Has anyone else experienced the following scenario? On two occasions I've viewed items listed by two different Chinese sellers and purchased them, based upon the item photos and item descriptions they provided. Much to my chagrin, I didn't receive the items I thought I'd purchased. The sellers used photos of the actual product boxes, in these two instances from Verlinden Products, in their listings. The boxes should have contained scale models of a European building and a bridge, crisply cast in resin, suitable for inclusion in a military diorama. However, the original product boxes were not included in my shipments. The resin pieces arrived in sealable, plastic freezer bags. Red flag one. Red flag two. Having purchased scale model items from Verlinden Products on numerous occasions, over several decades, I quickly realized these items weren't even remotely close to Verlinden's quality standards. The resin pieces were just horribly cast with rather large bubbles and pinholes in some of the items. Front and side elements of the house and bridge weren't even square, with very wavy structure pieces, ill-defined bricks or stone blocks and non-distinct mortar lines. Pieces that were supposed to join together had unacceptable gaps, making them unsuitable for display. It appears to me the seller, or the seller's supplier, is playing the bait-and-switch game. They're taking photos of original Verlinden product boxes. Then their next step is taking the Verlinden first-run resin product castings, creating molds from them and then crudely recasting them in inferior grade resin and selling them as originals. So now I've had two experiences of this type, from two different seller names. It seems this is becoming another Chinese cottage industry.
