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Quality issues / broken parts

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  • VorpalRyuVorpalRyu Member Posts: 2,318
    edited April 2017
    MAGNINOMINISUMBRA said:
    @VorpalRyu I better never let you see my Volvo Wheel Loader - it would make your poor little tetrachromic eyes bleed. I've got a Dulux colour chart with less shades of yellow.
    Hahaha! Wow, sounds almost as good as the Dark Orange pieces from the Black Widow Brickheadz, while xiahna couldn't see much difference in most of the pieces, I just had enough 2×2×2/3 curved slopes to do the front & sides without serious variance, the two I used for the back I'd say are five shades darker & three shade more brown than the others. I've given up worrying so much about colour variance unless it's really noticeable like a few LBG parts that had very strong greenish tint, especially when almost no-one else can see.
    xiahna
  • 19741974 Member Posts: 141
    I buy a lot of MISB sets from the 80's. I have probably bought +100 in the last five years (CS, Castle, Town, Train and Technic)

    I'm not a collector, I'm a builder so those sets get opened, build, taken apart and reused in my MOcs

    NONE of them had colour problems and/or warped parts, despite being stored for +30 years

    I also bought pretty much all Johnny Thunder sets (those are from 1999-2003, I think) .. no problems there either

    While I do not buy modern sets anymore, I did buy quite a lot before I came to my senses and my son has a lot of SW, Ninjago, NK and other sets so I've seen ALL the problems modern sets have

    And it's pathetic

    The switch to clear pellets and dye injection have really messed up the quality and I have no doubt that the copycats can do just as good as TLG now (I've only seen one LEPIN set first hand, I was impressed in a very sad way)

    There's no way TLG is going back to pre-coloured pellets but there's also NO excuse not to sort out the current problems. It's not like TLG don't have the finances to do it

    So, PLEASE report any and all problems to TLG customer service, that's the only thing that can help to push TLG to sort this out (and this is also where the copycats can actually help ironically as the difference between knock off parts and current TLG parts are getting very hard to spot ('cept the logo, I know))

    Cheers,

    Ole


    catwranglerMaffyDew027madforLEGOVictorLovesToys
  • RecceRecce Member Posts: 923
    Was building the 4644 Marina just now and then 2 of the reddish brown pieces broke.

    I just snap them onto other bricks as per instruction and immediately hear a clear crack sound and the result is as shown. :(

    The reddish brown plates are especially brittle compared to, for example, the grey plates from the same set.

    Contacted Lego customer support and they requested the usual information, i.e. batch number shown on tape on box, instruction number on the last page of booklet, picture of the broken pieces with the customer number on it and receipt etc.

    Seriously, this is a very old set, who would still hold the receipt of a random purchase made many years ago!?


    mafon
  • OdeinoichusOdeinoichus Member Posts: 361
    W-What? I thought ABS was immune to GPS, that looks like a terrible thing to have happen... Is it QC or being sealed up for too many years??
  • RecceRecce Member Posts: 923
    I think is the chemicals used in reddish brown parts, which seems to be different to other coloured parts. 
  • xwingpilotxwingpilot Member Posts: 799
    I just had to request a new one of these from TLG for my daughter:



    Brand new out of the box, and all the printing on one side smudged and rubbed off!
  • LyichirLyichir Member Posts: 1,026

    Recce said:

    I think is the chemicals used in reddish brown parts, which seems to be different to other coloured parts. 


    Fragility doesn't always come from a chemical cause. I wonder if it might have been a case like Bright Yellowish Green Bionicle parts from around 2007, many of which turned out extremely brittle thanks to a large batch of the parts being improperly cooled after being molded.
    SprinkleOtter
  • RecceRecce Member Posts: 923

    Lyichir said:



    Recce said:


    I think is the chemicals used in reddish brown parts, which seems to be different to other coloured parts. 




    Fragility doesn't always come from a chemical cause. I wonder if it might have been a case like Bright Yellowish Green Bionicle parts from around 2007, many of which turned out extremely brittle thanks to a large batch of the parts being improperly cooled after being molded.


    My experience is that reddish brown/brown parts have much higher chances of breaking than any other colour throughout the years (see my previous posts). It could be something they used to make this colour that isn't present in any other colour.
  • RecceRecce Member Posts: 923

    xwingpilot said:

    I just had to request a new one of these from TLG for my daughter:



    Brand new out of the box, and all the printing on one side smudged and rubbed off!


    Lower quality control means lesser rejects and thus higher output, i.e. increasing the profit.

    It's already happening in minifigures.
  • monkeyhangermonkeyhanger Member Posts: 3,170
    As mentioned in the "what are you building thread", the front windshield piece of my new UCS Snowspeeder has a stud shaped/sized eliptical scratch, and the clutch on some of the silver 1×2 grate plates was almost non-existent.
  • MynattMynatt Member Posts: 632


    Not necessarily a quality issue but an intersting find of a broken piece in the parking lot. About to go home and looked down to see a pair of broken falcon wings. The wings now have a new home, but I have no idea what to do with them.
    catwrangler
  • SprinkleOtterSprinkleOtter Member Posts: 2,779

    Mynatt said:



    Not necessarily a quality issue but an intersting find of a broken piece in the parking lot. About to go home and looked down to see a pair of broken falcon wings. The wings now have a new home, but I have no idea what to do with them.


    Use them as a Batarang?
  • BobflipBobflip Member Posts: 728

    Lyichir said:



    Recce said:


    I think is the chemicals used in reddish brown parts, which seems to be different to other coloured parts. 




    Fragility doesn't always come from a chemical cause. I wonder if it might have been a case like Bright Yellowish Green Bionicle parts from around 2007, many of which turned out extremely brittle thanks to a large batch of the parts being improperly cooled after being molded.


    I didn't know that, but that explains why I've found so many cracked ones! Those joints weren't well designed as it is, but the lime green suffer especially badly.
    catwrangler
  • FowlerBricksFowlerBricks Member Posts: 1,731

    Recce said:

    Was building the 4644 Marina just now and then 2 of the reddish brown pieces broke.

    I just snap them onto other bricks as per instruction and immediately hear a clear crack sound and the result is as shown. :(

    The reddish brown plates are especially brittle compared to, for example, the grey plates from the same set.

    Contacted Lego customer support and they requested the usual information, i.e. batch number shown on tape on box, instruction number on the last page of booklet, picture of the broken pieces with the customer number on it and receipt etc.

    Seriously, this is a very old set, who would still hold the receipt of a random purchase made many years ago!?




    Yikes! Just go to Lego.com and they should replace it.
  • FowlerBricksFowlerBricks Member Posts: 1,731
    Well, if you go to the replacement parts area.
  • mithridatemithridate Member Posts: 52
    I take for granted that minifig arms crack (well, at least ones I have bought used), and that the bottom edge of cones (part 4589) and plates (part 3024) of the trans-pick-a-color variety crack, and that ice cream scoops crack goblets. The below are more unusual, in my opinion:

    - about 5 (of 8) reddish brown fantasy era orc torsos (2007-09) snapped when I tried to replace cracked arms;

    - 2 of the larger reddish brown plates from 4194 Whitecap Bay (2011) snapped in half;

    - several reddish brown plates from 79002 Attack of the Wargs (2012) chipped;

    - 2 1x8 dark brown plates from 79008 Pirate Ship Ambush (2013) chipped, and
    2 dark brown boat hull bricks (part 64651) had several studs break off

    Most I don't care about, but the last one is disappointing, since boat hulls aren't the easiest to replace. I realize that it's a four year old piece (also, I'm not the first owner), but would it be kosher to ask TLG CS to replace those? So far, I've only use the replacement service for a Knight Rider torso that came with a shredded arm -- other faulty parts I just suck up, and move on.
  • willobee498willobee498 Member Posts: 349
    The studs broke off? I'd love to see a picture of that. 
  • MAGNINOMINISUMBRAMAGNINOMINISUMBRA Member Posts: 993
    I can confirm Reddish Brown plates (particularly sidewall failure), wedges and 1x1,2 stAndard bricks of a similar era.  Thankfully most of my broken pieces from that era come from small to medium, in no way collectible or valuable sets.  
     My main concern is I'm in the very early throes of disassembling an Imperial Flagship.
       Dispatches to follow...
  • madforLEGOmadforLEGO Member Posts: 10,836
    Recce said:
    Was building the 4644 Marina just now and then 2 of the reddish brown pieces broke.

    I just snap them onto other bricks as per instruction and immediately hear a clear crack sound and the result is as shown. :(

    The reddish brown plates are especially brittle compared to, for example, the grey plates from the same set.

    Contacted Lego customer support and they requested the usual information, i.e. batch number shown on tape on box, instruction number on the last page of booklet, picture of the broken pieces with the customer number on it and receipt etc.

    Seriously, this is a very old set, who would still hold the receipt of a random purchase made many years ago!?


    Maybe you are just 'too strong' for LEGO?

    FowlerBricks said:
    Well, if you go to the replacement parts area.
    Well, yeah, but does not really solve the issue if those parts replaced are just as brittle, does it?
  • MAGNINOMINISUMBRAMAGNINOMINISUMBRA Member Posts: 993

    SNIP
    FowlerBricks said:
    Well, if you go to the replacement parts area.
    Well, yeah, but does not really solve the issue if those parts replaced are just as brittle, does it?
    Guaranteed that you're getting parts from a different production run though.
  • mithridatemithridate Member Posts: 52
    edited October 2017
    willobee498 said:
    The studs broke off? I'd love to see a picture of that. 

    Ask and ye shall receive (scuffing is noticeable as well, but the breakage is circled):



    Is this something that would be okay to contact TLG CS for at this stage?
  • monkeyhangermonkeyhanger Member Posts: 3,170
    I have come across something yesterday, not a breakage, but a ridiculously tight part.

    I have my old Bricklinked #10179 UCS Millenium Falcon up on ebay for sale, and am dismantling it for organisation and postage. Trying to get the antenna pieces off is a real pain - the fit around a stud is so tight that it feels like they are bonded on. I have to rock them off, each one is taking 20-30 seconds (and there are about 100 of them!

    They definitely weren't that tight going on, and could be pivoted in place, not now.
  • willobee498willobee498 Member Posts: 349
    Wow those busted studs are not something I would ever expect. I'd definitely call Lego about that - just maybe they have some of those pieces kicking around.

    This is maybe not totally related to this topic, but in the powerpoint from a few years back about illegal techniques (was it called 'stressing the brick'?), it said not to put polycarb bars in polycarb parts because they get stuck. But in the most recent City fire sets, fire is represented by a trans flame in a trans apollo stud. And you know what, they immediately became stuck. 

    It just strikes me as odd, like Lego decided "eh it may get stuck, but it looks cool so oh well!"
    catwrangler
  • Casper_vd_KorfCasper_vd_Korf Member Posts: 244
    Don't know if had been mentioned before, but for some reason my (I think older) blue plates are breaking left, right and center.
  • willobee498willobee498 Member Posts: 349
    How old?
  • AllBrickAllBrick Member Posts: 1,497
    edited October 2017


    Mmm, fridge chocolate.
    davetheoxygenmandspigelSirBrickalotOfLegokiki180703sid3windr
  • Switchfoot55Switchfoot55 Member Posts: 3,478

    I've just noticed a number of my yellow tiles from my Wall-E set have split...

    Guess I have a call to make!

  • eMJeeNLeMJeeNL Member Posts: 818


    Dark red 2x1 plate I bought today in a pseudo PaB-wall:
    snapped when I separated it from the 4x2 it came attached to.
  • Casper_vd_KorfCasper_vd_Korf Member Posts: 244
    willobee498 said:
    How old?
    Forty years? They maybe came from my dads collection, but it may well be they were mine from the late 2000s (my time in the target demographic)
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,366
    monkeyhanger said:
    I have come across something yesterday, not a breakage, but a ridiculously tight part.

    I have my old Bricklinked #10179 UCS Millenium Falcon up on ebay for sale, and am dismantling it for organisation and postage. Trying to get the antenna pieces off is a real pain - the fit around a stud is so tight that it feels like they are bonded on. I have to rock them off, each one is taking 20-30 seconds (and there are about 100 of them!

    They definitely weren't that tight going on, and could be pivoted in place, not now.
    Try putting the assembly in the freezer for about 1 hour.  See if that makes them easier to get off, since 1 hour is not enough time to make the parts frozen and brittle. I did that with some parts some time ago, and it worked for me.
  • dragologerdragologer Member Posts: 133
    has anyone noticed the obvious difference in the plastic used in some of the minifigure torsos this year? it feels more matt and smooth. not to mention cheap as I just had 15 of them crack from the arm down for no reason at all. 
  • AstrobricksAstrobricks Member Posts: 5,563
    Istokg said:
    monkeyhanger said:
    I have come across something yesterday, not a breakage, but a ridiculously tight part.

    I have my old Bricklinked #10179 UCS Millenium Falcon up on ebay for sale, and am dismantling it for organisation and postage. Trying to get the antenna pieces off is a real pain - the fit around a stud is so tight that it feels like they are bonded on. I have to rock them off, each one is taking 20-30 seconds (and there are about 100 of them!

    They definitely weren't that tight going on, and could be pivoted in place, not now.
    Try putting the assembly in the freezer for about 1 hour.  See if that makes them easier to get off, since 1 hour is not enough time to make the parts frozen and brittle. I did that with some parts some time ago, and it worked for me.
    I'm now imagining someone trying to stuff a UCS Falcon in their freezer :)
    IstokgBobflipFizyxDeMontes
  • mithridatemithridate Member Posts: 52
    dragologer said:
    has anyone noticed the obvious difference in the plastic used in some of the minifigure torsos this year? it feels more matt and smooth. not to mention cheap as I just had 15 of them crack from the arm down for no reason at all. 
    Actually simply from rotating the arms?! Or just from assembling them (fitting legs to torso)? In any case, which genre?
  • TkattTkatt Member Posts: 472
    I just got #70620 Ninjago City. It is supposed to have a dark grey baseplate, mine came with a light grey one. It's not a huge problem, but it does show in a few spots. It is definitely the largest mistake I've had in a set. Before this it was when my copy of the Pet Shop came with a green Hydra-foot soldier torso instead of the green sweater torso. 
  • mafonmafon Member Posts: 75
    Recce said:

    That's brutal.

    Never happened to me.
  • KirstyL21KirstyL21 Member Posts: 27

    It was the Winter of the Christmas Elves discontent! Breakages which occurred upon assembly of Santa's Workshop. Only the second time the set has been built. 
    BumblepantsLuLegomafon
  • PisceanPetPisceanPet Member Posts: 43
    KirstyL21 said:

    It was the Winter of the Christmas Elves discontent! Breakages which occurred upon assembly of Santa's Workshop. Only the second time the set has been built. 
    It was my third year of building my Santa's Workshop and I too lost an 'antler' - I've already had a replacement piece from Lego though and they sent me two, which is good as they do look slightly different to the original so I have replaced both.  Mine's a little Rudolph, I bought a red stud last year to change his nose!
  • willobee498willobee498 Member Posts: 349
    ^ in theory the redesigned clip shouldn't break as much as the old style in the photo.
  • RecceRecce Member Posts: 923
    Looks like TLG had officially acknowledged the issue and supposedly fixed it.

    https://www.brickfanatics.com/the-lego-group-announces-quality-fix-for-reddish-brown-pieces/?fbclid=IwAR3iNsJwQAqebYCBI4xBU_ZYPcHRGOdpNqJdi1OPRJs7kIQs4LHo3n956-A

    Bumblepantssid3windr
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,556

    Does anyone know where the original statement was published?


  • karritkarrit Member Posts: 1,066
    I know I'm resurrecting a dormant thread but I've a question about some broken pieces in some bulk lots I've bought recently.

     What is the general opinion on contacting LEGO to get a few replacement parts if you find them broken in some bulk lots you bought at auction?  First lot had about a dozen of the Dark Red & Red Brown BRICK 1X1X1 1/3, W/ ARCH that had pieces broken off. Other bad pieces I've found are a round Dark Red 6x6 plate that the edges broke off when I separated it from other pieces as well as a 2x12 Red Brown Plate that snapped in two when I tried to separate it from 2 larger plates.  There's also a red brown LATTICE TOWER 2X2X10 W/CROSS that is in two pieces.

    I know I've bought them as is second hand but wondering what others thoughts are on asking LEGO for replacements since there were known issues with these parts. 


  • mustang69mustang69 Member Posts: 544
    Part of it will depend on if LEGO still has the parts in stock but mostly as long as you dont abuse the system I dont think they will care too much.

    A few years back I bought a used Fire Brigade #10197 . It was partially disassembled so I took it apart the rest of the way to inventory and rebuild. While doing so a few of the dark red plates broke. I went to the BnP broken parts page and ordered new ones without any issues. Again, it seems like as long as you aren't trying to replace a lot of parts they probably wont have a problem. What that limit is, I couldn't tell you though.
    Fizyx
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,556
    If they are cheap parts, I wouldn't bother asking. Especially if they were broken when you bought them.
    560Heliport
  • Blockwork_OrangeBlockwork_Orange Member Posts: 194
    LEGO customer service can be pretty good for replacing the odd piece here and there.  I have contacted them about getting replacement stickers for a second hand set that I had purchased and they happily obliged.  Mind you this was many years ago before there was a well developed secondary market for such things through eBay or Bricklink so and the set wasn't from a licensed theme. 
  • pvp3020pvp3020 Member Posts: 203
    edited September 2020
    I also had problems with my #10197 Fire Brigade. I recently rebuilt it and a number of the dark red 1x1 and 1x2 tiles snapped as I pushed them into place. I assumed LEGO wouldn't replace them after all this time so I went to BL instead. But I have a lot of older disassembled sets with these parts and I'm now worried what will happen if I try to rebuild them.
    I guess this was a problem with dark red and reddish brown particularly? A while back I found a load of dark red 1x1 round bricks in my parts collection where the lip around the bottom had broken off.
    flowerpotgirlKungFuKenny
  • FizyxFizyx Member Posts: 1,363
    pvp3020 said:
    I also had problems with my #10197 Fire Brigade. I recently rebuilt it and a number of the dark red 1x1 and 1x2 tiles snapped as I pushed them into place. I assumed LEGO wouldn't replace them after all this time so I went to BL instead. But I have a lot of older disassembled sets with these parts and I'm now worried what will happen if I try to rebuild them.
    I guess this was a problem with dark red and reddish brown particularly? A while back I found a load of dark red 1x1 round bricks in my parts collection where the lip around the bottom had broken off.

    Yeah, there was a period of time when those colors were having issues.  They are supposedly fixed in newer sets from the last few years though.  Personally, I've a stash of extra pieces of the kinds that I've had the most issues with in those colors, just in case.  Mainly cheese slopes, various 1x1s, 1x2s, and 2x2s.
    Astrobricks
  • klintonklinton Member Posts: 1,256
    edited September 2020
    The clip pieces on the legs from the moose (who's lived on my desk for years) from #31048 all crumbled apart recently. It was a sad day. He's got donor legs from another set, but I keep forgetting to order him new ones when putting together an order.
  • flowerpotgirlflowerpotgirl Member Posts: 195
    Fizyx said:
    pvp3020 said:
    I also had problems with my #10197 Fire Brigade. I recently rebuilt it and a number of the dark red 1x1 and 1x2 tiles snapped as I pushed them into place. I assumed LEGO wouldn't replace them after all this time so I went to BL instead. But I have a lot of older disassembled sets with these parts and I'm now worried what will happen if I try to rebuild them.
    I guess this was a problem with dark red and reddish brown particularly? A while back I found a load of dark red 1x1 round bricks in my parts collection where the lip around the bottom had broken off.

    Yeah, there was a period of time when those colors were having issues.  They are supposedly fixed in newer sets from the last few years though.  Personally, I've a stash of extra pieces of the kinds that I've had the most issues with in those colors, just in case.  Mainly cheese slopes, various 1x1s, 1x2s, and 2x2s.
    That's interesting, as I too have just rebuilt Fire Brigade, and have had dark red 1x1 plates snap. First time having broken parts here, two broke in quick succession. I began to wonder if the set had been stored incorrectly.
    pvp3020KungFuKenny
  • pvp3020pvp3020 Member Posts: 203
    flowerpotgirl said:
    That's interesting, as I too have just rebuilt Fire Brigade, and have had dark red 1x1 plates snap. First time having broken parts here, two broke in quick succession. I began to wonder if the set had been stored incorrectly.
    That was my thinking too at first, but all my sets are stored the same and it's only the dark red that I've had a problem with so far.

  • KLOKRIECHERKLOKRIECHER Member Posts: 253
    Some of these clip pieces (https://brickset.com/parts/255526/plate-1x1-w-up-right-holder) broke recently. And some of them were made in black and grey...
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