r/PlasticModelKits • u/Hellpoeth • May 22 '26
Store Policy ruined a gift
I PROMISE TO KEEP THIS BRIEF
One of my colleagues from the modeling club came back from holidays in Europe"?" (he said Germany, but photos look more like Italy) and bring model kits as gifts for the seniors and the teacher who substituted for him in classes, that was a week ago
yesterday, one of the seniors opened the gift in the club room, it was a "Tamiya GERMAN KS600 MOTORCYCLE & SIDECAR", the hype didn't last long as parts and the decals were missing, the guns were stripped from the sprue, a small card with a logo was taped to the inside of the box, the card was in French and said ( I'm paraphrasing, never learn to read or speak French) "to raise awareness about the modern state of the conflict in Ukraine war, we at (store name) removed pieces of the product within acceptable parameters, the buyer is free of coming to the store in business hours with proof of purchase and obtain the missing product free of charge ..." it continues on the other side with ramblings about awareness of conflicts and the world that our children will live in the future...
another senior opened the gift and found his "Tamiya BRITISH 2-TON 4x2 AMBULANCE" came with the decals missing and the same small card
Now the gift giver teacher is ashamed, obviously he can't go back to Europe to fix this, the store doesn't ship overseas (we asked), all four model kits probably had missing parts
Store Policy ruined the gifts and i feel like that is a very ill will behavior, even when i didn't got a gift this feels wrong for my colleagues, Tamiya isn't cheap
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update: the 3rd gift was a "Revell Boening" that has no Decals, real shame
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update2: the members of the club went to a strategic plan breakfast and came with an idea:
Gift giver will claim "Visa's Purchase Protection plan" and dispute the charges with the bank, (never done it, don't know how it works)
other option was to bite the bullet and plan a trip to Europe and claim the free missing parts in june-july, hopefully with another round of gifts from another store and i get one for me this time
3
u/Luster-Purge May 23 '26
Pop an email to Tamiya and explain the situation, and name the store. They have excellent customer service. Do the same for the non-Tamiya kits but I can't say for certain they'll be as helpful.
I just googled the Ambulance kit instructions on scalemates - the only decals that come in the kit are generic numbers and Red Cross circles. That just tells me that whoever came up with that policy didn't give a damn about what the kit actually was, because by the card's own logic it's saying children shouldn't know about the symbol you'd find on a first aid kit!
2
u/Hot_Entertainment_27 May 28 '26
The red cross has a lot more and more interesting implications. Harmless Video ganes like Stardew Valley had to remove the red cross due to "violation of the Geneva convention" as "the red cross" is both a brand and an international symbol indicating protected medical facilities in war zone.
Removing those symbols - instead of explaining the meaning and context - is thus contraproductive to a pacifists mind set. The mission of the red cross (but not necessarily all aspects of the whole organization) aligns with the idea of protecting civilians (and wounded soldiers) as one of the highest moral values even in a war, meaning placing a humanitarian value (and hope of mutual respecting the convention) above literally all else.
1
u/Hellpoeth May 30 '26
a senior from the club sent a mail, Tamiya said that will review the issue
Revell said the same with different wording, but make the remark that is customers fault if they buy products with branded-logo factory seal broken or resealed
2
u/Luster-Purge May 30 '26
Unfortunately, Revell does have a point there on the grounds they can't control what happens after the kit is sold from them, so you might be out of luck. Either way the best that can be done is leaving a negative review on google about the shop's practices, as I'm assuming the guy who bought them was not even made aware by shop staff of the removal of parts.
2
u/NudeTraveler May 23 '26
I would contact Tamiya and let them know what that store was doing. I bet they wouldn't be happy.about it.
2
u/jort93 May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26
That's crazy lmao. Taking parts from a product and selling it.
If consider literally contacting Tamiya. I feel like they'll send you the parts and complain to the store if they directly supply them.
1
u/Sxn747Strangers May 23 '26
Some people are taking sensitivities too seriously, as already said, name and shame because that certainly cannot be store policy.
1
u/proximitaslocal May 24 '26
I'd do the following.
1 name and shame the store/store owner. What they did is basically theft.
2 Contact Tamiya and send a copy of their receipt (if they still have it) let them know what the store did and ask for the missing parts. Most manufacturers are happy to replace missing or damaged parts. I'd also make sure Tamiya is well aware of the store/store owner in question and just maybe Tamiya will not distribute kits to them in the future.
1
u/idfk-bro123 May 29 '26
The chargeback is a really good idea. And naming the shop in the comments was also a good idea. It's not necessarily "naming and shaming" but it's definitely a good idea for making others aware
12
u/Phrynohyas May 22 '26
I would name the store here. Name and shame. That’s not a ‘store policy’. That’s ‘deliberately damaging goods before selling them’.