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[US] LEGO Store September Promotion
While it is cheaper for me to order online than to drive 25 miles to the LEGO store (less taxes + either cash back or helping Brickset, not taking about money saved on gas) I still like like to go there to talk to the staff and to "just" be there.
I check-ed out with $76 of items, including $60 of star wars stuff to take advantage of both freebies. To my surprise on checkout, I am told I have to chose between the two freebies but I can't have both. I argued that the same items at
[email protected] will automatically add both to my cart and after a talk to the supervisor I eventually got them both.
It is probably specific to my store as they are always strict on limits (like limit of 1 for both B-Wing and
#41999 in the recent past), I was taken back, soon there will be more cons than pros to make the drive...
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...cross it and the image goes from positive to negative, and it is hard and expensive to go back.
What just happened to you strikes me as petty, a 50 cent polybag (the SW figure) for customer goodwill is a bargain every day of the week.
These decisions seem to be made by bean counters, and that never ends well.
But I agree, the penny pinching is head scratching. LFT, you like old sayings right? :) Penny wise, dollar foolish.
But the idea remains the same...
Thus one? Wow. But I guess they figure only us hardcores even know or care and all the "normal" parents just think. " wow. Cool!"
Bean counters I tell you...
There is the legal answer, then there is what consumers expect. Run afoul of consumers and the backlash can be strong.
TLG has the right to run their stores however they wish, and customers have the right not to shop there.
It is a two way street.
Sometimes as a retailer it is better to just let customers have just a bit more, make them feel like they got a good deal. Keeps them coming back and the profits coming in.
Start behaving like Mr. Scrooge and customers might not come back.
Stores can have all the terms and conditions they want, and shoppers can take their money elsewhere.
JCPenney had a perfectly logical rational behind their move to everyday low prices and dropping the constant sales.
Remind me how well that worked for them?
Stores are not entitled to a dime, buyers are in charge, if a store does not provide what they want, the buyers will go elsewhere.
That is not rationalization, that is reality.
It doesn't have to be a plastic building brick... :)
Honestly the whole "shut up and be happy you get anything" attitude being conveyed here by some puzzles me. LEGO seems to be making yet another change at brand retail that results in less Lego for the money. Isn't this the place - a lego forum - where we should feel welcome to come and discuss such things and feel free to share our opinions and disappointment without such judgement?
Maybe you are happy getting less lego, but for me less lego = bad and I'm going to voice my displeasure with my fellow AFOLs, even if lego isn't technically doing anything wrong.
Oh, and while they were being stingy with their promo polybags, I noticed 2 other previous promotional bags there; Chima Acro Fighter and the Iron Man promo were right there, left over from previous promotions. There was a limit of 5 on them. That just adds insult to injury.
Of course the Acro Fighter and the Iron Man were once "one per customer", too. Makes it hard to have any respect for their "rules".
A) Buy $50 worth of stuff
B) Buy anything Star Wars related
And I was still given a SW Clone Lieutenant poly.
My oldest son and I just went to let him pick a few smaller things for his birthday.
I guess some stores just seem to be much more strict than others.
Uh. Reseller ethics? Circumvent? Abuse?
Sheesh. This thread isn't anything about that.
The OP has a valid expectation that the promos he could get by staying at home and ordering, he should receive within the store. Considering this has been normal operating procedure in the past, yes, it is yet another surprising change.
I have had them give me more then one on a single order one time during hulk promo. I have been told if you go outside and take your things to your car and come back that they would have no problem giving you a second promo item as long as you spend how ever much.
I was in one of my stores the other day and had a customer ask me if we had any small size fountain cups. I asked the franchisee about it and he simply replied to the customer and me, that no, they were currently out. Had I not been there, I am pretty sure that the customer would have left. Instead, I turned to the customer, apologized for being out of the item she wanted, and said go ahead and fill the next size up, and we will only charge you for the small cup. She got a great big smile on her face, thanked us, and said, "Wow, I'll be coming back here." She acted as if we had given her a hundred dollars. The cost to us - $0.20 retail and about $0.04 cost. The cost to us of not having that customer return to the store? Who knows for sure but I can guarantee that it would be more than $.04.
Should TLG honor a customer's request to "bend" the rules? You bet they should. There will always be customers that abuse the rules. You can usually figure out who they are pretty quickly. Taking care of the other customers will more than pay for any abuse. Going the extra mile is really just doing what's right, especially in today's competitive environment. A customer should not even have to ask - it should just be a given.
Sorry for such a long post but being in the business for as long as I have been, I am passionate about customer service (and probably a little more critical when I don't receive it).
Excellent post! Well stated and just want to say thank you!
These items by their nature are limited. If every purchase was broken down into £50 chunks or whatever it needs to be then the stores are going to get rid of them quicker. True you are making the customer happy but if there are none left for the last week of the promotion then you have unhappy customers.
Of course the ideal is they should make more, send more but in reality that won't be happening because they don't want a massive overstock.
Most importantly it isn't the fault of the staff checking you out. It would be great if they had more discretion but in the majority of cases their hands will be tied.
I'd blame higher-ups for not sending enough sets. Of course, they don't have to give anything away, so they just set a number and make it first-come-first-serve.
as for ordering from lego.com, I did 2 orders back in may and only got 1 poly because they reviewed the order and removed one as per the 1 per household policy although I am not sure they do that for all orders (my account gets an extra review everytime because of a flag from an accidental ebay purchase that no one (from ebay or lego) bothered to tell me was a scammer using stolen CCs to sell merchandise from lego.com until it was too late to return the dang thing and restore my credit with them :( ah well... lesson learned)
I had a great experience there yesterday and received both polybags with qualifying purchases.
Glad that I was able to get a couple of them. One of the best bagged sets LEGO has ever made. Maybe the best? If anyone believes there is a better one I would like to know what they believe it is.