Australian Release of Masterpiece Shadow Panther Canceled

Australian fan and Ozformers member millhouse is reporting some sad, but not unexpected news: Toys R Us Australia is canceling preorders for its exclusive distribution of TakaraTomy's Masterpiece Shadow Panther. TRU Australia took preorders for the Masterpiece Cheetor recolor back in February with delivery planned for late this year. However, the retailer's current voluntary administration process (equivalent to bankruptcy) has made fulfilling that plan impossible. However, while it's unfortunate enough that the distribution has been canceled, it actually get worse for the affected customers. Keep reading to find out the details.


Normally with a preorder, if a retailer has to cancel the sale, a customer would expect any money paid to be returned. However, the cancellation e-mail makes quite clear that Toys R Us Australia has no intention of refunding any affected customers. They offer as recourse that customers may select an equivalent value of merchandise from the online store. If that's not satisfactory, customers can have their information forwarded to the retailer's creditors, who apparently will communicate with customers to obtain proof of debt which sounds like you'll simply be added to the waiting list as TRU's assets are liquidated and hopefully you'll eventually receive money back.

The final suggestion they give is to simply initiate a dispute or chargeback with your bank or credit card provider, which will "more than likely" result in money being returned. This is an extremely bad situation and easily the worst possible outcome for customers to find themselves in. Toys R Us Australia is being painted in a particularly negative light as a result of this, but it's very likely that the administration procedures have ultimately led to the situation where the company cannot access any money to issue refunds directly as efforts are made to pay the creditors off.

We offer our sympathies to anyone impacted by this and hope that you'll be able to recover your money with a minimum of hassle involved.