mariahan's Full Review: Rescue Pets Myepets.Com Plush Yellow Dog
My daughter received MGA Entertainment's Rescue Pets Myepets.com Plush Yellow Dog for Christmas this year. This is the second Myepets.com dog she has received. While we did have some difficulty registering her pets, this has been a worthwhile toy.
How It Works
Myepets.com allows users (purchasers of these specific Myepets stuffed animals) to register their dogs on a website using a special hidden code that is attached to the animal. (When purchasing one of these toys, make sure the little plastic pocket shaped like a bone and attached to the front of the stuffed animal, appearing as a tag on the dog's collar, is intact. When I see these toys at stores, several of them have had the tags removed by people who want the code for free.) Once a consumer registers their code, they can name their dog and that animal becomes an online persona that can play in the virtual world at Myepets.com. The site includes various games and game-like activities, like bathing and grooming your pet, taking him to the vet, etc.
The Virtual World
The biggest draw to this toy is not the physical toy itself, it is the virtual world the child can play in. A parent can limit some of the content for their child (for example, the site offers the ability to chat with other users, and a parent can eliminate this option with the parental settings.)
The site is clear, colorful and fairly easy to navigate. My daughter is 7 years old and does well playing on the site, with me nearby to offer occasional help as she needs it. Most often her main difficulty is when she is choosing a game to play in the Arcade section of the virtual world. When a user selects a game by clicking on it, the game begins in a separate pop-up window. This window often pops up secondarily, behind the current open window, so my daughter does not see the pop-up game window and thinks the game did not start. Then I point out the bottom of the screen that shows active/open windows, and how to click on them to navigate between them. She is beginning to understand this and doesn't need my help with this much anymore.
A child can play games and other activities on the site, and earn points for doing so. These points are represented as currency, which can be used to "buy" things for their Epet. (For example, the Epet has a virtual room or house, and the child can purchase furniture and other things to dress up this space.)
History
The site was launched this past late summer/early fall, and seems to be in good working order. Some of the content will change and activities will be added over time. When we first joined the site with our first pet in October, there was an area that was under construction.
Something I did not appreciate when I was researching problems with this toy was the Rescue Pets Myepets.com toys were sold before the Myepets.com was activated. So some purchasers had to wait several weeks, possibly months, before the virtual pet/online play component of this toy was available to them. This is purely poor business practice to offer a toy for sale before its main draw, being able to play online, is ready.
Glitches and Customer Service
When we purchased our first pet in October 2007, we had some challenges finding a name for our pet that wasn't already in use by another user. Each person registers under a screen name and password linked to a specific email account; screen names, for obvious reasons, cannot be duplicated. However, once you are logged in under your screen/user name, you can name your pets. Unfortunately, you cannot choose a pet name that has been used by someone else. Want to name your pet Spot? You are out of luck. Since there are a limited number of characters you can use for a pet name and spaces are not allowed, one must get creative to name their pet.
My daughter received this Yellow Dog Myepet for Christmas. When we tried to register it, by logging in to her account and selecting the "adopt/register another pet" option, it told us that our code was invalid. I tried again several times, but still got that same response. I sent an email to the company to indicate the problem, and got a generic email reply that stated "we cannot replace lost or stolen codes." This irritated me greatly, as my code was neither lost or stolen.....I was staring right at the tag with the code printed on it. It has been sealed inside the plastic envelope attached to the toy and did not give any indication of having been tampered with. I tried calling the company's 800 number and got a busy signal. I found another way to send an email through the company's website and it told me to expect a reply within about 24 hours. Several days later, no reply. I tried again to call the 800 number and spoke to a representative. She quickly helped me out, gave us a new code, and entered it in the website for us. All we had to do was name the pet the next time we logged in to my daughter's account. I was pleased with the assistance I received, but displeased that my email messages were neglected.
Summary
All in all, my daughter has enjoyed this toy because of the virtual online world her pet can play in. While we have experienced glitches that required customer service, I was satisfied with the service we received to sort out the problem, but I do not appreciate the way they address customer emails.
Having had this difficulty in registering this last pet, I don't think our household will be adding any more of these to our collection, as much as my daughter would like to have each and every pet.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 8.99 Type of Toy: Stuffed Toy
Age Range of Child: 6 to 8 Years
Your pet's secret code lets you explore his virtual world! Your Mt e-Pet uses speech bubbles to talk to you online Earn points by regularly feeding, g...More at Amazon Marketplace
Your pet's secret code lets you explore his virtual world! Your Mt e-Pet uses speech bubbles to talk to you online Earn points by regularly feeding, g...More at Amazon Marketplace
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