Saw this yesterday while out on a run... It angered me beyond belief.

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I can't believe you didn't pick up this rare variant!

Yeah, this pretty well amounts to stealing. Buy the toy, swap the figures, take the toy back for a refund. Just ONCE I think it'd be funny as hell if the clerk working the returns desk had a working knowledge of action figures and said (in this case for instance), "Excuse me, but this isn't Double Clutch. It's Duke. You've obviously stolen the Clutch figure and replaced it with this Duke figure which you got who knows where. Not only am I not giving you a refund for this, I'm calling security and I'm going to have you arrested for shoplifting."

Its a breaker head holmes.

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Wow, doesn't anybody working the Returns Counter even look at the packaging to see what the item is?

"Let's see, yep the pic on the back shows a green vehicle and an all green figure. You say it had the small other-company-than-Hasbro tan tank and a figure that's only appeared on a cardback? I can't give you your money back, but I'm sure you could put this up on eBay as a rare variant..."


Oh wait, this must be a case of "Product and Colors May Vary. Action Figure Sold Separately. Actual Product May Differ From Artwork..."

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Also what I don't get, is why just take the clutch figure? That VAMP is all kinds of kickass.

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Oh man!
Comic Duke with a Breaker head instead of the Clutch figure.

How crooked could they be? All this trouble to get a "free" Clutch figure?
(It did cost them some gas, a figure and the time to actually swap the figures...)

I think employees don't care. Jeep comes with a figure, box has both jeep and figure, thank you...NEXT!!!!

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There's a simple way to put an end to all of this. WM, KM, Target, TRU, etc....all refuse to take returns on action-figure toys. I believe most of them already have that policy on Hot Wheels.

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I hope not. My loving wife often picks stuff up for me that I already have and we end up returning them.
I have never seen this activity here in VA, but after seeing the reports on this board I am very much aware of what I am picking up in the stores.

This makes me pretty mad, that the actions of a very few can possibly affect the legitamacy of an entire group.

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Which would really suck when Grandma buys Billy a figure he already has and he tries to return it. This is NOT the answer.

The answer is to have people who give a damn working the service desk. I know I am often called up to verify authenticity if something looks fishy and the service desk associate can't tell.

Unfortunately most places don't give 2 craps about what they take back. Which means stuff like this will continue for the forseeable future.

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You should have said something and got it for a discount.

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Yea I'm looking at it and I'm wondering just how stupid can some people get. With the price of the single packs now it's almost like they are just giving you the VAMP for almost nothing. While the Clutch figure isn't bad it's the VAMP that's the star of that pack.

Duh gee I is going to pass up the VAMP I could resell on e-Bay for Clutch with Duke arms because I is a smart criminal.

What next a vehicle pack where someone has stolen the Serpentor figure!

Everyone that works retail can't be an expert on everything that should be in the package. Even comparing the pictures on the back to the actual figure really doesn't say much. "Actual product may vary" is what you always see on the packages. "Well, it looks like a GIJoe, close enough." What about the Heavy Weapons team 6-pack that came out a couple of years ago. At least 2 of the filecards showed figures that were never in the package. Finally, as VL said, not allowing returns is not the option. I have had plenty of legit reasons to return stuff which I have done. If it gets to the point I can't return stuff, I will question whether or not I want to buy that extra that I am picking up for someone else.

I don't really know if there is a good solution for the figure swapping. Most people are already decent enough not to do it. For the scumbags that do, you hope they get caught. And while it doesn't make it better, hopefully that VAMP will be bought by a kid that doesn't care that is the right GIJoe. He just wants A GIJoe.

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Animals.

Even if the person is knowledgeable about figures, they'd still have to take it as a return.

Customer : Yeah, I bought this, took it home, and noticed someone swapped the figure in it. I wanna refund.

CSR: Okiee dokey!

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