Penguin Magic Purchase

[brownsl]

So, I bought 5 gilded decks from Penguin. Each one a different deck, Retro Rocket, Balloon Jungle, Balloon Ocean, Ace Invaders, and Bicycle Robot. Retro Rocket and Ace Invaders both have numbered seals which mean they are gilded. I am not positive about Balloon Ocean and Balloon Jungle as they do not have numbered seals but I believe the gold tear strip signify them being gilded. I would have expected Bicycle Robot to also have a number seal but it does not, it just has the standard seal. It also does not have a different tear strip. So, I am thinking it is not a gilded version. In addition, P52 shows it having a numbered seal.

I reached out to Penguin to confirm and they told me to open my decks to confirm whether they are gilded or not. To be honest, I think that is a bit of a ridiculous request. I am one that typically frees the pips but I should not have to be forced to do this to ensure I was shipped the correct deck. I replied that there has to be a way to determine whether a deck is gilded or else the shipping department just takes a guess when someone orders a gilded deck? I asked how does the shipping dept know? I was told that he was not sure how they did it and for me to open my decks to see. Why does he not ask the shipping dept?

I have ordered many times from them and other than dealing with the website, my experience have all been very good.

Am I just being a crotchety old man and I should just open the damn decks? Part of it is the principle of it and the fact he is not making any effort to talk to whomever handles their shipping and asking them.

[GandalfPC]

You could simply tell them if you don’t wish to open them and let them work out a better solution. I imagine they just think the sure way is for you to check if you can.

As for how they pack them - I imagine they are in a brick box labeled gilded.

I did have a similar issue once with RiffleShuffle - a gilded deck had absolutely no marking - they had no way to tell, apologized and said they would send me a different gilded deck as they had none left. I opened the deck after that - it was indeed gilded.

For the Robot gilded, it certainly should have the seal (as the deck I got from Riffle should have had) - and in my case Gamblers Warehouse had pulled them from a box of same decks that was marked as gilded (seemingly an overrun) - so although yours may be an individual that fell into the wrong box it is also likely its an unmarked overrun

For me, with no way to tell other than opening it, and not liking to open mine - it’s a situation that has no perfect solution, but if you ordered what normally comes with a seal and it has no seal you can (and I would) return it unless you intended to open it.

[rousselle]

You could try asking Kevin Reylek (sp?) here on the forums. He knows things.