I live in Gwinnett County, just outside of Atlanta. I have been visiting the local Wal-Mart's looking for the new 25th anniv figures. There aren't any single packs, but several box sets. I picked one up to check out the figures and noticed someone had taken out the cobra trooper and replaced it with a junk figure. I checked others and the same thing had been done. It was not just at one Wal-Mart, this was done at all the stores within close driving distance. The guy didn't even try to be neat. The boxes were all beat up as well. I looked at a Joe box set and saw that the protective plastic was partially removed and the Snake Eyes was half-way out. The guy must have been trying to flatout steal it but stopped when someone walked by. I don't know if he does the buy/replace/return method or if he just does the exchange right in the store. I don't know if the person frequents these boards or not, but if he does (and reads this) be warned. I frequent your stomping grounds and if I catch you I will report you!!!

I think that'd be a little too risky to try and exchange them in the store. Swipe them from the box maybe, but replacing takes a lot more time and effort under the cameras. Pretty scummy either way.

This is obviously a heinous act that all of us here condemn, but I'm confused, you say he stole Snake Eyes? Didn't someone else around here mention that only army builders were evil?:p

:mad: I hate theives.:mad:

The Snake Eyes was still in the box, but it was partially removed and the plastic cover was opened up. I put the Snake Eyes back into place and put the cover back on as best I could.

I noticed this at the Walmart in Lilburn This Morning. ****ed me off. It was the same package that has been there for about 2 weeks though so The person must have done it in the store.

If I remember correctly, this has happened before. People would buy a ton of these "army builder sets", take them home and replace them with junk figures. After they replaced them, they would take them back to the store and get a full refund.

Pretty lame if you ask me.

argh

not this again! it was rampant where i live, especiallly in targets. replace one figure with junk figure, return two pack.
one thing that may help is find a manager, get them to alert return staff.
some managers are smart enough to realize how important this is, and are glad to hear fro m you, other places they just shrug.

Pretty shady stuff. One day they will be caught!

It's sad sad sad when people do that. The very first 5 pack I saw was a Cobra one at a target and someone had shamelessly cut it open and stolen SE. It was the only one in the store (I had them check stock, too). At the time they had the single pack SE and so I thought ok, if they discount it enough I'll get it and replace the guy with the single SE for kiddo. They wouldn't go more than 10%, not even enough to cover the lost figure. Not worth it. You should warn them at the service desk that they really need to be on the look out for the bogus replacements. How hard could it be to open it up and notice one of the guys is off?

I used to live in Georgia (and miss it terribly, but I digress) and the saddest thing about this is that Gwinnett County is known for its wealth (or, at least, its appearance of wealth). It's sad enough when anyone steals, but when people steal in an area where the majority of them could easily afford not to steal, it just makes it worse. Maybe it's some kind of revenge thing against the "elite".
Sam

I saw a 5 pack the other day that had a Viper Pilot in place of the Trooper. I notified an employee but the very next day I saw it back on the shelf, today I noticed it was gone

In my experience, the employees don't care. I've notified a few in the areas, and the TRU manager was the only one to even really listen. I think the stores know some unsuspecting consumer will buy it eventually, so no harm done. Drives me CRAZY. I do it the right way, takes me forever and tons of money. And these jackasses get their Troopers for free!

In my experience, the employees don't care. I've notified a few in the areas, and the TRU manager was the only one to even really listen. I think the stores know some unsuspecting consumer will buy it eventually, so no harm done. Drives me CRAZY. I do it the right way, takes me forever and tons of money. And these jackasses get their Troopers for free!

And then probably "resell" them on Ebay! Grrrrr, if I ever catch someone doing something like this...well, I'll probably go get quintonarledge because he's a really big guy. Then I'll sic him on them and watch with glee. ;)
Sam

I used to live in Georgia (and miss it terribly, but I digress) and the saddest thing about this is that Gwinnett County is known for its wealth (or, at least, its appearance of wealth). It's sad enough when anyone steals, but when people steal in an area where the majority of them could easily afford not to steal, it just makes it worse. Maybe it's some kind of revenge thing against the "elite".
Sam

I've been in law enforcement almost 25 years and one thing that amazed me when I first saw it, was rich people who shoplifted. I think most did it for a thrill if not for the personal gain. You might arrest a little old lady who stole $30 worth of cheap jewelry and she's wearing a real diamond necklace! Go figure! But you are right, a thief is a thief and must be dealt with harshly, or they won't stop, they just get worse. :(

I used to live in Georgia (and miss it terribly, but I digress) and the saddest thing about this is that Gwinnett County is known for its wealth (or, at least, its appearance of wealth). It's sad enough when anyone steals, but when people steal in an area where the majority of them could easily afford not to steal, it just makes it worse. Maybe it's some kind of revenge thing against the "elite".
Sam

You have been away for a while. Completly different demographic in the past 5 years. It is alot heavier on crime and tons of shoplifting. And alot of companies have moved further north. Kind of sad really.

I was at my local Toys R Us over the weekend, and came accross several 25th anniversay Cobra and Joe sets, I was looking thru them and came accross one that didn't look right.
Someone had bought the Joe set, took it home, removed all the figures and some of the weapons and replaced them with older versions of the same characters, Duke was the Spytroops Duke, Scarlett the first from Spytroops, Gung-ho was from mid 2001, as was Roadblock and Snake eyes was from one the comic three packs.
The thieve left some of the weapons and the Gijoe speaker and filecards and retaped it and took it back and got his money back, for some reason the people at Toys R Us put it back on the floor for sale, I found and took it staight to customer service with a correct 5 pack and told them what I thought had happened, they weren't thrilled to say the least.

I've seen some theft in one of the Wal-Marts near my work. Nothing replaced, just figures pulled from the 5 pack. The odd thing is, they stole Destro and Gung Ho - I guess they were stealing just to do it, not for troop building.

Retail theft has always been out of control. It is one of the reasons why honest people have to pay high prices. Unfortunately, this guy (or gal) wouldn't get in trouble if an employee caught it, at least the first time. He could say that he was bringing it back because one of the figures had been replaced.

The title of this thread sounds like the name of an independent movie from the late 90's.




:D Sorry, I'm stupid...

The title of this thread sounds like the name of an independent movie from the late 90's.




:D Sorry, I'm stupid...


hahahah!

that, or some Alanis Morrisette lyrics.

Having been fortunate (or unfortunate but that REALLY depends on who you talk to) I worked at TRU. I was part of the 500 Dept (the guys who unload the trucks). Well, returns always came through our department b/c we would have to place them aside and when the time came palletize them for sending them out.

Well one time there was a stroller-pretty heavy duty and looked wayyy expensive---amd it was sitting back there for a day or so and it smelled WICKED bad. So I looked at the slip on it and it said return and it was b/c either the customer didn't want, need it whatever. But there was nothing wrong with it causing them to return it-nothing missing, broken etc.

Well, they OBVIOUSLY took the stoller out and returned a dirty, grimy, nasty, skidmarked, dirty diapered stroller in it's place and kept the new one.

I brought it right to the manager's attention-I mean come on. How could they not see how used it was when it was returned. Forget that but the smell was outta this world so how the CS people missed it with it right next them when the odor began to fill our back room is BEYOND me.

That's my funny return story (well, not REALLY funny but it contained TRU so it's sorta toy related in it's essence, right?


Right?

Having been fortunate (or unfortunate but that REALLY depends on who you talk to) I worked at TRU. I was part of the 500 Dept (the guys who unload the trucks). Well, returns always came through our department b/c we would have to place them aside and when the time came palletize them for sending them out.

Well one time there was a stroller-pretty heavy duty and looked wayyy expensive---amd it was sitting back there for a day or so and it smelled WICKED bad. So I looked at the slip on it and it said return and it was b/c either the customer didn't want, need it whatever. But there was nothing wrong with it causing them to return it-nothing missing, broken etc.

Well, they OBVIOUSLY took the stoller out and returned a dirty, grimy, nasty, skidmarked, dirty diapered stroller in it's place and kept the new one.

I brought it right to the manager's attention-I mean come on. How could they not see how used it was when it was returned. Forget that but the smell was outta this world so how the CS people missed it with it right next them when the odor began to fill our back room is BEYOND me.

That's my funny return story (well, not REALLY funny but it contained TRU so it's sorta toy related in it's essence, right?


Right?

This reminds me of when I worked at Wal-Mart and this lady brought this pair of shoes back because they had worn out too soon (in her opinion). Her receipt was for nearly two years ago, but the store manager let her exchange them for new ones because she "didn't want to lose her business". :rolleyes:
Sam

I've been in law enforcement almost 25 years and one thing that amazed me when I first saw it, was rich people who shoplifted. I think most did it for a thrill if not for the personal gain. You might arrest a little old lady who stole $30 worth of cheap jewelry and she's wearing a real diamond necklace! Go figure! But you are right, a thief is a thief and must be dealt with harshly, or they won't stop, they just get worse. :(

You're right; if somone doesn't teach them a lesson these kind of horrid people will keep on going.

ive seen the same thing in walmart with hotwheels,someone returned a ten pack replaced with cheap cars. customer service doesnt pay much attention on buisy days,plus most of them couldnt tell a joe figure from a corps

...Yeah, this kind of thing has been happening up here as well, since about 2001 (that I've seen).

Funny. Cops don't seem to care who you are in 'real' life, what 'councilmen' you know or just what it was you stole. They'll gladly cuff and book you just the same. I saw a guy get pinched who tried to pull a song and dance routine on the officers, and they laughed about as loudly as I did.

There are always others, but they seem to be pretty well corraled up here - some stores won't let certain people in, for example. Others have Loss Prevention shadows the entire time. Cool to watch...

Back when I worked at sears a guy returned a tv he had for 16 years b/c it finally stopped working. Sears has the customer satisfaction guaranteed slogan and he started yelling that he wasnt happy with a busted tv. I told him no and he started screaming. A manager came over and started trying to talk to him. He just kept screaming about customer satisfaction. It was a sears brand so we know it originally came from sears. The manager asked if he had a receipt and he didnt. He just wouldnt shut up so the manager told him to pick one out of the same size and told me to ring it up and mark it down. Sears gave him a brand new tv. I couldnt believe it.

I see Home Depot do the same thing. They once took back tires, Home Depot doesnt sell tires, b/c the customer said he bought them there. They gave him what he said he "paid" for them. They do this type of thing all the time but when someone has a real problem they tell them to "Pzzz off". I cant believe the stuff they do. There will be an obviosly bad carpet or tile job and they will tell them its there fault. That they are "stupid" or "Ignorant" or that "thats how its supposed to look". My sister once had to wait for HD to finish her tile job for 8 months from when they started it. They said it was b/c they couldnt get the tile, yet it was an instock tile that we walked over to the shelf picked up a box and brought it to the counter. They "had to order it" b/c their installers wouldnt stop to pick it up.

While I agree that this is reprehensible, I think you guys are expecting too much out of the employees working at your toy providers. It would be different if you went to GIJoeMart that specialize in the selling of GI Joes, that would be a different story. You have to take a step back and understand that the normal, minimum-wage employee don't know and don't care if one of the Vipers was clearly replaced with a figure from a prior wave. That would mean more confrontation, paperwork, etc.... Doesn't make it right, though.

Johnny

Having been fortunate (or unfortunate but that REALLY depends on who you talk to) I worked at TRU. I was part of the 500 Dept (the guys who unload the trucks). Well, returns always came through our department b/c we would have to place them aside and when the time came palletize them for sending them out.

Well one time there was a stroller-pretty heavy duty and looked wayyy expensive---amd it was sitting back there for a day or so and it smelled WICKED bad. So I looked at the slip on it and it said return and it was b/c either the customer didn't want, need it whatever. But there was nothing wrong with it causing them to return it-nothing missing, broken etc.

Well, they OBVIOUSLY took the stoller out and returned a dirty, grimy, nasty, skidmarked, dirty diapered stroller in it's place and kept the new one.

I brought it right to the manager's attention-I mean come on. How could they not see how used it was when it was returned. Forget that but the smell was outta this world so how the CS people missed it with it right next them when the odor began to fill our back room is BEYOND me.

That's my funny return story (well, not REALLY funny but it contained TRU so it's sorta toy related in it's essence, right?


Right?


I have a similar story from when I worked at TRU. Someone returned a case of dipers half full of newspapers. I actually found it on the sales floor.

I've seen some theft in one of the Wal-Marts near my work. Nothing replaced, just figures pulled from the 5 pack. The odd thing is, they stole Destro and Gung Ho - I guess they were stealing just to do it, not for troop building.

This one sounds like kids, I don't know how many times I would find an empty package on the pegs while "straightening" at work. Or hot wheels or maisto toys all over and open packages everywhere.
I was always finding baseball packs or especially Pokemon and Yu Gi oh packs that had been rifled through, take the best cards then leave the pack sitting open on the shelf, we eventually had to put a camera right over that aisle. I wound up in the LP office many times where kids had stacks of cards stuffed in their jeans. The LP office is not a fun place to be but thats an off topic thread.

while working putting away dipers one day at wallyworld i found a car seat that was old and nasty,appears someone traded up,alot in shoes as well.

here read this, should make you all feel better:

http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20050622.html

here read this, should make you all feel better:

http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20050622.html

Dude, that was great :D

here read this, should make you all feel better:

http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20050622.html

That was great! If I find one of these people, do you guys want me to kidnap them and lock them in a closet, then post directions to my place so we can have a Full Metal Jacket style blanket party for him?:p ;)
Sam

I live in villa rica GA and have seen no thefts...perhaps because I have seen no 25th figures!!! argggghhhh:mad:

That was great! If I find one of these people, do you guys want me to kidnap them and lock them in a closet, then post directions to my place so we can have a Full Metal Jacket style blanket party for him?:p ;)
Sam

Yes, yes I do.:mad: :D

thats just plain aweful don't these people know their ruining the collectibility of the toy, what I would've done was tell the manager or an employee of the store about this and have them replace all the toys with new ones

thats just plain aweful don't these people know their ruining the collectibility of the toy, what I would've done was tell the manager or an employee of the store about this and have them replace all the toys with new ones

The problem is the managers and employees dont care. It's simply a cost of doing business to them. There was a rash of swapping here too and everytime I pointed it out to someone they said it would be taken care of and I'd see the package back on the shelf the next day.

all ive seen so far was a cobra 5 pack with the single version 2 snake eyes in the place of the version 1 snake eyes.
i found it odd that someone would go through the trable to do that and put another new figure in instead of some old crappy figure.