Comments on: Thomas & Friends Recall Gift Received

By: Elaine

Elaine — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:30:01 +0000

Theresa, RC2 is supposed to send you lead-free replacements of EVERY item you returned as well as one free gift and a shipping reimbursement. It took many, many months, but we finally received everything that was promised to us. Hope your son doesn’t have to wait as long as ours did.

By: Theresa

Theresa — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:22:45 +0000

so I don’t understand…shouldn’t we be getting back what we sent them?
I sent it the deluxe fire station…about 6 trains and a whole wack of signs and bases…am I expecting to get a dinky train back and some pathetic postage cheque. Did any one here send in the fire station? It is my sons most favourite and he was so brave letting me send it away…for a 3 year old..yeah I said brave. HE is a Thomas fanatic!
Theresa

By: Cecilia B

Cecilia B — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 04:59:38 +0000

I sent back a few things on the first recall ( stop sign, and two carts) in priority postage delivery. After a way long time they sent me a cheque reimbursement for postage and they actually paid me the full amount which was $11.20. second recall has been shipped as far as I know but may not arrive til the end of January. (so they say in their letter) this is such a was of time sending these things back and expecting a return anytime soon.

By: Gina

Gina — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 22:26:38 +0000

At first recall I did actually send in 5 packages, each had around 3-4 trains/signs in them. I received 5 postage checks & I think I go back what I paid for shipping them. I then received 5 SCRUFFEYs as my FREE gift for each of the 5 packages. So we ended up with 5 of the same train and we already had one! (good thing I sell on ebay). Then it took WEEEEEEKS to actually get my original trains back. Overall except for getting the exact same train 5 times & taking so long it was a so-so adventure. I then had to send in some items from the SECOND recall and actually got a different train. The turn around on these was VERY quick. If there wasn’t money to be made on EBay in the selling of Thomas I certainly would just end it all. I will NOT however buy Thomas New. IT is a WASTE of money. China doesn’t need those dollars but I will send them to parents/other person’s selling their personal thomas items on Ebay…at least it’s staying in the US.

By: Jill

Jill — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:49:41 +0000

Earlier this week we received a new Toad, to replace our recalled Toad, plus the Sodor Weather Tracker. I was surprised to see the Sodor Weather Tracker come in retail packaging, as yes, it is part of the “Storm on Sodor” play set.

Other than that – just the same old form letter thanking you for buying their products, etc. etc. No response to the very lengthy personal letter I wrote to them and sent in with my recalled Toad.

By: Leonard

Leonard — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:28:12 +0000

We still have not received our replacement James engine yet, nor have we received the free gift or shipping. Even though we sent in into them in July. I have been in contact with the recall company several times and apparently they keep sending it to the wrong address in the wrong province. I am glad to hear that some people are actually receiving theirs. Checking the status of the order using the reference number they provided indicated that the gift will ship at the end of December and the James replacement won’t ship until Feb 2008… Has anyone else had this experience? Although, I have noticed that the the date for the free gift keeps changing- getting pushed back a few days at a time. So I will not be surprised if we do not get it until the new year some time.

Has anyone else had problems with efficiency and the recall company?

By: Lou

Lou — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:22:23 +0000

As did most of you, I was becoming increasing frustrated with the handling of the recall and the delay in receiving the new items. My 3 year old son overheard my rather boisterous phone call with the support center at RC2. After the call, and out of the mouths of babes comes the following “Dad, don’t be too upset, it takes time for these trains to get a new coat of paint when Sir Topham Hatt sends them off for a fresh coat.” My son’s comments made me smile but also made me think of all the little ones that had to send “their trains back for a fresh coat of paint”. RC2 had a way to build back the trust of the consumers and from the way it sounds, they haven’t really done a good job at all. I am just not sure that they(RC2) gets it.

By: josh

josh — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:55:24 +0000

We too received the Sodor Power Crew as gift from the first round of recalls sent back. This was awesome b/c my son did not have this set, and it is higher priced.

Looks like they are sending us the Sodor Weather Tracker as the next free gift…isn’t this a piece that only comes with a larger set? Maybe someone has already answered this.

I too as a father am looking at ways to stop buying stuff from China or wherever the recalled toys are coming from. It ends up sounding like familiar American Xenophobia but what can you do?

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:46:34 +0000

Taking the Ebay hint from an earlier poster, I just got the down by the docks set for $28 + $12 shipping, which is roughly 33% of retail price ($130) at my local toys r us.

I looked at a few other auctions, and if you buy larger lots or sets of trains you can get really good deals. There new trains in original boxes too, I saw a brand-new-in-box Bill and Ben, a $20 item, for $4.50 + $5.00 shipping and no one even bid on it.

Good Luck!

By: Elaine

Elaine — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 05:46:50 +0000

Thanks for commenting, Brian.

My son loves anything train related: the Thomas legos, Wooden Railway, AND Take Alongs. He’s slowly starting to lose interest in them, using the lego pieces to build rockets instead!

Still, I do regret sending in the 4 recalled items together instead of individually. At least we would have received 4 gifts. We weren’t even offered the $10 promo code you mentioned.