Hey Santa, See You In Court

Order fulfillment just got tougher, thanks to a class-action lawsuit slapped on Toys "R" Us by a disgruntled customer who claims the toy retailer accepted Christmas orders while knowing it could not deliver them on time. The suit, filed in Superior Court in Washington state, comes after toysrus.com acknowledged problems with its Web site during the holidays, including outages due to high traffic and delivery delays.

     The plantiff, Kimberly Alguard of Lynnwood, Wash., is seeking class action status against the toy retailer's online division, according to a statement by her attorney, Steve Berman. If her request is approved, the suit would represent customers who purchased goods from the Web site by December 14, 1999, but did not receive the purchases by Christmas. Toys "R" Us set December 14 as the cutoff date for guaranteed Christmas delivery.

     Alguard claims that she ordered gifts from Toysrus.com on December 7 and requested delivery in three to six days. The retailer allegedly told Alguard that she would receive her order by December 22. Instead, on that date, Toysrus.com President John Barbour announced that the company would not be able to deliver promised goods.

     ToysRUs has issued $100 coupons to Internet shoppers who did not receive their orders in time for Christmas. Toysrus.com began experiencing problems in late November due to heavier-than-expected traffic.

     A Toysrus.com spokesperson said the company would not comment on pending litigation.