Attitude Studio Steampunk Light Up Fedora Hat with Mechanical Gears - Gold

The hat was purchased by our 12 year old daughter using gift money she had saved for over a year. She was very excited to order it and was very happy it even arrived 3 days earlier than expected. Unfortunately that excitement and anticipation was quickly replaced by deep disappointment. Upon extracting the hat from the box and bag in which it arrived, she found the bag hot glued to the hat, numerous steam tech pieces out of place, and a very strong smell of fresh paint. The hat had clearly been assembled, packaged and mailed in great haste while the gold paint and hot glue was still curing. The nifty lights, which were also hot glued in place, without much care turned on once, then never lit again. She asked her father to submit a complaint, which he did. That resulted in email communication directly with the vendor, ask they were affiliated with Walmart as a Marketplace Seller. Their response to the complaint was prompt. They offered money back or another hat. She chose another hat to give them a second chance. No further communication was received until another hat arrived about one week later. While the plastic bag was not glued to the hat and most of the steam tech pieces were affixed approximately where they should be (according to the picture in online advertising), there were still pieces askew and numerous places where the gold paint that covered most everything was spotty and bare. More disappointment. At this point, Dad took it upon himself to make the repairs using a hot glue gun and a gold paint pen to make it acceptable. Time will still tell if the hat and work done by the seller will endure and be usable without , additional touchup painting and maintenance. Some excitement and joy has returned for our daughter. She has also realized an important life lesson as a consumer in a nation hyperfocused on the joy that consuming and capitalism brings to shoppers young and old. In family conversations about the experience, we unanimously agreed that the product would likely better be sold as a build it yourself project unless the seller undertook more stringent quality control measures.