Toys"R"Us Japan -- Good Experience

[FG Lurker]

Just before Christmas I picked up a Nintendo DSi from Toys"R"Us for my daughter's present.

She used it for a couple of hours on Christmas morning and the touchscreen died. No idea why, she didn't abuse it or anything, but it just stopped working. Removing the battery to force a reset had no effect, the DSi was dead.

So I took it back to Toys"R"Us expecting the usual post-purchase run-around that seems so common here (great service before you buy, nothing after). I was very, very impressed. The girl behind the Customer Service counter checked out the DSi and then went and pulled another one from stock. They exchanged it on the spot, the whole process took less than 5 minutes and didn't even involve any filling out of forms or other typical BS.

The only other place in Japan I have experienced such a hassle-free exchange was at Costco. So, if you're looking for somewhere to purchase kids toys that actually seems to want to take care of their customers it looks like Toys"R"Us should be on your shortlist!

[omae mona]

Great to hear FGL. I had a similar experience at Yamada Denki about four years ago. I bought a digital SLR camera + lens kit. After about a day of indoor use, I noticed the lens was full of hideous dust (on the inside) which wasn't there a day earlier. Brought it back, and they agreed it was a manufacturing defect, and some junk must have gotten in the lens at the factory. Much like your experience, I had a new lens within about 5 minutes. There was also zero paperwork, and if I recall they didn't even ask to see my receipt. I'm sure they remembered the weird gaijin from the store a day or two earlier, so maybe I was special.

It occurred to me later that the warranty paperwork had been filled out with the serial number of my original lens and I probably should have had them change it. But anyway, the replacement lens worked flawlessly until way past the warranty period, and I eventually sold it.

[GuyJean]

Good to know! Thanks!

GJ

[canman]

Wow that is strange. I feel Yamada Denki has the worst after care service. So when I purchased my new TV and DVR I went to K's denki, and think the service was much better. Went in yesterday and bought a booster, even though a different guy gave me a discount since I bought everything else there. I also bought some other stuff to try just in case the booster didn't work. Took it back today, no questions asked money back in a matter of seconds. But good for you Lurker, I'm sure your daughter was very pleased to get her Christmas gift back so quickly. Nothing worse than a child's present being faulty on Christmas day and then having to wait a month to get a replacement one.

[sublight]

So far I've had pretty good luck getting things fixed. Yodobashi replaced my camera for free when the insides got completely hosed (just because it says "waterproof" doesn't mean it necessarily is), and DosPara replaced my video card when the first one died a premature death.

[Iraira]

I had a decent Bic-Camera experience a few years back. Bought an FMV-Biblo notebook PC and the disk drive froze up within a few days. Took it back, and they apologized, broke out with a new one, loaded whatever software they had and even gave me a 2G flash drive to save the files I had loaded on the computer, as they could not do any transfers where personal files would enter their system even for a moment. I gave them bonus points for this anal rententive security policy...as I don't share my porn with just anybody.

[Yokohammer]

Stories like these really are reassuring. I seems that Japanese "saabisu" isn't quite dead yet.

I recently had DOA peripheral replaced without question by Yodobashi. It's almost enough to restore my faith in humanity.