It's time for chapter two of this saga.
Reprint arrived today, again with no signature or knock on the door from carrier. That means no chance to inspect or sign, although I trust WW based on their reputation and how they responded before, so maybe that's okay.
The "crate" was the same construction you see above, and at least this time it appeared intact. It was placed standing on end (tall) this time up against my front porch. I noticed a couple of loose staples (they hold the cardboard to the 1x.5's that form the "frame") but nothing too bad.
When I opened the box, I was initially pretty impressed, until I stood the print up. Then I saw this:
Epic fail!
I decided to try hanging it on my wall just for kicks. It was then that I saw this other issue:
The curvature there creates a little over an inch of offset in the aluminum mounting brace on the back of the dibond. This makes it impossible to hang. I'm kind of glad the corner is messed up, because otherwise I'd be facing the dilemma of whether to try to "bend" the whole thing back to flat somehow.
I've fired off another email to WW to see what they think. At this point, I'm starting to suspect that they just don't ship much acrylic at this size to USA customers. (This print alone was about $1400 after discount, plus how many people have space for one 8-foot-wide print? I could see a gallery or installation ordering a bunch of these, but then that might justify a real crate.) I think your comments about insufficient crating have got to be the problem here.
But wait, there's more! The real conundrum is that, prior to this print coming in, I went ahead and ordered seven more acrylic prints. I love the product despite the early troubles, and there was a sale that ended Sunday that I wanted to take advantage of. I do have one more print ordered that is almost this area (a little less width and a touch taller), but I also have one 125"-long beast that is only 18 inches tall. (I think 11 feet is roughly their process limit.)
And all seven prints shipped for $59.95. :-)
Rest assured, then, there will be at least a Chapter Three. I'm crossing my fingers that I've just been unlucky and that we'll reach a good outcome.