ARGOS have been accused of buying goods from Del Trotter after a mum discovered her baby’s new toy was singing – in French.
Amy Lawman ordered a “learn with me” baby walker for her 11-month-old son, George, hoping it would help with her firstborn’s language development.
But the 30-year-old quickly discovered that every time George pressed a button on the Fisher Price toy, it produced a stream of fluent French.
And Amy, from St Neots, Cambridgeshire, could find no way to switch off the Gallic gabbling and restore the language of Shakespeare.
Amazingly, Argos have promised to replace the £28 toy but admit there is no guarantee the learning toy “will be in English”.
After receiving the toy on January 9, Amy gave up trying to fix it and contacted Argos 11 days later, asking: “Have you been procuring your baby walkers from Del Boy?
“We’ve just put batteries in ours and it’s speaking French.”
Video shows a button being pressed and then a light flashing between red and orange.
The toy then begins to speak in French, instructing the child to hold onto the handle and move to walk well with it.
It then stops and a button is pushed again and the toy begins singing the alphabet song in French very excitedly.
Speaking today, Amy said: “We thought it was absolutely hilarious, it reminded us of Only Fools and Horses, one of Del Boy’s market knock offs. Our one year old son George didn’t mind but he loves pressing the buttons now because he knows it makes us laugh so he looks round for our reaction.
“It’s supposed to be in English. I’m sure there’s an episode where Del Boy has got little dolls which look great but when you turn them on they sing in Chinese or something.
“Argos have said they will call the manufacturer to see if there is any way to reset it or change it, and if not then they will replace it. They are now saying they can arrange a replacement but with no guarantee that will be in English either.”
A message from Argos to Amy, apparently struggling to be in English, states: “I can arrange a replacement. But there is not (sic) guarantee the toy would be in English.”
At least one other Argos customer appears to have experienced the same problem.
Upsetnan wrote in the customer review section of the Argos page on January 2: “This item will be going back to the store as the language is not English, very disappointed for my grandson.”
An Argos spokesperson said, “ We are investigating with Fisher Price and have contacted Amy to apologise and arrange a replacement.”
