Limit 1 Free Set per VIP Account?

Zeldafanatic15

My wife and I just got home from the Lego Store where she picked up the Fairground Mixer and I picked up some of the new Marvel sets to go over $75. We used the same VIP card but did seperate transactions on different cards. She got the Balloon Cart but they would not give me once as they said it's "1 per VIP account." Is this new? We've always split up orders and had no trouble getting multiple free items, they were quite rude about it so I wasn't going to push the issue. Sorry I made a new topic, but I wasn't sure where it should go. Thanks!

dougts

It's not exactly new, but it seems enforcement is starting to happen more regularly, at more locations, and amongst more employees.

ColoradoBricks

Those kinds of offer always had in the fine print "One free set per household", however the enforcement of that rule was is over the place.. not sure if it was tighten recently. I only made one order on [email protected] today, and as of now I see the freebie being added to my cart (but sure it would stay if I check-out and have no interest in other sets to try it...)

1265

The policy has been around for not too long. I'm guessing more store employees are enforcing the policy. Also, I believe the policy is "one per household," not "one per VIP account."

Mrs_Wobblehead

If that is the case, could you buy the second, third, fourth ...... set without swiping your card - get the free gift/s and then go back at a later date for the points to be added onto the card?

Phonebooth

^sure. But please don't complain when free ploys go the way of the dodo.

TheLoneTensor

^ at which point customers buying items because the "free" poly is part of the equation go the way of the dodo.

CircleK

TheLoneTensor said:

^ at which point customers buying items because the "free" poly is part of the equation go the way of the dodo.

Yep. The free polys are usually the ONLY reason why my dollars go to [email protected], rather than Amazon.

Zeldafanatic15

Thanks for the input guys. I'm going to be scaling back my purchases at the Lego Store in this case, the promos are really the only reason to go there, and if they're going to start getting stingy, might as well get my sets cheaper somewhere else.

oldtodd33

Agreed, I spent over $500 last month on Lego and none of it directly from Lego.

graphite

Just curious did they see on the second transaction that you had made a purchase when they looked up your VIP? Or did you say something or hand the card to each other right in front of them? I made 3 orders online last night then went to two different stores today so if they're looking at the transactions on the card when it is entered then I guess my stores (at least 2 of them) don't seem to care.

Zeldafanatic15

The same guy checked both us out, but this has never been an issue before, and they are always very kind about it. This is the first time I was directly told this and first time an employee at the Lego Store has been generally rude to me. I thought maybe it was just him, but it looks like this is just a policy they're finally strictly enforcing, although if they're going to do it they need to do it universally, including on their web site.

Phonebooth

Zeldafanatic15 said:

This is the first time I was directly told this and first time an employee at the Lego Store has been generally rude to me. I thought maybe it was just him, but it looks like this is just a policy they're finally strictly enforcing, although if they're going to do it they need to do it universally, including on their web site.

There's a big difference between being 'rude' and enforcing policy.

Shib

^ I've seen a lot of people go bananas at shops for enforcing policies (none Lego related) and claiming the person serving them is being rude/ignorant etc, when it's the customer who is being those things just because they aren't getting what they want. Not for a moment suggesting that this is what happened @Zeldafanatic15‌ in any way, but it's always worth remembering that the people behind those counters work long hours, get crappy pay and might have had 100 other people before you making their life hard over the same thing. I've never worked retail, but I've worked behind a bar and I can tell you, it sucks having to deal with people all day, especially when they make a fuss over you doing your job - The example for me was someone telling me I should get sacked for IDing them when they had no ID, then refusing to serve them, irony being that in the UK policy is to challenge anyone who looks under 25 for ID, I asked them how old they were, they said 21...

If the person serving was genuinely rude though it's always worth remembering names and a basic description of them if you want to file any grievances with management etc though.

CCC

Get a VIP card each, it might help distinguish you as separate customers even if you share an address.

You can always refuse to purchase at the till point if they refuse to give a promo.

That said, I think it is good they are starting to enforce this rule, when you consider that some (but not all) promos end early and the number of promo items that appear on ebay and bricklink.

Xefan

I suppose that depends on whether the promos stop ending early now though doesn't it?

I'd wager that TLG simply always under-produce because they don't want to be left with freebies in the month they already have a new promo running. If the amount they have to hand out shrinks because they're limiting to one per household I'd wager they'll just start producing less. I imagine they run out on purpose intentionally as it's impossible to predict the amount they'll need, so better to call it short and not have any left over when the new promo starts.

So I can't really see it being a good thing, I suspect this is merely about cutting costs in an attempt to boost profits. Though depending on how people react it may end up being a method of cutting profits to try and cut costs. I'd wager even if they reduce the amount they hand out there still wont be any end of month.

I too only really go buy at the Lego store because I like their free polys, there wouldn't be any point otherwise as it's always markedly more expensive than elsewhere.

ecmo47

^The promos will ALWAYS appear on eBay and Bricklink. If enforcement of this policy becomes universal, it will guarantee that the price of the freebee will skyrocket in the aftermarket because of scarcity. So Lego, again, will encourage the very thing that they are attempting to wipe-out: aftermarket reselling. It does not make good business sense to me to have this policy. They can produce as many polys as they want for just a few cents. If they allow everybody to have as many as they want (within the rule of 1 per $75.00 order), they will generate more sales and there will be tons of them on the aftermarket. This will keep the price down of the poly which makes it less enticing to spend lots of money to collect a stash of them for resale. So Lego would have a win-win situation: More sales and less enthusiasm to hoard a freebee.

CCC

The flaw in that argument is that if the price of the poly is kept down on the aftermarket, then people won't buy £50 / $75 worth of lego to get the poly, they will just buy on the aftermarket from the reseller, who has bought other stuff direct for resale, and the VIP points.

I don't believe that they are trying to wipe out all reselling here (as that is impossible), but to just stop people reselling many multiples. Anyone can get one and sell it, but hopefully people cannot get 10s or 100s.

But let's face it, whatever they do there are ways around it that extreme resellers will use to make money.

Xefan

How do people get 10s or 100s anyway? It must surely be easy to spot people making 100s of £50 purchases?

Shib

^I suspect that those that have hundreds normally have other ways of obtaining them

CCC

Xefan said:

How do people get 10s or 100s anyway? It must surely be easy to spot people making 100s of £50 purchases?

Online too.

cheshirecat

^^^ Well some might drive around the UK buying a handful at each shop.

As CCC says, LEGO use these promos to encourage consumers, the last thing they want to do is encourage resellers if that has a knock on effect of discouraging consumers - either because its run out or it can be got cheaply from ebay.

Its entirely possible that the shop assistant was just using their brain, between the ghostbusters release and the very popular balloon poly (which hasn't been out for a few weeks in the US like the UK) he may have figured that the promo wasn't going to last long. It seems to be that its the popular promos (christmas ones, VW, balloon (hotdog stand?) that both run out and seem to get stricter handling from [email protected] and Lego employees. Tie that in with a big new release like the ghostbusters set and limiting handouts in line with the T&C makes sense.

Shib

While I don't have any problem with ts&cs being followed I really hope that the shops are allowed to use their own discretion regarding families with more than one child. I don't have kids myself but could see tears and tantrums occurring in shops if they can't do one per child.

CCC

^ Yes, if a reseller can go into the store and get a poly with each £50 purchase, then there is a clear incentive to purchase all their Ghostbusters sets, plus a filler each time to get the poly.

Not only do they wipe out the promo sets, but to do so, they purchase all the highly popular sets at the moment to flip on ebay. It's a double whammy for other customers - no promos and no popular sets in stock, so they need to resort to ebay.

I could understand it if they relaxed the rules towards the end of a promo if they still had lots left, and the initial rush for them has died down.

Xefan

I can't really see how resellers are making much of a profit if they're driving from shop to shop to buy sets at full RRP just to get a poly that sells for a few quid. It'll cost you more in petrol than you'll ever make selling them especially by the time eBay has taken it's share and so forth too.

I can't remember do you need a VIP card for these promos or no? If so then even shop to shop should be easy to track and prevent as they get scanned and listed on your card. If you don't then maybe they need to start necessitating a VIP card for the freebies if that's the problem.

As I say I'm still not sure it is the problem though, they're going to avoid overstocking regardless.

Do we even know this has anything to do with resellers anyway though? do we know that TLG is actively trying to change it's business to impact them or is it all just speculation? If it was really about reselling there seem to be much better way of dealing with the problem, but the things they're doing mostly just impact honest consumers with little to no effect on the reseller market. That's why I get the impression it's really just about trying to squeeze profit margins higher than anything.

Mojoest

I'm not suggesting it would be the case here, but could there be a situation where an employee could restrict the number handed out, whilst instead 'putting them a side' for themselves at the end of the day/promo? Potentially a career limiting move, but maybe a means by which the potential for certain ebayers to end up with 10's of them?

Or to put a less cynical spin on it, limit the distribution to people who have already obviously just had one, (ie no formal tracking system in place just the nature of the one after the other situation as we have here). It could be that this still has them drop off the stock system, or to have number tally with qualifying transactions. This would them leave you with bags in hand to give out they you see fit to entice new customers? e.g. screeming kid.. "here you are, don't tell anyone but here's a free toy"... parents then thinking wow what a store.... next time they're there, spend big?

Ok so imagination may have started to wander now....

Xefan

To be fair I always assumed those that have hundreds for sale are just those who managed to find a box that "fell off the back of a lorry". I'd be amazed if anyone can legitimately get hold of hundreds whilst still turning a profit. More likely someone's stealing them from the production factory, from the supply chain, or from the store if they have quite that many.

CCC

^ I seem to remember LFT having many TC-14s to sell, at $20 or so a piece. I don't know what the count was, but he had lots. If there is something that is easy to flip (eg minecraft), or something you are going to invest in anyway (eg modulars where there is not likely to be any discount), then promo time is (or was) the time to do it.

graphite

^ This. There are at least a few people that either resell enough sets or buy for parts that could make 100 orders if they could get a promo with each. If I had the capital I'd expand my parts store by a good bit off a couple sets available now. The BL stores with 1 mil+ parts have to replenish some how.

bsiu922

I would try a different trip. i was able to get two set of the free gift, in the morning, I went myself to pick up the Ghostbusters and a few Simpsons. in the afternoon, I went with my sons to switches out their birthday gifts. Even with the same cashier and she even know me too, she indeed gave me another Balloon Set.

On the other hand, one time I tried to get an extra set of #41999 and the staff said Limited 1 per customer, and I have a friend around the area and had him to pick one up for me, but if i got near, the staff think my friend was getting it for me, so I had to stay far away from the store!

starfire2

Zeldafanatic15 said:

My wife and I just got home from the Lego Store where she picked up the Fairground Mixer and I picked up some of the new Marvel sets to go over $75. We used the same VIP card but did seperate transactions on different cards. She got the Balloon Cart but they would not give me once as they said it's "1 per VIP account." Is this new? We've always split up orders and had no trouble getting multiple free items, they were quite rude about it so I wasn't going to push the issue. Sorry I made a new topic, but I wasn't sure where it should go. Thanks!

Our Lego store let us do 1 per transaction.

TheLoneTensor

^ In other news, enforcement consistency at Lego remains unchanged :)

Btw, most evidence we've seen so far is anecdotal. I would be nice to see a larger sample to see what people are experiencing. I believe we have only seen two people chime in with actual experiences so far.

madforLEGO

starfire2 said:

Zeldafanatic15 said:

My wife and I just got home from the Lego Store where she picked up the Fairground Mixer and I picked up some of the new Marvel sets to go over $75. We used the same VIP card but did seperate transactions on different cards. She got the Balloon Cart but they would not give me once as they said it's "1 per VIP account." Is this new? We've always split up orders and had no trouble getting multiple free items, they were quite rude about it so I wasn't going to push the issue. Sorry I made a new topic, but I wasn't sure where it should go. Thanks!

Our Lego store let us do 1 per transaction.

Store by me is one per person.

red237

Two transactions, two diff cashiers but they saw each other check me out and I luckily got two balloon carts :) i was nervous though! Same VIP used.

TheLoneTensor

A person feeling nervous about getting two balloon carts. Good job you've done here Lego.

For the record, I'm not saying that circumventing limits is ok (hell, I'll circumvent them for two lousy polys also), but I am saying that a limit of one per household is just too restrictive. Why not make it 5 like any other set?

oldtodd33

^ Maybe because the Lego Group's computers can't handle more than 1 transaction per household per month?

tefarrel

I placed 2 orders online and got one with each, so that's strange. Enforcing this in the stores, but not online?

DadsAFOL

^except you just got flagged as a reseller.

tefarrel

Except I bought totally different stuff, NOT for resale? Just because I am smart about it doesn't make me a reseller

canon03

^Even if the freebie shows in the order confirmation, you still might only receive one. This has been a (legitimate) gripe in the past where promotional items are removed after confirmation in the order confirmation email.

vwong19

I made a purchase Sunday and Monday and received the free polybag each time. It makes no sense to buy from the store without the freeby, which is the only incentive to pay retail.

prevere

From I hear on Brickset, it sounds like the polys are fastly flowing freely early in the month, but once supplies dwindle, they seem to tighten up on the rules.

graphite

^ Most of the problems being told right now are from early in the month so I wouldn't say that holds true. It mostly just seems to be inconsistent across the board.

cheshirecat

We also only ever seem to hear of one or two cases per poly. The vw camper van probably had the biggest hoohaar and even then there weren't that many cases of it happening, I had one removed from an order but still ended up with I think 5, and at the end most people seemed to be in a similar position.

Venunder

Maybe the store only had a few of the balloon poly in stock, at that particular time?
The store guy may have given you one and retained the other for another customer, who would have been equally upset if the store had no poly to give them?

prevere

^That makes sense to me.

paul_merton

I just received both of the orders I placed online, both came with the free polybag.

Diggydoes

It seems as in Germany they are more strict about the "1 per household" rule, i´ve ordered stuff for over 700€ in 9 different orders, all at the same evening and they´ve sent me 1 (!) polybag! Honestly, as soon as other retailers carry the sets i´ll send the stuff back to Lego!

Phonebooth

Diggydoes said:

It seems as in Germany they are more strict about the "1 per household" rule, i´ve ordered stuff for over 700€ in 9 different orders, all at the same evening and they´ve sent me 1 (!) polybag! Honestly, as soon as other retailers carry the sets i´ll send the stuff back to Lego!

Along with the Polybag, of course. Don't forget to give them back your VIP points as well.

Diggydoes

Phonebooth said:

Along with the Polybag, of course. Don't forget to give them back your VIP points as well.

Of course they will get their "oh so valuable"polybag back,and even their VIP-points! At most retailers you can get at least 10% off coupons almost all the time,it's just the question when they will carry these new sets!

juggles7

If Lego wants to forego a $75 sale (whose profit would be over $20), for the sake of being stingy with a $5 item, I say let 'em!