So, I was moving some sets around today and noticed my Hobbit Lonely Mountain (79018) felt a little light and when I shook it around a bit, it sounded like small pieces were loose in the box.  Weighed it and sure enough, it was 1362g compared to the normal weight of 1688g.  Opened it up and every bag was opened, there were maybe only 100-150 bricks inside (Smaug and all the minifigs missing), a few pieces were connected together, there was some cardboard, a couple used Lego Club magazines (no identifying info on them, unfortunately), instructions for 79014, and a stray woman's hair.

I bought it at a local TRU 2 years ago, so I'm **** outta luck, right?  The seals looked intact but the box was a little beat up.  I'm pretty sure they opened it from the side seam   Some people are terrible.

Edited March 28, 20187 yr by I am Niko

ugh....now this makes me paranoid about the Lonely Mountain set I have that I bought from TRU 2 years ago.

I am livid for you just looking at this.

 

 

27 minutes ago, MrToes16 said:

ugh....now this makes me paranoid about the Lonely Mountain set I have that I bought from TRU 2 years ago.

I am livid for you just looking at this.

 

 

The Empathy Strikes Back.

That sucks for the OP - not much you can do now and even less with how TRU is now.

Would you be able to post some pics of the box and seals so we can perhaps learn from this?

lmao...."MAELVR"

That kid's mom was so disappointed in their word search performance, they committed return fraud out of shame

Ugh I hate seeing posts like these. I have 2 Lonely Mountain sets in my collection, one purchased via Craigslist. Makes me worried.

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2 hours ago, Val-E said:

The Empathy Strikes Back.

That sucks for the OP - not much you can do now and even less with how TRU is now.

Would you be able to post some pics of the box and seals so we can perhaps learn from this?

There's really nothing to differentiate it from a regular box, which is why I'm convinced it was opened at the seam.  I looked closely at the seals, and there's no residue from them being peeled away and put back, unless they managed to put it back exactly where they were before and somehow avoided the cloudy appearance that shows up once removed.  The place where the Lonely Mountain box is glued together is at the bottom rear panel, so if you see any signs that edge has been tampered with/glued back together, that would be a clue.  I would just advise to weigh any big sets (especially anything with any popular minifigures or big figs) if you buy them from a retail location and compare it to the Brickset given weight.  If it is a substantial difference, you might want to consider returning it while you can.  Also give the box a shake to hear for little pieces hitting the side of the box (you should hear thumps of piece bags hitting).  Some sets have big pieces that are loose in box (especially baseplates), but would never have lots of tiny pieces loose like they were here.

Edited March 28, 20187 yr by I am Niko

Ugh, I feel your pain.  I'm done the reselling thing, but will collect a couple things here and there.  I have gotten so screwed with sets purchased, looking intact when there's stuff missing, and then selling some things on ebay, to then get returns of things missing.  It's terrible imo.

24 minutes ago, supergman said:

Ugh, I feel your pain.  I'm done the reselling thing, but will collect a couple things here and there.  I have gotten so screwed with sets purchased, looking intact when there's stuff missing, and then selling some things on ebay, to then get returns of things missing.  It's terrible imo.

Thanks, yeah, it would've been even worse if I had sold and sent that set to an AMZ or eBay buyer.  In addition to losing the original money, I'd be out shipping costs to send it back and forth, might have gotten my account dinged, and would've had more stress, thinking it was the buyer who was scamming me.

The solution is for the community to value "cut seals, intact bags & verified contents" as more valuable than "sealed"

 

 

Lol good luck with that