Inquiries about stock over the phone

[WereDragon EX]

How much success have people generally had in calling stores like TRU or Wal-Mart (namely individual locations) to inquire about whether or not they have certain figures in stock in a given store? Do you get put on hold often or for too long? Does it help if you have an SKU or UPC? Are customer service reps over the phone generally truthful or not about whether certain things are in stock? Do they check for stock diligently, or just give some sort of "form letter" answer to get rid of you?

[sdmacleod]

Haven't bothered since the hunt for CW Sky Lynx, but at the time, ToysRUs was pretty helpful. Sometimes a long wait for available floor staff.

[Pascal]

It works for me, especially when I have the SKU.

[Yonoid]

Same. Just ask them to put it away in their cabinets. Some stores leave them out in plain view and someone pretended it was theirs and took it.

[evenstaves]

Calling ahead was an invaluable tool back when I had a sweet Xmas Eve raincheck pricing on POTP leaders, I was calling that TRU literally at least once every two days
Didn't get it until right near the end of the 90 days (re: early 2018 drought of POTP leaders), but ultimately did

[MapleMegatron]

I have done so before and it helps quite a bit. No need for useless trips since you know the stuff isnt there.

[WereDragon EX]

Thanks for the responses. That's good to know.


Unfortunately, I've had instances whereby sometimes, the customer sales reps will say over the phone that a given item is in stock at the store, then I go to the store, and discover that not only is the item not on the shelf or in the back, it's supposedly either in transit or on some truck that has yet to be unloaded and it's still entered in the system as "in stock". Very frustrating to experience this, since it essentially means that I made a wasted trip and gas/public transit isn't cheap.

[Longshot]

It hasn't helped me any unless I was talking to someone I knew at TRU. Usually I would just go in person.

[BludChylde]

Never bother.

A long time ago on the Fwoosh forums, there was a story on why not to call stores looking for toys. Tried to google it so I could link it here, but it looks like "Marble Leggings" may have been purged from the site.

[Shockwave 75]

Long ago I came to the conclusion that trying to get a staff member at Walmart to find something in the toy aisle for me was an exercise in futility.