BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

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BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by amonument74 » Thu Oct 04, 2012 7:55 pm

I'd heard of this scam happening at Walmart and Target, don't believe I've seen it happen at B&N....until tonight. Went to purchase a MF 9468 Vampyre Castle with my 30% Kid's coupon. It was the only one left and looked to be in good shape. Everything sealed. I hastily picked it up and checked out...it was almost closing time, and I just wanted to get home.

Got back home to store it away (for my little one's birthday) and thought, wierd...this box doesn't seem to shake right - not enough brick "rattle". Sure enough, I removed the seals on one end and the top had a thin layer of glue applied. My heart sank, I knew what was coming. I opened the box up and bingo....half a built City of Atlantis base, and a Marvel Universe playset. Ugh.....

It was a very convincing re-seal. I'm so mad I fell for it. It didn't even dawn on me at the time to pay as much attention to the seals as I do when purchasing from Walmart. I quickly called back the store, and explained the situation. They didn't have any more left in stock, but said I could exchange at another local store who had it available. One thing's for sure, I will have the employee open the box in front of me to verify the contents this time.

Very, very frustrating....and I fear this may be becoming an unfortunately common trend. I really pity the less savy Lego purchasers, who might have hidden this away for a month or 2 for a christmas gift for one of their kids. Imagine the look of disbelief on that poor child's face come christmas morning :(

Anyone else experience a similar situation??

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by legohunter » Thu Oct 04, 2012 9:03 pm

You may avoid this happening if you order your items online in your next purchase. ;-) I never heard this kind of issue at online order.

Anyway, it is a good remind to us for shopping at in-store. In fact, I always forgot to check the "seal".

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by SpaceViking » Thu Oct 04, 2012 9:38 pm

legohunter wrote:You may avoid this happening if you order your items online in your next purchase. ;-) I never heard this kind of issue at online order.
I wouldn't say 'never'. On one of the "mini-fig case from amazon.fr" (or .es?) threads here, someone complained that the case of 60 they received was devoid of any good figs. (Someone else had bought a case, swapped out the desirable figs for less desirable ones, and then returned it to amazon, who sold it as 'new'.) Fraud can happen on-line, too, although its thankfully rare.

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by jsnweitzel » Fri Oct 05, 2012 5:58 am

Why does lego use the plastic sticker seals versus gluing the boxes (they used to right)? Did they ever discuss with the AFOLs on why they made these changes? Just curious, cause I would think that trying to pry open a glued box would be more difficult and leave tampering evidence. With enough effort, anything can be faked but heavily glued boxes would at least slow down shoplifters in my opinion. Saw a couple of open boxes at Walmart the other day with the contents gone.

Lego has grown more popular and expensive in recent years and the lego after-market has grown as well. Unfortunately, demand for the toys is causing this.

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by pumbaugh » Fri Oct 05, 2012 6:14 am

Actually the glue seals are just as bad. People use an exacto knife or such along the box seam(usually long end) and seperate only the glue from the cardboard...take what they want and reglue it. I find it just as difficult if not more difficult to notice. The seperating the box seam is the only time I have been duped by what looked like a fresh new set. Thankfully the retailer, which I can not honestly remember at the moment, took it back no questions asked.

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by Orangechef » Fri Oct 05, 2012 6:44 am

Had this problem with Diagon Alley from Amazon US, was almost the same feeling as if I had opened the package and found another brand of blocks.

Didn't LEGO use the clear window with front flap on larger sets in the past? I still have the box for black seas barracuda and it has one on there. Seems like that would help with the problem.

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by brickarmor » Fri Oct 05, 2012 7:37 am

I have cliched nightmares where I wake up in a panting sweat because the QAR I sold to somebody in Laos 5 years from now is filled with Trios, Kreos, and mouse dung.

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by amonument74 » Fri Oct 05, 2012 8:33 am

Just a quick follow-up: Was able to exchange this morning at a B&N that had it instock. No questions asked, in fact the manager told me she'd seen this happening more and more lately. Just awful. I had her open the box to verify the contents this time, I was so paranoid. Thankfully everything was present and correct in this one.

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by dilbert12 » Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:46 am

jsnweitzel wrote:Why does lego use the plastic sticker seals versus gluing the boxes (they used to right)?
I thought plastic factory sealed stickers were better. It's easy to open a glued box and reglue as it's hidden. Plastic seals can rip the outside box or show signs of tampering. Maybe they can put stronger adhesive to make sure it rips the box when removed.

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by spacysmoke » Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:07 am

Some people open the bottom of the box, thus never needing to tamper with the sticker seals. Had this happen to me with a Pirates of the Caribbean set when they first came out; they had taken all the minifigs and reglued the box. So in my opinion, simply gluing the sides would be worse because the damage is easier to hide.

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by beartrapper25 » Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:59 am

Was your castle from the Germantown B&N near the Rio? I stopped by there a few weeks ago hoping to pick up that set and it appeared to me that the tape seal had been removed and replaced so I passed on it.

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by nick91884 » Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:05 am

legohunter wrote:You may avoid this happening if you order your items online in your next purchase. ;-) I never heard this kind of issue at online order.

Anyway, it is a good remind to us for shopping at in-store. In fact, I always forgot to check the "seal".
I had this happen with an barnes and noble order. viewtopic.php?f=82&t=5872" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"The problem with quotes on the internet is it's difficult to determine if indeed they are true" -Abraham Lincoln

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by legohunter » Fri Oct 05, 2012 4:23 pm

nick91884 wrote: I had this happen with an barnes and noble order. viewtopic.php?f=82&t=5872" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Lol, it wasn't in my memory until you brought it up.

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by jsnweitzel » Fri Oct 05, 2012 8:51 pm

dilbert12 wrote:
jsnweitzel wrote:Why does lego use the plastic sticker seals versus gluing the boxes (they used to right)?
I thought plastic factory sealed stickers were better. It's easy to open a glued box and reglue as it's hidden. Plastic seals can rip the outside box or show signs of tampering. Maybe they can put stronger adhesive to make sure it rips the box when removed.
I was thinking glue, instead of sticker, would be better to discourage somone from opening the box. Not necessarily buy and return, I had shoplifters on my mind at the time. Easy to quickly cut the two seals, open a box, grab something and keep moving.

I don't know when lego glued boxes. My son is 8, so we've only been buying lego for maybe 3 or 4 years. So I don't know what it was like in the past. I think lego needs a heavy duty glue. The type that holds manufacturing boxes together, that stuff is tuff and if you try to pull it apart, the box tears. This is a growing trend and it will continue to get worse. My sons other toys come with rubber bands, wire twist ties, packaging tape, etc... Lego needs to revamp their packaging.

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by FamilyFun » Tue Oct 09, 2012 4:31 pm

You have brought up a valuable point that would have never crossed my mind when buying in-store. Thanks so much for bringing this up, particularly before the busy Christmas season.

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by drtabo » Tue Oct 09, 2012 5:19 pm

Thanks to sharing your story about the story doing the right thing. Good to hear there was no drama.

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by CharliesDad » Thu Oct 11, 2012 12:27 pm

And let's remember that while it's a major pain in the ass for the buyer, more often or not, the retailers makes things right. But the downside to all of us is that the theft underlying this problem only adds more cost to an already expensive hobby.

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by mshiels » Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:16 am

And this is exactly why at our physical store Lasting Toys, we do not accept returns period. Too often have I bought stuff personally at big chains in USA and found it not quite as expected once you opened it up.

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by Brick75T » Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:46 am

mshiels wrote:And this is exactly why at our physical store Lasting Toys, we do not accept returns period. Too often have I bought stuff personally at big chains in USA and found it not quite as expected once you opened it up.
Not quite sure how this works in every country, but many countries (and probably some states in the US) have buyers remorse laws. I googled a bit and was actually surprised thought that the basic federal 3 day rule does not apply if you buy an item in a store (see below). Good to know, as I vaguely assumed that the 7 day return policy that most stores seem to have, was some kind of legal thing.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consume ... pro03.shtm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: BE CAREFUL!! Just got scammed @ B&N.

Post by mshiels » Tue Oct 23, 2012 3:28 pm

I have seen a few messages/emails indicating LEGO even wishes the big retailers would not take the returns, because in the long run it's LEGO that gets the bad name. And everyone but the original rip off artist gets hurt, right? I wish LEGO had a route for us to deal with returns, but they don't. If you want to accept returns you eat the loss, which is pretty huge given the light margins on LEGO. It's a really scary situation, and as far as I know not an issue here in Ontario/CAnada. Honestly LEGO should go with the same sort of seals you see on Puzzles. Just wrap the light outer wrapping around the whole things glued down. VERYVERY hard to get into that. All the LEGO boxes have a glued edge, and that's the way the rip off artists get into the boxes, and believe me well done, it's almost impossible to detect!!

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