Late last year Toys "R" Us attracted the wrong kind of attention when it emerged that amiibo pre-orders were being cancelled en-masse, causing justifiable consternation among affected customers. The company promised an update over the festive period and issued coupons to enable customers to re-order their amiibo figures from wave two and beyond. This issue was affecting orders for existing toys and, most tellingly, for this year's Lucario figure, which is exclusive to the retailer.
Despite putting its processes in place and re-placing orders, it's now circulating around the web that orders are being cancelled again. We've had a few readers get in touch with the problem, while communities around the web are sharing pre-order notifications of cancellations for a range of figures.
https://twitter.com/rcmadiax/status/551029205258227713
It's a bit of a mess, which is reflecting poorly on Toys "R" Us and - to an extent - Nintendo of America; with Lucario in particular being a retailer exclusive in the region, this situation needs to be resolved. We'll reach out to Toys "R" Us for comment.
Have you been affected by this issue? Let us know.
[source destructoid.com]
Comments 78
Toys-R-Us and Target both dropped the ball hard on this one. Glad I preordered Rosalina from across the pond!
Now watch it say it hasn't canceled pre-orders.
Sigh as long as the rumor about SMT X FE is false, I'm fine.
@NintyMan Just wait until the eBay/Amazon price balloons, and Gamestop starts unboxing their new Shulk Amiibos so they can sell them higher as "used..."
TRU hasn't cancelled my order yet. Hopefully they don't.
Maybe their data base is cracked not hacked but broken somewhere. Has Toy r Us got other items in the same condition? Maybe a bot set off somewhere in the system. Sorry TRU your stores are so primitive in the U.S.
We could always cross our fingers and run into the stores a few months from now. :/
Don't care about this one, but I want that Rosalina from target!
Nintendo needs to fix this exclusive/under-produced/unavailable/no-release-date-given Amiibo nonsense.
This stuff has gotten completely out of hand. #AmiiboGate
Mine still hasn't been cancelled yet... Now I'm paranoid though. I really want my Pit amiibo!
My pit and falcon were cancelled again hopefully the rest remain intact
Here we go once more...
This whole store exclsuivity thing is just a pile of horse apples.
I'm only buying select Amiibos though I'm glad Nintendo of Europe has so far held back from this. Though I've ordered them from multiple sites so doubly glad for no exclusivities here.
@DiscoGentleman http://www.game.co.uk/m/
This is where I got my Rosalina. But they are out of stock now.
Toy's "R" Us, aura you ever going to stop doing this! >: U
Thats what happens when companies do exclusives. I'm done buying Amiibo with all this. Nintendo really hates the fan base to do this.
@DiscoGentleman I preordered a Japanese Rosetta from play-asia.com, and a PAL Rosalina from game.co.uk
Both are apparently sold out now and have been for some time...
Ironically enough, I just ordered the Pit Amiibo from them like two days ago, the website said it was on backorder for 2-4 weeks, and I just got shipment confirmation about an hour ago. owo
@SheldonRandoms Hahaha, all of the yes to this comment!
Really!?
I really need to find some way to get the Shulk amiibo...
We need to locate the head of TRU online, stand him up, then FALCON PUNCH!
I had 120.00 dollars invested in preorders from TRU for these Amiibo figures. Lost all the money and called them yesterday for the refund and was declined. My bank accound reflects the withdrawal for the orders but no credit was ever refunded. This was on 12/14/2014... and they have not resolved anything since then. TRU is not going to receive any more business from me, ever. No Amiibo, no refund, no reorder. Unclassy.My bank will take care of this issue shortly, however, so yay
@RCMADIAX
I took the import route... saved money and the Amiibo are region free as well!
I got my pre order in stores, do you think that will be canceled as well?
@Zach777 It's kind of sad that nowadays that we have to consider whether accessories and toys are region locked
@RCMADIAX BB did the same with my ssb for Wii u game. I pre-ordered the bundle, and when I went to pick it up, they said they went out of stock. This also happened when I pre-ordered my pit and Captain falcon amiibos from Fry's.
On both accounts I did eventually end up getting my orders, but not for several weeks afterward.
@StarDust4Ever
Lol, and then resealing them and selling them as "refurbished" for $60
I couldn't get an online preorder of lucario, so i went to Toys R Us. I got to the electronics section. I saw a scalper with at least 10 preorder cards in his hand. I checked were they would have the lucario amiibo cards, and there were none. It made me so mad. I can't stand scalpers.
I'm thinking that maybe I should have pre-ordered my Rosalina and Lucario across the pond like others have done... This is getting pretty out of hand. sigh
@DiscoGentleman how long ago did you try to pre-order Meta Knight? I did mine a couple months ago, no problem. They took my money then they refunded it about a week later, I checked my orders and Meta Knight was still open... I've never pre-ordered anything from BB before, so them refunding the money was kind of odd. I wonder if that's just some temporary hold on my funds to make sure was a valid card? Anyhoot December 2015 is just one of those generic placeholders, I believe...
@NintyMan I pre-ordered Shulk amiibo the day amiibos were released on Nov 21st. As far as I know, he's still on order.
Bravo GameStop!
Of course GameStop hasn't been having these problems. Preorders are a MAJOR element of their business, so they know what the hell they're doing with them. Even Best Buy has a relatively decent amount of experience from what I can see. TRU and Target are both obviously clueless, though. I can say from personal experience that Target was clueless TEN YEARS AGO. Sad they haven't worked it out in that time.
@JellySplat being that GameStop is a specialty store, that only deals in video games. You'd think above anyone, you'd expect them to get it right, despite some of their "questionable practices" I do have to give them a hand on this one though!
Yep, this happened to me yesterday. Of the 5 on order, Pit and C.Falcon were canceled from my order even after they sent an email stating that I would receive them next week. This is udder maddness
@Sir_JBizzle I think they've probably just got the whole "pre-order" system mastered. Unlike target, and TRU who aren't quite as used to it. BB doesn't have an excuse though.
My order for Captain Falcon says it shipped, so hopefully I get it.
It all seems very... embarrassing. A mess, I've no idea who's fault it is, but a mess nonetheless. I'm from N. Ireland, got my son Link Amiibo from Argos, Peach was sold out, for my daughter, but I've just got an email from Amazon to say Peach & Mario have now dispatched. Good luck to all struggling to get what they want
@Zach777 i as well spent 60$ on these pre orders and was told there was no refund because there was no charge i was clearly charged the money as its gone from my account ..they took the money to hold it in reserve it was pending then boom no transaction or money on my bank account TRU IS loving US OVER
We understand your distress, but please refrain from profanity — TBD
I was also told we will recieve an email on how to re buy pit and captain falcon with another redeem code in 2-5 business days..i will not do this for a 3rd time for them to steal my hard earned money a 2nd time
Just checked my email I have one that says the order was confirmed and I should receive it in a week or two and one saying my order was cancelled, I don't know what to think
@NintyMan they did screw up my marth preorder and I am still waiting on it
This is fantastic.
Hopefully this means TRU finally loses Lucario as a retailer exclusive. I'm sorry, but Nintendo needs to make a stand on this. This is TRU's problem and Nintendo can't let it reflect on them.
@roccochacon I'd go with the latest one sent to you.
On Dec. 4th, I originally placed an order for (2) Pits and a Little Mac at toysrus.com.
This order got cancelled due to a 'technical issue' and about a week and half later, I got an email with instructions and a special code to place a re-order.
On Dec. 24th, I placed my re-order for a Pit and Captain Falcon. I got an Order Acknowledgement, Pre-Order and Order Confirmation. The status showed "Item located in stock." The Order Confirmation also included the following phrase: "You can expect to receive your items between 01/09/15 and 01/14/15"
Now early this morning I get a cancellation email!
To add insult to the situation, I see people here posting that they got a shipping confirmation with tracking on orders placed on Dec. 31st. Orders placed one week later takes priority!?!? Geoffrey the Giraffe must be running this business.
I am extremely disappointed in Toys'R'Us and will most likely take my business somewhere else.
What a mess, hope they'll resolve it soon.
@mariovslink62 Off topic, but what rumours about SMT x FE? 😳
All this ultimately results in is Toys R Us guaranteeing they will sell through their entire inventory. This kind of publicity makes people want the item all the more because its scarcity is being thrown in their faces. I'm not saying TRU did this on purpose, but it certainly won't hurt them in the long run.
I just got a taste of my childhood when I revisited Toys R Us yesterday. So many memories inside that store.
No email for me, though it could be any moment... I only ordered Lucario though, so all should be good hopefully.
I did the rest of my preorders for non exclusives with Best Buy though. I figured they would be a little better with this than Toys R Us, and so far have been correct. Still waiting for Pit, Luigi, and Captain Falcon to ship from them though.
well the only pre-order i did was shulk because i did not want to pay gamestop $90 when it becomes "rare" in 2 weeks.
@sketchturner The problem is, aside from Lucario, other stores carry the same stock, and customers will grow tired of TRU's failures and go to the other stores in stead.
Not yet on my end either. Only pre-ordered lucario, though. Not holding my breath, however. I am a bit worried about Rosalina & Luma, though. Apparently they're not allowing pre-orders for that figure, so it'll be a mad dash when it goes on sale online and in store. Rumor has it, her figure will be out Feb. 1st. Anyone wanna confirm?
This is why amiibo should not be retail exclusive, it's the only place to get an specific amiibo and they cannot take care if it properly, hopefully this will only happen for wave 3 and nothing else.
They should just make the cards already....should be easier to make and make a lot of!...and better not make exclusives.
I didn't pre-order Lucario but I wanted to. Now I'm glad I didn't because of this.
@undead_terror
I feel they'll drastically lose their appeal if they go the cards route. I mean, half of the draw to this is how "cool" the figures look to display. How do you do that with cards?
@Spartacus3765 I wouldn't know but there is a thing for collecting cards...and at least then everyone or mostly everyone can get a chance to get amiibo content for games
Preordered Sonic, Shulk, and Mega Man from Gamestop. Hopefully they dont get messed up
@undead_terror
And that would be great to at least give function to those who weren't able to scramble for the rarer amiibos, but I hope they don't pull the amiibos off the shelves in lieu of the cards. Sell them alongside the figures for awhile to see how they sell.
@Spartacus3765 Ya, I am not the one to go out collecting but I do want the game content.
I've been checking Gamestops TRUs and Best Buys non stop for a couple of weeks now for Pit and last night I walked into a Gamestop and asked about it and the guy told me I was in luck that two pre-orders have fallen through so I could have one! So I'm finding this to be a real luck of the draw hunt.
Still don't really have a reason to care about Amiibo...and yet I bought my first two today on a whim. They just look so cool! (-_-)
@TheAceofMystery yeah I'm hoping the Gamestop comes through also since Shula is one of my number 1 wants, Megaman my oldest son and Sonic my youngest so I made sure to pre-order them from Gamestop.
I haven't heard anyone talk about this yet but now I'm curious how long before we see amiibo type figures/device for ether Playstation or X-Box since they seem to copy Nintendos innovative ideas when they're successful.
Yes I was. http://gamingreset.com/modern/toysrus-cancelling-amiibo-orders-again/
Question about something: So, is amiibo a failure or a success? I mean, such good sales, but so many failures...
When you make a product and stock is hard to find, I think that falls under success.
When you have to explain to people what it does, when it doesn't do what the other 2 "toys in games" product lines do, then that's a failure.
so a little of both I'd say!
I work at a Target and intend to collect all of the amiibos. Through my hunting I know how hot of a item they are for resellers and because of this factor I have told my electronics team to limit the rosalina amiibo to one per customer. They support this so hopfully people who legitimately want one can get one. Granted I only work for a single target so dont necessarily expect this at all of them most people are unfortunately clueless to how the amiibo are being abused.
@DiscoGentleman I also preordered Meta Knight and King Dedede from Best Buy, however I did it in store. $5 down for each. My reciept is in a safe place with a release date of February 1st, 2015. However when I checked out, the clerk informed me that I would not recieve a confirmation email because my email address contains and underscrore symbol "_" , which she claimed was impossible to input into the system...
@RCMADIAX Unrelated, but I wanted to say that it's nice to see a developer being involved I'm these comments strings, interacting with gamers, even on topics that have nothing to do with their games. Pretty awesome.
@DiscoGentleman I pre-ordered Meta Knight from Best Buy a few weeks ago online. Really keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't get screwed up.
*sshats are buying all the "less popular" amiibo like Rosalina...
Shulk was sold out 1 day after appearing online...3 weeks before they're available in stores.
Why and how are we supposed to "collect them all" when half of the amiibo aren't available! Ugh I've stopped caring and stopped buying. Nintendo sucks at communicating and estimating stock.
Eh, people are completely overreacting to these Amiibo, they are cheap pieces of plastic figures that keep coming into stock in Dublin every few days in different places, and I'm pretty sure it's the same the world over. They are not even rare!
Everyone, just calm yourselves, you don't NEED these Amiibo, just buy what you find, open it, play with it for 5mins then forget about it.
My God, bigger things going on in the world, rolls eyes
I know Nintendo said they would keep these Amiibo alive through card form but that just isn't the same as having a nice little figurine sitting on the shelf. I suppose this was to be expected considering the limited use they will have for future games.
Oh well...I found tons at Walmart.
//sigh
Let's just hope Best Buy doesn't screw up THEIR exclusive
GameStop shelled out minimal Shulk pre-orders to sell them later at a higher price
Target ran out of Rosaluma pre-orders and won't issue anymore
Toys R Us is not only CANCELLING pre orders for their Exclusive, but for other Amiibo as well!
I hope mine isn't cancelled, this is one of few I actually pre-ordered. My Mega Man should be good and Bowser from other places, at least.
I actually had a bit of a hiccup with the NUK Store of all places. The Villager amiibo were back in stock and I immediately ordered one with standard delivery. After a week and the day I was vacating that address came about with no sign of the cheeky little fellow, so I called up NUK to find out what exactly was going on.
After a short chat with one of the operators it was discovered that my item was lost in transit according to their system. I was given a full refund and actually ended up getting Villager for my birthday, so it all worked out splendidly.
I can't help but feel that a delivery driver got a very rare Christmas present for very little though...
My Pit and Captain Falcon amiibos were cancelled as well. I sent an email to Toysrus through their contact info and they basically said I'm SoL. They did send me two vouchers for $15 off any purchase online or in store so I have $30 I can use on anything... But I would still like to get the amiibos I had ordered.....
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