I have never started a new topic before, so I hope this is the forum to place it in. I have been collecting Lego for the past 30ish years. As a collector, one of the important aspects of purchasing a new set is the box quality. I display and store each box from every set I own in mint condition. I think Lego has one of the best graphic design teams out there because each box cover is like a piece of art. That being said, I have always taken care to select a mint condition box when buying a new set. Because I am lucky enough to live close to several TRU and Lego stores, I have never had to order a set and have it shipped to my home. However, none of the stores around me have had the most recent Star Wars sets in stock. Being impatient, I saw that TRU had the sets in stock online with free shipping. I ordered them and the boxes arrived today. When they came, both boxes had been smashed during shipping. I was a bit dismayed to say the least. Is this a common issue when ordering from TRU or Lego and should I stick to obtaining my Lego from brick and mortar stores?

I have never started a new topic before, so I hope this is the forum to place it in. I have been collecting Lego for the past 30ish years. As a collector, one of the important aspects of purchasing a new set is the box quality. I display and store each box from every set I own in mint condition. I think Lego has one of the best graphic design teams out there because each box cover is like a piece of art. That being said, I have always taken care to select a mint condition box when buying a new set. Because I am lucky enough to live close to several TRU and Lego stores, I have never had to order a set and have it shipped to my home. However, none of the stores around me have had the most recent Star Wars sets in stock. Being impatient, I saw that TRU had the sets in stock online with free shipping. I ordered them and the boxes arrived today. When they came, both boxes had been smashed during shipping. I was a bit dismayed to say the least. Is this a common issue when ordering from TRU or Lego and should I stick to obtaining my Lego from brick and mortar stores?

I would call and complain. Or you can take them back to a toys r us and return them and get new ones. They should refund shipping as well. I usually try to get all of my sets from brick and mortor for just this reason. Only the large sets are obtained from mail order sometimes.

I've had several sets ordered from LEGO and they arrive perfectly fine.

I've had the boxes turn up in a less than perfect condition from a few online stores, but only very rarely. For what it's worth, I've ordered loads from shop@home and they are always well packaged and in excellent condition.

Good to know that this is an uncommon problem. I think I will take them back to TRU. My only concern is if they don't have the sets out on the shelves yet, if they will pull some from the stock room to replace the damaged ones.

Never mind. My beautiful wife came home and politely informed me that I was "being ridiculous'" and to "sit down and build my toy." The lady knows best.

Edited July 23, 201014 yr by djmangunz

I wouldn't be so hasty to dismiss your situation. I recently ordered 4 kingdoms sets from TRU online(received monday the 19th) and when I received the package they were jammed into a padded vanilla envelope and every box was smashed. By smashed I mean really beat up the sides were bulging out and there were creases. Needless to say I was not impressed. Luckily I am not someone who saves my Lego boxes (although they are nice). If I was someone who collected boxes I would at least think twice.

In the same vain I ordered some battlepacks form Lego.com they were shipped in cardboard box - no damage. =)

Was your set shipped in an envelope as well?

-Tristan

One corner of my space shuttle box was dented on arrival. The box was shipped inside another box packed with plastic airbags. The courier still somehow managed to dent it. The best way I found to get a perfect box is to shop in person at a brick & mortar store.

Haha funny you should bring this up; I ordered the new Slave I from TRU online and it arrived today in a HUGE box (could have fit three slave I boxes in the shipping box) but still the Lego box was rather crunched on one side. Seems to be a common TRU problem, as I've never had an issue with Lego S@H. But I'm gonna ultimately have to agree with you're wife on this one... it's what's inside that matters! I do keep most of my boxes, but they're just in case I re-sell them.

It's just a box. I understand your intent to collect them, but if you did end up requesting an exchange on the basis of a crumpled box, you'd probably just get a quizzical look from the shop assistant.

I have never started a new topic before, so I hope this is the forum to place it in. I have been collecting Lego for the past 30ish years. As a collector, one of the important aspects of purchasing a new set is the box quality. I display and store each box from every set I own in mint condition. I think Lego has one of the best graphic design teams out there because each box cover is like a piece of art. That being said, I have always taken care to select a mint condition box when buying a new set. Because I am lucky enough to live close to several TRU and Lego stores, I have never had to order a set and have it shipped to my home. However, none of the stores around me have had the most recent Star Wars sets in stock. Being impatient, I saw that TRU had the sets in stock online with free shipping. I ordered them and the boxes arrived today. When they came, both boxes had been smashed during shipping. I was a bit dismayed to say the least. Is this a common issue when ordering from TRU or Lego and should I stick to obtaining my Lego from brick and mortar stores?

Unfortunately it happens. I used to work inside of a USPS distribution plant in the United States and they process so much mail, it doesn't matter how careful the people who handle your package are, it still spends a lot of time tumbling over other boxes on conveyor belts. That's just how it goes and I imagine that post offices in other countries work much in the same way. The best way to avoid crushed corners is to find boxes just barely bigger than the Lego box so you can fit in a little padding and have little to no shifting within the box. However, you obviously can't control how a company like TRU packages their shipments and it appears that they use boxes way larger than necessary.

It's just a box. I understand your intent to collect them, but if you did end up requesting an exchange on the basis of a crumpled box, you'd probably just get a quizzical look from the shop assistant.

I'm not so sure about that. If you went into a store a showed them the badly damaged box and said "Do you honestly expect me to give my kid this for his birthday?" I reckon they'd have no issue with replacing it for you. Whether or not it's worth doing, of course, is largely up to just how much you value the box.

I'm not so sure about that. If you went into a store a showed them the badly damaged box and said "Do you honestly expect me to give my kid this for his birthday?" I reckon they'd have no issue with replacing it for you. Whether or not it's worth doing, of course, is largely up to just how much you value the box.

Fair call.

I've received boxed sets in the mail that have been massacred by the post, I've also received boxes in decent condition. One time, I received an unboxed disassembled set from Bricklink in a parcel bag, with bubble wrap for protection & cardboard sheets for reinforcement and DO NOT BEND in enormous red letters that was BENT IN HALF. Not slightly bent, but BENT IN HALF. Do you think that baseplate was much use after being bent in half? Dickheads. I had it under kilos of weights for months to try and flatten it out. It still doesn't sit flat a few years later.

LEGO shop@home have always packed the (many) sets I've ordered carefully, using a cardboard outer box and air-filled plastic filling material. Very occasionally receive a set slightly creased if the courier has been really careless, but usually everything is mint. I order from shop@home without fear !

Amazon are also generally pretty good as they ship items in cardboard boxes, although the Home Delivery Network who sometimes deliver their items seem to be quite careless - I've had a lot of bad experiences with them.

Argos are terrible. Even when I pick sets up in-store the boxes are often dented. They also put large white stickers on the boxes which are really hard to remove in one piece and often damage the boxes. On the few occasions I've been stupid enough to order online the sets have arrived in a plastic bag and have been damaged everytime. Again, the Home Delivery Network seem to treat the parcels without much care. It's a shame as Argos often do sales and have a good selection. If you don't care about the boxes then I'd highly recommend them because of the price - they're second only to Amazon for bargains in the UK.

TRU I usually avoid - on the plus side you can choose a nice box off the shelf. On the downside they rip the customer off with huge mark-ups; even when they have a sale, the sale price is often the RRP. And The Entertainer are even worse - I never give them my money as they consistently have the highest prices with a massive mark-up. Rip-off merchants.

Everything considered, Amazon are number 1 for me - free delivery always, excellent discounts and they ship items in cardboard outer boxes - but shop@home are best if I want the best chance of an undamaged box....

Dr. D.

I wouldn't be so hasty to dismiss your situation. I recently ordered 4 kingdoms sets from TRU online(received monday the 19th) and when I received the package they were jammed into a padded vanilla envelope and every box was smashed. By smashed I mean really beat up the sides were bulging out and there were creases. Needless to say I was not impressed. Luckily I am not someone who saves my Lego boxes (although they are nice). If I was someone who collected boxes I would at least think twice.

In the same vain I ordered some battlepacks form Lego.com they were shipped in cardboard box - no damage. =)

Was your set shipped in an envelope as well?

-Tristan

Tristan, my sets came in boxes with gigantic bubble wrap around the sides. That actually seemed to be the culprit which smashed the Lego boxes. The folks at TRU shipping put this extra large bubble wrap in the boxes which were too small to hold it and the sets. To make it all fit, they crammed it all in and pushed it down to make it fit. There was so much stuff in there the box wouldn't close. They had taped the boxes with this wrap just sticking out everywhere. I was not impressed. Hence, I will be obtaining my sets from a brick and mortar store from now on.

drdavewatford, thank you for the information. I wish I had talked to you prior to buying my sets. I love Amazon and would have gladly bought the sets from there, but they didn't have them in stock yet. They always ship any books or movies I buy in great shape. What it sounds like from the majority of you is that Lego is the only really safe place to buy sets online. Which is good to know for the future, just in case I can only find a set online.

Thanks for all the advise and comments! I did listen to my wise wife and open my sets. And I have to say, that when I was building the turbo tank and enjoying the fact that it only had one (ONE!) sticker, I forgot about the smashed boxes. For a while.

Use Shop@Home. Always use Shop@Home. Because LEGO set boxes use standard dimensions based on the size of the set, TLG ships in a custom cardboard box that fits snugly against at least two sides of the set box, with all other sides covered in air packets. I've only received a slightly smashed box from them once, and I'd be willing to be that was the mailman's fault. The side was slightly dented in the shape of those plastic bins that letters are kept in.

StarWars.com's online shop isn't a bad idea, either. I ordered one set from them, and it came surrounded on all six sides by protective air packets. The only problem is that I believe they charge more than TLG for international shipping, and when you use S@H you can get VIP reward points.

I've experienced both ends of this. I've received numerous boxes in perfect condition but I'd say maybe 15% of all my orders have dented boxes, I should say they have never been damaged too badly.

Here's an interesting tidbit that I noticed while browsing the LEGO Customer Service site:

Damaged boxes? We’re taking action...

You have told us that our bigger delivery boxes are getting crushed in transit meaning disappointment for the LEGO fan who opens them to find that the LEGO set they had been excitedly waiting to build or give as a gift is dented and creased.

As of last week, we now put protective inserts in the most frequently damaged boxes to see if it helps. We think it will - we’ve got a photo of our 165lb warehouse colleague standing on an empty one without it collapsing!

You also told us that (ironically) the air pillows were crushing the sets when they got compressed. Since 6/29/10 we’ve changed to a lighter air pillow material which will burst before the pressure crushes the product.

Hope it helps, let us know…

For LEGO Universe Technical Support, in-game support and help, please visit www.LEGOUniverse.com/help.

That shows that TLG actually has noticed that some people (including me - see below) have gotten smashed boxes before!

I've ordered from the LEGO Shop twice so far: once in May 2009, and once last month in June. For the May shipment, I ordered a General Grievous sculpture and two Public Works sets (on clearance for $30 USD and $1 USD, respectively!) and they all came smashed badly. The General Grievous set's top was pushed in (creating white creases at the corners), and the impulse sets looked as if someone punched the box. I'm guessing that when purchasing multiple sets, there was a larger chance of getting smashed boxes because TLG would have to use the next size if they didn't fit, and that means extra space for the boxes to shuffle around.

But last month, when I ordered a Venice Canal Chase during its sale and final hurrah, it came perfectly packed! It looked similar to what Brickdoctor describes above. So that, coupled with TLG's notice on the customer service site, is a sure sign that the LEGO Shop's packaging has improved greatly

Edited July 26, 201014 yr by ILikePi

Yay! That is good news.

I wonder if it's just for the US distribution centre or it's a world-wide change.

Thanks for alerting us. There's nothing more annoying than shelling out hundreds of dollars for an Exclusive set to have it arrive all creased and broken (we don't have brand stores here, so S@H is often the only way we can get them without waiting 6-12 months to show up as special promotions in other retailers).

Thanks for the information ILIkePi! That is a very good sign that TLG is taking steps to prevent this. It makes it more likely that I will order online from Lego in the future. TRU needs to take these steps as well, however.

Edited July 26, 201014 yr by djmangunz

I'm considering order from TRU since they have free shipping and a sale going on, so I have this question:

Has anybody had a good experience with TRU's shipping?

I'm considering order from TRU since they have free shipping and a sale going on, so I have this question:

Has anybody had a good experience with TRU's shipping?

I didn't have any problems with TRU shipping when I ordered a large Technic set from them. The Lego box arrived inside another box undamaged. They did however stuck a big TRU sticker on the Lego box.

I'm considering order from TRU since they have free shipping and a sale going on, so I have this question:

Has anybody had a good experience with TRU's shipping?

OMG! prateek is going to buy something!

*faints*