Parents Should Stock Up On Hatchimals Batteries

Be careful who you say the word "Hatchimals" around this year, because the craze over this interactive, hatching toy has driven a few parents crazy. The toy sold out quickly months before the holidays, and then stores were rushing to restock it so that parents wouldn't have to turn to overpriced resellers online before the holidays. Now, after kids across the country have finally gotten to open their Hatchimals and test them how, many parents are wondering just how long Hatchimals batteries last, because it would really suck to get that toy going after fighting to get it and then have it die within a few hours.

According to Spinmaster, each Hatchimal comes with a set of two double-A LR6 batteries. That's great, because then if you buy the toy you know you don't have to worry about running over to a separate part of the store to get batteries to go with it. But some parents who have bought the toy have said others shouldn't be relieved so fast. Fortuned reported that customers told CNN "that the battery life was too short, and the customer service waits too long."

So, though those are just a few complaints out of thousands of toys sold, maybe parents should stock up on extra batteries just to be safe. Because if a child is really loving a new toy, the hellfire that could come if that new toy dies after only a few hours of play is not something I would wish on any parent.

And battery life isn't the only complaint being lobbed at Spinmaster, the creator of Hatchimals. According to Fortune, a number of parents are upset over their purchase of Hatchimals because the toy refuses to hatch. Spinmaster posted a helpful video of how to get your Hatchimal to hatch on YouTube, and also posted a number of answers to hatching issues under the Egg FAQs section of its website.

When you go to the Spinmaster main website, the following message appears before you can even navigate to other parts of the site:

At Spin Master, the most rewarding aspect of what we do is to make life more fun for children around the world. The global response to Hatchimals has been incredible. There have been more than a million successful hatches and we’ve received thousands of positive stories from consumers who are captivated and enchanted by these magical creatures.

We know Hatchimals were difficult to find in advance of the holidays; the global demand exceeded our most aggressive projections. Over the past few days, we have heard from some consumers who have experienced challenges with their Hatchimals and had difficulty contacting our Customer Care team due to the volume of holiday calls. When consumers are disappointed with our products or our customer service, this isn’t acceptable to us. Many of us are parents and understand the feeling of disappointment your families have experienced. For this, we offer our most sincere apologies.

We are 100% committed to bringing the magic of Hatchimals to everyone and addressing consumer concerns. As a result, in the last 48 hours we have more than doubled our Customer Care team to assist with calls and emails, we have extended our hours and many folks from all departments at Spin Master have volunteered to come back from vacation to help us answer your questions and assist in finding solutions. Our goal is to answer your emails within 72 hours. A large percentage of our troubleshooting tips have resulted in successful outcomes. We have also created troubleshooting tips and a video with the Top 5 Things To Know About Hatchimals:

If we can’t find a solution through troubleshooting, our goal is to ship a replacement Hatchimal within 2 days.

It is our priority to ensure our consumers are happy with our products and we are determined to work through and resolve any challenges you may be experiencing. We thank you for your patience; it is truly appreciated.

The company is clearly committed to addressing complaints and faulty toys, though it's unclear what exactly is happening with the awesome hatching mechanism that keeps the toy from hatching in the first place. Romper has reached out to Spinmaster regarding the problem and hasn't yet heard back. Still, if you've bought the toy and things are going well, it's worth stocking up on batteries so that things don't go sour.