Only 1 VW Camper poly per household via [email protected]

Coyotelily

recently placed a couple of orders with [email protected] in order to get my camper vans, one to make and one to keep- first order arrived with camper van which was opened and built (love it). My second order arrived a couple of days later minus the camper poly- i have just rung lego to see why and they have told me it was removed from the order as it is a licensed product and they are only allowed to send one per household. so i said what if i go to the store and buy from the shelf i could get a few that way to which the young lady replied I know.

She did point out it was in the terms and conditions but frankly i feel a little cheated- has anyone else had the same problem?

Losimagic

The licensed part sounds a bit made up. Last month, I placed 3 orders, 1 for a Delorean and a few other bits, and then later that day I decided I wanted to order 2 #41999 - 2 orders to get 2 galaxy squad polys.

The Galaxy Squad polys got cancelled in each order, so I rang up and was told that it was strictly one poly per household, which I got with my delorean order.

SirKevbags

Not had the problem because I've not placed an order but I appreciate you letting us know. So it appears that the regulations are starting to be enforced.

paul_merton

If it appeared in your basket when you paid, you should get it. Reneging on that is a bit out of order.

princedraven

I also have not made an order but when in store recently I was told by the manager that they are being tracked on the amount that are being given out as it was a licenced product.
I understand how you feel, but its hard to complain that they are actually following the rules...
Feels like another measure to combat resellers, but that is a subject for another thread.

paul_merton

Losimagic said:

The licensed part sounds a bit made up. Last month, I placed 3 orders, 1 for a Delorean and a few other bits, and then later that day I decided I wanted to order 2 #41999 - 2 orders to get 2 galaxy squad polys.

The Galaxy Squad polys got cancelled in each order, so I rang up and was told that it was strictly one poly per household, which I got with my delorean order.

Interesting, as there are clearly some inconsistencies in how they're handling orders. I ordered a mix of the DeLorean, Star Wars planets and some other polybags and was able to split it all across 3 separate orders, and I ended up receiving a free Galaxy Squad polybag in each order.

SirKevbags

I wonder how this will work in store? If you have made a purchase previously, used your VIP card so its recorded will it flash up you have already had the poly.

princedraven

^ I dont think it flashes up, but the information is available and I believe they take it into account for future orders (possibly why @paul_merton got away with it but @Coyotelily didn't?!?).

Xefan

Me and my partner share a VIP card. We both made individual purchases stood right next to each other last Sunday and got one each.

The staff didn't seem to have any problem with it and too right. We both buy our own stuff, we both expect a camper to build each rather than have to fight over one.

Removing this from us would simply mean we'd have less reason to buy in the brand store and instead go to other retailers who can provide it all cheaper so it'd just be yet another way in which Lego could shoot themselves in the foot.

cheshirecat

This has happened before - to @CCC I believe? That was a one off, will be interesting to see if this is more than that.

Bumblepants

I am fine with one per household but if it shows up in the shopping cart/bill it better show up on my doorstep. I would take serious issue with something promised in the order not arriving.

cheshirecat

^Thats what happened to @CCC, it showed up in the order and iirc even the shipping list in the box but was just not actually in the box. Eventually they sent it to him after he phoned and complained.

SirKevbags

^ Wasn't that because he used some VIP points to pay though?

morezone

Promo polys have been 1 per household for a long time. They never used to enforce it so vigorously but since Xmas, they seem to be on the ball.

In-store they are generally happy to allow you to split purchases for the polys as long as they think they have enough stock to cover the duration of the promo.

[email protected] needs an overhaul in how they deal with restrictions. They need to get something in place to remove promo items before checkout if they won't be fulfilling it. They also need to remove items for those which have a maximum purchase quantity. I'm sure it'll be more efficient than having staff scan through orders to check if people have circumvented restrictions.

cheshirecat

@SirKevbags yes you're right. That was the reason. Ignore all my misinformation posts!

joel4motion

Two orders placed over the last week and only one camper received. It was showing in my basket but was a no show. I'll pick one up at the weekend so not really fussed but I only really made the 2nd order to get the poly. As long as it is enforced on all then I can live with that.

Gurooo

@joel4motion I just have to say I admire your patience with them! If that was me I would be furious... But I guess life is a little easier for those who can let that pass without making a big deal out of it ;)

LegoFanTexas

The problem with all of this is that if it is in your cart when you check out and in your order confirmation e-mail, then they have to send it to you.

There are a number of consumer protection laws, both in the US and in Europe, that make this illegal. Regardless of what fine print on their web site might say, they have to honor what you purchased at the time you clicked "buy", or pay for the return of everything at their expense.

cheshirecat

LegoFanTexas said:

or pay for the return of everything at their expense.

Yes, in the UK I think they would have to do this, and I'm sure they would.

The only reason I say 'think' is because its a freebie with restrictions. In the UK both the sale of goods act and the DSR would mean that the customer should be able to have a refund (and with shipping at LEGOs expense thanks to the DSR) for items not as described. But I'm just not sure if it actually did go to court (and it never would) the small print wouldn't kick in (so long as the consumer has been made aware of it before entering the contract/sale). At that point TLG might be able to argue that the goods were as described, meaning that the Sale of Goods act doesn't apply and with just a change of mind as a reason the DSR would enable a return at the customers expense.

Its also worth mentioning that in the UK at least, what's in your cart at checkout, or in any automated order confirmation email is irrelevant. What matters is what is in the shipping note - either emailed or included in the box. Now, obviously if there was a difference between the order and the shipping you might/would have an issue, but what the store is contracted to provide is what is in the shipping note.

LegoFanTexas

^ That is why if I said the order confirmation e-mail included it. :)

Would this go to court? Probably not, just pointing out that it is pretty low to include it in the cart and e-mail and not actually ship it.

AdeelZubair

In June I went to the Lego Store and I spent over £50 and got a Jor-El, Splinter Key Chain and Tower of Orthanc Poster.

1. I didn't buy Tower of Orthanc.
2. I got three gifts when only one is allowed per transaction.

Lego stores are much better, if you have one near you :)

stevenzhang

I do think it is fair to have one promotional item per order as long as the order is above the threshold they specified.

'One per household rule' is just a joke! Lego could easily produce more promotional items to meet all the orders they received.

Xefan

I've had three things like that too. It depends what they have left over from the previous month - they give it away at the start of next month as well.

In fact, we ended up with about 4 Jor El's because of this, because the month after Jor El was up they had so many left over they were still handing them out for a week or so.

Oddly though I never got a mini-sopwith camel. Not a single one. Despite being there at the start of the month and a week or so after. They just never gave me one. I don't know if this was staff oversight or what, but I didn't really think to ask until after the event by which time I couldn't be bothered.

cheshirecat

LegoFanTexas said:

^ That is why if I said the order confirmation e-mail included it. :)

Except its not the order confirmation, its very specifically (in the UK) the shipping note. But yes, i agree it does seem crazy, especially if you can pick up as many as you want from in store.

graphite

I made 3 orders on the 1st and ended up getting 4 camper van poly's. Not sure how they get it so messed up but my 2 minecraft+power function bits orders came with the polys with them. The #75025 I ordered was OOS and shipped a few days later but it qualified for the SW promo and the VW bus but the SW promo hadn't shown up in my cart on checkout. Got confirmation that the VW was shipped separately and when everything arrived I had a second bubble mailer that had the SW promo and another VW. Was hoping a 5th would be in the box with the #75025 but there wasn't.

Xefan

I don't think that's true. It depends how the order confirmation is worded, if it clearly states the order has been accepted for example then that's it, there's no going back for the retailer as it's order acceptance that ultimately matters.

I haven't looked at a Lego order confirmation in this case to see what they say so it might not apply but there was a case a few years ago where M&S ultimately ended up shipping mis-priced £1,099 TVs for £199 or something like that, they argue it was just goodwill but I don't think any company throws away £900 per customer for goodwill so I suspect the argument that a sale had been agreed which they couldn't just unilaterally cancel had some legal standing.

cheshirecat

^ Indeed, what I said was a slight simplification but is also how its generally worded in guidance. Its about whether the order confirmation is an automated system or not. If each order confirmation is sent out by a human then that counts as agreement of a contract. However, that's very rarely the case with order confirmations being sent out automatically within a short time of placing the order, in such cases the retailer is under no obligation to fulfil the sale. However, whether a shipping conf is sent out automatically or not doesn't matter, by that time the law presumes that the retailer has had ample opportunity to determine that they are happy with the contract and so the shipping conf is taken as acceptance of the order.

Its why Tesco could take money, email an order conf and not send you the goods entirely legally in those crazy sale days.

Xefan

I thought that was just because Tesco are arseholes :)

cheshirecat

^ Indeed, although if they want to discount lego by almost 96% then I can live with them being arseholes.

starfire2

Yesterday, my husband decided he wanted Jabba's Sail Barge. We went over to our local Lego store. When we were checking out the cashier told us we could pick either the vw van or the clone trooper. When we asked the manager, he explained it was because when they are running double promos sometimes they run low. In order to have enough to last the rest of the month, they may limit you to one or the other. My husband picked the vw van. It made us feeling a little ripped off. I think the key is to go the first day of the promos if you want both.

Diggydoes

Thanks TLG, i´ve place two orders each contained a Ewok-Village (so that´s a total of almost 500€) and they sent me 1 (one) VW-Camper! Well lesson learned, the next time i´ll go to my Brand-Store!
P.S. i´m in Germany

Dad

^ Just had a look at my second order shipping note. No mini camper van included.

Dougout

This is no good, I really like the camper van poly. I hope my orders come with them.

madforLEGO

The LEGO store by me has not allowed splitting up the checkout to get additional polybags for a long time.
Also, take note about the complaint here.
Because the GS poly and VW one is apples and oranges.
The VW VAN is being limited as it is a licensed product, the Galaxy Squad is licensed by LEGO, but not a licensed product like VW is.
If people were getting multiple copies then maybe LEGO finally stopped that from occurring.
I got one from the store this weekend, and one from an online order.
Wait until LEGO starts watching VIPs and starts to stop people from doing that to get two.

LegoFanTexas

^ two VIP accounts?

Paperballpark

The T&Cs at the bottom clearly state 'One free set per household'. Sure it's a downer, but they probably only have a limited number, so that'll be the fairest way to ensure as many people as possible get one.

madforLEGO

^Yep, I understand.
I think we have all been spoiled with getting multiple polybags for the past couple of years.

maques

I am curious what is other people's experience and opinion about getting the free exclusive gifts from [email protected] - more than "one per household".

I have a received order with the current gift (mini VW T1 Camper Van) and another shipped today, two orders from August with two "LEGO® Galaxy Squad Mini Mech" (I wouldn't care much for those though) and even a handful of TC14 from the time when they gave another one per order replacing the out-of-stock poster, so got 2-2 per orders by then.

So, I never had problems with getting "more than one per household", but recently I got feedbacks from friends that their second order's gift were "cancelled" - and shipped without the gift, with no warning or notice whatsoever.

Let's see the facts:

The "campaign" screenshot with the T1 camper doesn't mention limits.
The "Learn more" button presents the following details: "Once your order reaches $75, your free exclusive Mini Volkswagen T1 Camper Van will be automatically added to your shopping bag. Available only through shop.LEGO.com and LEGO Stores."
- still not mentioning any limits.

If one scrolls down, and reads the "fine print", can find the "One free set per household." text in a ~five lines of text, but I would bet a fortune that if LEGO put some bogus stuff there (like: "by an accepted order, customer becomes a slave of LEGO and obliged to transfers all money and property ownership to LEGO"), they would still get enermous number of orders, so I somewhat see this as a problem.

A customer can submit endless number of orders and the "free gift" (if the conditions met) will always be put in the cart automatically - so the limit is not enforced by the time of the order. This is a bigger problem.

Then customer service comes in and modifies customer's order (removes free gift) and without a question whether the customer wants the order like that, ships it? I see this another big problem.

I'm not sure whether this can be a base to "return the order" (I know it can be returned without a reason anyway) but I think a company with the slogan of "Only the best is good enough" should either just honor orders with the gifts - for many, that is the kick-in reason to buy anything on [email protected] anyways - or get the order system fixed and make it clear that "household limit" is one, by making impossible to get more than one gifts for subsequent orders. Also should enforce product limits, so if one ordered something with a limit of 2 (like Minecraft), then he/she wouldn't be able to order more later on (I'd implement a "grace period" though, like could repeat an order after xx days/months passed by or when production can "man up".)

BTW, off the record, I have two sons, so limiting the Mini Volkswagen T1 Camper Van "one per household" could break the third world war and noone would want that I guess... (not to mention my MISP poly collection.)

roxio

http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/12196/only-1-vw-camper-poly-per-household-via-s-h#latest

princedraven

What I think we lose sight on is that we are such a tiny tiny minority of Lego's customers.
90-95% of people who get one of these go "Oh, I get this free, wow, that's nice", almost none of those will want 2, moan about not getting another, etc..
(I see this first hand in store ALL the time!)

I agree the online system should not allow it and I wouldn't be surprised if it is amended to stop multiple orders, I just think up until now they have not enforced it, but now they are seeing more and more that the exclusive gifts are going straight onto ebay (do a search its flooded with them) and so are cracking down. They don't want freebies being just a way for people to offset the price of their purchase.

Tevans333

^ ^^ yup, we've been spoiled and now it's a downer that they are enforcing their own rules. Instead of counting ourselves lucky they didn't enforce the rules and gave us extras, we now feel entitled.

I don't fault TLG for enforcing their rules, I fault them for not maintaining their customers expectations. They need to have a consistant message and right now it varies from store to store and customer to customer. I'm happy as a customer to follow their rules, and the change to actually enforcing them will be painful to those of us that were accustomed to them being so lax.

Even [email protected] isn't consistant, I placed 2 orders, one of the 1st and one on the 3rd. Both arrived with campers. I'm happy to get two, but without knowing what's going to arrive TLG has done a poor job of maintaining expectations. And that is a key objective of customer service.

maques

^^ I think there are many who are timing buys at [email protected] when something extra is given. Free shipping is default now, so its either double VIP points or an interesting freebee (May the 4th rings the bell?).
I doubt casual LEGO buyer average Joe knows about [email protected] at all...

My problem is not the "limit" - but the way how it "works"...

bitsathis

A friend ordered 7 different sets from [email protected] in the UK this month - all 7 orders received a vw poly! All same address and account, he got lucky i suppose! So did i as he "gave " me 3 of them.

graphite

princedraven said:

I agree the online system should not allow it and I wouldn't be surprised if it is amended to stop multiple orders

To me this goes back to how archaic the backend of [email protected] must be. It is obvious they have no competent people working their web back end if they have to "remove" the freebie from 2nd and 3rd orders on a single account even after the order and invoice show it. In today's e-commerce driven economy these things should easily be done at order time.

princedraven

It is kinda funny that they had a max 5 per order on US B-Wings and people complained it should be 1. They set a max 2 per order on 41999 and people complained it should be 1. They set a max 1 per household on the freebie and stick to it and people complain about that too.

We can't eat our cake and have it.

But as @Tevans333 has stated it really is more about expectation setting and consistency.

TheLoneTensor

maques said:

^^ I think there are many who are timing buys at [email protected] when something extra is given. Free shipping is default now, so its either double VIP points or an interesting freebee (May the 4th rings the bell?).
I doubt casual LEGO buyer average Joe knows about [email protected] at all...

My problem is not the "limit" - but the way how it "works"...

I have a problem with the limit. After all, now that the exclusive discount went away, we're only left with a stunted version of freebies, and the VIP points.

Also, Lego loves throwing things in the fine print nowadays. They'll easily hold back a few hundred "free" polys knowing that only a small portion will actually call up and complain. Same with the 10% coupon issue. They know people came into the store, so they'll compromise on another set and likely buy something anyway. I'd say very few actually storm out and buy nothing with it.

Have we determined yet if the Christmas sets (tree vendor) are limited one per household yet?

Brickaholic

Maybe they are saving them for the next daily mail promotion :)

Brickarmor

Let me play devils advocate for a moment: licensed or not, these freebies could easily be manufactured by the tens of thousands. With sales on [email protected] virtually nonexistent 98% of the time, they are the only incentive to buy from them at RRP.

Whether you're making many orders for yourself, your family, your friends, or your BL store, the money is being spent almost solely because of a giveaway that probably costs TLG pennies per unit. There are plenty of people that only want the promo but don't care to meet the minimum buy requirement. If I need 30 Stagecoaches for an epic MOC the ability to obtain numerous promos to sell to other collectors and offset the expense becomes the only reason not to go through Amazon, et al.

Again, it will take some time to sift through the hype and hysteria to see what's what, but if this is the reason for their recent "upgrades" and the ensuing technical difficulties, to give their in-house Big Brother a stronger arm, I don't like it one bit. It's a giveaway for g*d's sake.

Brickarmor

To add to what @tensor mentioned above: I'm already budgeting for late October. If they want to be miserly with the Xmas sets I'm gonna take my ball and go home.

Tevans333

tensor said:

maques said:

^^ I think there are many who are timing buys at [email protected] when something extra is given. Free shipping is default now, so its either double VIP points or an interesting freebee (May the 4th rings the bell?).
I doubt casual LEGO buyer average Joe knows about [email protected] at all...

My problem is not the "limit" - but the way how it "works"...

I have a problem with the limit. After all, now that the exclusive discount went away, we're only left with a stunted version of freebies, and the VIP points.

So do you have a problem with almost all other companies who do not offer any freebies at all? TLG always has some sort of freebie every month, I think we are spoiled and it shows...

CCC

SirKevbags said:

^ Wasn't that because he used some VIP points to pay though?

Yes, I had an order just over £50 which turned out to be £45 plus a fivers worth of points and they removed a TC14 because of it.