Is Lego Quality diminishing?

Bustin

My kids collectibevly received 24 Lego sets in their Easter baskets, polybags for the 4 of them this year. 

30340 Emmet’s Piece Offering was one of the sets. I have to say that the fitting of the pieces is very bad. It almost reminds me of MB products. 

Gaps between pieces and different heights to pieces. Are the polybags made in a different factory now?  This is not the Lego we all remember :(

Bustin

We have 4 of those, they all produced similar results. I can only squish it together so much before I risk cracking pieces lol. 

DadsAFOL

LEGO is aware of issues with that particular set.  If you call up Customer Service, they will likely send you a replacement, or some replacement parts.

madforLEGO

We have at least one thread already about quality of LEGO parts. Lets face it, with how competitive a global market is now for LEGO there appear to be corners cut (whether it be due to the product use to make the parts, or the molds themselves) and QC appears to be set to lower expectations (maybe this is so parts can be pulled apart either, who knows, but it would be nice for LEGO to explain itself in that regard).

All you can do is either:

1) complain to CS (they will likely send out replacement parts and dismiss the QC complaint).

2) stop buying their product.

Now, I personally think QC should be one of the most utmost factors in LEGO's (heck any companies) mission statement, but it appears that just is not the case any longer.

Bosstone100

Yes. 

Fauch

that sounds like a slightly surprising strategy as quality may be the main advantage lego has over cheaper clone brands.

Recce

DadsAFOL said:

LEGO is aware of issues with that particular set.  If you call up Customer Service, they will likely send you a replacement, or some replacement parts.

Do you have a link to the details on that? As this set consists of standard bricks, I'd like to find out more on why problem is specific to this particular set and not in other sets that have these standard parts.

Lyichir

Recce said:

DadsAFOL said:

LEGO is aware of issues with that particular set.  If you call up Customer Service, they will likely send you a replacement, or some replacement parts.

Do you have a link to the details on that? As this set consists of standard bricks, I'd like to find out more on why problem is specific to this particular set and not in other sets that have these standard parts.

I'll second the call for details. I had seen someone bring up issues with the set before, and since they got the polybag from Walmart they assumed the issue might be environmental (like the bricks had warped from being shifted from cold outdoor storage to heated indoor storage or something), but if the issue with the set is that widespread I wonder if that's the case or if there was some issue with the production of the set.

That said, even consistent quality defects like this aren't a new thing. I was a Bionicle fan back in 2007-ish when there was a bad batch of lime green parts affecting the durability of almost all joints in that color. The issue was widespread, got identified, and eventually, addressed. It's unfortunate when it happens but it's not necessarily indicative that Lego's standards have slipped—not all issues are going to be noticed before packaging, especially "invisible" ones like durability that only present themselves later. The good news is that Lego's outstanding customer service is part of how they identify and rectify the issues that do slip by. That doesn't negate the inconvenience or solve the problem immediately but it does help to ensure that those particular issues can be prevented going forward and that customers can have their defective products replaced with minimal hassle.

Baby_Yoda

Perhaps it has something to do with colours used. The dark purple at the bottom and the red and yellow in the centre all seem fine, though that might just be because there's little of each present. The brighter purple is a somewhat unusual colour, at least outside of Friends, and if I recall Lego have always had trouble producing orange.
I'm glad to hear it's a set-specific problem, at least, rather than part-specific.

Paperballpark

Can someone say what the actual issue is there? There's always a very thin gap between pieces, so I don't see anything too unusual there. The only potential issue I see is the 1x6 orange plate could be a bit bowed.

CCC

Same here, this is the same as 20 year old sets. If you don't hold it up to the light and don't look straight on, the problem goes away.

Lyichir

Paperballpark said:

Can someone say what the actual issue is there? There's always a very thin gap between pieces, so I don't see anything too unusual there. The only potential issue I see is the 1x6 orange plate could be a bit bowed.

What I saw somebody else report was cracks developing in almost every one of the pieces (not just gaps between parts). The picture they shared was quite shocking indeed. You're right that the gaps are normal.

Huw

@davee123's other half...

DadsAFOL

Recce said:

DadsAFOL said:

LEGO is aware of issues with that particular set.  If you call up Customer Service, they will likely send you a replacement, or some replacement parts.

Do you have a link to the details on that? As this set consists of standard bricks, I'd like to find out more on why problem is specific to this particular set and not in other sets that have these standard parts.

It was discussed on the LAN forum.  It’s not secret, but it’s only accessible to ambassadors so I can’t link to it.   Despite perceptions here, LEGO is *very* focused on quality, and they ask that everyone call Customer Service whenever they have an issue, no matter how small.  

DeMontes

Recce said:

DadsAFOL said:

LEGO is aware of issues with that particular set.  If you call up Customer Service, they will likely send you a replacement, or some replacement parts.

Do you have a link to the details on that? As this set consists of standard bricks, I'd like to find out more on why problem is specific to this particular set and not in other sets that have these standard parts.

It relates to this:  https://flic.kr/p/2e7haYB

Fizyx

DeMontes said:

Recce said:

DadsAFOL said:

LEGO is aware of issues with that particular set.  If you call up Customer Service, they will likely send you a replacement, or some replacement parts.

Do you have a link to the details on that? As this set consists of standard bricks, I'd like to find out more on why problem is specific to this particular set and not in other sets that have these standard parts.

It relates to this:  https://flic.kr/p/2e7haYB

Holy crap.  This is making me want to dig out my polybag and open/build it just to make sure it's okay D:

pxchris

I must have been one of the fortunate ones... I didn't notice any issues at all in my poly.

klinton

pxchris said:

I must have been one of the fortunate ones... I didn't notice any issues at all in my poly.

Yeah. I guess having to wait for them to show up here in Québec was a good thing? I had no issues with this set. :D

ReesesPieces

Seeing that image of broken pieces literally made my heart ache!