Classroom Nightmares

It is bad enough that, despite placing my classroom orders in June during the last week of school, they don't get approved until summer is over and never show up until the middle to end of September.  It is worse when what you have ordered shows up hopelessly damaged. 

Our district uses School Specialty to order through.  I have been ordering from them for over a decade now and have rarely if ever had an issue with them.  The few times something has gone wrong they were very good about getting back to me right away to correct the problem.  That does not seem to be the case now.

This year I had paper arrive opened and torn - not just a few sheets but all the way through the entire pack.  Paint bottles burst, paint gallons were packed on the pallet upside down and then had heavy reams of paper packed on top so that everything was crushed and leaking.  I ordered 25 glue sticks.  24 were packed in their own box.  Number 25 was packed underneath two reams of 500 sheets of paper because - why not?  I wound up with white paint all over myself because there was simply no way to avoid it when unpacking.  Things I thought had dried where still damp under the "skin" of the paint.  The only saving grace was that it was tempera paint and it did wash out.

I was shocked at how much damage there was but even more shocked by the lack of communication with the company.  I have sent in their official "complaint ticket" on the website - which they do not make it easy to get to.  I have sent separate emails and left voice mails to no avail.  I am stuck with the damaged goods. 

Some examples of what showed up:

Of course boxes that were lightly packed came utterly destroyed.

That tear when almost a sixth of the way down the ream.

This tear when straight through ALL the paper.

The middle one was open with a broken cap and exploded all over the other two.

The paint was everywhere - it was like blood in a gory horror movie.

The guilty party.

I guess it felt because the big one leaked it needed to as well?

Am I the only one who had a classroom supply shipping horror this year?  What was the worst supply disaster you ever had arrive in your room?