Hatchimals, the Season’s Hottest Toy, Did Not Work for Thousands

December 28, 2016 at 4:50 pm by Andrea Ditter-Middleton | Articles

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Our disabled Hatchimal, Sophie. My daughter still loves her and brings her everywhere.

BROKEN HATCHIMALS

If you were among the parents (or children) lucky enough to score a Hatchimal this Christmas, your joy might have been short-lived. Media reports and social media posts confirm that many toys never worked, or stopped working shortly after activation. As a result, kids across the U.S. and the world were left disappointed on Christmas Day.

The Appeal of Hatchimals

Hatchimals, manufactured by Toronto-based Spin Master, were the breakout hit of the 2017 holiday season. Called the Tomagotchi of the 21st century by CNN, these furby-like robot dolls gained popularity through YouTube un-boxing videos. (If you don’t know what those are, consider yourself lucky by the way.)

As a result, many kids started clamoring for the toy as early as October. Mostly ages 5-7, these children found nurturing requirements of the toys quite appealing. Once opened, children needed to love their Hatchimal so that it pecks its way out of its plastic egg. Then, children raise the toy from baby to toddler to child. Along the way, they teach their new pet to talk, dance, and more.

Though initially available in major retail chains like Target, Walmart, and Toys R Us, as well as smaller retailers, the demand for this toy quickly outpaced supply. Some opportunistic folk managed to snag a bunch of toys only to resell them via eBay and other third party sites for 2-3 times their initial $50-$70 price tag. Likewise, Spin Master ramped up production to make as many toys as possible before Christmas.

They released a statement earlier this month encouraging customers to be patient rather than pay outrageous online prices for their product.

Mad for Hatchimals

Despite the company’s pleas to the contrary, the market for Hatchimals on Amazon and eBay was enormous. As a result, these retailers limited people’s sales and tried to mitigate the price gouging. On the other side, brick-and-mortar retailers like Target and Toys R Us managed crowds that numbered into the 100s every time the media leaked reports of a new Hatchimals shipment.

Parents report lining up at stores in the wee hours of the morning, hoping to score the precious toy. My own mother and mother-in-law got out before 6am in two different states only to be turned away empty handed. Ultimately, because of my job reporting on this phenomenon, I was online at the right random time. As I result, I was lucky enough actually get my 6-year-old daughter a Hatchimal using BrickSeek.com. Others, including friends of mine, paid $150 or more for their toys online.

All this set the stage. It was the perfect storm of parents looking to bring once-in-a-lifetime Christmas cheer and a manufacturer without the foresight or means to meet its demand. It was an environment ripe for tragedy.

And, on Christmas Day, it came…

Christmas Day Disasters and Disappointment

My social media feed is filled with joyous reactions to Santa’s gifts. Among them, my own daughter. She just about exploded when she saw the Hatchimal from Santa that Mommy just couldn’t get. She had spent all week telling me she just knew she was good enough to get that coveted toy.

Like many of these families, however, our excitement was short-lived. Not long after we took her out of the box, it was clear that our Bearakeet, Sophie, was just not right. She never lit up. She never pecked. She never did much of anything. We played with her, followed all the suggested FAQs and videos on the Hatchimals website – nothing. Finally, out of desperation, my husband tweeted at the company. That was when we learned we were not alone.

While we were on Twitter talking to Spin Master early on, not as many people caught on as quickly. However, throughout the day, more and more tweets appeared pleading for help and complaining about “dud” Hatchimals (they are now all taken down). For our part, the rep told us to manually hatch the egg, which we did with my daughter’s permission. Then, as instructed, we changed the batteries. Still nothing. My daughter carried around that broken Hatchimal all day anyway. She also swallowed down tears more than once.

We were told to call the next morning either way.

December 26: Things Get Worse

According to the rep we spoke to via Twitter DM, as well as the Facebook post Spin Master provided after 4pm on Christmas Day, their Customer Service lines opened at 10 am on 12/26. I called immediately and got through to hold. Then, 1.5 minutes into my call, it dropped. It did this over and over and over again – that is, whenever I didn’t get a busy signal. After 3 hours of intermittent calling and 45 minutes on hold, however, I did speak to a rep and my own case has been “resolved.”

However, while calling, I went back to social media to check on the progress of the Hatchimal drama. Thousands of comments to the original Spin Master Facebook post were up – currently there are over 6200 on that original 12/25 post. People across the globe were reporting the same problem as me. Others had Hatchimals that started to work and then shut down.

It was clearly a nightmare of epic proportions and no one was getting any response.

Broken Silence over Broken Hatchimals

Finally, this morning in fact, Spin Master released a more official, Official Statement, which appears on the Hatchimals website. It was also the canned response I got to my media inquiry. In part, it reads:

Spin Master is committed to making life more fun for children around the world with all of our products. While the vast majority of children have had a magical experience with Hatchimals, we have also heard from consumers who have encountered challenges. We are 100% committed to bringing the magic of Hatchimals to all of our consumers. To ensure all queries receive a timely response, we have increased the number of Consumer Care representatives, extended our hours, and increased the capacity for callers in the queue to help prevent calls dropped due to the holiday volume.

They also offer (the same) troubleshooting tips and video from earlier in the week. Understandably, the company is more than over-run with complaints and issues. However, for many parents and upset children, the lack of communication up to this point was the company’s biggest failing by far.

What to Do with Your Broken Hatchimal

The good news for those of you out there who have a broken Hatchimal is that, once you get through to Customer Service, they reps are kind and helpful. There phone number is 1-800-622-8339 for U.S. and Canadian shoppers. International numbers are found here. Alternately, you can email them at [email protected]. According to social media posts, email responses simply open up a case file and ask you for the same information that I had to send after speaking on the phone.

Getting a New Hatchimal

Other than contact info, the company asked for very little to verify that I had a “dud” toy. Mostly, they asked that I “disable” the Hatchimal by drawing a black “X” on her tummy (see the photo above). I also had to take a photo of the UPC on its box. They did not require a receipt, which is great news for you eBay shoppers out there.

The timeline for new toys also seems reasonable. On Monday afternoon, the wait time for our new Hatchimal – a Penguala – was 10-15 business days. However, I have seen other reports of 3-4 weeks. This may be because of the “species” of Hatchimal you want. When I called, only Pengualas and Draggles were in stock.

A Trick to Get Through the Phone Lines Faster

For those of you who still need to call Spin Master, the way that I got through was by using a bit of a “back door.” I have no idea if this will still work, but it’s worth a shot. Once you get through the initial message and press “1 for English,” do not then press “1” again for Hatchimals. Instead, I pressed “5” for “all other toys. When the rep picked up, she didn’t even question me when I said I was calling about a broken Hatchimal.

Returning Your Hatchimal to the Store

For those of you already over the Hatchimal drama, returning it to the place of purchase is an option. However, both Toys R Us and Target did not respond with a comment about their requirements for returning a Hatchimal to their store. So, it is unclear whether you need a receipt or whether they will accept a pre-hatched toy.

I suggest stopping by your local store to see what they say. Let us know your results in the comments.