10188 - UCS: Death Star

[AFFOL]

thank you ill try that, and thank you everyone else also.  im in shock right now... i dont even know where my reciepts are or even if i kept them.  the only thing I may have is my account on walmart.com and i hope it still has old orders in there.  im not exactly sure where they all came from, but i know i bought the bulk of my 8 death stars within a 3 month period where i had a ton of giftcards and a really good tax return i think 2 years 

 

 

Within a year possibly, however I think after 4 years regardless of the circumstances Australian Law won't be much of assistance.

Hi, Lucifersfury. No, Australian law will be not of much assistance in the U.S, but it could show some pathways.

 

Ideally, the seller should not refuse to deal with a customer about the returned good as we made the arrangement with them.  Hence, approaching the manufacturer directly should be the last option, but as a consumer we can look to this for a remedy. If this were me, I would be on a mission to recover costs no matter the time frame as this was for long term (the product is not exactly marketed for kids at the price and age group of 14 plus)  which include amount for reduction in the products value and compensation for damages or loss. I would not care about being banned by lego to sort this out, as I am sure other arrangements could be made to access the product. I think it is important that Walmart know this to be able to investigate the possibility that perhaps there is some criminal activity amongst staff, even if it were two years ago as these people may still be working there today probably pilfering other sets. Maybe other people maybe in the same boat. 

 

All the best.

 

[biniou]

Oh man ! Vexxet I'm so sorry for you !

You have my sympathy for what it's worth.

 

I'm sending you a PM, maybe it'll help you...

[AFFOL]

Hi, Lucifersfury. No, Australian law will be not of much assistance in the U.S, but it could show some pathways.

 

Ideally, the seller should not refuse to deal with a customer about the returned good as we made the arrangement with them.  Hence, approaching the manufacturer directly should be the last option, but as a consumer we can look to this for a remedy. If this were me, I would be on a mission to recover costs no matter the time frame as this was for long term (the product is not exactly marketed for kids at the price and age group of 14 plus)  which include amount for reduction in the products value and compensation for damages or loss. I would not care about being banned by lego to sort this out, as I am sure other arrangements could be made to access the product. I think it is important that Walmart know this to be able to investigate the possibility that perhaps there is some criminal activity amongst staff, even if it were two years ago as these people may still be working there today probably pilfering other sets. Maybe other people maybe in the same boat. 

 

All the best.

Correction = yes,  Australian law will be not much of assistance after four years... 

[Ed Mack]

Be careful...

[Frank Brickowski]

"10 Things I don't get about LEGO investors
3.) ...some of us ordering over and over again from online shops that are outright famous for bad packaging - resulting in getting their sets in a bad shape over and over again, resulting in trouble again and again."

...or in this case missing parts because of opened boxes. Don't get me wrong - I am really sorry for you, man. But we should all take this as another lesson regarding buying from Walmart and the like. Just keep buying from reputable shops, it will pay off in the end even if you pay more for a set.

 

Hope you get out of this trouble somehow in the end. What exactly is missing? Is it the figures primarily or other things, too?

[KShine]

 

Hope you get out of this trouble somehow in the end. What exactly is missing? Is it the figures primarily or other things, too?

 

I would have to think that it was the minifigs that were missing (too much easy value to remove from a set, and return).

 

Assuming that the minifigs are gone - He should be able to sell them today for 100-150 less (as new/no minifigs).

 

If he waits a couple years (if the set ever retires), he will very likely be able to get the MSRP + (without the minifigs).

Edited February 1, 2015 by KShine

[Kenxxx]

Once I returned a Walmart "Site-to-Store" order due to damaged box.  I think it was a larger LOTR set... something they never stocked in the store. It looked like it had been opened, and the clerk encouraged me to keep it saying "All site to store orders like these are direct from the warehouse. These items never touch end consumer hands."  I still returned it.  She agreed that there can be dishonest people working in a warehouse.  And of course... any of these items could have been customer returns.

 

So sorry for you vexxet.  Hope you can put together some complete sets.  Now I've got to go and weigh my inventory.

[ravenb99]

i got them from Target, Walmart, TRU, and Lego store over a course of 4 years when I had gift cards or whatever from whichever retailer.... I have 8 death stars all from different places.  The target one weighs even more then the 8.2 ones... it came in at 9.4 KG!  wtheck is going on?  anyone else have this problem?

 

 

8.2 = 18.0779 pounds

9.4 = 20.7235

5.4 = 11.9

5.6 = 12.3459

6.8 = 14.9914

 

 

p.s. found another one that weighed 6.8, but then found a super light one that weighs 5.0....

 

(all seals intact mind you)

im pretty pissed right now.

 

 

all the seals on the weird weighted ones say R4 37 whereas the other 2 I got from LS@**** and Target are from 2011 or 2012.

One thing you can do which probably still won't help but gives you something to go on is go to your walmart.com order history.

 

Click on each order and click on each tracking and see what the weight is showing there on the delivered tracking page.  The one on the shipping labels doesn't really matter as most companies have preset weights which can be wrong to begin with.

 

By the time it is delivered it should show the actual weight with decimals etc not just a whole number.  You can always call the shipper and ask what the billable weight was with that tracking as well.

 

Seeing you said all the suspect codes are 37R4 all those orders should be in your order history and they are new enough where the trackings have not been recycled. You would of had to buy all of those in the last 3 months or so like you stated.  So the 4 years wouldn't matter which helps you narrow it down and also makes the transactions much more recent for pursuing something.  

 

Wal-Mart uses all the shippers so would be good if you have a Fedex and UPS one as you would have more to go by.  Fedex is a little more consistent on there delivered tracking info and sometimes UPS doesn't have the info online.

 

A DS should be in the 20lb range shipped (depending on box quaility and shipping materials used).  

 

If you have some recorded shipping weights that are 6-7lbs lighter (12-13lbs with materials) than you at least have a valid claim and they can look at there others shipped as well.

 

Seems odd that you would get 5 in a row over the period of 3-4 months all with that issue and that you wouldn't know the difference when you got it.  A 10lb set and 18lb set are very noticeable (your talking a Tumbler / Town Hall vs a DS / SSD in weight comparison) and anyone who has bought these in quantity knows that's a big difference in weight and feel (which you obviously have with 8 of them).

 

Plus the odds of them pulling from the same period over that time frame and getting tampered / messed up sets does not seem highly unlikely either.

 

Sucks to hear about and hopefully you can get something figured out or resolved

Edited February 1, 2015 by ravenb99

[Frank Brickowski]

Another thing you could do is: order the same amount of NEW Death Stars from Walmart again and return the old ones missing parts as if they were delivered newly. Since they DID in fact sell you the defective ones back then, this is not even wrongful in my opinion.

Edited February 1, 2015 by rfish

[KShine]

 

Seems odd that you would get 5 in a row over the period of 3-4 months all with that issue and that you wouldn't know the difference when you got it.  A 10lb set and 18lb set are very noticeable (your talking a Tumbler / Town Hall vs a DS / SSD in weight comparison) and anyone who has bought these in quantity knows that's a big difference in weight and feel (which you obviously have with 8 of them).

 

Plus the odds of them pulling from the same period over that time frame and getting tampered / messed up sets does not seem highly unlikely either.

 

 

 

I agree, the odds of this happening at all are pretty slim - the odds of the same person getting so many over a long period of time (from the same large distributor) seem like lottery odds.

 

Perhaps the purchase history for these specific ones are from another source (mistakenly believed to be from Walmart).

Edited February 1, 2015 by KShine

[biking_tiger]

If you do the buy new/return trick, it won't be Wal-Mart who suffers, but most likely another buyer. I'm not sure how to proceed, but I wouldn't want to do it on the backs of others.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

@Vexxet... You have my sympathy.  Since I bought a stash of Grand Emporiums with the 3rd floor missing, I have vowed to only buy large sets from LEGO direct, Amazon (not resellers) and major reputable retailers.  I know there's little recourse if years have passed but, we do have Trading Standards in the UK who can step in if you still have proof of purchase. It can be a credit card statement and doesn't have to be a receipt as Trading Standards can force the retailer to cross-reference it if they investigate.

 

We do have problems with some retailers in the UK who don't check returns properly before putting them back on sale, Argos being one of them.  Any set that has eg, Padawan stickers on it or a second catalog number sticker is an obvious return and gets rejected, this is why I didn't recently buy an R2-D2 for

Edited February 1, 2015 by TabbyBoy

[Frank Brickowski]

If you do the buy new/return trick, it won't be Wal-Mart who suffers, but most likely another buyer. I'm not sure how to proceed, but I wouldn't want to do it on the backs of others.

 

Of course you have to return them because they are incomplete, you should not just return the old ones and say nothing about that problem. I thought this was clear. However, even if he returned incomplete sets he got without saying something about it this would NOT be an action on the backs of others. If a second buyer suffers later because of his return, it is not the responsibility of the first buyer but of the SELLER of that incomplete crap: Walmart. Of course it would be nice (and safe for yourself) to point out the problem when returning.

[asharerin]

In the past Walmart has shipped us sets in Lego cartons that at first glance looked new from the factory but after closer inspection of the seals were obviously returns that had been previously opened (most recent incidents were HH during summer 2014 and AA in the fall). I don't waste my time going through them but simply return them for a replacement. Don't assume that just because it arrives in a lego case from Walmart that it is factory new. Never had this issue with TRU or Target in their factory cases but we still always inspect closely. When Amazon dicks you over they make it plainly visible with FBA stickers all over the box lol.

 

In your case I would definitely reach out to Walmart and see what they will do for you. Dig up those email receipts and I am sure they will help you out.

[joch29]

dang.it sounds like it would be a good idea to inspect the tapes and weigh everything now including online orders...what a bummer.  I hope it works out for you.

[golong]

Someone just listed 4 DS on ebay uk for

[JRandall]

Someone just listed 4 DS on ebay uk for

[johnwray]

Jeez, this makes me want to unpack and weigh every set I own from the shipping boxes I have them stored in.

As a side note, everytime I see this thread on the front page I think that there's news about the DS's retirement. Such a tease!

[jal4u2c]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Makes me glad i only buy the large exclusives through Lego. 

[BrickLegacy]

This story is gut wrenching. So sorry to hear you are going through this. I hope you are able to get this resolved with Walmart.

[Frank Brickowski]

Jeez, this makes me want to unpack and weigh every set I own from the shipping boxes I have them stored in.

 

That's right what I did some weeks ago after I bought a pretty precise scale (precision of 0.5 grams for up to 10 kg - meaning it covers the DS as the heaviest available set). Not knowing what is inside those boxes you sell as mint, never having seen the contents has been a major issue for me concerning the investment hobby as a whole. So, to be able to continue sleeping well at night, I decided to weigh everything upon receiving from now on (after I weighed everything I already own) and keep the data in my excel sheet listing all the sets I own. Having multiples of each set makes the weights comparable. Until now there were no irregular weighs, but I only bought from Amazon and Lego anyway, so the risk was low from the beginning.

 

Another way to be even safer from idiots opening boxes and stealing figures would be: Concentrate on sets with no (exclusive or particularly desirable) figures or stick to Technic.

Edited February 1, 2015 by rfish

[Kenxxx]

I like rfish's idea best. Don't call Wal-Mart. Just order new from them and return the bad, pointing out the partial boxes / missing merchandise.

! Oops... now I see they're out of stock.

Edited February 2, 2015 by Kenxxx

[house72]

Are all the light weight DS missing the same parts? Since you opened the boxes, what seems to be the common missing pieces/boxes/Bags?   If you do as others suggested buy more from walmart and return the ones you have, how many  do you think they will let you return before they start asking questions?  I know most stores will ask for your DL.. 

 

That sucks about our situation..  Interested in seeing how this plays out.. 

[richardcore]

Where can I find what a Lego set weighs / should weigh? This is a tragic eye opener.

[oneknightr]

Where can I find what a Lego set weighs / should weigh? This is a tragic eye opener.

I'd be interested as well. Time to weight the three that I have in my storage. 

 

That is so unfortunate to read about. I hate people who do this!