Eric K.
Yelp
Extremely disappointed and frustrated... I like this store. I've come here a couple times before, mostly to buy minifigs, but also to buy pieces and a baseplate. I noticed before they had a section with incomplete used sets in bags, they seemed to be the best deal in the store, at least generally. Many were sets missing minifigures but selling the rest of the pieces at a discount price. I liked the deals, but not the sets. Today, I saw a set I would actually really like, Set #75338, Ambush On Ferrix. Missing the minifigs and the bike and possibly a couple pieces, but priced at $25, a real steal, I think. I picked it up without thinking, excited to take it home. I bought a couple minifigs too, as per usual for me, but not relevant to this review. Overall, I was very satisfied with my purchases, I was really happy. I have had no bad experiences with this store.
I came home and poured the nearly complete set onto a corner of my bed, so the pieces don't scatter like on a table or a floor. I immediately noticed a couple pieces of wood. I thought it was strange, but didn't really think anything else of it, I had no idea why that was there, I just thought it was dirty. In hindsight, that was incredibly naive and dumb of me, because in the next few seconds, a cockroach came out of that bag, and tried to escape. I crushed it between my fingers as soon as I saw it, and washed it down the drain. I have not seen a cockroach in my house since my family moved in. I knew it was from the bag. I panicked a little but told myself it was probably the only one in the bag. I looked at the loose pieces, the incomplete body of the set, and the bag. There were black dots I had foolishly missed before. It clicked for me, those are eggs. Cockroach eggs. I stuffed the pieces and the set in the bag and put it outside. My Dad and I spent the next however many minutes vacuuming and throwing away things and put my blanket+comforter in the wash. We do NOT want an infestation. Our home is clean and we want to keep it that way, and I feel guilty that I brought this thing into our home. It did not occur to me at all that a store, even selling used Legos, would sell something so filthy. I feel the store could have sanitized the disassembled pieces in a bowl, made sure to kill the eggs and the bugs inside. It's clear to me the store knew the set had bugs, the set is normally priced at $69.99. The store sold this incomplete set at $25. It was in a clear bag, and an employee must have gone through and seen the condition of this set before bagging and pricing it. I believe they noticed the eggs, but instead of doing something to sanitize the pieces, they simply threw it in a bag and put a nice price on it so someone would grab it cheaply and not complain. However, I do not think a good price makes up for selling a set infested with cockroach eggs and even a live cockroach. I do think the store sold it knowing it was covered in eggs, or else they would have put the pieces in their normal bulk Lego section, or sold it for a price closer to it's retail, even despite missing the bike and minifigs. The other used/incomplete bags I have seen had and have prices closer to their original retail, the only exception I've seen being a couple Bionicle sets.
That's all I can say about my experience. Now I will wait and see if any of the eggs survived or missed our eyes, and we have an infestation in our hands. I just know, I'm never going to this store again, and I'm afraid of the cleanliness of their pieces and their store. I really don't want to leave such a negative review, I don't, I don't want to be that guy. But this... I feel like it has to be said... if a future customer sees this, just be warned. So far, I will say, my minifigs were fine, my pieces were fine. No eggs or cockroaches in those purchases. But finding it in today's purchase is the end of my brief relationship with Bricks and Minifigs Whittier.
I'm attaching some photos, and I don't think they show many of the eggs since they were most noticeable when the bag was empty... but I saw the eggs inside the set as well when I took it outside of the bag... my dad sprayed the bag with bug killer and closed it, with the set inside. Hopefully that kills the living contents... for now, I don't want to open that bag or even touch it, so these photos are what I have.
There aren't A LOT of eggs, but you will see small black specks, and I tell you, they are eggs. The cockroach did not come out of the bag just for those black specks to be dirt. Maybe it's poop. I'm not risking that assumption. Regardless, the condition of this set is shockingly filthy. Even if the store purchased this used from another person, I do not think it is right to sell it again in the exact same condition.
