For Christmas this year, one of my daughters presents was this cute little pink MobiGo2 from VTech. It was a bit of a financial stretch for us, but we managed to get it for her.
It slides open to reveal a keyboard for some of the games.
So, great present right? Why am I writing this blog post? Well, it’s to do something that I’ve never done before. I’m writing about a product that I did not receive free to review, I paid for this out of pocket. My experience with VTech and their customer service has been a very unpleasant situation, and I will never but another VTech toy again.
I don’t discuss my finances, well because it’s nobody’s business. My husband is the only one working, making just above minimum wage (Min. wage here is $7.80, he’s making $8.50) to support us two and our three children. So, on average he’s making $1000-1100 a month, for 5 people that doesn’t go far. So when I had to scrimp and save to afford this toy for my daughter, I was pretty excited that I was able to pull it off. Christmas day is always a joyful day here in our home, and we couldn’t wait for Jade to open her MobiGo and realize what cool thing she had gotten.
After dumping $50 on the system, I could not afford any games, but since there are 3 free game downloads included, I figured no big deal, I could at least download her those 3 games. After I got all of the Christmas food cooking, I went online and started the registration for the MobiGo. There was a software update needed before I could download the games so I followed the instructions completely. After the update, there were no games anywhere, and no longer free for me to download.
There are a few games already on the system, one is a letter shooting game where you have to type in on the keypad. That’s where we found out that not all of her letters are working. Needless to say, at this point I’m a frustrated consumer.
I have spoken to customer service through email, and after no resolve I called customer service to see if I could figure it out over the phone. I have misplaced my receipt so it’s not just as easy as taking to the store I bought it from and exchanging, I’ve tried that.
Here’s the solutions that VTech came up with: I’m being sent a BLUE replacement, not the pink I sought out and paid for. BUT I do not get the replacement until I have shipped back the pink one, and then it will take 10-14 more days to get the BLUE MobiGo. So, I’m left trying to explain to a 2 year old that they can not have their Christmas present for about a month, when we did nothing wrong. VTechs answer was that I can purchase online for full price again and once the defective one is received back I will be refunded. Sure, if I was made of money that would be no problem, but I’ve already explained my finances. That is in no way an option for us.
After my experience with VTech, I am never going to purchase another VTech toy, EVER. The cost is pretty high, the product doesn’t work, and then you have to wait for a month to get a replacement, that is not what you bought, and have to deal with an upset toddler that doesn’t understand why they can’t have their toy.
Horrible, horrible, horrible customer service, VTech, you have lost my business and I hope I’ve opened the eyes of others to be cautious doing business with you.
Stephany's Sweet Life 
I have had a similar situation with my phone company. My phone died, and I was on a 3 year contract with them. They offered me a phone that was not being sold anymore, and they had to get rid of so they offered it at about a 6th of the price. They sent me the phone, where it ended up not having a functioning battery. After countless hours of customer service complaints over the phone, they had told me once they received the phone they would ship out a new one. Shipping in Canada is so slow, so I ended up waiting 2 or 3 weeks without a phone. After I received my phone and was finally happy, they charged me the extra $500 secretly on my bill. So more customer service complaints and finally they took it off my bill. I know how you feel! My contract is over soon with them and I am never giving them my service again! In my opinion, customer service is a deal breaker. I do not give my business to companies that have bad customer service.