Young Explorers

horrible company !!! worst customer service !!! they would not refund me !!! it took 5 phone calls and two hours of time and a credit card dispute to get the refund !!! do not buy from them !!!

Do not buy from this company. The customer service is below one star. The shipping is LONG with no method to track your package or get a response from customer service. Two products I ordered were OK but two were extremely disappointing. The Mermaid is cheaply made, the stickers tear when removed from paper to apply and the Mermaid doesn’t swim well. The combination Telescope/​Microscope is a disappointment. The Telescope appears to work but the microscope does not work. They seem poorly made and I am surprised Vivitar puts their good name on these products. i will attempt to return these for refund or replacement and I am hoping this is successful since contacting them directly is impossible.

I received an unsolicited catalog, and waited 10 minutes by phone to have my name and address removed, only to be told that «the mailbox is full — call back later.» Then I attempted to have the name and address removed using the website, only to find that Young Explorers hasn’t figured how to make that available to the public. I don’t think this company even deserves a single star rating.

I am so sorry I didn’t read the reviews before I placed my order. I ordered Christmas gifts for my grandsons (disappointing items… not as advertised). In January a $ 14.95 charge appeared on my credit card. I emailed Young Explorers TWICE asking to remove it and received an automatic response that I would hear from them in 24 hours. No response came. My life became very crazy for a few months and I did not check my account until a few days ago when to my outrage the $ 14.95 charge has been deducted every month!!! When I called Young Explorers they said it was for a VIP subscription, whatever that even means. I told them I wanted the money refunded at which time they said I needed to call another 800#, which did not work. I called back, they gave me another # which I called but they couldn’t help & gave me ANOTHER 800 # to call! This # worked & but they said they would escalate to main office but I needed to be patient because they were having technical difficulties!!! Today I called my credit card company (should have done this from beginning) and they will handle this from here on out & fight for me. So disappointing and again I am amazed they are still in business. Wish I could give NO STARS!!!

Well, ordered 2 gifts from this company — $ 70 worth of Christmas gifts for my boy.
See below email I sent on 31 December 2014, then nudged up twice more. No response.
How can companies exist like this in this day and age?
Wow. Just gross. Not even a response.
«Good Morning
I am originating an email about my huge disappointment regarding the below order.
These are things that my child picked out from your catalog months before, and we ordered them at no small expense for his Christmas presents.
He opened these gifts and the Glove Shooter couldn’t be activated by my six year old, and barely even activated when I tried it. Far too difficult to squeeze the activator for a child. Like I said, I could barely activate it.
On the Micro Spy Set, my son loved all the spy gadgets but by the next morning, all but one had stopped working. I went out and purchased batteries for these — all lithium «button» batteries, which was not cheap nor convenient. This only seemed to revive one of the toys. So he ended up with 2 working toys out of the set.
To have spent a total in excess of $ 70 to get these, I must say I’m quite disappointed.
I would like to know the way forward here in getting these returned.
I only have the packaging for the glove.
Sincerely,
Dan Brown

I wish i had read these reviews before placing my order. I spent close to 100 on pure junk. The magazine came to our house and I let my child pick out a couple items for her Christmas list. It wasn’t until opening the packaging I saw the poor quality of these products. The spy kit which was around 35 dollars came with zero instructions or directions as to what each piece does and a couple of the items included in the kit don’t even work (and I really have no idea what they are supposed to do). Second item was a doorbell/​messaging machine. at least this item came with instructions but it was poorly translated and hard to understand, and it barely works. Lesson learned, will never order from them again.

Avoid this company!
On 12/​11, I placed an order online and paid $ 24 for expedited shipping. All items said they were in stock. They did not ship until ¹²⁄₁₅ and they shipped it via FedEx SmartPost which is not quick shipping. I am currently trying to track down my package with the USPS and it looks like I am not going to get these items before Christmas.
I tried to call them to complain about the «expedited» shipping, but was on hold for an hour and then gave up.
Save yourself some stress and don’t order from them!

I wish I would have read these reviews before I placing my order. Customer service lacks «service» as they are of no help, in addition the wait time to get through to anyone is ridiculous; 38 minutes. This should have been my clue to go elsewhere. My major complaint is having to pay double shipping fees — Standard Shipping fees ON TOP of their Express Shipping fees. One shipping fee should suffice, instead I’m being charged two shipping fees. I’m pretty sure it is illegal to charge customers twice for one shipment. I will follow up with the Better Business Bureau.

We’re a nonprofit nursery school that ordered a toy from Young Explorers last month. It has not arrived, and several phone calls and e-​mails to customer service have gone unanswered. We’ll be calling our credit card company to hopefully reverse the charge, and let them know that this is not a legitimate business. I’m also placing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Do not purchase anything from here! I recommend Kidding Around instead.

I am giving one star because I can’t give zero. I ordered a tabletop easel for my niece in November and was unaware until I received a letter today that not only did she not receive it but the order was cancelled. As this was a gift and she lives out of state I had no idea that she hadn’t received it. Will never order from here again.

The Worst Customer Service I have ever experienced. I will never do business with them again. I was offered the VIP Membership which included 10% cash back and free shipping on the order just completed. I followed instructions to the letter and called to confirm it. I emailed 6 or 7 times and go NO response. Asked for phone calls with NO response. Called customer service # 3 or 4 times and just got the run around. It is Now 7 weeks later and I am disgusted.

This is literally the worst company I ever ordered from online. My experience was exactly the same as those listed below. I placed an order, everything looked fine, no mention of backorders, etc. I never get a shipping confirmation and Christmas is coming… I try to track the order online and I get a message that it can’t be tracked online. I call the company and an automated message tells me that it’s backordered. When I get tired of waiting, I cancel the order and they ship it anyway. I e-​mail the company saying I cancelled the order and I would like them to pay for the return freight (since it was already January 8^th or 9^th and WAY to late for Christmas) and I get an automatic e-​mail saying they would contact me within 24 hours… that was about two weeks ago. I would never do business with them again. I would say that they operate like two teenagers out of a garage, but they have a nice catalog, so I don’t think that’s true. 0 Stars.

Our children excitedly crafted their Xmas list based on this catalogue. Two of the products they ordered broke immediately, as in before the product could be used even once. A third broke a few hours later.
I emailed young explorers customer service twice, telling them about the problems. Their automatic email response was that they would get back to me with one business day. It has been over a week nd I have heard noting back from them. Please save yourself from similar frustrations and do not order from this company!

The products we ordered from this website are uniformly cheap and poorly made. More than one broke ON XMAS DAY. Don’t let the constructive nature of the products fool you into thinking the quality is good; it is not. Avoid this website.

I ordered gifts on Dec 16 for Christmas arrival. A feat most companies have no problem achieving. Basically, they didn’t ship until the 19^th. What company tthey akes more than one day to get something organzied and shipped… still managed to get to my house by christmas eve, but barely. I got them at 5 pm, right after church. I had to pull a fast one to get myself home before the kids did so I could get the gifts off the front porch.
My bigger disappointment is the toys are of a really really bad quality, cheap flimsy, real crap. Yet, they charge totally exorbitant prices for this cheap crap. And they have shipping fees when no one else does. I spent over 100 on toys and the put shipping on top of it. Amazon will get my business from now on.
Also, beware. While using their website they have a scam where they offer you 60% off… you may think you are signing up for emails alerts, but you are not… they will charge you a monthly fee for some mystery discount. BEWARE what you click. I can easily see someone clicking ok, not knowing they will get charged for it.
Potpourri is the parent company and other websites associated with this company can be found on the «about us» page on their website. I wouldn’t order from any of them.

What a mess of a company.
We placed an order in November. They decided to confirm that we really placed the order since the shipping address was different from our billing address. OK. Did they call? Email? No, wrote a paper letter — a week after we placed our order. And, per the post office date stamp on the envelope, it then took them another 14 days to get the letter to a post office. We called and confirmed, and they offered to ship by 2-​day delivery due to their delay. OK. A couple days later my wife realized she still hadn’t received email confirmation the items had shipped. She called and after a long game of ‘push 1′ was told ‘oh, several of the items are out of stock…’ Did they ever plan on telling us, or would we just have to tell our children that some of Santa’s elves aren’t very organized and perhaps they’d get some of their gifts in the summer…
Avoid

Worst company I have EVER ordered from. Customer Service is the most unprofessional disorganized bunch of nitwits of any company I have EVER interacted with. I agree with previous reviews… avoid this company at all costs… no matter how bad your kid wants it. They are a total scam. Can’t get a straight answer out if them on the status if my order placed over a week ago, which I paid rush shipping for. Highly highly unprofessional.

Yikes!!!
I’m registering for Unilocal,just to warn people about this company. I’ve tried for two weeks to get hold of them for a response on a defective item. Nothing other than an auto responder that indicates someone will get back to me within a day. Yea right!
This appears to be some type of sham company. Stay as far away as you can.

This catalog company is the most disorganized operation I’ve ever done business with. They screwed up an order that I submitted and would not take responsibility for it. If you need to purchase toys go to ToysRUs or Target. I paid $ 30.90 for two-​day shipping and got my shipment a week later. They actually deserve zero stars.

This company rates a big fat 0 on customer service! Received a ‘confirmation’ that my order shipped along with a tracking number. Turns out they never shipped it at all. The guys answering the phone there are pretty gruff and rude.