Not sure if they finally figured out how to ship these things or if I just got lucky, but I just had a few sections that had come apart during shipping, which I would expect with this type of product. I had seen several reviews where the item was damaged on shipment. Mine was very well secured in a large crate, so was not an issue.
I also had some uneven sizing of the slate pieces which caused gaps between pieces, which were negligible and barely noticeable. I may go back and put some black caulk In a few gaps.
Overall, I thought it was a great buy for the price and it looks great in the end.