May the 4th Promotion 2013

sidersdd

^ I had placed two orders. The first was just the B-wing. Nothing else. It came in two shipments. One was a padded envelope with the Han and poster, and a free Chima set. The other shipment was the B-wing, and another Chima set.

Similar story with my second order (miscellaneous exclusive stuff and figs), which apparently was too big for one box, so they shipped out in two shipments. Each one had a Chima set. So that's four free Chima sets for two orders.

juggles7

Brickarmor said:

Who knows, maybe TLG had this little May 4th surprise planned from the get go.

No offense, but that's a silly idea. No company plans to lose money. They're giving the Speedorz away because no one wants one, not even at half off. They've spent a fortune on Chima, and they've treated Ninjago like a red-headed stepchild, retiring lots of those sets way too early, not to mention killing the spinners, giving us only Spitta and Slithraa during the Christmas season. They're getting their well-deserved comeuppance on this one.

Dougout

I think everyone is over-thinking this. There have been only two episodes of Chima on tv so far with the rest of the series planned to air in the summer. I'm sure TLG has a huge amount of money reserved for advertising Chima and these speedorz fall in that category. You have to remember Ninjago and Chima will share a large demographic, so they don't want to steal all the kids from one theme all at once. From what I remember, there was a lot of speculation around Friends doing poorly when it first came out. Give Chima some time, I think it will do very well.

On a related note, all my B-wing orders shipped today.

princedraven

So if it isn't sales related, why only give them out free in the US?
Surely if it was just promotion they would be promoting it worldwide?

madforLEGO

mathew said:

^ To be fair, it's freebie poster. It's not going to be worth much if anything long term. Even then with the Lego collector's market I'm sure you will be able to get one in mint condition down the road if you really wanted one for a decent price. My kids are not even that interested in this one.

Yeah but if you did want the poster in good condition then a padded envelope is not the way to go. They did this with that 'limited' SW poster last year on me and wound up getting torn because of a padded envelope.

Jenni

^ They're also releasing sets very quickly. Amazon.de has had the original Speedorz about half off, I wonder if that would have happened if the second wave hadn't come out so quickly.

Brickarmor

juggles7 said:

No offense, but that's a silly idea. No company plans to lose money.

As someone else has mentioned, a good dealer always gives free samples.

Dougout

princedraven said:

So if it isn't sales related, why only give them out free in the US?
Surely if it was just promotion they would be promoting it worldwide?

Companies spend ridiculous amounts on advertising (Last year Coca-Cola spent $3 billion USD), so this promo doesn't surprise me. I think this is a great example of a successful promo. From what is said here on this forum, the good Bricksetters that don't want them are actually doing TLG's work for them and handing them out to the kids they think will want them! Amazing!! Maybe TLG knows all they have to do is give them to regular customers and their awesome LEGO brand will take care of the rest for them.

Global marketing varies everywhere. Opinions and tastes are different, demand is different, culture is different. Sales could be a little worse in the US, so this is the promo they have to boost it. TLG has stated they believe Chima will be 30% more popular than Ninjago. That's a confident statement, I don't think it came from no where. I believe TLG deserves credit for their success lately and I think marketing has a big hand in that. If Chima was doing poorly I would expect to see the television series being pushed to be aired sooner than this Summer.

TheLoneTensor

I used to think the Chima line could be saved by a successful cartoon, but alas, so far the voice acting is...bad and the stories are way too simple, shallow and poorly written overall. That, and despite as fun as the speedorz are to zip around and crash into things, actually using them in "game mode" with the cards and targets and all that has proven completely uninteresting to my boys at least. They have no desire at all for any more - speedorz anyway.

Simply put, you don't give away $20 sets as "free samples" (as Lego referred to them on a one-sheet in the packaging). My guess is this is an emergency marketing measure to sacrifice existing, stagnant inventory in the effort to try and bolster interest in a lackluster theme. I don't think it's going to work, which is a shame, because I think the minifigs are some of the coolest ones Lego has ever produced.

cheshirecat

Keep I mind that in the UK ninjago sells really badly too (hence £37 and even £25 fire temples sticking around for weeks and even months). We dont have the cartoon here. When the cartoon releases properly in the US sales will pick up. Although I agree the cartoon probably has a younger target audience, possibly too young to skillfully use the speedorz.

Thats made me happy now about the 4th may sale. £25 fire temples are definately better than a 100$ b wing!

juggles7

"TLG has stated they believe Chima will be 30% more popular than Ninjago. That's a confident statement, I don't think it came from no where."

That statement came out of someone's backside! Just someone talking out their you-know-what, that's all... Don't be so enamored of these people. These are the same arrogant people who ban suspected resellers (for buying too much!) and then reward resellers with Mr. Gold and with a limit of 5 on 50% off B-Wings!

And I agree with tensor; $15-20 items aren't used for free samples (a CFM could be) unless something is very wrong. Look, I think the Chima polybags are a winner (only because they contain cheap, cool minifigs), and I think the big ship, the 70006, is a good purchase at 20-30% off. You'd be crazy to invest in any Chima, though. The supply is huge and, at least right now, there is no demand.

Hardrada

sidersdd said:

^ I had placed two orders. The first was just the B-wing. Nothing else. It came in two shipments. One was a padded envelope with the Han and poster, and a free Chima set. The other shipment was the B-wing, and another Chima set.

Similar story with my second order (miscellaneous exclusive stuff and figs), which apparently was too big for one box, so they shipped out in two shipments. Each one had a Chima set. So that's four free Chima sets for two orders.

Yo dawg, we heard you liked our promos, so we included a promo item with your promo items, too.

Hardrada

mathew said:

^ To be fair, it's freebie poster. It's not going to be worth much if anything long term. Even then with the Lego collector's market I'm sure you will be able to get one in mint condition down the road if you really wanted one for a decent price. My kids are not even that interested in this one.

Yes, it's worthless basically. Still it's a poster which means it's useless when wrinkled. So either you send it out properly packed or you don't send it out at all. There's no rationale behind sending out damaged merchandise / promo items.

y2josh

Here's the thing that should be sending up red flags about the Chima promo: They're putting them in EVERY shipment that leaves their warehouse. I got one with my order of Baxter/Barrel Escape, I got one with the Han and poster they shipped separately from my B-Wing, I got one with the B-Wing itself and then there's my father's B-Wing order...

He ordered a B-Wing, which went to backorder, got the poster and a Speedorz set shipped out separately with no Han Solo. The invoice indicated Han was there, so he called customer service and they created a new order with just the promo Han Solo. In the meantime, the B-Wing showed up with a Speedorz set. Then his replacement Han Solo came yesterday... also with a Speedorz set.

If they're not trying to clear out a dud product, then there's something EXTREMELY wrong with their inventory/shipping system.

Picopirate

The Chima line is a bit diverse. They could be dropping the speedorz and gaming elements and focusing on the play sets.

LegoFanTexas

Consider that one big factor that is perhaps hurting Chima is that TLG has already announced that Ninjago will return in 2014.

If I knew it was gone for good, perhaps I might be more interested in Chima, but since I know Ninjago is coming back and since we already are invested with lots of Ninjago sets, why add another? We'll just wait it out and get back into Ninjago next year.

TLG thought it could make lightning strike twice, they are perhaps learning that it just doesn't work that way.

Once Chima showed up at my local LEGO store, they never have run out of stock, they are always full and never seem to have a problem keeping it.

Ninjago was always the other way around, they would get in a shipment and it would be cleared in a day, they could just not keep any of it in stock.

LegoFanTexas

I think the other mistake is that Chima is a new universe.

I said before when it came out that it was too soon and too much for parents, we just don't want that much in our house.

If Chima had been part of Ninjago, perhaps long lost cousins, perhaps another city or country, for cross promotional purposes, if we believed they would "meet" at some future date in the cartoon, then we'd have been more interested.

Dougout

juggles7 said:

That statement came out of someone's backside! Just someone talking out their you-know-what, that's all... Don't be so enamored of these people. These are the same arrogant people who ban suspected resellers (for buying too much!) and then reward resellers with Mr. Gold and with a limit of 5 on 50% off B-Wings

I understand they may disappoint you at times, but they are an excellent company. Surely they are not arrogant, they take pride in the AFOLs and the LUGs. I don't agree with the LFT ban, but I certainly see where they are coming from. He wasn't a suspected reseller, he is a confirmed, giant reseller and TLG knows this. They were definitely a little preemptive to cut him off though. If all resellers were spending $50,000 on sale items, there simply would not be much to go around when the sales hit.

You can't expect a company to make you happy 100% of the time with awesome sales and promo items given to everybody, but the customer service they have is simply amazing. I just think criticizing them too harshly takes focus off the real criminal companies like Bank of America or Haliburton.

As for the Chima thing....I'm still not ready to write Chima off yet. Yes, they seem to be dumping a $20 set. I'm going to wait until the cartoon hits to see how well it will do. Marketing takes time and kids won't know they want these things until they see advertisements that tell them they do.

Pitfall69

I don't think LFT got a warning before being cut off. I didn't think that was right. There were no "rules" for anyone to break really. Very much like the steroid era in baseball.

Dougout

I know, they targeted him as a reseller and it was their goal to ban him. I don't think this will happen to many resellers though. I think they wanted to try to make an example out him. Only, it seems to have backfired on them, people seem more upset with TLG than ever.

I don't know the fate of all of us. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I hope this ban nonsense disappears soon.

LegoFanTexas

^^ Nope, I didn't get a warning. What I did get was an e-mail 3 months ago (the first notice) saying "please don't purchase for resale".

So I didn't, I stopped and only tried to place personal orders for qty 1 of each item of things I had never purchased before.

Then they canceled those orders without notice or notification, I had to e-mail them two weeks later to find out what happened, and they replied back saying, "oh, we canceled those orders because you're a reseller, we won't sell anything to a known reseller".

Gee, thanks for the notice! :(

---------------

^ I don't think hobby resellers are going to get banned, it would be hard to pick out a hobby reseller from just a big AFOL. But I was placing dozens of orders, buying 20 of this and 30 of that, that goes way beyond AFOL and clearly is a reseller.

So I do understand...

For what it is worth, I have been able to buy in my local store, they have held to the 5x lifetime max, but I can still go in and buy for personal use, so all is well in that dept.

mathew

LegoFanTexas said:

If Chima had been part of Ninjago, perhaps long lost cousins, perhaps another city or country, for cross promotional purposes, if we believed they would "meet" at some future date in the cartoon, then we'd have been more interested.

I agree. They should of introduced Chima last season as a tie-in when Ninjago was red-hot. Or maybe a happy meal type thing. They put the cart before the horse by not having the cartoon ready prior to the toy release. Overall a botched product.

Farmer_John

LegoFanTexas said:

For what it is worth, I have been able to buy in my local store, they have held to the 5x lifetime max, but I can still go in and buy for personal use, so all is well in that dept.

I really like Gail...she's a really nice person! When I've needed shipping boxes, she's held them back for me. She spent one evening helping me search for my missing Series 9 CMFs. Just a really nice person!

LegoFanTexas

^ Ditto on Gail, if I was running a retail store and she called me asking for a job, I'd hire her on the spot. Great with customers, great attitude all the way around, always nice to see her in the store.

I hope LBR knows a good manager when they see one and make sure they take care of her.

jdylak

Renny said:

^I won't get into the ethics of that, but I don't think they would even accept them because of the marked up barcode.

How is it any different then selling them on ebay? The I asked about returning them and the service desk manager said it was ok. They just put a new sticker over the barcode. So I put them on ebay and sell them less then retail and have fees or return them to Walmart for merchandise credit and buy something else.

Farmer_John

LegoFanTexas said:

^ Ditto on Gail, if I was running a retail store and she called me asking for a job, I'd hire her on the spot. Great with customers, great attitude all the way around, always nice to see her in the store.

I hope LBR knows a good manager when they see one and make sure they take care of her.

Gail is great...and I would also rank Donnell in the Nashville store right there with her. The guy has a clean store and excels at customer service. Both are awesome managers, and employees like them are why TLG does as well as it does.

ISDAvenger

I agree the Nashville store is awesome and the staff is very friendly.

Farmer_John said:

LegoFanTexas said:

^ Ditto on Gail, if I was running a retail store and she called me asking for a job, I'd hire her on the spot. Great with customers, great attitude all the way around, always nice to see her in the store.

I hope LBR knows a good manager when they see one and make sure they take care of her.

Gail is great...and I would also rank Donnell in the Nashville store right there with her. The guy has a clean store and excels at customer service. Both are awesome managers, and employees like them are why TLG does as well as it does.

legogregors

jdylak said:

Renny said:

^I won't get into the ethics of that, but I don't think they would even accept them because of the marked up barcode.

How is it any different then selling them on ebay? The I asked about returning them and the service desk manager said it was ok. They just put a new sticker over the barcode. So I put them on ebay and sell them less then retail and have fees or return them to Walmart for merchandise credit and buy something else.

The difference is you are absorbing the costs and fees when selling on ebay instead of Walmart. There has been a lengthy discussion about the costs associated with returns to Brick and Mortar stores. If you are trying to justify it, why not try and return this free item to a Lego Store or send them back to Lego for merchandise credit.

jasor

@LegoFanTexas and @Farmer_John -- which store is Gail at? Frisco retail store is my #1 in my travel radius, although the farthest out. I know that store has ALWAYS bent over backwards to help people.

Farmer_John

^Gail is at the StoneBriar Mall store in Frisco, TX. She used to be a GameStop store manager in the Nashville area (she's from Hendersonville, TN I believe). She knows Donnell very well (manager at the Opry Mills Mall store in Nashville)...they're both cut from the same mold...great people and great managers.

jdylak

legogregors said:

jdylak said:

Renny said:

^I won't get into the ethics of that, but I don't think they would even accept them because of the marked up barcode.

How is it any different then selling them on ebay? The I asked about returning them and the service desk manager said it was ok. They just put a new sticker over the barcode. So I put them on ebay and sell them less then retail and have fees or return them to Walmart for merchandise credit and buy something else.

The difference is you are absorbing the costs and fees when selling on ebay instead of Walmart. There has been a lengthy discussion about the costs associated with returns to Brick and Mortar stores. If you are trying to justify it, why not try and return this free item to a Lego Store or send them back to Lego for merchandise credit.

What cost or fee is there from walmart? I work retail and There is no fee or cost when returning something. If this was our store, we'd do the same thing. Just put a new sticker on it and back to the floor. The Chima sets fly out of this Walmart, they never keep them in stock. I'd like to read the discussion about this, if you could point it out.

LegoFanTexas

jdylak said:

What cost or fee is there from walmart? I work retail and There is no fee or cost when returning something. If this was our store, we'd do the same thing.

You do it for general customer service reasons, but there is always a cost to it. Partly it is employee time, space and staff are not free, but it also has to do with some percentage of what you take back is damaged, unsellable, etc.

It also isn't "new" product that you can sell, you are giving credit at retail price, not buying new stock at a discount.

There is always a bottom line cost to taking returns in retail. No one wants to do it, but you have to, customer service demands it.

Renny

jdylak said:

Renny said:

^I won't get into the ethics of that, but I don't think they would even accept them because of the marked up barcode.

How is it any different then selling them on ebay? The I asked about returning them and the service desk manager said it was ok. They just put a new sticker over the barcode. So I put them on ebay and sell them less then retail and have fees or return them to Walmart for merchandise credit and buy something else.

It's different in my eyes because it is deception. I would be returning the Chima promotional set to a store that I did not buy them from in order to get what is likely full store credit (or whatever price they may be at) and in turn use that credit to buy something else. It may not affect the store's bottom dollar but it personally doesn't feel right to me. Lots of people do it as well during B2G1 free Toys R Us video game sales. They return the "free" video game to Walmart or another B&M store other than Toys R Us and receive $50 or $60 credit to buy another game that they wanted but wasn't in stock at tru. I don't care what other people do, but I personally could never do that. With ebay I am not deceiving anyone. I received a product and am in turn selling it, no lies involved.

princedraven

jdylak said:

Renny said:

^I won't get into the ethics of that, but I don't think they would even accept them because of the marked up barcode.

How is it any different then selling them on ebay? The I asked about returning them and the service desk manager said it was ok. They just put a new sticker over the barcode. So I put them on ebay and sell them less then retail and have fees or return them to Walmart for merchandise credit and buy something else.

FRAUD: fraud is intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual
Saying "I bought these but lost my receipt" then using the $100 is intentional deception made for your personal gain.

Selling on ebay is selling an item you own to someone who wishes to buy it.

legogregors

jdylak, if you enter customer return in the search function there has been discussion. If you don't consider it deceptive, try returning them to Lego directly for merchandise credit and remind them that Chima is flying off the shelves!

The_Mack

LegoFanTexas said:

TLG thought it could make lightning strike twice, they are perhaps learning that it just doesn't work that way.

I think they underestimated the power and coolness of Ninja's.

legoprods

They've charged my bank account twice for the B-Wing order! You may want to check yours, just in case.

And I just received a shipping confirmation email. To those who got charged immediately when they placed the order and were wondering about the "we'll only charge you on shipping" line. Well, they may have charged you both times!

Time to contact CS...

Poochy

^ Hurray for one-time use CC numbers that you can set a limit on :).

legoprods

^Indeed! I used to use those in the internetz, until my cute little bank got absorbed by one of the biggest banks in my country.

They used to be free, now they charge you an extra fee for that. And I aint paying my bank extra to keep me a virtual debit card!

jdylak

princedraven said:

jdylak said:

Renny said:

^I won't get into the ethics of that, but I don't think they would even accept them because of the marked up barcode.

How is it any different then selling them on ebay? The I asked about returning them and the service desk manager said it was ok. They just put a new sticker over the barcode. So I put them on ebay and sell them less then retail and have fees or return them to Walmart for merchandise credit and buy something else.

FRAUD: fraud is intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual
Saying "I bought these but lost my receipt" then using the $100 is intentional deception made for your personal gain.

Selling on ebay is selling an item you own to someone who wishes to buy it.

Not really what I said to the customer service manager. I didn't need to tell her anything but the truth as her daughter works for me. I told her I got them from Lego and didn't want them. The toy department manager, who I also know, said they'd sell in a day anyways. So, with that, no lies to make up. They got 5 sets of something that took 2 seconds to print a new sticker for, and put them on the shelf and they will be gone in a day. They took no extra shelf space as it was empty to begin with, took us not even 3 minutes to walk them back, and I picked up stuff that had been warming the shelves for months. No damage to them. No "intentional deception". If it was my personal gain, then it was Walmart's as well. Done.

princedraven

@jdylak
At the end of the day everyone will do what they are happy to do. I gave up trying to encourage people to do (what I consider) the right thing, many moons ago.
People will do as they please and live with the outcome...

Picopirate

@jdylak. I can gurantee that the corporate policy only allow returns on items purchased at the store. Using/abusing a relationship with a store employee to bend the rules does not excuse the behavior. Heck the lady may have only done so out of fearing retaliation against he daughter if she refused.

CCC

jdylak said:

Not really what I said to the customer service manager. I didn't need to tell her anything but the truth as her daughter works for me. I told her I got them from Lego and didn't want them. The toy department manager, who I also know, said they'd sell in a day anyways. So, with that, no lies to make up.

Publish the store name, so others can do it. And so others can complain to head office when they find out the managers are doing this for friends only.

TheLoneTensor

princedraven said:

@jdylak
At the end of the day everyone will do what they are happy to do. I gave up trying to encourage people to do (what I consider) the right thing, many moons ago.
People will do as they please and live with the outcome...

People will do as they please, but it's still prudent to call out when there is blatant abuse happening. @jdylak's self-admitted actions are immoral at best and criminally fraudulent at worst. I'd like to think this community doesn't think it's right to do shady things in general, and that upstanding members will educate other members when something like this crops up. Remember, there are younger people here that sometimes may be fuzzy on what is right and wrong, and if they aren't guided, they could perpetuate the problem.

It takes a village...

/preach

princedraven

^ Fair point, but after 'informing' @jdylak a few times, and not just I, he continues to persue the "self-admitted immoral actions at best and criminally fraudulent" activity that his wife suggested.
You have to give up trying to change people at some point and just hope that karma comes their way.

doriansdad

Receiving some of my B-Wings and they are all also coming bundled with the free Chima packs.....so that is two per order. Crazy.

111ins

any Canadian buyers getting the Chima sets or it USA only on their give away?

y2josh

jdylak said:

princedraven said:

jdylak said:

Renny said:

^I won't get into the ethics of that, but I don't think they would even accept them because of the marked up barcode.

How is it any different then selling them on ebay? The I asked about returning them and the service desk manager said it was ok. They just put a new sticker over the barcode. So I put them on ebay and sell them less then retail and have fees or return them to Walmart for merchandise credit and buy something else.

FRAUD: fraud is intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual
Saying "I bought these but lost my receipt" then using the $100 is intentional deception made for your personal gain.

Selling on ebay is selling an item you own to someone who wishes to buy it.

Not really what I said to the customer service manager. I didn't need to tell her anything but the truth as her daughter works for me. I told her I got them from Lego and didn't want them. The toy department manager, who I also know, said they'd sell in a day anyways. So, with that, no lies to make up. They got 5 sets of something that took 2 seconds to print a new sticker for, and put them on the shelf and they will be gone in a day. They took no extra shelf space as it was empty to begin with, took us not even 3 minutes to walk them back, and I picked up stuff that had been warming the shelves for months. No damage to them. No "intentional deception". If it was my personal gain, then it was Walmart's as well. Done.

Just to be clear, Walmart gained nothing here. At best, it was a wash. Regardless of whether or not they sold them right away, they made no money off those particular products because they didn't buy them at cost... they bought them and then sold them for the exact same price. So using 'Walmart gained a hot product that they were able to sell immediately' as justification really doesn't work.

ISDAvenger

My B-Wing, Han Solo mini-figure, poster arrived today. It made it in fine shape and fast, considering the 7,300 miles it had to travel to get here. The box is a little creased, but I think it was shipping that way. Looking forward into building it, over three months is a long time to go without building a set.

psychopuppet

So last week I got my free stuff Han , poster , and Chima starter set since the Bwing was out of stock. Today I get my Bwing plus another free Chima starter set. Only problem now is the same one as to why I can't build my Fire Brigade or Town Hall.... No room.