Selling Toys - Horror Stories & "Happy" Customers

I just blocked the guy, there was too much electricity in the air that this would become a hair-pulling experience dealing with the guy, and I don't have any locks to spare. And I never block folks. Ultimately it comes down to "my time is important, yours, however, is not, fetch me my bauble peasant!" Fully knowing it will never be "good enough." Most of the time when I come across these folks their personal appearance/hygiene is almost always a fair departure from the rest of normal society's, but they have pedantic perfectionism over how the Green Goblin's toenails are painted. Granted I'm a stickler for paint apps, but that's mostly just how good the face looks and the obvious line work if any so the costume looks halfway decent.

I think it would have been fun to work at ToysRUs in the heyday, probably not past about 2010-2012, but any time in the 80s through maybe 2006 I think would have been at least a fun experience. Our TRU was always more expensive than what we KayBee Toys riffraff were used to getting away with, but the personnel was always polite and pleasant, and I have a few key memories in my X-Men collecting days of childhood where an older college kid went in the back and tore through shipments just to reemerge 20 minutes later with exactly the figure I'd been hunting around town for (the pre-internet slog to every TRU nearby). Those are the customer service memories you remember.

But I can just as easily remember a guy I helped in college who threw a car radio at me because he forgot to buy the warranty and lo and behold the system he cheaped out on had died. After it exploded on the wall behind me, I reassured him "well even if you had the warranty, now it really wouldn't be covered." Funny how the memories of the crazies are just as vivid as the good ones.
 
Last edited:
Haha, yeah! In middle school to night, Saturday Wal-Mart was a family errand, and there was a guy who managed toys and was always willing to look in back or even hold things for me once we had a rapport.

My big Check the Back memory was when the BTAS Harley and Machine Gun Joker released. We had just moved and I tagged with my stepmom to every box store she ran errands at in hopes of finding them. At the third Target, they were empty, but a guy went in back and returned with both (and the case). I knew then I wanted to work at a toy store and share that joy.

(No. I wanted my own supply to cut the chase out.)
 
I worked at Toys R Us way back in the mid 90s.

A kid named Ariel would call asking if we had the "ExoSquad J.T. Marsh Exo-Converting Aerial Atttack E-Frame." I'd put it on hold up front. It wouldn't get picked up. I'd put it back on the shelf the next day. This happened so often, for so long, that 30 years later I still remember it (despite having no connection whatsoever to Exosquad).

I hope that kid finally got that fucking toy.
 
Ah, the memories. I used to work at TRU around 2010 or so- definitely past its heyday, but it was still fun. I remember the biggest, hottest things at the time were those Zhu Zhu Pets hamster things and that remote controlled floating shark balloon thing. One lady would call almost every single day looking for a certain Zhu Zhu pet. Don't remember which, but apparently it was hard to find. We never had it, and would tell her so, but she would come in about 20-30 minutes later, like clockwork, to ask at the customer service desk, be told the same thing, then go scope out the aisle herself. Guess she never believed us. I'll never forget- one day she did finally find it on the shelf, and stormed up to the front, screaming about how she knew we had it and were lying to her and all that. Mind you, this was after a good 6 months or so of her calling constantly, but she demanded the names of every employee she'd talked to in that time and demanded they be fired. For some reason the manager let her buy the toy (probably just to shut her up), and made her leave. Wouldn't you know it, she started up the same thing a week or so later with some other toy.

We had some crazies, for sure, like at any job, but I did have a blast working there. I'd have loved to keep working there, but I got fired for signing up too many folks for the rewards card without asking/telling them. 😅 It was one of my first jobs, and our manager was super strict about us meeting a weekly quota of rewards cards. We'd be fired if we didn't sign up enough people. I've never really done super well with stuff like that, so I just started signing people up. Would've gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for those meddling moms calling the store after checking their receipt and asking what the $0 charge was!
 
Rather than block people, I genuinely enjoy the interaction if you are just like 'no.'

"Can you take a bunch more pictures showing the packaging from different angles?"
"Nope."
"How about 1 or 2, just so I can see the corners?"
"No."

Offer nothing else. Just disinterested resistance to their requests. See how long they'll keep fishing for SOME concession from you.
 
Someone just pointed out to me that one of my listings is the lowest price on Ebay - "so what's wrong with it?"

Nothing, except the price, which I'm now increasing - thanks for the heads-up!
 
Last edited:
Damien said:
Rather than block people, I genuinely enjoy the interaction if you are just like 'no.'

"Can you take a bunch more pictures showing the packaging from different angles?"
"Nope."
"How about 1 or 2, just so I can see the corners?"
"No."

Offer nothing else. Just disinterested resistance to their requests. See how long they'll keep fishing for SOME concession from you.
Click to expand...

That's what I'd have done had I not read the guy's feedback from other sellers. He had 100% which means all of his negative interactions were obviously managed through Ebay in his favor. He had POSITIVE feedback (which I assume is all Ebay will allow you to leave once they've brokered something) stating that the guy likes to buy things, claim it's damaged and then ask for a return while trying to coerce you into letting him keep the product. After reading one of those feedback messages, one is enough to make me say "Not today Satan," and block the guy. He had other feedback basically detailing variations on the same game he'd play on other sellers. Others stating he leaves negative feedback despite getting discounts and special arrangements. Honestly I don't need the heartburn over some goofy item when confronted with needless negative feedback while Doofus gets a deal.

I'm often dumbfounded by the number of people making outlandish special requests, like the Ecuador one, I've been asked to ship it to Germany FOR FREE! I've restricted my Intl. shipping solely because I hear plenty of folks detailing having things make it just inside Mexico and then it disappears inside the Mexican postal system, which doesn't adhere to tracking much apparently. So plenty of instances for the purchaser to claim they never got it and get a refund while you have no idea if they kept the item or where it went.
 
RichardSimmonsRobot said:
"my time is important, yours, however, is not, fetch me my bauble peasant!"
Click to expand...
The fact that the burrito taxi was ever $3 permanently broke people's brains. Anything more than that and they're being exploited. Would they do the job for that price, though? Hell no.
RichardSimmonsRobot said:
Our TRU was always more expensive than what we KayBee Toys riffraff were used to getting away with, but the personnel was always polite and pleasant
Click to expand...
I have 1 (one) positive TRU memory. Countless at KB, though. They always had the latest Marvel Legends and Spider-Man Classics figures.
 
Schizm said:
Someone just pointed out to me that one of my listings is the lowest price on Ebay - "so what's wrong with it?"

Nothing, except the price, which I'm now increasing - thanks for the heads-up!
Click to expand...

Every time. You can never win on pricing with them.

I always wanted to just beat the game and give a low price I'm happy with and move it. Instead they think it's a knockoff or it's broken. But they also would never want to pay the other prices people are asking, and they certainly don't even want it once you show it's like new.

They'll move the post. "Do you have a receipt?"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top