I got an interesting surprise in the mail a few days ago. Eaglemoss sent me this Burago 1:18 scale die-cast model kit of a 2009 Nissan GT-R:

I had no idea it was coming and I was charged $58.90 for it. Apparently, they are calling this a Special Issue for this GT-R partwork build. Usually I get an announcement email from Eaglemoss about any specials that are offered during a build, and I am given a few weeks to opt out of them. Neither of these things happened with this one. While Eaglemoss customer service insists they sent the email (they could not give me a date), I never received it (including checking my spam and trash folders). But, it gets better…

On the same exact day, I received a large clear acrylic generic cover for the Display Base of my Mercedes 300 SL build:

I didn’t receive an announcement email for this either and was charged $87.85 for it without any way to opt out. I also didn’t receive shipping dispatch emails for either item. Ironically, up to this point, I have received every other Special Issue announcement email correctly, and then all of a sudden I somehow don’t get two emails obviously sent at the same time? I have to admit: something feels very shady about all of this!

I can’t even send these unwanted items back to Eaglemoss for a refund because I have to pay the return shipping and it would cost more than the items do (the Cover alone would be $80 to $150 due to the box size). Also, I would not be refunded the original shipping and handling. Luckily, I have a friend who builds/collect 1:18 scale models, so I think he will take the Burago kit. However, I am going to have to eat it on the clear acrylic cover and I can’t even use it or sell it. It arrived with a large crack in it due to the poor packing material protection and subsequent box damage. The outside of the box was not even marked ‘Fragile’:

UPDATE Jan 7, 2020: I called Eaglemoss again after I saw how much it would cost to ship this cover back. After a lot of resistance, they finally agreed to issue a refund for the $87.85.

UPDATE Jan 19, 2021: Eaglemoss did it again. They charged me $87.90 today for another Clear Acrylic Cover for my James Bond DB5 build, also without any offer email or a way to opt out. This time I saw it coming and called them immediately. They said I should just refuse the shipment and return to sender and I would automatically get a refund. This cover was delivered to me on Feb 2 and I told the postal carrier to send it back, which he did. They got it back on Feb 8th and I am awaiting this refund too.

UPDATE Feb 12, 2021: I still have not received a refund for EITHER of these clear covers.

UPDATE Feb 25, 2021: A few days ago, I received my next delivery of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL parts, but Eaglemoss forgot to include the magazine. I called them to ask to have it re-shipped out. Once that was done, I asked them about these refunds. The lady at customer service said this 300 SL one was already refunded back on Jan 7th, but I still had not see it hit my credit card. Something was not right. After a bit of back and forth, she finally transferred me to a supervisor. I was then connected to Christina L. who was incredible! To my total surprise, Eaglemoss customer support is well aware of my build sites and uses them heavily to help support their customers… crazy!

Christina and I talked for well over an hour about these clear cases, this GT-R model, my refunds, the missing opt-out emails, the builds, my sites, needing more US social media support, returning products, the build delays, the shipping problems, and many more issues that I and a lot of other builders have. Then today, I finally received full refunds for both the 300 SL cover and the unwanted DB5 cover I refused delivery on! It turns out the ‘Special Issue’ charges/refunds are in a different billing account and are not automatically pushed back to the credit card.

While this is wonderful in my case, I reiterated that I was not alone and others were being charged for these things without ever receiving the ‘Special Issue’ emails to opt out (I haven’t received three of them now). Thankfully, she has opened a ticket with the Eaglemoss IT department to investigate. Hopefully this will solve the problem for everyone!