The holiday's hottest toy quickly turned into one of its biggest disappointments for many families. Now, that disappointment has led to legal action. 
 
 Jodie Hejduk of Bakersfield, California, has filed a class-action lawsuit against Spin Master, alleging the Hatchimal toy she purchased for her daughter never hatched. 
 
 Hatchimals are stuffed animals that start out inside a spotted plastic egg, and are supposed to hatch when the owner rubs the shell. That process should take 25 to 40 minutes, according to Spin Master's website. 
 
 But that wasn't the case for "millions of families throughout this country," Hejduk said in her lawsuit. 
 
 "Millions of children and families across the globe were sourly disappointed with coal in their stockings, in the form of a bait-and-switch marketing scheme perpetrated by Spin Master, the manufacturers of this Christmas season's 'it' gift, Hatchimals," the lawsuit says. 
 
 
 
 "Spin Master knew that the 'hatching' was one of the primary draws of the toy," the suit continued. "One of the company's senior vice presidents recognized that getting the toy to hatch 'resonates well with kids' and that since children do not know what is inside of the egg 'they get excited about what they may get.' This excitement was replaced with extreme disappointment for the many children when their Hatchimals did not hatch." 
 
 A Hatchimal cost about $50, depending on the retailer. However, the part-Furby, part-Tamagotchi toys were popular on the resale market, where they sold for upward of $250. Many parents lined up outside Toys R Us and Wal-Mart stores to purchase the highly sought-after toy. 
 
 However, once children opened their Christmas presents, the buzz surrounding the toys quickly turned from, "Where do I find one?" to "This thing doesn't hatch." 
 
 "I paid triple the price so I could get my 5 yr. old daughter what she wanted but when it was time to play with it the Hatchimal would not respond inside the egg. We watched every YouTube video we could for help, but to no avail ... we had to open it ourselves," one customer wrote on Amazon.com, according to the lawsuit. 
 
 In a statement provided to CNBC, Christopher Harrs, Spin Master's executive vice president and general counsel, said that "Spin Master stands behind its products and cares about its consumers." 
 
 "Given the popularity of Hatchimals and the overwhelmingly positive consumer response, a large number of Hatchimals were purchased as gifts and opened on Christmas day. As a result, the Company experienced a higher than anticipated number of consumer calls over the holiday period," Harrs said. 
 
 "Spin Master took extraordinary and proactive steps to respond to consumer questions regarding Hatchimals," he continued. "The company provided troubleshooting support and where required immediately made available replacement products for those few consumers whose toys did not work as they anticipated. The allegations from the class action lawyer are simply inaccurate and not based on actual facts." 
 
 Hejduk's lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. 
 
 
 
 Update: This story has been updated to include comment from Spin Master ||||| After complaints that a sought-after children's toy "Hathchimals" didn't do the main thing it advertises -- hatch from its egg -- a federal class action lawsuit has been filed in California. 
 
 The battery-powered toy is designed to slowly peck its way through the surrounding shell after the egg is rubbed, tapped and warmed, according to the lawsuit. But Jodie Hejduk of Bakersfield filed the complaint, on behalf of a class of other affected people, against Hatchimals' parent company Spin Master after she says the toy she purchased did not hatch. 
 
 Spin Master 
 
 Hejduk says in the lawsuit that she purchased the Hatchimal for approximately $50 on January 14 as a birthday gift for her daughter. She claims she and her daughter followed directions included in the package and the Hatchimal failed to hatch. 
 
 Hejduk is suing for damages relating to Spin Master's "deceptive business practices in selling Hatchimals," according to the lawsuit. Her attorney Mark Geragos, alleges that the company misrepresented the toy. 
 
 "The product is defective and it's unfortunate for all those people because there was kind of a craze about it," Geragos told ABC News. "They ought to rename it the 'bait and switch.'" 
 
 Geragos said Hedjuk was denied a refund or a product repair. The lawsuit also cites several negative reviews on Amazon.com from other consumers saying the toy was defective. 
 
 "My guess is there will be more lawsuits filed any day," Geragos said. 
 
 Spin Master released Hatchimals, which retailed for $50 to $60, on October 7, 2016. But the popular toy often sold out, creating a market for resellers. 
 
 "By November 2016, the products were difficult to find and sold out in many locations, which led to a black market for Hatchimals," the lawsuit alleges. 
 
 Soon, Hatchimals were selling on e-commerce sites for hundreds of dollars, but many parents and children were allegedly let down after the item failed to live up to its name. 
 
 "Spin Master knew that the 'hatching' was one of the primary draws of the toy," the lawsuit said. "Since children do not know what is inside of the egg," the lawsuit alleges that according to a Spin Master senior vice president,"they get excited about what they may get." 
 
 The lawsuit goes onto to say, "This excitement was replaced with extreme disappointment for the many children when their Hatchimals did not hatch." 
 
 The lawsuit also alleges that Spin Master has failed to take "proper action to address its malfunctioning product." 
 
 After receiving complaints that the toy didn't hatch, the company posted onto Facebook that they are "100% committed to bringing the magic of Hatchimals" to all of its customers. 
 
 In a statement to ABC News in December, the company said that while "the vast majority of children have had a magical experience with Hatchimals," it also acknowledged it had received calls from consumers who had "encountered challenges" and that, "To ensure all queries receive a timely response, we have increased the number of Consumer Care representatives, extended our hours, and increased the capacity for callers in the queue to help prevent calls dropped due to the holiday volume." 
 
 "We have also created troubleshooting tips on Hatchimals.com and a video with 'The Top 5 Things to Know About Hatchimals'," the December statement continued. "We are committed to doing everything possible to resolve any consumer issues. We sincerely apologize and thank everyone who is experiencing an issue for their patience." 
 
 Today, Christopher Harrs, executive vice president and general counsel for Spin Master provided a new statement to ABC News: 
 
 "Spin Master stands behind its products and cares about its consumers. Given the popularity of Hatchimals and the overwhelmingly positive consumer response, a large number of Hatchimals were purchased as gifts and opened on Christmas day. As a result, the Company experienced a higher than anticipated number of consumer calls over the holiday period. Spin Master took extraordinary and proactive steps to respond to consumer questions regarding Hatchimals. The Company provided troubleshooting support and where required immediately made available replacement products for those few consumers whose toys did not work as they anticipated. The allegations from the class action lawyer are simply inaccurate and not based on actual facts." 
 
 Geragos maintains that the toy did not function as advertised for many people. 
 
 "Spin Master is aptly self named," Geragos said in response to the company's statement to ABC News. "Our lawsuit is based on actual facts not alternative facts spun by Spin Master." 
 
 Hejduk is seeking "compensatory, statutory, and punitive damages in amounts to be determined by the Court and/or jury," Geragos confirmed. She is also asking for Spin Master to recall defective Hatchimals. ||||| Play Facebook 
 
 Twitter 
 
 Google Plus 
 
 Embed For Some, Hatchimal Toy Craze Has Not Been All It Was Touted to Be 1:29 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog 
 
 The hottest toy of the holiday season has now hatched a lawsuit. 
 
 A California mom has filed a class-action suit against Spin Master, alleging the Hatchimal toy she bought for her daughter's birthday never popped out of its egg. 
 
 Hatchimals are a plastic grapefruit-sized egg that you rub, tip, and tilt for around 25 minutes until a Furby-like interactive creature is electronically stimulated to poke its beak through the plastic. Then you can remove the top and discover whether your Hatchimal is one of five different cute "species," a "Bearakeet," "Burtle," "Draggle," "Owlicorn," or a "Penguala." 
 
 Related: Hatchimals, Barbie Disappoint Parents and Kids on Christmas 
 
 The $50 toys were the "Tickle Me Elmo" or "Teddy Ruxpin" of the year, with parents lining up outside stores chasing scarce supplies, and bidding up sales on third-party sites to $350. 
 
 But that fever turned to frustration and rage when the presents were opened and kids — and their hapless parents —couldn't get them to hatch. They flooded the company's customer service lines and vented on social media. 
 
 @SpinMaster My daughters Hatcnhimal won't hatch out of it's shell! It won't spin around to peck away at the egg and hatch out. Please advise pic.twitter.com/M9swedO1Ct — Dustin Shammo (@dustinshammo) December 26, 2016 
 
 "When we purchase an iPhone, we expect it to make a phone call. When we purchase a yo-yo, we expect it to come back up," the lawsuit alleged. "Unfortunately, this Christmas season, millions of children and families across the globe were sourly disappointed with coal in their stockings, in the form of a bait-and-switch marketing scheme." 
 
 In a statement to CNBC, Spin Master general counsel Christopher Harrs said that the company "provided troubleshooting support and where required immediately made available replacement products for those few consumers whose toys did not work as they anticipated." 
 
 "The allegations from the class action lawyer are simply inaccurate and not based on actual facts," he added. ||||| FRESNO, Calif. (CN) – A federal class action claims that Hatchimals, the nationwide toy craze that hatches from an egg, don’t always hatch, producing unhappiness in families that the filing attorney says can range from “extreme disappointment to tragic.” 
 
 Hatchimals are stuffed animals that hatch out of the colored spotted eggs they are sold in. The creature inside is a mystery, making kids excited to see what they may get. The hatching is the toy’s signature attraction, according to the Jan. 19 lawsuit against Spin Master Corp. 
 
 Spin Master released the toys in early October 2016, in time for the holidays, and they quickly became the year’s must-have gift. By November they were hard to find. Some parents waited for hours outside toy stores; others paid up to seven times the retail price eBay and other internet sites. 
 
 Hatchimals typically sold for $50 to $60. They were advertised Monday morning for $79.99 on the Toys Are U website, and for $59.99 on the Wal-Mart website, which, however, was out of stock. 
 
 Spin Master made an estimated $100 million in profits off the toy, attorney Ben Meiselas said in an interview, but investigations indicate that its failure rate is exceptionally high. 
 
 “This was an aggressive and brilliant marketing campaign built on a house of cards and lies for a product that was not ready for the market,” Meiselas said. “Spin Master knew it was spinning consumers; they knew the product didn’t hatch.” 
 
 He noted the irony of the company’s name: Spin Master. Stories told by families who bought the toy “border on extreme disappointment to tragic, depending on different families’ situations and their ability to purchase these expensive items,” said Meiselas, of Geragos & Geragos in Los Angeles. 
 
 “They were playing on the most visceral emotions of a family: a child’s happiness. It exceeds a mere letdown and caused real damages.” 
 
 Many consumers who tried to solve the problem by contacting Spin Master hit a brick wall, as customer service never returned their calls or messages, “with some customers reporting being on hold for as long as three hours before having their call disconnected,” the complaint states, citing a Dec. 28 article in Global News. 
 
 Lead plaintiff Jodie Hejduk seeks to represent both a California class and a national class, though Meiselas says his office has been getting calls from people around the world. 
 
 “We want Spin Master to stop the spin, be a responsible corporate citizen, and redress the damages to consumers, or it’s headed to a jury of moms and dads, husbands and wives, who will decide whether the product was fraudulent. We think they will,” Meiselas said. 
 
 He said he hopes the class action sends a message to other corporations “looking to exploit the average consumer saving money to buy their kids a gift not to sell a defective product that hits Americans in the pocketbook.” 
 
 Hejduk, who snagged one of the coveted toys for her daughter’s birthday, says her daughter was thrilled to get it, but “dismayed” when it never hatched, though she followed the instructions. 
 
 Other parents have written scathing reviews on Amazon.com and on the Toys R Us website. 
 
 Spin Master promised to address the issues, but the few remedial measures it took were ineffective, according to the 25-page complaint. Hejduk says the company should have recalled the toys or issued refunds, but it did neither. 
 
 Spin Master did not return emailed requests for comment on Friday. 
 
 Hejduk seeks class certification, a recall, restitution with interest, and compensatory, statutory and punitive damages for consumer law violations, unfair competition, false advertising, breach of warranty and unjust enrichment. 
 
 Like this: Like Loading...
– Hatchimals, the hottest toys of the holiday season, laid an egg with many expectant kids Christmas morning when their furry hatchlings refused to come out of their shells. Now the manufacturer, Spin Master, is facing a class-action lawsuit from a California mom who alleges her child's egg was a dud. The lawsuit, filed by Jodie Hejduk of Bakersfield, Calif., on behalf of what the suit says could be millions of consumers, claims Spin Master ran "a bait-and-switch marketing scheme." Hatchimals are plush animals stuffed into plastic eggs that, when the egg is rubbed and cuddled for about half an hour, should begin to peck their way out. While Spin Master acknowledges some of the toys didn't work as intended, the company tells CNBC it "provided troubleshooting support and where required immediately made available replacement products." The toy cost about $50 in stores, but it was so popular it spawned internet bidding up to $350—only to leave many buyers disappointed. One customer wrote on Amazon.com that she "watched every YouTube video we could for help, but to no avail," the lawsuit says, per NBC News. Others complained that calling Spin Master had done no good because the company was "impossible to contact," or that when they got through they were told to open the egg themselves. Spin Master blames the toy's popularity, saying the company "experienced a higher than anticipated number of calls" over the holidays, and that the lawsuit's allegations are "not based on actual facts." But an attorney on the case tells Courthouse News that the toy's failure rate is "exceptionally high," and that the company knew the product wasn't ready for market. Hejduk's lawyer, Mark Geragos, tells ABC News his client was never offered a refund for her defective Hatchimal.