# Sad state of the world (slot car related)



## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

This was on the clearance rack at Hobby Lobby today. I have lots of nasty cranky things to say about the obviously illiterate asshat who did this, but I'll let the pictures do the talking.




























Who could seriously think it's OK to trash something like this and then return it as if it's defective? I don't care if it's a slot car set or a DVD player or what, that's just not right...

maybe i'm just old-fashioned...

/get off my lawn

--rick


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

I have heard that the reason retail stores no longer have slot cars is because of the return rate due to morally bankrupt morons like this. It was either a case where the manufacturer refuses to accept any returns (and therefore the store won't risk carring the item) or the manufacturer no longer markets to the retailers because they must take back returned sets, and WAY too many get returned.

Maybe stores should refuse to accept back obviously destroyed merchandise.

Joe


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## travis1960 (Apr 25, 2004)

This is just what our society has come to. I bet it was a parent that returned this after a child destroyed it. Bad on the parent for raising a child to not take care of their possessions and bad on the parent for thinking it was alright to return it to the store. And I bet it was the parent that wrote the unintelligible note, although it looks like it was written by a first grader.

:dude:


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## A/FX Nut (May 28, 2004)

Hobby Lobby needs to inspect the returns and refuse anythung like that. If I owned the company, I would definetly have a more rigid return policy. 

Randy.


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## Harold Sage (Apr 6, 2008)

It is sad that people get away with bringing stuff back like that. The store should of took the time to have someone look through it and verify that it wasn't their fault or the manafacture's fault and it was obvisously miss used by the customer and void the return policy.


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

Sighs- Deeply......


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Dont even get me started.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

I bet they bought it at 40 percent off, and returned it for full price.
You know they didn't keep up with the receipt.


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

NTxSlotCars said:


> I bet they bought it at 40 percent off, and returned it for full price.
> You know they didn't keep up with the receipt.


yeah, I'm thinking 6 months after the fact, the head of the household ran out of money for cigarettes and scratch-off tickets and started looking around the house for the box with the biggest price tag he could find. upon seeing that this set was originally 70 bucks, he realized that the proceeds from the return could cover a case of beer too... so he threw whatever he could find back into the box, marched it back into HL and made a scene. so he covered his vices for another week. nice.

dunno if you can tell from the pic, but the front tires are multicolored O-rings, and the rear axle looks like it's from some other kind of toy car. the rear wheels/tires are NOT off any slot car I've ever seen. someone used the crap out of this and hammered what was left back together to return it.

i kinda understand why a lot of these might get returned: 40-something Dad sees a set with box art that evokes the glory days of Magnatraction and HP-7, and makes an impulse purchase to share some of his childhood with his kids... or even just to relive it himself. gets it home, cracks it open, and all the realities of the hobby come back to him--the cars stall till everything is "warmed up", the pickup shoes need to be tweaked, the cars require some skill to keep on the track. this stuff requires tinkering and finesse, and his Xbox-addled kids don't have the attention span. they abandon him with the set in under an hour. frustrated, he packs it up the best he can and returns it, citing that it "doesn't work the way it's supposed to." he uses the money to buy a copy of Black Ops, which the kids appreciate much more, as it doesn't require them to move off the couch. at least it was kind of just a white lie... it didn't work the way he EXPECTED it to. i'm okay with that. the world has moved on; our silly little hobby is an anachronism.

but i'm fairly certain that was not the case here.

--rick


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## Dyno Dom (May 26, 2007)

Truly sad, but could always be worse. This week on LI someone attempted
to return a jig saw at a Home Center, possibly with a receipt. 
The store needed to be evacuated for several hours as the diligent clerk
discovered suspicious contents other than the original power tool.


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Dyno Dom said:


> Truly sad, but could always be worse. This week on LI someone attempted
> to return a jig saw at a Home Center, possibly with a receipt.
> The store needed to be evacuated for several hours as the diligent clerk
> discovered suspicious contents other than the original power tool.


Oh my. I just Googled that... apparently it happened in TWO Home Depots on LI this week. The first was in Huntington, where I grew up and where my parents still live. 

Sad state indeed...

I need to go run a few laps. 

--rick


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## Dyno Dom (May 26, 2007)

Rick, the 1st incident in Huntington was called in describing where the bomb
was located & found.


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## sidejobjon (Jun 3, 2010)

Rick,
One car missing also.
SJJ


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## partspig (Mar 12, 2003)

Sad, indeed! Ditto here, Bill, don't get me started. I sure am glad my kids, now young men in their 30's, act more responsibly than the evidence shows in that descriptive photo. pig


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

So I take it you tried following the instructions too Rick?


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Is that a limited slip diff

...er....permanent slip?


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Hahahahaha you guys make me laugh :lol:

--rick


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## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

Isn't that Life-Like? Don't they offer Lifetime Warranty?


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## Seventy7 (Jul 4, 2012)

That is both awful and hysterical at the same time.

If I was a customer service rep I'd have one of those guns that fired a boxing glove like in Looney Tunes.


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## 15807brett (Sep 10, 2011)

Can't believe they don't check the boxes, I was in target early January 2012. They had sets , ho cars by Mattel, they were returns, 40 percent off but the were all missing the cars, people would by them take cars out return them. So stores would stop stocking them because of people like that.


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## urnuts (Jul 3, 2012)

*Ultimately....*

It's HL's fault for not saying "no".
I own my own business and have for many years.
Customers think they can pull anything and the reason they think that is.... they can! And that's the problem.
I tell customers "No" all the time.
A HL manager was on-duty and should have said- "I'm sorry, that's not....."


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## SCJ (Jul 15, 1999)

Just last month, I bought a star wars ship for my son (from Meijer's) for his birthday. Got it home, wrapped it and gave it to him on his birthday. When he opened it, it was a broken fake GI Joe jeep and plastic trash bags........talking about a flat out lie!

Me thinks this is not the work of a child......



---------------------------
www.SlotCarJohnnies.com


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## urnuts (Jul 3, 2012)

*Years back....*

I was big into Matchbox; I still am but have all the vintage SF I want and don't buy too much new stuff.
But 5 years back, they were making some cool 1/64 stuff.
Anyway- brought a bunch of broken (in the package) cars back to Target and said "These are broken..... could you not put them right back on the pegs so the next poor schmuck buys them and...... has to return them?"
Next day..... back on the pegs.


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