Puzzling Problems That Can Leave You Frustrated

[@amandaegeskovhald8222]

Well, other than missing pieces, the most frustrating problem a puzzle can have is too similar piece shapes. And I'm not just talking about all of the pieces being the same standard two ins two outs pieces which is also disappointing. I'm talking about when the tabs are almost identical. If the pieces are too similar you'll get a lot of false fits which completely ruins the puzzling experience. A lot of people will then say "this is such a difficult puzzle" but in reality it's just a poorly designed puzzle, those are not the same.

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

I agree! Those dreaded false fits can make life difficult when puzzling and it will have nothing to do with the image. Thanks for sharing.

[@kaytorrence8870]

Thank you for sharing you experiences

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

You're welcome

[@Dailydoodler-888]

Well Sandra, I had bought a new ravensburger puzzle once and it was missing 6 pieces and also had 3 duplicate pieces. That’s the first time I ever had extra pieces or duplicate pieces. 😮😊

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

Duplicates don't seem to be too bad for me but those missing pieces are aggravating, especially on a new puzzle. Thanks for sharing.

[@Maggie-tr2kd]

Multiple false fits in vintage Fink & Co. "Poppy Cat" (1000 pieces) in the dark background lower part of the puzzle forced me to give up. This is the only puzzle I've failed to complete. However, I've been haunted for years by a single stray puzzle piece that I keep in my top dresser drawer. Years ago my mother (now deceased) and I regularly worked puzzles on her large dining room table. One day we discovered a jigsaw puzzle piece that did not belong to either the puzzle she was currently working or the one I had just completed. We deduced it belonged to a previous puzzle one of us worked that somehow escaped the box when we were disassembling a completed puzzle and putting the pieces back in the box. I've spent hours looking at my own puzzles and mother's puzzles trying to figure out where that puzzle piece belongs without success. I can't just throw the piece away. What if I re-work a puzzle sometime in the future and that is the missing piece! I think about this from time to time and it always bothers me.

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

Wow! That is quite a story. That too would haunt me. You'll just need to rework every puzzle to solve this mystery.

[@rebekahnerad4900]

I ordered my first brand new Springbok puzzle from Amazon recently. (I have plenty of vintage and more recent thrifted ones.) Springbok has recently made their boxes thinner. The puzzle (the Library is the title I believe) arrived in a bubble mailer but the box was quite damaged. I was quite annoyed since it was brand new. I reached out to Allied Products, Springbok's distributer and they promptly sent a replacement: this time packaged in a cardboard box. The original damaged box puzzle I gave to my mother and we worked on it together. There were a significant number of pieces that were not separated. ( I separated them myself using an exacto knife.) Aggravating, as that particular puzzle had been on my wishlist for about a year. I've been perfectly happy with my recent ( the ones with 57 years in the box) thrifted and vintage Springbok. But now I'm a bit wary of buying new ones due to the experience I just had. Their images are excellent and their customer service was great. I hope they go back to thicker boxes and fix the cut issue.

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

Very disappointing. Something like that can just ruin a wonderful puzzling experience. Thanks for sharing.

[@thegoodchicken1078]

I did The Blue Car for BOYT3. It was missing 5 pieces all gathered on far right-hand side. Disappointing in any event but like you there was added frustration because I was speed puzzling. I contacted Amazon UK and they told me it was a matter between me and Clementoni and not them. My opinion, I bought from them paid Amazon money they should have managed it and then taken it up with Clementoni themselves as that is who they bought it from. I contacted Clementoni, sent them a picture of completed puzzle with a close up of area missing pieces and they said I had to cut the bar code off the box and at my own expense post it to them with a photo (which I would need to get printed) of the finished puzzle with missing pieces and they would arrange to replace those pieces. Way too convoluted a process! I never followed up.

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

Sounds like what happened to me and I completely understand that added frustration. That was how I was feeling while speed puzzling.

[@emilyboivinoneal46]

I have purchased a number of buffalo puzzels on the last few weeks, and I am so upset the 3 of them had missing pieces. I don't think I'm going to purchase that brand anymore.

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

It can be very disappointing especially with new puzzles. That has happened to me before but not with Buffalo. However I don't do many of their puzzles.

[@puzzlepiece9509]

Ah, the saga of missing pieces or those not cut through properly. I've experienced both those problems in the past. I haven't forgotten the brand new puzzle that I received which had a lot wrong with it. It was a 1000 piece puzzle and it contained 980 pieces, 7 outside doubles, 4 outside missing, 45 inside doubles, 70 inside missing and 2 stray pieces. The company in question was extremely apologetic and said that was a rare occurrence. I was offered a replacement which I accepted. Never had that before in nearly 60 years of puzzling. It is annoying when that kind of thing happens but you just have to accept it, contact the company and then move on to the next puzzle. You may remember that Kristen had five pieces missing in her Lupins puzzle at Worlds last year. I'm looking forward to watching Worlds and seeing who I can spot from KZbin.

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

Wow! That is a big manufacturing error. Good to hear that they offered a replacement. Thanks for sharing.

[@lavernehodge3320]

When I'm working on a new puzzle I expect all the pieces to be there. Several times that hasn't been the case. I purchased a brand new puzzle from Amazon. I knew from the beginning something was wrong. The image was square, the puzzle had a round border. Needless to say, the image wasn't the puzzle in the box. I contacted Amazon and the seller and they pretty much told me I had mixed something up. That it couldn't be true. I've been puzzling for many, many years. I don't have the space to do more than one puzzle at a time. I can't even begin to imagine how that happened. Freakiest thing ever.

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

That is an unfortunate occurrence. I can't believe they tried to blame you for this error. That is why I prefer to purchase from puzzle stores. I find their customer service better than Amazon but I understand that Amazon might be the only choice for some puzzlers.

[@purplecat7457]

Just "found" this video, oh man that is so frustrating to have a new puzzle with such a huge chunk missing 😮Even worse because you were speedpuzzling, I mean who expects that? So good of the store to refund you - I hope Ravensburger fixes it with them. Also hope you can maybe find that puzzle again so you can have it glued and framed if you want to? Or even just because then you can at least finish it... I recently did three Ravensburgers - all bought new, all had issues unfortunately. One 300 piece came half pre-assembled. The weirdest thing, just whole chunks were stuck together in the bag - they weren't cut through properly. Ended up doing that myself, but that was my first speed run ruined lol. Then with another I had 3 extra edge pieces. The whole time I was puzzling I was expecting to have missing pieces, but thankfully there weren't any. Now I'm left wondering who has the same puzzle but is missing those three edge pieces 😂 And then finally I did a 200 piece puzzle where a lot of the twos (those standard pieces with two nubs) were bent out of shape. So that one just won't lie flat and some of the pieces don't connect properly. Extremely frustrating, especially because it's not what I expect when I buy a new puzzle (Ravensburger! Come on!).

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

Wow! You have had quite a few unfortunate circumstances. It's one thing when you get damaged or missing piece from a used puzzle but with a new puzzle it is very frustrating. Hope this doesn't happen again.

[@purplecat7457]

@@thepuzzlingcanadian It was quite a coincidence to have that happen three times in a very short time. Never happened before, and I do quite a bit of puzzling, both new and used. I've had the occasional missing piece with a used puzzle, or slightly damaged pieces with the cheaper brands, but nothing like this - thankfully! Making a new puzzle should just be fun and relaxing, and it's disappointing when you're let down like that. With used puzzles, I approach those differently and sort of expect the worst I suppose...

[@sauffy09]

Recently, so many of the new puzzles I buy aren't cut completely through! It's super annoying to start the timer and then have to stop it cuz I have to finish cutting apart many pieces..

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

I agree!

[@PalettePC]

I completed a 3000 piece Anatolian puzzle and it was missing 3 edge pieces. I submitted the missing piece form on their website. The replied that the puzzle was discontinued so they could not replace the missing pieces. Very disappointing.

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

That is unfortunate. I'm surprised they didn't offer another puzzle. I once completed an Anatolian puzzle and had two extra pieces. Maybe those were yours. 😊

[@abletochangeone]

I agree, those kind of things are very frustrating.... In my latest video, I had one piece of a brand new puzzle with the tab ripped off of one piece....

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

That's happened to me also.

[@lottieda2851]

One time I ordered a puzzle and the wrong puzzle arrived. It was a similar image, same manufacturer but not what I ordered. I contacted the puzzle store, they apologized, told me to keep the puzzle and they immediately sent out the one I ordered. Except when the second one arrived, it was the same incorrect puzzle. Then I noticed that both puzzles had a sticker with the puzzle number of the puzzle I ordered. So this time I contacted the store, told them they had bunch of mismarked puzzles in their warehouse and they thanked me finally fixed the error and sent me the puzzle I ordered.

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

Third time was the charm. Thanks for sharing.

[@elizabethpatterson2627]

How are the shipping costs to Canada from Puzzles Galore?

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

Very expensive. I find it's only worthwhile if I purchase 7/8 or more. Then the cost per puzzle is reasonably. If you're only purchasing two or three then the cost of shipping can be more then the cost of the puzzles.

[@elizabethpatterson2627]

@@thepuzzlingcanadian Thanks for this information!

[@stacyssassystyles]

Did you let Ravensburger know? I have seen that so many times with them. Great for the shop to refund you, but that should be on Ravensburger to eat the cost. Imo.

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

No I didn't tell Ravensburger. I believe the stores might have a way of recuperating their costs but I'm not 100% sure. This happened to me with another brand and they said go through the store and then the store was in contact with manufacturer. So hopefully this is the case for Puzzles Galore.

[@stacyssassystyles]

@@thepuzzlingcanadian oh good I hope so- I have had several missing pieces with Ravensburger and always go directly through them.

[@Laura_Stanford]

I once ordered a 3000 piece puzzle from Amazon and received a box full of plastic hangers instead. I was shocked. Also, same company has shipped a different puzzle to me in the past. I am an Ebay seller and have perfect 100% positive feedback but it is because every sale is priority to me. I also appreciate when I buy a puzzle from EBay to see a picture of the finished puzzle to make sure all the pieces are there. And the seller feedback has to be positive all the way.

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

Wow! I cannot believe that. I too like seeing a completed picture of the puzzle and the actual box. I'm a little suspicious when ebay sellers or facebook sellers use a stock photo of the puzzle. Thanks for sharing.

[@wout123100]

to me in general puzzle quality seems to go down somewhat, i recently did 2 very old, 60ties puzzles from MB, wow what a quality, never seen such thick pieces. bought in thrift store for 2 euros a piece. more and more i refrain form buyung expensive new puzzles.

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

I agree. I too have noticed issues with quality recently in new puzzles. They don’t make them like they use to. 😄

[@Sentient_Goose]

True puzzle confessions 😂

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

That sounds like a great title for a podcast

[@minos3041]

Misfit is the only thing that can made me frustrated I’ve tried lots of puzzles too dark ones are near to be frustrating for me and I want to recommend everyone not to try puzzles with 2 ins and 2 outs pieces

[@thepuzzlingcanadian]

Yes, dark puzzles with 2 in and 2 out are very frustrating. That piece cut is only good when the puzzle is busy and has lots of detail.