Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Everyone here has already more than covered the reasons these are such great pencils, I thought i should cover the one thing that really worried me. i read all the reviews and i was concerned about how these were handled during picking, packing and shipping. I have no issues with shipping here, but i think the majority of that is due to the care by UPS. One thing Amazon needs to review is delicacy on items like this. they need to be packaged with great care. Listen, this is $128 bucks for colored pencils. That is a pretty big chunk of change relatively speaking. These are very fragile due to the composition of the cores. They're soft, and break easily. So easily that simply dropping one on a hard surface can break the cores inside the pencil. You can get a pretty good idea how the journey for your pencils was by inspecting the plastic liners. If your pencils had a rough trip, there will be a large amount of rub off on the backs, where the plastic meets the cores at the top. if they are really marked up chances are they were jostled pretty heavily. If that's the case I think personally I'd want to sharpen ALL of them to test the cores. But if there is little to no marking at the top, you're probably in good shape. the second item you can review isn't necessary if the tops are clear. if they had a rough trip they will be chipped at the bottom quite a bit. if yours are not chipped up you're probably in good shape. The last item to concern yourself with is if you got ALL the colors. The set of 150 should have every color they produce, including the new colors. the back of the box highlights the new colors so you can review that easily. But i see reports of people saying they got duplicates. If you did, that also means you're missing something. So i would review that heavily. I've had an interesting experience here. A month ago i ordered the 48 piece of this same style. I received several broken cores. Amazon offered to refund me. NOT replace them, but to do so i would have to send them back, and wait... and wait.... and wait... up to 3 weeks according to the page i viewed. Instead I contacted prismacolor directly and explained my problem. 1. I did not want a refund. i wanted the pencils. 2. I was actually pressed for time due to a holiday approaching (mother's day) and the artwork I was doing required a substantial amount of time, but the drawings on paper, and a basswood box were paramount. Prismacolor returned the contact request within 24 hours, and within another 24 hours I had another set on the way with a tracking number. I only had to send them the receipt and a photo of the back of the box to verify what I had. They sent them and I got them all in perfect order. I was so pleased with their service I decided to buy the whole set of 150 here, and will keep the 48 set to replenish stock. Amazon has treated me very well in almost every purchase I have made, and while I wasn't pleased I couldn't get a replacement I am sure it was due to the provider. I could not be happier with the care that was taken in shipping, HOWEVER, I think Amazon should step it up a tad when packaging. There was some air padding inside but the box slid around inside. I also had a set of clay tools i ordered in the box. The bag had opened and the tools strewn throughout the box. not Amazon's fault, but it made me panic when i got the delivery because it sounded like pencils banging around :) PLEASE Amazon, you are wonderful with your prime service, your customer service and your return policy as well as customer issue resolution. Tell your shippers to be mindful of what they're shipping. These pencils require very solid packaging prior to shipping.