Frustrated parents regret buying Hatchimals

[Eugene]

Source: KWCH-TV

Frustrated parents regret buying Hatchimals

By Trevor Macy | Posted: Wed 10:28 PM, Dec 28, 2016 | Updated: Wed 10:32 PM, Dec 28, 2016

The hottest toy this Christmas season is leaving many people upset. Parents shelled out more than $50 for a Hatchimal and now, some are finding out the toy may not be all it's cracked up to be.

The Hatchimal comes in a plastic egg and is supposed to hatch after you get it. It was so popular, parents couldn't find it in stores and were spending hundreds of dollars to get them from Craigslist and other sellers.

But now, after they were all open Christmas morning, parents are starting to regret buying the Hatchimals.

For five-year-old Peyton Smith, the excitement quickly turned to disappointment. His Hatchimal did not hatch, but his brother's did.

Three days after Christmas, Peyton's Hatchimal is still stuck in its shell. The Smith family isn't alone. All around the world, there are reports of Hatchimals failing to hatch, leaving parents and children upset.

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Read more: http://www.kwch.com/content/news/Frustrated-parents-regret-buying-Hatchimals-408571475.html

[d_r]

1. they were told

not to count their chickens before they hatched.

[milestogo]

2. And even if they do hatch, they can only be born once.

After they're born its just a wildly overpriced stuffed animal.

[jberryhill]

3. Really?

I don't pay much attention to these sorts of things, but, really?

It hatches, and that's it? Wow.

That furry kid vibrator thing Elmo sounded more interesting. Who knows how many kids set off on a voyage of self discovery with that one.

[milestogo]

4. Its like an annoying furby.

From an Amazon review:

3.0 out of 5 starsit sleeps and snores and several friends and family members state it sounds like it says "F*** Me" when it snores
ByBrunoon November 4, 2016
Style Name: Penguala|Color: Teal/Pink|Verified Purchase

My daughter loves this toy..She received it for her birthday. The problem..it sleeps and snores and several friends and family members state it sounds like it says "F*** Me" when it snores.

[etherealtruth]

32. I guess it is not funny but the cursing (in snore) is hysterical

... I will add my youngest is 20. I would not be thrilled if I had a young one (but sadly, would probably still find it funny even though I would be angry)

[milestogo]

33. I was laughing so hard when I read that review...

It wouldn't be funny if a kid heard it though.

[etherealtruth]

34. :-)

[Buckeye_Democrat]

5. Description from the Canadian manufacturer.

http://www.spinmaster.com/product_detail.php?pid=p21001&bid=cat_hatchimals

Hatchimals are magical creatures that live inside of eggs. Who’s inside? It’s a surprise! Each egg contains one of two interactive Hatchimals. Love and care for yours inside the egg and its eyes will light up as it makes cute sounds, telling you how it’s feeling! Once you’ve played with it enough, you’ll see rainbow eyes—that means its time to hatch! Hatchimals can’t hatch on their own. Your touch encourages them to peck their way out of the egg! It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience! Now you get to raise your furry Hatchimal through 3 stages, from baby to toddler, to kid. Your Hatchimal sings “Hatchy Birthday” each time it enters a new stage! Teach yours to walk, dance, play games and more! It will even repeat what you say in its own voice! Hatchimals — who will you hatch?

How long before a company sells cute little pieces of coal as the latest Christmas craze? That seems more peaceful!

[pipi_k]

11. Remember

the Pet Rocks people were buying in the 70s?

At least the success rate was near 100% on those...

[ProfessorGAC]

13. Speak For Youself!

My pet rock was obviously dead long before it was purchased. I opened that box and that thing was dead a long time!

[pinboy3niner]

15. It's so sad when your dream turns to schist. nt

[ProfessorGAC]

16. Superb, Pinboy!

I was a rock collector as a kid. That really was funny!

[malaise]

31. Oh My!

[pipi_k]

18. I can't...

Sadly, I had to look on in envy while other people showed off their pet rocks.

My family couldn't afford them.


We were still relatively poor a decade later when the fashion was holey jeans. Yep, kids bought 'em that way. We were so poor my kids had to get regular jeans and make their own holes...

[leftyladyfrommo]

28. My parents would never have spent

money for a pet rock.

Course they came along long after I was a child.

[TheBlackAdder]

21. I remember us four kids pressuring my dad to spend $5.95 each on them, he really didn't want to.

.


They were stupid, but for teens and under they provided a few hours of fun and weeks of delayed distractions.


.

[treestar]

22. Lol

The owners manual was really funny.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

24. Yeah, I remember!

LOL! I'm glad that my parents didn't buy one for me!

I didn't ask for one anyway. I also looked at a pet rock and the "instructions" at a friend's house, and that satisfied my slight curiosity in just a few seconds!

[doggie breath]

38. I think

I threw my Pet Rock through my neighbor's Pet Window when he was playing his Pet Stereo way too loud one night.
He may have been playing Pet Sounds.

It was long ago...

[Javaman]

6. "His Hatchimal did not hatch"

ahh yes, the laws of natural plastic selection.

[pinboy3niner]

7. I got one and it's starting to hatch...

...but I'm now having second thoughts about this.

[hatrack]

8. I say we take off and nuke the entire toy store from orbit . . .

It's the only way to be sure.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

9. Don't let 'em kiss ya Hawkeye

[Codeine]

27. Game over, man. Game over. nt

[pipi_k]

10. Stupid parents!

I feel sorry for the kids but not the parents.

First of all, falling into the "my kid just HAS to have this toy!!!" trap.


Second...as if parents don't already know that not every egg in the world hatches. Do they really need a lesson in the realities of life?

Not every seed germinates. Not every caterpillar turns into a butterfly. Not every kid is born into the world with two arms and two legs.

and not every Hatchimal is going to hatch.

Duh to them. Next Christmas buy your kid a toy that will engage his imagination for more than the couple of minutes it takes for a fucking stuffed whatever-that-thing-is to hatch from a plastic eggshell.

[Vinca]

12. I must start "hatching" an idea for next year's must have toy.

It's amazing what people will shell out good money for.

[pipi_k]

19. OMG! Don't egg them on! n/t

[kairos12]

14. It was all a shell game.

[lindysalsagal]

17. Hatch with a hitch.

[TheBlackAdder]

20. I wonder what happened to the woman who put $23K of them on credit and eBay restricted her account.

.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4017722/Sara-Gruel-struggles-sell-Hatchimals.html

Sara Gruen, who lives in Asheville, North Carolina with her husband and their three sons, spent $23,595 to purchase the toys on eBay after Black Friday. Demand for Hatchimals has been so high this Christmas season that parents have struggled to get their hands on them. The interactive toys come in an egg and need to be cajoled until they hatch, at which point children can take care of them and teach them tricks.

Gruen said she wanted to resell her Hatchimals and use the money to pay the legal fees of a man she believes was wrongfully convicted of murder 23 years ago. She claimed she had already racked up $150,000 of debt trying to get the man's case back before the Supreme Court and that she was working on a documentary series about the convict, whom she has not named.
.
.
But Gruen was shocked to see that eBay would only allow her to sell three Hatchimals per week, meaning she would be able to get rid of less than ten toys before Christmas. Gruen thought she had run up the credit cards for nothing and quickly saw what she thought was a clever plot turn into a nightmare

.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

23. Ah, Ebay dreams!

I "won" a lottery last year to buy up to four college football championship game tickets at face value, so I did. I had no plans to attend the game in Glendale AZ, but I figured that Ohio State might reach the game again and crazy Buckeye fans around here would be eager to buy the tickets.

More significantly, I knew that tickets the previous year for the title game between Ohio State and Oregon sold at many times their face value!

Ohio State didn't even reach the semi-finals, but it also turned out that Alabama and Clemson fans weren't as loose with their money! I cancelled my Ebay listing of the tickets after I finally dropped prices down to face value and they still didn't sell.

I later sold them on TicketMaster at barely above face value (after fees) when other sellers were requesting far more there, making my low price stand out among them. Whew!!

Just a couple days later, the typical asking prices on TicketMaster (still many days before the game would be played) were lower than face value! And they just kept falling in price thereafter.

What a difference from the previous year!

I also later discovered that airlines out of Atlanta and other places close to both Clemson and Alabama had jacked up their rates so high that many fans decided they didn't want to go.

[Henry Krinkle]

25. Ebay: The boulevard of broken dreams

LOL!!!

[Buckeye_Democrat]

26. OMG!

That lady was willing to spend 100 thousand dollars on iPhones when they first hit the market?!

[Warpy]

29. I have to love it when wannabe scalpers lose out

Cheaters win far too often in this country.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

30. I tend to agree! They're "middle men" who add little except higher costs.

I didn't like it when it happened to me, or almost did since I only made a few bucks of profit on each CFP championship ticket that I sold, but it was a good lesson for me!

EDIT: It's a good thing that I "came to my senses" when I did or I could've lost a bunch of money!

[cwydro]

35. Talk about a first world problem.

God, this country sometimes...

[Justice]

36. There is a Trump joke in here somewhere.

[oberliner]

37. Does this count as fake news?

An article about a disappointing toy?

[Blue_Roses]

39. My daughter works at ToysrUS

and she said these things were flying off the shelves. The employees were baffled by all the hoop-la since they knew the Hatchimals didn't do anything but hatch.