Warped all the Hades and back. Making the kit completely unbuildable. Mind you, I purchased this kit, new, from a HobbyTown in early 2016. It was still sealed until 3 weeks ago.
So I email Airfix's spares department. Takes the better part of a week to get a response, they ask for a picture of the part, special serial so they can pinpoint the batch, all the good stuff. Fair enough. I send them that, and another week goes by. I finally recieve a response this morning, Pretty much reading that they have no spares, they can send no replacement, and they pretty much wrap it up saying that if I purchased within the past 12 months, take it back to the retailer and MAYBE they'll refund me.
I am livid. Look, I understand they don't have anymore spares (although I've been able to get numerous spares from Revell/Monogram from kits LONG out of production,) I get that. And it would be different if this was some kit from 1986. But this is a new tool kit. Less than 5 years old. This particular kit is a dud. Its THEIR kit that made it past THEIR quality control, yet they shrug it off like "Oh we're sorry, but your SOL."
I also think it's ridiculous that they try to pass responsibility off on the retailer as well. Never mind that I purchased this outside the 12 month window, but even if I had bought it 12 days ago, what are they going to be able to do if there are no spare parts/kits to replace it with?
I get that they can't replace the part/kit, it is what it is. But am I being unreasonable if I was expecting some kind of coupon or voucher or something if they couldn't fix the issue. I mean it's their new kit that they screwed the pooch on, and it's just money thrown away out of my pocket. And Airfix/Hornby are taking no responsibility for it.