It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Brickset.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, the Amazon.com.ca, Inc. Associates Program and the Amazon EU Associates Programme, which are affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Comments
There is good reason to feel unfairly treated and the response from CS that I received admits they know that too. I though that was an opportunity for others to get something, and however small that something may be, it would be better than nothing.
Would I have done better to wait for double points? Undoubtedly, but without the benefit of being a soothsayer, all I could really hope for at this point is a gesture of good will from them. I don't think TLG were under any obligation to give me anything at all, but I'm glad that they offered me somethin. As tenuous as it seems, if they do one more promotion before xmas/new year, they will have met their claims, they will have offered a "year" of promotions and whether I think those promotions were 'floaters' and didn't want them is irrelevent.
It sucks that they have behaved this way and it's wrong that they cancelled stuff rather than produce more of whatever it was to meet demand. They've had ample time now to rectify the situation but haven't.
Holding out for 650 retroactively applied VIP points or some magical end of year exclusive is (I think) going to end in disappointment, I took a pragmatic view and am happy with what they offered me.
I once spent £800+ worth of VIP points (soon to expire) and got a shed load of LEGO for ‘free’, apparently.
It it would have been fairly easy then to say, if you pay a deposit (and actually buy the Falcon), you’ll receive a year of exclusive benefits.
Do that a couple of months before release, a little marketing (not too much - you wouldn’t want everyone intending to buy a Falcon getting the additional benefits) and state that delivery may not be day one, but you are guaranteed to get the Falcon and, in my opinion, problem solved.
Lego would have known ahead of release how many people wanted the set badly enough to pay a deposit and therefore how many would receive the black card promos.
None of the promos so far have interested me and my black card is still exactly where I put it once I had received it - gathering dust on top of a chest of drawers.
Dissapointing!
I know it was somewhere safe...
Frick!
Plus we only really know in hindsight how desirable the MilF was. I'm one of those stupid people that would have got it day one regardless as that's how badly I wanted it, so I'm not really as butt-hurt about the offers as I'm making out. However, it would be interesting think of a scenario where they had done this instead for the recent Bespin set.
I'd like Bespin, but not enough to get it unless there are some seriously good freebies to be had, and at least triple VIP points. It may well end up like Assault on Hoth (for me) where I couldn't quite pull the trigger on it until it was about to be retired and was 40% off. If we imagine the MilF debacle hadn't happened though, and if Lego were to suddenly offer a year of exclusive promotions with purchase, then I would definitely snap Bespin up today. Then in 12 months time I really would have been butt-hurt if I'd forgone all the other standard offers and freebies throughout the year just so I could have a miniscule chance to win a platinum R2
I certainly would have held off on purchasing it, were it not for the supposed black card offers.
The commitment to purchase is $800.00. We're talking about maybe 5% worth of tangible value in the promotion.
And - please keep in mind - I totally agree with you that no matter how much this promotion motivated anyone to buy the set, it's a colossal failure. I can tell you that any similar promotion in the future won't get me to buy anything.
That being said, the promotion has been a failure. I did get the Y-Wing poster, but had no idea about the white gold R2-D2. Granted my purchasing power is not as strong as it used to be and therefore I may not have been able to take part in the promotions, but I really expected something better considering TLG has a generally positive reputation.
Lando (consumer - shouting) - No meaningful perks with the card? That was never part of the deal nor was not getting DJ because you ran out.
Vader (TLG - calmly authoritative): Perhaps you feel you're being treated unfairly?
Lando mutters: no.
Vader: Good, it would unfortunate if I had to rescind your VIP points balance and ban you from [email protected]
Lando mutters: This deal is getting worse all the time.
Now we'll all have to buy the cloud city set to re-enact that scene.
It feels like Lego was dangling a carrot in front of us, but it took us ten months to realise it was just a turd dipped in orange paint.
As for all the other vapourware offers that were hinted at?
Couldn't care less.
I haven't complained in detail with CS regarding the card, but in previous [email protected] surveys I've made it clear multiple times that the ONLY times I use Lego [email protected] instead of another supplier are 1.) Becuase the set I want is a D2C and 2.) To reach the threshold for an exclusive freebie. Even then I don't go for many freebies. Probably the only other scenario I use [email protected] is on May the 4th but that's closely connected to a freebie too. Surely from a brand loyalty, engagement, and to a certain degree profit perspective, they would rather I didn't go to Argos, Smyths, Amazon etc most of the time?
“Billund Babylon - the secrets behind the world's most profitable toy company”
- What happened to all the Black card promos?
- The Modular brothel that will never see the light of day!
- The real reason that Bionicles were killed off.
- What's in the secret room under the Lego House?
- The 250,000 Lone Ranger sets buried in a secret desert location
I'd read it...
Personally, I think LEGO should simply have distributed a press release apologising for the delay in restocking #75159 Millennium Falcon and announcing that the period during which the VIP cards were available would be extended, perhaps for another three months into 2018.
I never buy from [email protected] or my local Lego shop without a promo, and the MF came with nothing. I would've happily waited 8 months for a Smyths 15/20% off promo given the expense.
Never mind...Next year there'll be a 9000 piece UCS ISD with platinum VIP card and a load of implied benefits that won't materialise.
Due to the uptake of the MF, TLG know now that they need not offer anything for it to sell in huge numbers.
Furthermore, I think producing exclusive products which some people cannot access, through no fault of their own, might cause more anger than scaling back the benefits offered by the black VIP card. The distribution of exclusive items at San Diego Comic-Con, among other events, is already a divisive issue among LEGO fans and I imagine those complaints would be amplified greatly if LEGO was to announce an exclusive minifigure, or the like, for holders of the black VIP card.
The first 100 entrants we’re given ‘entry’ cards numbered 1-100 and they were thought to reflect the set number you were buying at the till ie. the first person in the queue with card #1 would be the first consumer in the world to get his hands on the set.
Once at the till, you showed your entry number to the cashier and in return they’d give you an exclusive black VIP card numbered 1-100. You’d think the VIP cards would have paired with the ‘set’ number but instead they were randomly picked so whereas I had entry/set #23, I walked out with VIP #88.
It bothered some, me included that LEGO couldn’t spend the five minutes it would have taken to sort the VIP cards and pair them up properly. Had I have been first in the queue and stood out in the rain for 24 hours I would have been bitterly disappointed not to walk away with VIP #1, not just locked myself away for a week and sulked. I’m not bitter, much!
What they’ve done borders fraudulent and certainly mis-description in my book but I suspect they have taken advice and have placed themselves barely on what their lawyers consider legally acceptable. I’d love for a legal mind (sumo) to test it.
I have noticed some other actions by TLG recently that have bothered me as well though. The lack of double points for the UCS Y-Wing stopped me from making that purchase that weekend. The handling of the Harry Potter Bricktober set has also been a bit of a mess in my opinion, at least here in the United States. I still think TLG is a better company than most, but my positive opinion of them over the last several years has eroded somewhat.
However, I also think that LEGO's subsequent actions are sensible from a commercial perspective, given their decision not to extend the promotion.