I used to love Toy Stores as a kid, I remember the magic of going into a world for kids and having mum buy me a Mighty Max once upon a time, It was amazing, they had so much stock, so many toys, I would of gladly traded a kidney just for a $100 voucher back then.

As I've gotten older and worked in retail I've seen how it works, how stock is managed, how it's all about profit now.

But Toys R Us is supposed to be everything retail isn't, a paradise for toys, everything, anytime, friendly staff, good prices..

Unfortunately living in West Sydney we dont get alot of good stock out here, In the past month I've been visiting my local target, k-mart, bigw, myer and toys r us every 2 or 3 days to check for stock.

I can live with idiot staff who work in the toy section and dont know what a Transformer is, and I can live with some bad prices as long as they are willing to Price Match.

However Toys R Us is a whole new story...

About 2 months ago I noticed a huge amount of Transformers Animated stock in Toys R us.

Very excited at not having seen a real bulk head voyager in person I immediately go to the front with one and go to purchase it.

$59.95 thanks sir.

Uhhh your joking right? They have these for $40 at Myer, and I saw one on Clearance in a damaged box for $20 at Target last week.

So they bring out my arch nemisis the Manager, He refuses to price match either of them unless I can bring in a catalog.

Now Sadly The transformers animated dont get featured in alot of catalogs here, so I asked him what I had to do to prove it other wise, could we ring them? could I take a cell phone photo? Could I perhaps get 100 signatures from the Transformers Collectors Australia forums.. I said with a small chuckle.

Being the Pole up his ass manager he is he refused to price match and told me to bring a catalog.

So I left, Pissed off, and went and bought one for the forums for a staggering $15.

Strike 1 for Toys R us.

About 4 weeks ago, I was just completing my Transformers Universe Collection and noticed a very cool figure , a Toys R Us only exclusive Countdown.

My blood pressure hit the roof as I saw the price was $69.99, I had just been at myer and got myself A similar figure from the line for a cheap $40.00, He was still boxed, receipt was in the bag, and with me at the time.

My First Question to the staff was " Hey is this price correct? I just got one for $40 and this is nearly double ".

The Staff who looked like a young teen girl who was probably only working at Toys R Us to feed her drug habbit staggered over to the price checking machine and said ' nope he's not actually $69.99, thats an old tag, it seems he's actually $79.99 Sorryyyyy ' with a smirk on her face.

I took the figure to the front counter and asked for a price match, instead of being good staff and just doing it despite my reciept and figure in the plastic bag beside me they had to get a manager to come out, Which I was fine with.

The Manager, a 70 year old Man who could probably compete amongst Donald Trump and his Apprentices in terms of ' step on everyone to get to the top ' denied my price match, as the figure was a toys r us exclusive '.

I debated on the fact that my figure was actually a repaint of another toys r us exclusive ( I have Silverbolt, Toys r us had a Darkwind , dunno its name, same figure though ).

I asked if he would match the Darkwind, he said no.

Despite arguing for 20 minutes and making sure everyone in the store heard how much of a blatant rip off their prices were I eventually was given a number to contact head office.

So I race home, Ring head office and I'm greeted by a lovely sweet voice on the phone who is absolutely surprised at the mangers decision and says she'll talk to the higher ups and get me that price match.

So I wait by the phone and get a call about 2 hours later, saying ' unfortunately toys r us managers reserve the right to make decisions like this and he wont change his mind, sorryyyy , maybe when our next sale is on you can grab him.

This was strike two for me, I refuse to pay $80 for a piece of cheap plastic that costs $10, that's probably sold to toys r us at about $30, and has a price tag double of what I just paid for an awesome Silverbolt that actually has sound effects and everything.

So Anyways I go back a week later, looking at their old stock, waiting for hopefully a mudflap/skips ice cream truck to come in, Each day I go in asking ' is it in yet ? ' getting the same drab response " Sorry we dont do our stock, its all sent to us ".

Each day I would say to them, Please guys if you ever see one save it for me, ring me on this number, i'll race down and pick it up within 5 minutes or you can sell it to someone else.

So I go in yesterday to find Chromia(sp?) and a few other of the new Formers figures.

I get instantly excited going through the stock to find no mudflap/skids icecream truck.

I ask one of the staff members if they had them in.

" Oh yeah the ice cream truck, yeah we had 3, hmm Where are they all ? "

As he rummages around the stock he notices they are all sold out, I plead with him to check the pallets out the back.

5 minutes later he returns and goes ' sorry we dont have anymore '.

I respond with " well can you tell me when you might get some more ? ".

He replies " Sorry we cant reveal that ".

I facepalm and hold my breath, as I'm about to scream in frustration at their poor customer service, the idiots working there, their ridiculous prices and amongst other things a manager who refuses to price match.

This was strike 3.


Last night I went in in my Blue Lone Star Uniform from work, which has a very similar look to the Toys R Us Shirts and was browsing the Marvel Mighty Muggs. I had just finished a busy shift and just wanted to buy something marvely for my desk.

I noticed a guy was frantically looking through some of the DC stock, he would of been about 40 or something, anyways I asked him " hey a Dc Fan? " .

He responded with a smile " yeah Im collecting the new smaller figures line ".

I said " Which figure were you after? I've seen a few around ? "

He asked me about a few specifics, Commissioner Gorden, red tornado ect

I said " Oh Ive seen them in Big W , Cant remember the price but there was one of each earlier today ".

He took off so fast the Flash would be put to shame, Happy with my Good Deed I went back to browsing the mighty muggs.

The Manager approached me and asked me kindly to leave the store.
When I asked why he said " You need to change your shirt, people might think you work here and ask you questions about toys ".

Absolutely furious by his decision I walked out , hoped in my car and just started laughing.

I can't believe one store can be so ignorant and stupid. Treating people who want to buy from them, and have a large amount of cash to spend ( The Adult Market in Toys is probably small, but we have so much more money than kids do ).

Thus Im boycotting Toys r us for now, When I go to Canada in a Month I'll be making Walmart my new home, they look after their customers I hear.