Qualityburger - I've PM'd you via this TCG site.

Not going to post up pictures as I've included my personal details on the ones I have sent to Folio (and also more of the same that we have already seen), but my set arrived today.

Fellowship has a split at the top left on the upper stamping. Also a rub to the top left of the binding. RotK had relatively bad rubbing to the foot. Edit: And a small split to the upper stamping, plus rubbing to the cloth.

Overall packaging excellent, but the books need better QC and they need to be individually wrapped in tissue for transport, IMHO.

Have emailed Folio - These ones will be going back (my understanding is there are no replacements available now, so I'll fully document them/review them first).

Edit: The one thing that looks nicer in the flesh is the covering of the map folder. That really does look nice in real-life. The leather part of the bindings does not, IMHO, look especially good. Even without the rubs and splits, there are a lot of obvious bumps where the very thin leather telegraphs the construction from underneath. Size over substance, without the size being useful (you get 1cm of extra vertical in the text, caused by slightly increased spacing, text width is identical to 1992 HC).

Weird set.

Stu wrote:

Not going to post up pictures as I've included my personal details on the ones I have sent to Folio (and also more of the same that we have already seen), but my set arrived today.

Fellowship has a split at the top left on the upper stamping. Also a rub to the top left of the binding. RotK had relatively bad rubbing to the foot. Edit: And a small split to the upper stamping, plus rubbing to the cloth.

Overall packaging excellent, but the books need better QC and they need to be individually wrapped in tissue for transport, IMHO.

Have emailed Folio - These ones will be going back (my understanding is there are no replacements available now, so I'll fully document them/review them first).

Edit: The one thing that looks nicer in the flesh is the covering of the map folder. That really does look nice in real-life. The leather part of the bindings does not, IMHO, look especially good. Even without the rubs and splits, there are a lot of obvious bumps where the very thin leather telegraphs the construction from underneath. Size over substance, without the size being useful (you get 1cm of extra vertical in the text, caused by slightly increased spacing, text width is identical to 1992 HC).

Weird set.

These QC issues might turn a very profitable product into a money pit for Folio.

By the way, I thought you were passing on it, what made you change your mind, if ok to know?

I made a last minute gamble to buy a copy as a store of value. Obviously for that it needs to be perfect (but it doesn’t need to be something I personally love). Having seen the books in person, even if these copies weren’t faulty, they wouldn’t be something I would really see as having a place in my collection. Hopefully I will hear back from Folio in the next few days and I assume return will be relatively painless. As long as I don’t end up out of pocket, I am not bothered. Glad to have seen them in person, but my gut feel on passing up on this edition was - for me - the right one.

Given the current situation, I'd think these books will hold their value much better than my local currency!

Morinehtar wrote:

Given the current situation, I'd think these books will hold their value much better than my local currency!

I think almost any physical object will hold value better than cash at the moment - hard times ahead for many.

Haven't heard a peep from Folio Society (no acknowledgement of my original email) - have sent them another email.

Stu wrote:

Morinehtar wrote:

Given the current situation, I'd think these books will hold their value much better than my local currency!

I think almost any physical object will hold value better than cash at the moment - hard times ahead for many.

Haven't heard a peep from Folio Society (no acknowledgement of my original email) - have sent them another email.

Their offices were closed from Wednesday afternoon to Monday morning due to the Platinum Jubilee bank holiday.

Gloinson wrote:

Stu wrote:

Morinehtar wrote:

Given the current situation, I'd think these books will hold their value much better than my local currency!

I think almost any physical object will hold value better than cash at the moment - hard times ahead for many.

Haven't heard a peep from Folio Society (no acknowledgement of my original email) - have sent them another email.

Their offices were closed from Wednesday afternoon to Monday morning due to the Platinum Jubilee bank holiday.

That would likely explain it. They have been very responsive previously (customs issues, etc).

Folio no longer have replacements for these and LEGO don't have materials to make new ones. They offered to have them returned to the UK for repair by Smith-Settle (at their expense), but as the cloth was also damaged on FoTR, I decided it was better to just send them back for a refund. I really didn't want to deal with DHL's customs service a second time, also. There was no option for retaining them as-is and receiving a discount.

Hopefully will only be slightly out of pocket on the credit card currency charges once the refund is processed. On-selling them here in NZ wasn't a worthwhile option for me (I doubt I would have covered my costs).

Stu wrote:

Folio no longer have replacements for these and LEGO don't have materials to make new ones. They offered to have them returned to the UK for repair by Smith-Settle (at their expense), but as the cloth was also damaged on FoTR, I decided it was better to just send them back for a refund. I really didn't want to deal with DHL's customs service a second time, also. There was no option for retaining them as-is and receiving a discount.

Hopefully will only be slightly out of pocket on the credit card currency charges once the refund is processed. On-selling them here in NZ wasn't a worthwhile option for me (I doubt I would have covered my costs).

A £1500 set. Shambolic from Folio.