2012 case P mishap

[e.davies1]

I just opened a 2012 case P expecting to find, well, 2012 case P contents. Just to refresh your memory, the contents are (modified from CTT):

1 CARS 2 WINNER'S CIRCLE MCQUEEN
1 CARS 2 FRANCESCO BERNOULLI
1 CARS 2 RACE TEAM SARGE
1 CARS 2 RAOUL CAROULE
1 CARS 2 KM HYDRAULIC RAMONE
2 CARS 2 NIGEL GEARSLEY ASTON MARTIN
2 CARS 2 MAX SCHNELL
2 CARS MIGUEL CAMINO
2 CARS 2 MASERATI
2 CARS WGP RACE STARTER Erik Laneley #39
1 CARS MINI VAN W/OUT TIRES #45 Alex Vandel Chase
1 CARS FABRIZIO CHASE #47
2 CARS OTIS #43
1 CARS THREE HEADLIGHT CAR Sir Harley Gassup #50
1 CARS TOKYO RACE REPORTER Nick Cartone #46
1 CARS JAPANESE GIRL AT MUSEUM PARTY Suki #44
1 CARS ULT CHASE RUSSIA
1 CARS ULT CHASE MEXICO Memo

and instead I found (what it should have been is in parenthesis):

3(1) CARS 2 WINNER'S CIRCLE MCQUEEN
0(1) CARS 2 FRANCESCO BERNOULLI
0(1) CARS 2 RACE TEAM SARGE
2(1) CARS 2 RAOUL CAROULE
1(1) CARS 2 KM HYDRAULIC RAMONE
2(2) CARS 2 NIGEL GEARSLEY ASTON MARTIN
2(2) CARS 2 MAX SCHNELL
2(2) CARS MIGUEL CAMINO
0(2) CARS 2 MASERATI
2(2) CARS WGP RACE STARTER Erik Laneley #39
0(1) CARS MINI VAN W/OUT TIRES #45 Alex Vandel Chase
1(1) CARS FABRIZIO CHASE #47
3(2) CARS OTIS #43
2(1) CARS THREE HEADLIGHT CAR Sir Harley Gassup #50
1(1) CARS TOKYO RACE REPORTER Nick Cartone #46
1(1) CARS JAPANESE GIRL AT MUSEUM PARTY Suki #44
0(1) CARS ULT CHASE RUSSIA
2(1) CARS ULT CHASE MEXICO Memo

soooooo, do I go to the vendor or just ask for someone to trade a memo for a russian? I am guessing that there wouldn't be several more cases sitting in stock to exchange, so the best I might hope for is a refund, no thanks!

[Bombom77]

Thats a bit of a kick in the nads mate. Guessing you didnt pop it open to check contents when you bought then?

[cac1959]

Ouch... 2 Harley Gassup is nice... I will send you an e-mail - I may be able to help you out.

[Flash]

Bad luck there - though it seems that you got the correct amount of Chase and Super Chase at least. Makes trading for what you have missing a bit easier, chase for chase and Super Chase for Super Chase.
Still have the inconvenience of trading but it could have been worse. My very first case was a 2012 case G(Super Chase Flash). It was an international order so shipping was not cheap and there was no Flash in it. I had an extra Carla Veloso instead.
Seller offered a refund if I sent the case back which would have cost me $70 so I kept it.
But to quote BomBom77 - I felt like I got a kick in the nads for sure.

[e.davies1]

I never opened it before, assuming it was correct. I knew Mattel had some funny distribution, but didn't expect any kmart style funny stuff.

[bobbyjack]

That sucks. I had never ordered a full case before until Case P. Got 1 from JMDL and another from CTC and both were correct. Hopefully you'll be able to trade your extra Memo for a Russian racer. At least you got an extra Sir Harley Gassup. You should be able to trade him for something good.

[PopeMobile]

I'll buy it from you - doesn't appear to be a bad error since you still got 2 super chases but just not the Russian one.

[e.davies1]

I had planned on either keeping it sealed for a long time, or trading it for some needs. Fortunately (or not), noone ever bit on the sealed case P for a trade (that wouldn't have been pretty). My shelves of cars were running out of room, so i decided to open it up, keep the goodies, and donate, trade, or sell the rest. On that note, Popemobile, I do have 19 select cars I will sell you :-)

[PopeMobile]

A little tip here: there really is no such thing as a 'sealed case'. I sell lots of cases and I can tell you they are all just taped with shipping tape - that's it, nothing magical. I can cut the tape and retape it and you'd never know the difference. That is why I dont' advertise cases as 'sealed' like it's something special or unique. I always recommend people open their cases and inspect them.

To me a 'sealed' set would be the 2006 Factory Sealed Set where there are actually seal stickers on all 4 sides - if someone opens the sticker, the seal is forever broken.

Sometimes I see someone selling the Speedway of the South set that they say is 'sealed' but again that's just another box they didn't open. Nothing special there. And if you pay that kind of money you really do need to make sure you have an authentic and genuine Apple car in there.

[e.davies1]

I agree with you on the sealed thing. When it is important, i would inspect for extra sets of tape, evidence of removal, etc. I am sure Mattel just messed up. For a moment I thought that this could have been their method of getting rid of 4000 memo with only 2,000 russian, but that would have meant that 1,000 other cases would have been wrong, and i have not heard of any.

[PopeMobile]

Trust me, you wouldn't be able to tell if someone cut the tape, opened the box, and then retaped it. Many of the cases I receive from Mattel have multiple sets of tape on them. That doesn't mean someone tampered with the box, it's just the normal packing process.

[John in Missouri]

I agree with you on the sealed thing. When it is important, i would inspect for extra sets of tape, evidence of removal, etc. I am sure Mattel just messed up. For a moment I thought that this could have been their method of getting rid of 4000 memo with only 2,000 russian, but that would have meant that 1,000 other cases would have been wrong, and i have not heard of any.

I don't think Mattel messed up, I think it's more than likely some shenanigans by the vendor you bought it from.

[e.davies1]

If it were shenanigans, I don't think they would have put the same number of super chase and chases in. There is one big vendor i no longer trust, but trust this vendor at least enough to think they didn't mess with it. When I bought it, I also got about 12 more cases, one big order for 5 local guys and me. None of the other cases had any problems, so i don't think that is the case here.

[carslover]

if vendors get caught altering cases they advertise as factory they will not be in business long