Oh Snap! Broken Molag Bal Statue

What do you do when you receive a broken Molag Bal statue?

Back on January 29, I pre-ordered The Elder Scrolls Online. This was the first day pre-ordering went live, and like many diehard fans I opted for the retail Imperial Edition for $99.99. True, I could have spent $20 less and snagged the digital version of ESO, but I wanted the exclusive content only found in the collector’s set, namely:

• Printed map of Tamriel
• Emperor’s Guide to Tamriel illustrated book
• Molag Bal statute

Broken Molag Bal Statue

When my collector’s set arrived, I was stoked. After opening the box though, I realized that I had a broken Molag Bal statue. The wicked looking Daedric prince had a busted mace, right near the hand. Oh snap!

I initially pre-ordered ESO from Best Buy (I actually like Best Buy, and I happened to have a $5.00 credit from a prior purchase that helped sweeten the deal). My first thought was to take my Imperial Edition to the store and see if they would exchange it for another one. Before I made the 50 minute drive though, I checked online and discovered that the set was completely sold out.

All right. So now what?

After a quick Google search I learned that I wasn’t the only one who received a broken Molag Bal statue. Some other fans were complaining about the quality of the statute and breakage in an Elder Scrolls Online forum thread. In the thread, a ZeniMax Online Studios’ moderator advised gamers to shoot an email to [email protected] if there were any problems with the statue.

And that’s exactly what I did.

Final Thoughts

I have to say, the statue was packed within the box extremely well. Accidents happen though, and things break through no one’s fault.

I contacted GamingHeads.com (the company responsible for making the Molag Bal statue), but unless the company has replacement statues on hand, I’m not certain what can be done. This is an unusual situation due to the set being a sold out collector’s edition.

I’ll update this post when I get a response to my email, and I suppose if you’ve received a broken Molag Bal statue you should contact the company as well. In a worst-case scenario I suppose I could pretend my character cut off Molag Bal’s hand, but most likely I’ll attempt to fix the break myself with epoxy (Krazy Glue supposedly won’t work, and melts the plastic according to one of the forum posters).

Update 4/8/14

Well I received good news 🙂 I just received an email from GamingHeads.com, and they’ve offered to send me a replacement Molag Bal statue. Apparently, they do have some replacements in stock, and are standing behind the product. Wow! What a great company. Now I won’t have to try fixing the statue with epoxy and my collector’s edition will be complete.

Awesome customer service. Here’s a copy of the email:

Update 4/9/14

Apparently, GamingHeads.com won’t be shipping a replacement for the broken Molag Bal statue right away. After providing a copy of my receipt and shipping address, I received the following email:

Wait until April 16th? I’m cool with that. However, the wording of the email raises some concerns, and has me scratching my head:

• As the Imperial Edition has just been released into the market, please give us until the 16th April so we can access the full extent of the issues surrounding the Molag Bal statue so we can work out the best solution. I thought the best solution was a replacement statue?
• We will get back to you in due course once the situation is clear and we know more about the number of replacements available to us and when they will be available. Sounds like there’s a limit as to how many replacements are on hand… Do they have enough to send out to those who received a broken Molag Bal statue?

In a second ESO forum thread, a poster reports that GamingHeads.com wrote that: “Unfortunately the mace being broken is a common occurrence.”

At this point there’s nothing to do but hope for the best and keep my fingers crossed. I’ll see what the company’s response is on the 16th and update this post accordingly.

Update 4/17/14

True to their word, GamingHeads.com responded with information regarding their ultimate game plan to address the broken Molag Bal statue. The email I received states:

Update 5/15/14

Update 5/19/14

My brand new Molag Bal statue arrived in perfect condition. I’m one happy Elder Scrolls fan, thanks to GamingHeads.com.