This is a great concern. But who says someone did this? Could it be lego is doing this to frustrate us investors? If you open the set right away you will bring it back. No problem. But if you sell a set after 3 years? And the buyer comes back and says you try to scam him/her? There goes your money and your good rating on ebay or amazon. You will be out of business.

Why would LEGO do this? Selling toys of other brands would be illegal, and then LEGO would get sued for trying to sell other companies toys for profit.

Till the average consumer knows why it is smart to buy an opened/verified Lego set versus a sealed/unopened box they will lean towards the unopened box. If you have 20 other listings that are new and unopened versus yours that is opened and verified it will just be harder to sale.

That is just awful, justafrog, and I am sorry you had to find such a travesty.

Didn't someone already note that they seem the percentage of punch-boxes (the ones with the semi-circular tab you punch in to open time) has started to increase again? I seem to remember a time when ALL the sets were that way, but it's a foggy memory from either the 80s or 90s.

I really do hope Lego completely goes back to the way of the punch-tab boxes. I mean, sticker seals can be tampered with but a punch-tab? I'd like to see somebody try. Scratch that last sentence, I rather people just leave Lego among other things alone and not find ways of circumventing the system to steal.

I returned it without incident today - the customer service lady called her manager over to take a look (not being suspicious of lil old me, she was just in shock and awe and wanted him to look at it).

 

She said, in all seriousness, "I can't believe one of our members" (they're trained to call customers members, it's a little creepy but okay) "would do this. It had to have been shipped this way from the factory."

 

I did not bother to argue with her, I know when people are educable and when they're not. 

I returned it without incident today - the customer service lady called her manager over to take a look (not being suspicious of lil old me, she was just in shock and awe and wanted him to look at it).

She said, in all seriousness, "I can't believe one of our members" (they're trained to call customers members, it's a little creepy but okay) "would do this. It had to have been shipped this way from the factory."

I did not bother to argue with her, I know when people are educable and when they're not.

Yup Lego sent you a box full of Mcdonalds toys and your perfect "member" would never replace the real contents with toys. Some people are insane to even think of things like this.

-I don't always go shopping, but when I do I buy Lego-

i would said that's a isolated incident, ive actually never had a lego set with pieces, maybe im just lucky!

I returned it without incident today - the customer service lady called her manager over to take a look (not being suspicious of lil old me, she was just in shock and awe and wanted him to look at it).

 

She said, in all seriousness, "I can't believe one of our members" (they're trained to call customers members, it's a little creepy but okay) "would do this. It had to have been shipped this way from the factory."

 

I did not bother to argue with her, I know when people are educable and when they're not. 

This must be a customer service thing.  Our marketing lady is like this.  I am the outdoor facilities manager here at the University, and we always have issues with kids pissing outside in the corners instead of using restrooms.  When I had a discussion about this, she chimed in that it "had to be homeless people jumping the fence, because students wouldn't do this."  Really???

 

They will defend their "members" until they are blue in the face for some reason, I can't wrap my head around it.

I am the outdoor facilities manager here at the University, and we always have issues with kids pissing outside in the corners instead of using restrooms.  When I had a discussion about this, she chimed in that it "had to be homeless people jumping the fence, because students wouldn't do this."  Really???

 

I used to work in an office that shared restrooms with the men's gym at a college -- the most disgusting place I've ever had the misfortune of visiting.  As for Walmart policies, I think they've got enough levels of management between corporate and the actual people at the registers or behind the CS desk that none of the actual policies make their way all the way down without being "reinterpreted" by at least one manager, supervisor and overly ambitious employee taking things into their own hands.