Check out my Black Friday shipments of Helm's Deep from TRU:

 

 

All boxes crushed, a few with holes in them, one box's seals totally popped off.

 

After opening the shipping box up completely it was easy to see why this damage may have occurred - the box chosen to package the items was completely too large for the sets, leaving a large amount of space for them to move and be damaged during transit. More surprising to me was the fact that there was absolutely no packing material placed into the box to buffer and keep the packages from moving about. 

 

Anyone who has ever shipped a package knows enough to add filler or bubble wrap to a shipment to make sure the content stays protected during the shipping process. 

 

Frustrated!

 

 

 

Check out my Black Friday shipments of Helm's Deep from TRU:

 

 

 

All boxes crushed, a few with holes in them, one box's seals totally popped off.

 

After opening the shipping box up completely it was easy to see why this damage may have occurred - the box chosen to package the items was completely too large for the sets, leaving a large amount of space for them to move and be damaged during transit. More surprising to me was the fact that there was absolutely no packing material placed into the box to buffer and keep the packages from moving about. 

 

Anyone who has ever shipped a package knows enough to add filler or bubble wrap to a shipment to make sure the content stays protected during the shipping process. 

 

Frustrated!

 

Damn that sucks man. I just ordered a set of roughly the same size, I'm hoping for the best. Did you go to your local store and try to argue a bit?

Sorry to hear this. It`s a real shame that they don`t care. I ordered 2 Helm`s Deeps in September, both arrived heavily scuffed/scraped with a few creases. I called to complain and they offered mr $20 to keep them, which I accepted, having already gotten them for 50% off. Just the principal though, it`s supposed to be a toy store. The packaging is just symbolic of their overall disgusting store locations I guess. Horrible. 

I've received damaged and/or incorrect orders from just about every retailer.  They all kind of suck, not just Toys R Us.

I've received damaged and/or incorrect orders from just about every retailer.  They all kind of suck, not just Toys R Us.

Yea i suppose. I got some orders from walmart in fairly damaged condition. Im going to go tomorrow to my local walmart and see if I can get an exchange or discount- the packaging really was terrible

In terms of resell value - how much would this affect the price? Assuming I can no longer list as MINT.

Argos in the UK are no better as they don't even use boxes, just thin/cheap mailing bags.  I click/collect when I can and just reject poor boxes on the spot.  With TRU doing this and their high RRPs, I can't see them surviving long esp. in the UK where Smyths Toys are so much better in every way.

I've been fairly lucky with ordering from TRU, but my distribution center is only about 100 miles away.  I get most of my TRU stuff delivered from there.  Yes, I've received damaged packages from pretty much all online retailers.

 

I have to say, YoYo.com is probably been the best performer for me.

Amazon's packaging has been below par as of late. My gunship was crushed and they are OOS. They offered a refund but it was such a good offer, I'm gonna wait till they restock, soon hopefully.

This is a great article I just found on the topic: http://community.brickpicker.com/blog/4/entry-235-the-impact-of-box-condition-on-lego-investing/

I fully expect 25% of my sets shipped from TRU to arrive absolutely trashed. I always over order and return the trashed items. It has been this way for as long as I can remember. 

It's not just tru, my 40083 arrived from LEGO Shop at Home crushed. I did receive Vamp Castles from tru in the original lego shipping cartons. I have a few Helms coming from toys, hoping for the best.

 

I would call and complain. You should get a partial refund or send them back. 

Amazon's packaging has been below par as of late. My gunship was crushed and they are OOS. They offered a refund but it was such a good offer, I'm gonna wait till they restock, soon hopefully.

I have the opposite experience and it's frustrating. In the past amazon has been pretty suspect and I had to lower my standards so I didn't get flagged as a chronic complainer. So I ordered one of each of their super deals to build on cyber monday, and what arrives? Boxes that look like they just rolled off the production line. They seriously could not be in better condition. It was really hard popping those seals

my hd was packaged in exactly the same way. very frustrating!

At least they were not shipped in bubble mailers.  My $20 sets were mailed separately than the rest of the orders and each came in a #4 bubble mailer

So far so good here.

This is just my guess but I think TRU is being penny-wise, pound foolish by packing items in cheap shipping boxes.

 

Virtually all of the boxes I've received from TRU were all too thin to be able to provide any type of resistance to stacking pressure.

 

Of course, it doesn't help when a packer ships large items with ONE freaking small air pillow in the shipping box.

 

On the contrary, I bought some HD sets from Target without any damages and because?  Sturdy shipping boxes and plenty of air pillows around the item.

TRU started shipping internationally a year or so ago and I have used them quite a few times as their shipping rates are very good.  Most of the time the orders came pretty well packaged but my most recent order placed at the beginning of Dec arrived last week - it was for 4 Funhouses and it came just like the OP's, in a too large box and no bubble wrap or filler, just plonked into the box, all 4 sets together!  I was prepared for the worst, but to my great surprise each set was in near mint condition    

All my orders from TRU in Oct-Nov-early Dec came in great condition. I'm kind of wondering if they ran out of boxes in some locations, because every large set I've ordered from the post-Christmas sales has arrived damaged. In one case, they packed 2x 9395, 2x 42005, and 2x 42006 in a single box that was maybe big enough for  1ea of those three sets. The box arrived in okay condition, but it looks like whoever packed it had to push down on the top flaps to get the box to close and in the process every single Lego box was crushed/creased to some degree. Because of the value of that shipment, I had to have a CS supervisor authorize the return.

 

And then there was my 9395 that showed up as a Nintendo DS game (but with a packing slip that said it was 9395). The replacement showed up in a single wall box that was 6" shorter than the longest dimension of the 9395 box, was beat up to the point that someone had applied yards of packing tape just to hold it together in transit, and the box inside was just barely creased. I returned it on principal, and because I really expect to get a new box when I order a new set.

 

So out of 8 Technic sets ordered so far, I have received 1 in good condition and the other 7 have all been returned for replacement. We'll see how this next batch rolls in! It has got to be costing TRU a fortune to process all these returns and then find another outlet for them, all for the lack of proper packaging. Good lesson for resellers: bigger boxes are better, even if your shipping cost is slightly higher it beats processing returns or having to offer discounts!

TRU should be on Notice, a couple of small LoR small boxes arrived in bubble bags, crushed, 5 out of 10 destroyed. No hassle returns as advertised, but would rather have had the merch that was on sale. Boycott TrU, and let them know.

I've just placed an order for four Lego kits on TRU website using their international shipping. What I would like to know is what peoples experiences are of the way they package their items for delivery?

 

 

I'll merge this thread with an existing topic that covers your question.

I've just placed an order for four Lego kits on TRU website using their international shipping. What I would like to know is what peoples experiences are of the way they package their items for delivery?

 

 

I'll merge this thread with an existing topic that covers your question.

 

That might have been a rough answer to a question.

 

To be honest, I have never had too much problem until this christmas. I had a few things damaged - but they weren't packed terribly. The only thing that is bad is buying really small sets. If they put them in a shipping sleeve, they will be crushed.

 

A few of mine were just flat out shipping damage. Overall, they don't do that badly - at least in my experience. I have probably received 200 packages from them this year. But thats just one person's opinion as I have heard repeat horror stories.

They don't use shipping sleeves for international shipping, but do like to have small sets rattle around in a large box with no space packaging quite often.  

They are $50 sets so I'd like to think that they'll be at least packaged in a cardboard box.

I've used TRU UK just the once before to order two TMNT sets and they were sent in a plastic sleeve with no bubble wrap. Of course as you can imagine the boxes were in pretty tatty condition when I received them. It's ridiculous to think that companies would sooner save a few quid on packaging and risk returns rather than give customers an improved service.

Obviously for an international order it wouldn't be worth my time and money returning any damaged items. I wouldn't mind ordering some more as the item is discontinued here and in mint condition would sell for a good profit. Do I take the gamble and order a few more? I could always break any damaged sets and sell them separately, but that's a lot of hassle. Hmmmm

Well, surprisingly my Emerald Express sets were actually shipped in the same box as my Daily Bugle Showdown and they were pristine.  No pancake exchanges this time.