Tampered sets/Theft/Vandalism

[slicer87]

Yesterday I took advantage of Target's sale and bought the new Separatist Shuttle (#8036). So when I got home and opened up the box and started to put the minifigures together I discovered that all the parts for Nute and Onaconda were missing! After inspecting the box I found that somebody opened up the glued end of the box, stole the two minifigs, and did a good job of regluing the box on the outside. Only after opening the box could you see the signs of tampering inside the glued box flap. This kind of thing really makes me sick and angry. Last year I bought a Droid Gunship only to find two bags of V19 parts inside. It didn't used to be like this with Legos, now I have to worry about tampering with sets when I buy them. Plus now I am going to have a hard time returning the set to Target since they will probably think I did it. Lego really needs to do something with their packaging to prevent scumbags from pulling this kind of crap.

[Dendo]

How funny - I was going to post this exact complaint! Same thing happened to me this week with the Corporate Alliance Tank Droid. The bag with the clones and about 70% of the bricks were missing. I blame Ebay. The sad thing is the person didn't even do a good job of closing the box back up and I didn't notice because I had a couple of other boxes in my hands. I will always be more careful now and check the whole box for any tampering.

BTW - Target took it back without any questions. I was very surprised. In fact, I had to tell them twice that parts were missing because I thought they would try to restock it!

[CoR3Bu]

Man, that stinks. It's never happened to me, but when
I went to go pick up my Republic Gunship, I checked
each of the boxes carefully and I notice that one of them
had been open and not resealed so I decided to take a
quick peek inside-- no minifigs. Yes, I think Lego should
do something about this, other then put alarms on the box.
Maybe they should put something on the minifig bag that
makes an alarm go off when you walk out the door with the
minifigs. If you've bought the whole set, then the box shields
the alarm.

-The Colonel

[Teekay]

Or how about an alarm on each bag? The alarm doesn't go off only if you have all the bags. That would serve a dual purpose of stopping thieves and letting you know you didn't have all the pieces.

~Sam (Teekay)

[Andi]

When did they start again putting all minifig parts in one bag? They should spread them over all bags, then it is not so easy to steal the minifigs.

[bigospedros]

apart from Lego putting the parts for the figures across several bags, there is nothing Lego can do to stop this happening.

Plus, Lego have already got their money for the stock by the time it hits the shelves, so it's down to the retailer to take measures to prevent this. Afterall, as a consumer, the retailer is the one that takes the hit if you buy a product and take it back for a refund if it's not complete.

In their latter days, Woolworths in the UK, certainly near me, starting putting security tags (i.e. two bits of wire around the box, one horizontally, one vertically ... all going into a central alarmed box) on the larger sets. Perhaps all other retailers will do this ... but I guess they have to weigh up the cost of doing so vs the cost of the "losses" they make in replacing sets.

Perhaps the stores need to take more care when people return sets as if they've not been used. Afterall, people aren't stealing the figs in store, cos they'd have no way to do so and try to re-seal the box. That means they're buying them, taking them home, removing the bits they want and then re-sealing them and returning them for a refund. If the stores checked the returned sets in these circumstances a bit better then it'd help, but again, would they have the skills & knowledge to do that?

[Plo]

i buy mainly from lego stores because i have one 5 min away. i think the chances of finding tampered sets there is unlikely considering the condensed nature of the store

[GIR3691]

They could adopt a technique like some food products, that show if the seal has been broken. Even if it was just on the more expensive sets. The boxes are very easy to tamper with. Only thing is, it's still not as widespread of an issue that they would need to address it and overhaul their product manufacturing.

[GregSmith]

that show if the seal has been broken.

LEGO sets used to come with clear seals at the box seams. It's when they switched to cardboard and glue that this problem probably took off.

[roblin]

I agree about spreading the parts, but I thought that was allready so. The next step would be to make tougher boxes. Most actionfigures for example are in welded plasic cases and quite tricky to take out. (Even even after you bought it and is at it with a knife! )

[Puddleglum]

I agree about spreading the parts, but I thought that was allready so. The next step would be to make tougher boxes. Most actionfigures for example are in welded plasic cases and quite tricky to take out. (Even even after you bought it and is at it with a knife! )

I would be really sad if they went in this direction. :-(

[donneyboy]

That has only happened to me once. I bought the power miners Stone Chopper, only to reveal that the rock monster, and the two lime green technic beams were gone, whoever did it was god, and did a resealed it almost perfectly.

[CoR3Bu]

i buy mainly from lego stores because i have one 5 min away.

Lucky you. We have one about 2 hours away at the Palisades mall in NY.
We only go on trips that take us by the mall.

-The Colonel

[Pinhead978]

That has never happened to me before. Although, if you are missing pieces from sets, you can call LEGO Customer Service and they'll be happy to send you the missing parts for free.

[Marty]

Yet another sign of the times, when you can't even buy a Lego set without wondering if you got what you paid for.
Don't get me wrong I've noticed in the last few years or so, things like this has been happening, but what can you do.
I've seen ruddy great holes in the boxes to glued up sides, (these are harder to spot) in fact almost impossible, but a while back there was a solution, and it came from a drug company?
Now I don't know if it will add to the cost of Lego or not, packaging is a funny thing but here goes, it had all to do with the way it's sealed.
Inside the box you have the sealed bags with instructions right, outer cardboard box is tightly sealed with glue at both end (what's the difference?) None! It's next bit that's interesting, security seal tape around both ends with the words if broken no refund. We're talking pretty strong tape here that once peeled with take the box cover with it!
Finally a plastic strap sealed around the both ends, this applies to the big more expensive sets whereas the smaller sets can be seal wrapped in clear plastic, again with the security tape on both ends.

It won't fool proof it but it will make it much harder to return the item which is how they get away with it.
Another idea is to put the actual weight on each box so if the box does come back it has to be weighed, over or under it can spotted.
If I seem a little paranoid so what, there's nothing worse than building a set and finding some bugger has made off with a prized mini figure, I know, my star destroyer was missing Darth, okay so he was easy to replace, but why should I?
Then there's the problem of convincing Lego, after all they need answers too, before they'll give you a replacement.
My final advice is look! Check very carefully before you buy, check all round the box for signs of tampering, it's not fool-proof but it helps.

[GIR3691]

You could also bring a postal scale and weigh several of the same box to make sure they are consistent, but you might get weird looks.

[Dendo]

I am surprised that they don't shrink wrap some of the bigger sets. The problem is that many of the sets are only held closed by little pieces of tape that are easy to remove.

[slicer87]

I have a feeling that the new Hoth and Home One sets will be prime targets for these losers to pull this crap with.

[The Brain]

I agree about spreading the parts, but I thought that was allready so. The next step would be to make tougher boxes. Most actionfigures for example are in welded plasic cases and quite tricky to take out. (Even even after you bought it and is at it with a knife! )

If you can't tell when an action figure has been taken from its package you deserve to be snookered out of your figure!

[science guy]

Because of the concerns I've actually started opening packages inside the store (once I've paid for them). I basically check to make sure the mini figs are in there. Although I've been fortunate so far, if I had a problem, I would walk right over to customer service as soon as I checked. They shouldn't have any issue if you haven't even left the store (and paid for it first).