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The "May the Fourth" Promotional Item 2012: Chrome TC-14 Minifigure

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Comments

  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    ^ Did you happen to place the order with (some) VIP points? I had the same thing. I complained and the manager that phoned me back said it was because VIP points had taken the actual money paid under £50, and they used their discretion to remove the promo items. A long phone call (45 minutes) later, and he finally agreed to send me the TC-14, TIE and poster. Over that time, I continually argued that I should receive it since it appeared on my order, it was in the delivery note, in the invoice - but he claimed they were allowed to use discretion where they like with orders with promo items. He tried to fob me off with 50 VIP points, then 100, but I was having none of it. The argument went round in circles for ages - him saying I had not spent £50, me saying that LEGO had told me I was getting the item in my order, invoice and delivery note and that to remove it after telling me I was to receive it was wrong. I asked him what is the point of a delivery note, if they do not need to pack all the items on the delivery note. He claimed I had broken the terms by not spending £50, since I used VIP points. He also said he was going to put this to the web team, to make sure VIP points do not count towards the total in future promos. I said that is fine if they inform customers first, and do not tell them they are going to get a promo item, then remove it at their discretion without informing the customer. I told him if I knew they would remove it, then I would have paid the full order with money, and saved the VIP points for later. I don't see why he was so strict and kept it going so long, now they are just giving out TC-14s instead of posters.

    The strangest thing of all, at no point did he say I hadn't met the promo terms because none of the items were Star Wars. This was the most obvious place I had not complied with the terms of the promotion, but even so, they should still not inform a customer that they are getting items, if they later remove them by hand without informing the customer.
  • roxioroxio Member Posts: 1,384
    ^No, just a normal order
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas Member Posts: 8,404
    Got home to find a tc14 and tote bag in place of the English poster. To say i'm distraught would be an understatement! ;)
    If anyone needs a poster, I've got a pile of them...

    Are they worth anything?
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    Got home to find a tc14 and tote bag in place of the English poster. To say i'm distraught would be an understatement! ;)
    If anyone needs a poster, I've got a pile of them...

    Are they worth anything?
    I think not. A few people have tried on ebay uk - they go for about a quid, if they sell.
  • LegobrandonCPLegobrandonCP Member Posts: 1,917
    Got home to find a tc14 and tote bag in place of the English poster. To say i'm distraught would be an understatement! ;)
    If anyone needs a poster, I've got a pile of them...

    Are they worth anything?
    I would not mind taking one. ;)
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas Member Posts: 8,404
    I would not mind taking one. ;)
    That will be 1 million dollars sir...

    Oh, wait... maybe that is too much, today we're having a 99% off sale, just for YOU! :)
  • LegobrandonCPLegobrandonCP Member Posts: 1,917
    Just for me?! Wow! What a generous man you are. :)
  • vwong19vwong19 Member Posts: 1,191
    ^ Ha. I hope you mean 99.9999% off sale...
  • LegobrandonCPLegobrandonCP Member Posts: 1,917
    edited May 2012
    If my calculations are correct, the poster will cost me ONLY $10,000 with a 99% discount.
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas Member Posts: 8,404
    If my calculations are correct, the poster will cost me ONLY $10,000 with a 99% discount.
    What a DEAL! :)

    Ok, ok... just today only, just for YOU!!!!

    We have deal for you, 99.99% off!!!

    Hurry, supplies are limited!

    ---

    But wait, there's more! (jumping up and down in a blue shirt)

    If you call right now, we'll DOUBLE YOUR ORDER! That's right, 2 posters for the price of one, just pay separate shipping and processing.
  • LegobrandonCPLegobrandonCP Member Posts: 1,917
    If my calculations are correct, the poster will cost me ONLY $10,000 with a 99% discount.
    If you call right now, we'll DOUBLE YOUR ORDER! That's right, 2 posters for the price of one, just pay separate shipping and processing.
    Damn it.
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas Member Posts: 8,404
    :) God rest his soul (Billy Mays 1958-2009)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Mays
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas Member Posts: 8,404
    On a more serious note, do you actually really want one? What is it worth? A polybag trade? Something simple? A dollar? Shipping?

    I would actually prefer someone who wanted 15 of them, rather than just one, so I could be rid of them all at once. But I don't know that they are actually worth real money.

    Grr...
  • LegobrandonCPLegobrandonCP Member Posts: 1,917
    ^ Aww... I have no use for 15 of those posters, but 1 would be nice. I would actually be willing to mail you some cash ($5?) to take care of the shipping costs and stuff. I have no PayPal. ;)
  • JenniJenni Member Posts: 1,390
    ^ Give them away. There may be some people who'll pay $1 + shipping but I don't know that you'll find 15. Take your kids down to the local children's hospital, or a low income after school program and let them give them out to other kids. Can't put a price on that. I gave our extra to the mother of two LEGO mad boys thus causing her the problem of deciding which one to give it to, but she was happy to have it for them.
  • monkeyhangermonkeyhanger Member Posts: 3,169
    CCC: Wasn't there 40-odd thousand US English language posters, and more than that collectively for Europe in English, French and German (haven't heard of anyone here getting a Spanish one). Totting that lot up, it would appear that there are at least 100k posters out there. But you didn't have to spend £50/$75/55 Euros to get one, you just had to spend that to get a TC-14. I would say then that there are no more than 100k TC-14s out there, seeing as they ran out of posters late on and gave some people 2 TC-14s instead.
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    But you didn't have to spend £50/$75/55 Euros to get one, you just had to spend that to get a TC-14. I would say then that there are no more than 100k TC-14s out there, seeing as they ran out of posters late on and gave some people 2 TC-14s instead.
    Yes, you are right. I forgot that you didn't need a £50 spend for the poster and TIE. Although why anyone would spend below £50 during the promotion and not get the free delivery or the TC-14, I don't know.
  • Brewer51Brewer51 Member Posts: 248
    @CCC

    My argument would have been that you *did* spend the £50.

    You may have used VIP points and that may have dragged the price below £50, but how did you get those points? You got them by spending money on [email protected] If I'm not mistaken, is it not 100 points for £5? I've not actually used the VIP system yet so I could be wrong, but you've already spent 100 notes to get those points. And it's not as if you've got those points by spending money anywhere else - they've gone to TLG. Having 'discretion' when you use a reward system that has been put in place by the same company exercising their discretion seems like bad business practice to me. It's understandable when it's a voucher, and companies don't want consumers stacking vouchers, but you have already gave your money to TLG to be part of that reward system, and to punish you for taking advantage of that reward system seems unfair to me. What I've said doesn't seem like it makes much sense, but this is how I see it.
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    edited May 2012
    The argument he was using was that in the terms they say ... "Cannot be applied to previous orders or combined with any other discount".

    I argued that VIP points are not a discount as such, they are part of the payment. If they implement that VIP points cannot be used towards promotions, then I'm fine with it, but they should remove the promotional items from your basket before you checkout if you pay using VIP points and the total cash payment drops below the threshold. It is wrong to tell a customer that their order qualifies, then later decide that it doesn't without informing the customer. To keep something on a delivery note, but just decide to remove it at their discretion because they have decided I did not follow the terms of the promotion is disgraceful in my opinion.

    My initial impression was that they had made a packing error, they were busy. My second impression was that they had definitely made a packing error when it was clear how many orders they were taking. My third impression was quite poor, that they would either do something like that in the first place or try to explain away a mistake and not fix the error straight away. 45 minutes of phone call (they phoned me) and their staff time must cost more to them than the TC-14. And I still have a slightly negative view of the customer service.
  • monkeyhangermonkeyhanger Member Posts: 3,169
    CCC: You must have caught someone on a bad day - everytime I have had reason to speak to TLG, they have bent over backwards to sort things out immediately, with no arguments. Maybe a new starter who hasn't learnt the Lego customer service ethos fully yet? When they're giving free second TC-14s out in lieu of a worthless poster it seems crazy to argue over your missing stuff - they seem to have plenty of spares.
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    ^ He said he was a manager!
  • Brewer51Brewer51 Member Posts: 248
    I agree. The one time I've been in touch with TLG the customer service was impeccable. I'd say it was an isolated incident, because I've always thought TLG compared to other companies (here's looking at you Virgin Media) have incredible customer service.
  • princedravenprincedraven Member Posts: 3,764
    @CCC sorry if I missed it, but what was the final outcome?
    Are they shipping you a TC-14?
    Are they bumping up your VIP points?
    both?
    neither?
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    edited May 2012
    The end result was that I got a TC-14, and the TIE/poster is on it's way. Although I'm hoping that one is replaced with a TC-14 as others have been recently. So I got / am getting what I should. I did not get any extra points. All I wanted was to receive what was on my order. It is what happened that I was not (and still am not) that happy about.

    If it was a genuine packing error, that is fine, and they should have just said that.

    If they are looking at orders and deciding in a fairly ad hoc manner whether or not they should get the promotional items, then this is not on. If I am told in the order that I am getting something, and it appears in my online order, in the invoice and in the delivery note, then I believe I should get it. Removing a free item is not on. Especially in this case, as most of the order was PAB, so I could not return it.

    As far as I am aware, no-one else that used VIP points (and it was only a fiver's worth) to go just over £50 had their promo items removed, and have never had it happen in the past. It just seems so random. But speaking to the customer service guy, it sounded like it was not a mistake as I thought but removed intentionally.

    As I said above, if they do not allow VIP points to be used towards the total spend, and treat these as a discount, that is fine by me - but only if we are told that and the promo item is then removed from the basket before we complete checkout. That would have given me the option to pay the extra £5 in cash (well CC) or go ahead without the promotional items.
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    To make things worse, I also received a duff battery box in the order, so I had two complaints on one order. I had never had a single complaint to make before the Fourth offer, but I placed two orders and both had problems. The other one was missing a TIE, but they replaced that one very quickly, just an email and it was done.
  • princedravenprincedraven Member Posts: 3,764
    edited May 2012
    @CCC Agree 100% with all your comments.
    Sounds to me like a mistake and (poor) cover up attempt. Which is really unusual for TLG CS, as they normally go out of their way to keep me happy.
    I was always of the impression that VIP points are effectively the same as money on orders. Obviously you dont earn more VIP points for the value of the VIP points redeemed but am sure I have used points before and benefitted from Promos.

    Glad you are getting what you should though.
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    edited May 2012
    ^ That is what I was so surprised at. No-one else has had the problem, and I know many people save up their VIPs for these offers. I'm just surprised I was picked on randomly, and had to go through a long call for them to realise that I had been hard done by. If they were really doing this ad hoc inspection of orders and removing promo items, then why was I the only one here to have it done? Unless of course it has happened to others too.
  • princedravenprincedraven Member Posts: 3,764
    ^ I honestly do not believe that you place an order online, the order goes into their system and then at some point before the packing someone randomly checks the order to see if some of the order has been paid for with VIP points before using their discretion on removing items that are specified on the order, invoice, shipping list.
    Just doesn't ring true at all.
    I honestly think you should put it down as a packing error and a CS staff member having a bad day and doing a shoddy job of covering up the failure and certainly not doing a great job of looking after the customer.
    I have to say I have never had any issues such as this from CS, so hopefully it is a rare occasion and hopefully you can just chalk it down as a bad experience and move on (with your TC-14!) :)
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    ^ Yeah, I honestly do believe it was a mistake ... in fact probably 100 posts up there ^^^ I mentioned I had had two problems with one order and that they could not have done anything about the first (faulty battery box) and that I assumed the second was just a handling error in an exceptionally busy warehouse.

    It hasn't put me off ... I still ordered during the Hulk promo. And I used VIP points again, order just over £50, but under after VIP points, and I got the Hulk fine!
  • cheshirecatcheshirecat Member Posts: 5,331
    Agree with all the above, I've always assumed that VIP redemptions are just like gift vouchers, can be used in conjunction with other offers etc and expected to see something like 'deducted after all other promotions, offers and reductions' in the T&C's. However, having quickly looked at the T&C theres nothing like that, also nothing about not being used in conjunction with other offers either, in fact their T&C are somewhat lacking. I guess he was just having a bad day, having had a pretty awful couple of weeks dealing with problems from the May 4th promotion.

    I think this might be a time to write/email TLG to highlight your issue to someone else/more senior and point out that this seems to be entirely random - even though your problem has been resolved. It definitely shouldn't have taken an hour to sort out!

    Out of interest, why can't you return PaB orders? I wouldn't have thought that TLG could exempt them from the distance selling laws?
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526

    Out of interest, why can't you return PaB orders? I wouldn't have thought that TLG could exempt them from the distance selling laws?
    I don't now if they are classed as customised sets or something, and so not covered under the DSR. But the webpage is clear that you cannot return them.

    Not that I would ever want to return what I got. There was a bargain on black hoods at 16p each. I will never run out again.
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas Member Posts: 8,404
    I've given some thought to the posters...

    I will just end up giving them away to all my kids friends this summer, however if anyone here wants one, a few dollars would be enough.

    In the US and Canada, $6, rest of the world, $9. The higher shipping price is because I'll put cardboard in the envelope to make it rigid so it doesn't get bent up and folded, but then it has to ship package price rather than letter price.

    Want a second one? Add $3.

    I'm not trying to get rich here, just an offer if anyone wants one or two and missed out for whatever reason. These are all perfect condition, smoke free, pet free home, English version.

    Send me a PM if you want one.

    I also have a pair of TC-14s left, thought I sold them all, found two more. $30 each, shipped in the US, $35 everywhere else. I'll include a poster with each if you like.
  • littletokilittletoki Member Posts: 519
    Hmmm. @Legofantexas You know my weakness. Swap ya some grab bags! LOL.
  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas Member Posts: 8,404
    * hugs @littletoki *

    :)

    Send me a PM with what you want, I'll fix you up...
  • littletokilittletoki Member Posts: 519
    PM sent!
  • zjygkmattzjygkmatt Member Posts: 75
    All I know is that my Lego store had a huge pile of the posters left over, sitting behind the counter, when I was getting the hulk minifigure.
  • KangojackKangojack Member Posts: 38
    I received my legos orders today (TC-14 Promo order).
    I didn't recive any posters or tie fighters, but received an extra TC-14 in each order.
    (Brisbane - Australia)
  • ChompersChompers Member Posts: 658
    Just received what I though was going to be my delay R2 poster and Mini Tie and inside the packer was, you guessed it, the Mini Tie, Tote Bag & TC-14!!! Happy Fridays indeed.

    Don't you just love TLG :)
  • monkeyhangermonkeyhanger Member Posts: 3,169
    My UCS R2 shipped today, on the very day I was going to cancel the order as I was sick of waiting when I know for a fact other people in the UK ordered 12 hours after me and got theirs. I wonder if TLG stick a goodwill gesture in it for the wait (I got the promotional freebies sent to me separately within days of order placement.
  • PlaugePlauge Member Posts: 39
    I got a tote bag and a tc-14 instead for the poster. Did not mind (although 1 is really enough). Loved the tie-fighters though!
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    I just got my missing promo items (UK) - poster and TIE.

    They obviously do have stock of the posters.
  • monkeyhangermonkeyhanger Member Posts: 3,169
    My very late UCS R2 arrived. Just the main unit, nothing else in there goodwill due to the long wait. Oh well! I wonder when I will get a chance to build it without the missus around so she won't notice the new item appear in the man-cave fully built.
  • Mad_DogMad_Dog Member Posts: 71
    Well, my UCS R2 arrived at last, with the mini-Tie, a tote bag and 2 TC-14, there was a letter inside saying that as the poster was not available they were sending a second TC-14 and the bag...great LEGO, as always...

    This weekened...R2 time...
  • pantboypantboy Member Posts: 211
    My R2-D2 arrived today as well, unfortunately it has been delivered to my work and i'm at home :-(
  • monkeyhangermonkeyhanger Member Posts: 3,169
    Pantboy: huge amount of restraint being shown right now. Confessed to the missus but she's not fussed as ebay has been good to me this last week, more than paid for it. She likes sorting the parts as I build, if its a big set, so we'll have a go at it this weekend. Must remember the stage with the third leg mechanism to prevent poor deployment, someone mentioned it in their set review on eurobricks. Its a nightmare to put right after the event apparently.
  • LukeSkywalkerLukeSkywalker Member Posts: 231
    I opened my 10 orders from this promotion last week, they came pretty late, and they didn't have any posters... But! They each came with a cool tote bag, and an extra TC-14 for each order! :D
  • pantboypantboy Member Posts: 211
    ^ i'll swap a poster for a tote bag and TC-14 if you feel you have missed out ;-p
  • LukeSkywalkerLukeSkywalker Member Posts: 231
    edited June 2012
    Yeah I would trade, but I actually ordered the new r2-d2 first and the poster came with it, so I'm good. :) It was the subsequent ten orders that were lacking in posters, but I forgot all about them when I saw the replacements...
    I <3 LEGO. :)
  • AFFOL_Shellz_BellzAFFOL_Shellz_Bellz Member Posts: 1,263
    edited June 2012
    I opened my 10 orders from this promotion last week, they came pretty late, and they didn't have any posters... But! They each came with a cool tote bag, and an extra TC-14 for each order! :D
    Are you interested in trading something for 1-2 of the tote bags? Please pm me if you are in the US and interested in trading.
  • BadzMaruBadzMaru Member Posts: 19
    @CCC The question you should of put forward to them is that this was a promotional offer, your intention of the order was to spend over £50 to get the promotional item, if knowing the VIP points are not allowed to be used for promotional offers then you would of not taken the action of using the VIP points towards the purchase.

    Also the Terms and Condition does not mention that VIP points cannot go towards promotional offers, although under the EXPIRATION AND CANCELLATION...

    7. The LEGO Group reserves the right to cancel or substantially modify this program anytime, and on such occasion will notify VIP Members in advance via email. Any points earned before the implementation of such cancellation or changes, shall not be affected.

    This means if they are to change the VIP points programme to not allow VIP points to count towards a promotional offer, they would have to notify you in advance by email and in future put this in the terms and conditions.

    The final point would be if they have taken the payment and you have confirmed that the money has been taken from your credit card / debit card etc... this would mean they have accepted the order as stated in the invoice, and if the invoice includes the promotional item, they will need to honour it. That is why most online stores accept your orders but do not take payment from your credit/debit cards until they are sure they can fulfil your order...


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