my 18 months old daughter with me, I just put the card in my wallet without thinking of checking. The cashier never mentioned that the card had any expiration date either.

Today, I was finally looking at the card to see if it's showing any amounts and saw that the card has an expiration date and it's already expired. I called the customer service and they said that it's a promo thing and the card has already expired. There's nothing they can do about it. I'm so upset because I felt cheated. It's only $20, but the reason I bought those diapers was because of the $20 gift card. Otherwise, I would've just bought them at Walmart where the price is cheaper. In this economy, you try to save as much as you can. I will definitely never buy diapers there again no matter what. It's so upsetting that I just have to make this complain. So bad!

We recently found out that Toys R Us has the same unethical business practice corrected by a class-action (settled in favor of the consumer) against Old Navy (Gap, Inc and its subsidiaries) a few years ago; namely, the practice of assigning a line-item value for any gift card used for purchase, and then withholding that line-item value from the refund of any particular item returned, even if the remaining purchase remains over the value of the initial gift card balance.

The economic value is obvious: customers lose the proportional value of a gift card for any item returned. Rather than deducting the entire gift card balance from the bottom of the receipt like normal stores, they assign a line-item proportional value to each item purchased ($0.17 here; $1.23 there) and if any item is returned, the customer loses that item's proportional value of the gift card. Returning a larger (more expensive) item loses more money than returning a smaller (less expensive) one.

On 1/21/2010, my wife drove two and a half hours to the nearest Toys "R" Us store to take advantage of a special advertised on the Toys "R" Us website. The special was for Buy 2 select PS3/Xbox 360 games and you will get a free $60 Gift Card. When she attempted to buy the selected games, she presented a print out of the sale from the website and the store refused to honor the ad.

The store manager disputed the ad that my wife brought from the companies website and said after 3 hours of waiting around the store that there was simply nothing that she or her District Manager would do to help her. I have contacted the corporate office at Toys "R" Us and reported the issue with them and they too validated the ad and could not understand why we were turned down by the store. Not only did the store refuse to honor an ad that their website advertised to the general public, but they cost my wife 5 hours of travel time to get to the store and back and wasted another 3 hours of her day waiting for nothing.

We received a $110 gift card from my employer a couple of months ago (July 09) and we decided to use it for our childrens Christmas gifts. My wife went to the store last week only to find that the balance was $0. I had this card in my wallet for the entire time and never used it to purchase anything. It turns out that the card was used in LA California, back in Sep 09. We have never been in California and neither have gone to a Toys R Us there. I have talked to the office manager, who bought the gift card and she is extremely disapointed in how TRU are handling the situation. I am getting really upset because my children wont have a gift this Christmas. We file a complaint with customer service and the open a case but they said it could take up to 4 weeks to resolve the problem. I have also been to the store where the gift card was purchased and they took my information but I have not heard back from anybody, store #7813 (7730 N. MACARTHUR BOULEVARD
IRVING, TX 75063

Phone: (972)556-0733

I called about my KBTOY gift cards and talked with an agent about if the use of my cards would be any good. After waiting for about 15 min on the phone with him for an answer to come over his computer he finally informed me that yes I would be able to use them with no problem. Well that was a BIG LIE!!!!! I then spoke with a supervisor and she was unprofessional then I recieved a email from there customer service stating that someone from the corporate office would be contacting me. Nothing!! For a company that is so big they sure have a funny way of respecting their customers.

In April I purchased a gift card for 200 for my son and daughter-in-law's baby shower. When they attempted to use it a few weeks later they discovered that the balance was 0!! I called and was told an investigation would be done and I would have to wait several weeks for a call-back. None came, so I called again. I was told that someone had used it in Southern California (hundreds of miles from us) and asked if we had ever been there! I was told now that another call would come after more investigation. Again, none came. A third call by me uncovered the fact that they had found out that the card had been used fraudulently and that a new one would be sent to my son.

A month later... no card. I got on the phone and spent TWO HOURS trying to get this resolved. Each person I spoke with said that all they could do was send a request for a call-back to another department. I kept asking for that person's manager (moving up the ranks). Finally, I was told that another one would be mailed out that day and I should receive it in approximately a week (exactly what I was told the first time!). I said that was not acceptable. I wanted them to over-night the card. Afterall, we had been waiting nearly three months to use the $200 they had been given. I was told that was "impossible" and that I should be thankful that they had done the investigation to find the person who had used the card. Thankful!

I told that person it was in no way my fault and I was not responsible for their lack of security on their gift cards. She was very rude and when I asked to speak to her manager she told me that she was the head of Customer Relations for all of ToysRUs. I didn't believe it for a minute. I got off the line, called the corporate office in Wayne, NJ and told my tale once again (after at least a dozen times). Of course this girl was not the head of CR, but I sure got some help this time. I was told a new card would be sent out immediately with an extra 10 added to it. Don't bother with the 800 number to get customer service. It doesn't exist with this company. Better yet, don't ever shop here!

I purchased a $100 gift card for my step grandson in December 2008 and mailed it to him in Utah. He never received it or activated it. I called Customer Service in February 2009 and was told I had to fax in a copy of my original receipt and I would be contacted in 48-72 hours by a supervisor to get my credit card information so it could be credited back to my Visa card.

I called again in March, and still, there's no activation on the card and no credit back to my Visa card. I had the CSR cancel the gift card. Then in April, I was told the same story, and I faxed the same information in. Still, there's no response from a supervisor. Finally, after three more calls in May to Customer Service, a supervisor named Joseph called me and told me the CSRs had all been wrong and that all he could do was issue me another TRU gift card in the original amount. I told him that was unacceptable, based on what all the CSRs had told me and that I wanted a credit back to my Visa card. He refused to do so and became petulant.

I asked for his supervisor's name at TRU's Corporate office, and he gave me the name of Gerald ** at Toys R Us Corporate office in Wayne, NJ. I wrote Mr. Gerald a letter detailing the debacle of customer service I had been subjected to. As of this date, June 22, 2009, it has been almost two weeks; and there's no response from Mr. Gerald. Apparently, the management of TRU is as bad and as poorly trained as the level one CSRs. I will never ever step foot inside a Toys R Us store again!

My daughter received a $50 gift card for Christmas 2007. When we went to use it, the last 4 digits on the back of the card were smudged and unreadable. Toys"R"Us store said they can't take it as legal tender, the register requires the last 4 numbers to complete transaction, take it up with corporate office. I called, and corporate said they can't do anything without the original gift receipt, which we don't have because this was received as a gift. If the numbers are so important, why aren't they imprinted into the card! They are stealing my daughter's $50 is what they are doing!

Mr. ** is the supervisor I spoke with yesterday from Toys"R"Us corporate office. I have a complaint with them since May 25, 2009. Someone finally called me back from their corporate office on June 10, 2009. My 9-year-old son received gift cards for Toys "R" Us in May. He wanted a computer notebook which they sell. First, I tried to get the money for the gift cards but was told (3 different stores) that the policy is only a store credit. I also had the original receipts that the people gave to me to see if I could get my money back. The model they are advertising on the Web as "new" is close to a year old. I contacted the manufacturer, Asus, and was told there are 7 models after that one that Toys"R"Us is displaying. I picked up the Asus Eee PC 1000 because the 3 stores closest to me didn't have them so we brought it knowing that the store in Brunswick, NJ had it. Since that was their policy I took the newest model they had. I paid $375.00 with tax. I was told by the manager, which he was reading the specifications that were given to him, that it was 16 GB hard drive and the operating system was Windows XP. Well, I come to find out the operating system is Linux which I don't believe me nor my 9-year-old son would know about it. I was willing to work with Toys"R"Us and pay the difference, which is only $25.00 more for the Asus Eee PC 1000HE.

This model is not the newest, but it's newer than the one they are selling and had good write-up about it. Its operating system is the XP Windows and the hard drive is 160 GB compared to the one I got of 40 GB. Mr. ** basically told me their policy again and that they cannot order that specific model (1000HE) for me. I was still trying to work with them. Mr. ** basically told me to hold on to the gift cards until they get a newer model which could be another 6 months or buy something in their store that we don't want. After all, the gift cards never expire. First of all, this model that Toys"R"Us is selling is close to a year old and I am paying top dollar for. The newest model Asus has out now as of today, 6/11/09, 1008HE, is only $70.00 more and a much better computer. I did try working with them, but they seem not to make any exceptions to the rule. Why should I, as a consumer, be forced to buy an old computer model for this amount of money and tell my 9-year-old he has to wait another 6 months for his birthday gift, if they even get a newer model in that time. Also, Asus informed me that they only deal with corporations and cannot be of assistance to me. My problem is with Toys"R"Us. I feel the bottom line is, just waste $249.00 (gift cards) to buy anything as long as it's in their store or take what we have even though it's not what you want. I was told that that operating system, Linux, is a free software given and anyone could make changes to it. It is really for computer literate people and have needs for it. We don't.

I returned a couple of unwanted birthday gifts last September and got a merchandize credit electronic card. When I tried to use it a couple of months later, it's balance showed 0. After a lot of hassle, several calls to the customer service center, dropped callas and re-telling my story to about 5 different CSR, I was notified that someone used my card to purchase goods online. Naturally, these goods were never shipped to me. A fraud inquiry was supposed to be initiated by TRU. Emphasis on the was, because when I called a couple of weeks later (went through the same process of several calls, transfers, dropped calls, retelling my story again and again, because even though I had a case number no one had an idea what I was talking about), they promised that NOW they'll work on it.

That was in Dec. In January I got no response from them. On the first week of Feb. I called. Again. Still no answer. No one knew what was going on. In mid Feb. I finally got an answer that a new card was being issued to me. That card finally arrived by mail, but when I tried to activate it, the CSR asked my for a verifying detail that I supposedly provided them (my mom's maiden name). The thing is no-one asked me for verifying details, so of course there was a mismatch between whatever bizarre information they had on file and what I knew was my mom's maiden name.

An hour and a half call, a lot of frustration and I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do on part of the CSR, a couple of transfers later and still the card could not be activated. They even asked my for the original receipt for the original gift card, and refused to understand it was a merchandize credit for which, naturally, I have no receipt. At one point they offered that a senior CSR would call me back in 3-5 business days. I was tired of their incompetence and the fact that it took them 3 months (!) to reimburse me (in a way I couldn't even use), and threatened to sue them for that amount + any grievances that were caused. That worked!

Five minutes later that card was suddenly functional. Surprise surprise. I will go back to TRU one more time to use that card, and that's it. I will no longer take my business to a place that treats its customers that way.

On December 14th, I went into the Jackson, Tennessee store to purchase a $30.00 gift card. The cashier informed me the first transation did not go through, she asked me to swipe my credit card again. On December 26th I received my credit card statement to find out I had been charged twice for the gift card. I went to the store with my receipt and was informed by the manager that the cashier had placed $60.00 on the gift card, and there was nothing he could do. I called the Toys R Us customer service they informed me to contact the the child I sent the card to ask for the additional $30.00 since they used the card on December 19th. Then he hung up on me. I thought this was poor customer service and they took no fault for the cashier's mistake. I will never shop with Toys R Us again!.

The gift card was purchased for a child who mother is very ill. I just wanted to do something nice for the family. For Toys R Us to recommend I contact the family to have them return the additional monies placed on the card was very unprofessional. They took no responsiblity for their mistake regarding this situation. I will never shop with them again.

Had a coupon to spend $75 and receive a free $10 gift card. Went to use the gift card about 3 weeks later, had a 0.o balance. I had not used the card, no had anyone else. I called toys r us, transferred 4 times, on hold 30+ minutes, hung up. Called back to register a complaint and put on hold again!!! Lousy service.

Toys R Us had a coupon in saying $10 off a purchase of $75 or more but then you spend more than $75 and they say you have to use the $10 gift card at your next visit so in actuality, you are spending more than $75 to get the $10 off something and have to go to the store twice. I feel this coupon was false advertising and I refused to buy the one item I had. I went to Walmart and got it $10 cheaper than Toys R Us anyway and didn't need their $10 off gift card.

I ordered a $250 gift card for my daughter and son-in-law who are soon to have twins. The gift card is to be used to purchase a crib.

The gift card was purchased on Sept 4th. It arrived on Sept. 24th. Beginning on September 23rd I called Toys R Us Customer Service. I was bounced from person to person with no one being able to give me advice. Everyone in authority is in a meeting. It took ten days to receive a call back. Hi said the perky voice, Is everything OK? This is not the world class customer service that they advertise. Please spread the word. Maybe public ridicule will encourage this dot.com to improve its service. Thank you.

My daughter won 5 $20 gift cards from a school fundraiser. We forgot about it and after a year used it. The balance was only $75. The clerk showed us the back of the card, which read that a monthly $2.50 administrative fee for dormant accounts is deducted from the balance for nonuse, which is void in CA. He suggested I contact the company to reinstate the difference. The store was not able to honor the full amount. Embarrassed and inconvenienced.

My sister in law purchased Three $35 gift cards online at Christmas time (07), and mailed them to us in NH. We used the first 2 in january and in February 08.

We were just at the store in NH, trying to use the final one for my 7 year old (for a $60 purchase) and were told there was a ZERO BALANCE!!!! The sales associate in NH told us there has been some fraudulent useage of gift cards and gave us the 800 number to call to fix this.

I called customer service and was told that someone used the card in Paramus, NJ and that they will get back to me after investigating this. They supposedly can use cameras from February to show whomever used the card. I also called the Store Manager of the Paramus, NJ store (Rich, who was very helpful!) to alert him, and he is forwarding this to his Loss prevention department at Corporate. He mentioned that someone would have had to swipe the actual card for it to go to a zero balance. Loss prevention can show which register was used and by whom. I am hopeful that this will be resolved favorably for us!

My son is very upset and so are we.

My mother ordered a $200 gift card online from Toys R Us and had it mailed to me. I went to the store, picked out my items and when I got to the cashier I was horrified to learn there was a $0 balance on the card! Toys R Us customer service said that the card has been used online before I even received the card! We have spent over a month now trying to get this resolved. There is obviously some kind of fraud going on within the company and they are not being proactive to prevent it or even apologizing to customers!

The gift card was useless, it had a zero balance so I had to pay for the items out of my own pocket.

Ordered a $50 gift card online in Dec. Received 4 cards instead of one, all 4 had a $4.50 balance on them. Called 5 times to try to get it corrected and was told each time that they would send out a new card and 3 months later I still do not have it.

I ordered a gift card online for $150 dollars. I order the card online from the Toys R Us site from England, and got the gift card sent to Los Angeles. I paid $11.25 to send it 2 day mail. When the package arrived, my girlfriend brought the giftcard to Babies R Us to use it for my daughter. She put a lot a stuff she needed for her in the card, and when she reached check out, she was told that $139 dollars was already used on the card. This is an outrage. How can a huge company like ToysRUs, allow something like this to happen? So, She called their 1800 number, and was told they will investigate for 24/48 hours. I found out and called myself from England. I got the same thing told to me. It is under Investigation for another 24/48 hours. They didn't offer any help for the situation. They just typed in the complaint, and told us to wait. Now, I also wanted to email Toys R Us but they have no company email. Great. Now, I have to call them from England and spend all the international charges to find out about the status of my case. All I got to say is be careful when ordering gift cards online. Toys R Us does not seem to care about the consumer.

$139 dollars of the $150 dollar gift card was already used when the gift card arrived by 2 day mail.

A friend ordered a Toys R Us gift card for my son. It arrived on the 12th of the month (ordered on the 6th). I went to the store to make a purchase, only to discover, via cashier, that there was $0 on the card when there should have been $80.00. Of course I called Toys R Us, and was told that the entire amount had been used on the 8th of the month. To me, it sounds like that an employee used the card numbers to make a purchase. It has been a week now, and I am still getting the run-around. Not cool.

On 12/20 I ordered a $100 gift card on the Toys 'r Us site for my son and daughter-in-law for Christmas. They claim that it was mailed on 12/28. It has never been received, and they seem to be unwilling to trace what happened to it. I don't know what to do. Help!

My kids never got their gift--and right now I am out $100.

I received a Birthday card from Geoffrey for my toddler saying I get $3 off of a $3 purchase. We went Christmas shopping and spent over $70. When I returned a $15 item, I received only $14.40 or so (60 cents less than I should have) because they divided the $3 up proportionately over everything I purchased that day. I should have received my full amount back on the toy because I still spent over the $3 required to save the $3. I see now that they did the same thing on another purchase where I had to spend $100 and get $10 off. They divided the $10 up over everything so that each toy is discounted a bit. This is a great money-making scam when you consider how many consumers make large purchases and eventually have to return something for one reason or another. Also, the coupons make no mention that the savings will be divided up equally over everything purchased. It's just false advertising.

Basically, I didn't get my 60 cents back on the toy. And on my original purchase now, even though I spent over $55 after having returned the one item, I only got a $2.40 discount with my $3 coupon.

On November 29, 2007, I ordered a gift card for my twin granddaughters to be used for milk and diapers. On December 9, six days ago, I received notice that the gift card had been shipped. My daughter has not received yet, even though the other day I bought a gift card myself and took it to the post office, and the person received in two days. When I called to find out what was happening with the unreceived gift card, first I waited for about 10 minutes listening to the you are important to us spiel, then some totally inefficient person came on the line and hung up the phone. After placing the call again and waiting another 10 minutes, the woman that answered the phone told me there was nothing she could do because I had not sent the gift card by express mail. What nonsense! Never again will I buy anything from Toys R Us.

My daughter was expecting that gift card to purchase milk and diapers. Had I known this was going to happen, I would have gone to the store and bought the gift card and sent it by mail myself.


My cousin bought a gift card in Manhattan a value of 300.00 dollars. It was a baby shower gift. She (my sister the mother) called toys r us to find out much the gift had, it had the value of the 300.00 this was around the first week of February. On February 7 she went to use the card to find out that the gift card was use already. It was a Internet purchase.

THE WHOLE 300 DOLLARS WAS GONE. She was so upset. I (her brother) called in to speck to tom and he said it was nothing he can do. It was hard to lose 300 dollars.

It did cost economic damage because it was a baby shower gift. Money that you very much need for the baby and what is the worst thing that Toys R us didnt do anything.

I will never shop there and so far I have told everyone not to shop there or buy gift card.

My son received a gift card for Toys R Us. We went shopping at their store in Mission Viejo (which is about 1/2 hour from our home) the day after Christmas and spent about 45 minutes choosing the toy he wanted. When we went to check out, there were signs on the register stating they were not able to accept gift cards. My son was upset as he was very excited about getting his toy. I asked why they can't accept the gift card on the day after Christmas of all days and was told by the checker their system was too busy.

I asked to talk to a manager and was not given the opportunity. I asked why they did not have signs on the outside of the store instead of at the checkout and the employee told me they didn't want to discourage people from shopping. As I looked around, there were several other families with upset children who had chosen their gifts. The employee said I can come back later if I purchase with cash and then return the item and use the gift card. I ended up purchasing the item but am apprehensive about returning it to use the gift card because of their horrible customer service. I suggest to everyone that they no longer purchase gift cards from Toys R Us.

Purchased a gift card and was told that the gift card would be usable online. The gift card itself said it was usable online. When I went to use it online, I learned that their website does not currently allow purchases with gift cards. Was specifically told that because of changes in their website, the gift card option has not been functional in over a month. Moreover, they had no idea when it would be functional again.

I received a gift card as a promotion for buying an item. I was never told that there was an expiration date. When I tried to redeem it, I was told it expired. I had to put on my reading glasses to see the small date on it. When I went to customer service, I asked if there was some way to be compensated for this misunderstanding. They told me to call the company. I wrote a letter and received one back. It was a page long saying how they valued their customers but policy was policy and too bad. I expect a company to be upfront when you purchase something and if they aren't, they should stand behind their committment to their customers.


Quantcast