Post by hbchris on Oct 2, 2010 14:26:02 GMT -5
A couple months ago, I posted a short rant about people in my area who are buying, repacking, and returning Mattel figures in my area. Now it's getting worse.
In the last week, I've found:
Elite 5 Dolph Ziggler repacked with Basic 4 Dolph Ziggler (at Target)
Elite 5 Vladimir Kozlov with his robe stolen (at Wal-Mart)
Entrance Greats Roddy Piper replaced with Jakks Roddy Piper (at Target)
Entrance Greats Ted DiBiase replaced with Jakks Deluxe Classic Ted DiBiase (at K-Mart)
Legends 2 Jake the Snake replaced with Jakks Deluxe Classic Jake the Snake (at K-Mart)
Legends 2 Iron Shiek replaced with Jakks Deluxe Classic Iron Shiek (at K-Mart)
Legends 2 Rick Rude replaced with Jakks Classic Rick Rude (at Toys R Us)
Best of 2010 Rey Mysterio replaced with Elite 5 Rey Mysterio (at K-Mart)
Best of 2010 Undertaker replaced with Toy Biz DDP! (at K-Mart)
Before it was just boxed figures (Elites and Entrance Greats) getting repacked, but now the thief has moved onto carded figures (Legends) that he glues shut fairly convincingly. He even meticulously cut holes in the inner plastic liner so Rick Rude would fit into the package!
Sorry there are no pics; I tried to take them but I had some malfunction with my phone camera and they didn't save.
Anyway, I guess I had too much coffee or something, but while I would just let this problem slide in the past, a few days ago I decided to complain about it to all the managers and show them the bad product so at least they'd be aware of the problem. The folks at Toys R Us were pretty understanding, since toys are their whole business. The guy at Target listened to me, but I think he thought I was crazy. One of the K-Mart managers didn't believe me and said that the pictures on the package are always different from what's shown on the box, but when I showed her that DiBiase's music-playing base (the one next to the hole in the plastic that says "Try Me!) was gone, she finally conceded something had been stolen and promised to check all the wrestling figures to make sure there weren't more that had been repacked.
I went back today, and the Elite 5 Dolph Ziggler was back on the shelf at Target, and Ted DiBiase was back at K-Mart, and that pissed me off pretty bad. Obviously this is a hard problem to solve, and in the scheme of things it's not that much money being lost, but that's just not right. It's one thing to take this bogus product back when you're not aware, but to knowingly put it back on the shelf and try to sell it to people as real product makes the stores just as bad as the people who stole the stuff, if you ask me. (I emailed the companies' customer service to complain, for all the good it'll do.)
So...sorry about the rant, but this really bugs me. It makes it hard to enjoy collecting this stuff when some jerk is stealing all the figures.
In the last week, I've found:
Elite 5 Dolph Ziggler repacked with Basic 4 Dolph Ziggler (at Target)
Elite 5 Vladimir Kozlov with his robe stolen (at Wal-Mart)
Entrance Greats Roddy Piper replaced with Jakks Roddy Piper (at Target)
Entrance Greats Ted DiBiase replaced with Jakks Deluxe Classic Ted DiBiase (at K-Mart)
Legends 2 Jake the Snake replaced with Jakks Deluxe Classic Jake the Snake (at K-Mart)
Legends 2 Iron Shiek replaced with Jakks Deluxe Classic Iron Shiek (at K-Mart)
Legends 2 Rick Rude replaced with Jakks Classic Rick Rude (at Toys R Us)
Best of 2010 Rey Mysterio replaced with Elite 5 Rey Mysterio (at K-Mart)
Best of 2010 Undertaker replaced with Toy Biz DDP! (at K-Mart)
Before it was just boxed figures (Elites and Entrance Greats) getting repacked, but now the thief has moved onto carded figures (Legends) that he glues shut fairly convincingly. He even meticulously cut holes in the inner plastic liner so Rick Rude would fit into the package!
Sorry there are no pics; I tried to take them but I had some malfunction with my phone camera and they didn't save.
Anyway, I guess I had too much coffee or something, but while I would just let this problem slide in the past, a few days ago I decided to complain about it to all the managers and show them the bad product so at least they'd be aware of the problem. The folks at Toys R Us were pretty understanding, since toys are their whole business. The guy at Target listened to me, but I think he thought I was crazy. One of the K-Mart managers didn't believe me and said that the pictures on the package are always different from what's shown on the box, but when I showed her that DiBiase's music-playing base (the one next to the hole in the plastic that says "Try Me!) was gone, she finally conceded something had been stolen and promised to check all the wrestling figures to make sure there weren't more that had been repacked.
I went back today, and the Elite 5 Dolph Ziggler was back on the shelf at Target, and Ted DiBiase was back at K-Mart, and that pissed me off pretty bad. Obviously this is a hard problem to solve, and in the scheme of things it's not that much money being lost, but that's just not right. It's one thing to take this bogus product back when you're not aware, but to knowingly put it back on the shelf and try to sell it to people as real product makes the stores just as bad as the people who stole the stuff, if you ask me. (I emailed the companies' customer service to complain, for all the good it'll do.)
So...sorry about the rant, but this really bugs me. It makes it hard to enjoy collecting this stuff when some jerk is stealing all the figures.