Quality of service at LEGO stores.

[m0dulo]

By the way, I notice some filled PAB cups behind the till filled with bricks, is this for the employee or what? Just wondering.

If there is only one kind in each cup, then they might be leftovers from earlier PAB selections. Sometimes I ask an employee if they have anything in a particular color or shape, or if they have any leftovers that I didn't have a chance to get the last time I was in, and they pull those out.

If they are mixed, then someone probably started filling it and then changed their mind (by themselves or parents).

Edited September 25, 2014 by m0dulo

[murtaughf3]

Of the 3 different stores I've been to I've always had great service. Even saw one guy showing another guy how to fill a PAB Cup so he could get the most of out it. Defiantly no complaints from my experiences.

[Murdoch17]

My father and me love the St. Louis MO area Lego store. Everyone is helpful, and I've gone there enough the manager knows us by name. I even struck up a conversation with an employee about the current lack of new railroad track geometry. (like the double rail crossing or the older X crossing) It is a great store, never really packed, (okay opening day was a nightmare!) My dad and me have bought a lot of sets & 5 PAB cups (which we really need to use / open.)

I just wish the nearest parking garage would get fixed after two years of repair work! (But that's the mall, not LEGO.)

Edited September 29, 2014 by Murdoch17

[Colossus]

Nothing but good things to say about the Cleveland Lego Store! The service is always good. On slow days, the guys usually give my kids something extra, like stickers or a coloring page, etc. Hell, last May, an employee overheard me reassuring my daughter that buying a pricey set was cool for her birthday, and he comes back, offering a sheet of stickers and a birthday cake mini build. Free o' charge. They also introduced me to that digital box or whatever that thing is that scans the Lego set box and then plays out a little animated scene in the box you're holding. That is just too cool. I love that thing!

Edited October 2, 2014 by Colossus

[mrfang2]

my store has awesome service here in nc. i go there a lot so most of the employees have actually taken the time to get to know me (i suspect rare for tfol?) and have, several times actually (the invasion from below queen and combo mech, bennys spaceship, and the exo suit) held products for me because they thought i would probably be in that week and would want one, have listened to my requests and got windows on the PaB wall a second time, and one of the guys even told me about the bionicle return really soon after the first pics leaked a few months back.

and in general, the store is always clean, PaB wall rarely has any bins get low for more than a minute, and all of the employees are genuinley nice to the customers, i dont think ive ever seen a forced smile other than whenever "everything is awesome" plays on the speakers.

[rodiziorobs]

Was at the Murray, UT (USA) location yesterday, and the service was excellent. I was filling a cup and one of the employees asked what project I was working on. When I told her, she said, "well then I might have some more pieces in the back that you would like," and brought out another box of new parts that weren't on the wall. The cashier who rang me up asked if I had kids (I do) and so threw in a couple of sticker sheets and other odds and ends. She also reminded me about 2x VIP points--I would have forgotten, otherwise! I wish I could go back again today...

Edited October 29, 2014 by rodiziorobs

[62Bricks]

"What project are you working on?" and "What are you building?" must be in the new employee handbook because I have been asked this question at every one of the 5 different LEGO stores I have visited. It's nice that they are training their customers to show interest.

I visited the new Flatiron location in New York a couple times this week and got the usual friendly help. Because it's a new store, some of the staff were brand-new and not quite up to speed. I was a little disappointed that on my first visit I was given a promo brick with my purchase, but not on the second visit the next day. I asked the clerk if they had any more of the promo bricks and she said "Oh, no, we ran out of those..." as if they had been gone for a long time.

It was a very busy store, but for all the traffic there was not very much actual buying going on. I was only buying from the PAB wall, as the prices on everything else were higher than at most stores.

Edited November 1, 2014 by 62Bricks

[legoman19892]

I was only buying from the PAB wall, as the prices on everything else were higher than at most stores.

Dat sales tax.

Edited November 1, 2014 by legoman19892

[62Bricks]

Dat sales tax.

No, the list prices are higher than at other LEGO stores.

[legoman19892]

No, the list prices are higher than at other LEGO stores.

Oops. I meant property tax.

[Sven F]

The first LEGO store in Croatia opened recently, It got quite a bad rap from people from the start, but a lot of those are just idiot customers with unrealistic expectations.

They are trying, but are still quite lacking in a lot of things. Some of the display models are built all wrong, none of the staff seem to know much about LEGO products or bricks & color terminology. The PaB wall is unique in that there are no cups, but the bricks are weighed on a scale instead which was fine until they bumped the price up 17% overnight. Some of the staff have shown signs of enthusiasm concerning customer service, they will write your number down and phone you when an item arrives, but other than that and advice like "yes, girls like the pink sets", their usefulness is limited in any regards to product availability.

[62Bricks]

Oops. I meant property tax.

It is definitely a high-rent location, right on a corner across from a very busy park and one of the most iconic buildings in the city. Lots of tourists, but as I say, there was more looking than buying when I was there.

[jodawill]

I see people talking about the Schaumburg store. I've only been there once, but I have a friend who raves about it all the time. He was banned from the Indianapolis store for asking a new employee to sell him a PAB case after the store manager said no. The manager of the Schaumburg store will set aside cases for him whenever he asks.

Personally, I've never had any major issues with the Indianapolis store, except there's one thing I witnessed that really bugs me. There have been several times I've asked to buy a case, and they told me they don't sell cases. Last time I was there, a kid (about 12 years old) asked for a case, and they didn't hesitate to sell it to him. So apparently, the "we don't sell cases" rule only applies to AFOLs. Yet another example of how Lego treats us as second class buyers, although we spend 10x more than the average parent (at least).

The employees are always friendly. When they're not swamped with customers, I often see them feeling the minifigure bags for customer requests. Once, I even saw one of the guys (in Indianapolis) give a kid a minifigure he brought from home because the kid was crying.

[DuckBricks]

At the bellevue LEGO store, employees OFFER to feel certain CMFs for you. I think all LEGO stores have awesome service though... On one of my trips, I visited a LEGO store for the first time and after having a nice chat with a fellow AFOL (store employee), he gave me a Plastic Man polybag, a Dareth polybag, and a Rocket Raccoon polybag... These weren't even being sold at the store! He said he got them from loyal customers, and he had doubles, spot he just gave them to me.

Edited February 23, 2015 by legozebra

[BrickOCD]

My father and me love the St. Louis MO area Lego store. Everyone is helpful, and I've gone there enough the manager knows us by name. I even struck up a conversation with an employee about the current lack of new railroad track geometry. (like the double rail crossing or the older X crossing) It is a great store, never really packed, (okay opening day was a nightmare!) My dad and me have bought a lot of sets & 5 PAB cups (which we really need to use / open.)

I just wish the nearest parking garage would get fixed after two years of repair work! (But that's the mall, not LEGO.)

I totally agree. Not only is the Lego store in St Louis a great Lego store, it's the best store I have ever shopped at. I actually came home from there and fired off a letter to Lego praising my experience. The store was crowded the day I was there and still I had great customer service. I can't wait for an excuse to take another road trip over there.

[Aanchir]

Earlier this month during the final day of BrickFair Virginia, I went to the LEGO store at Tyson's Corner, VA to take advantage of double VIP points weekend. It wasn't until we arrived that my brother and I realized that we had forgotten our dad's VIP card, which had my brother's LUG sticker on it! This put us in sort of a panic, especially since we had made plans to get a LOT of sets that day, and not being able to get the double points would've made the trip more or less pointless since we'd be paying the same price we would on any other day. But our dad texted us some images of his VIP card, front and back, and with those and our dad's e–mail address the employee who helped us was able to get us the double points. This was no small feat since without the physical card, he had to enter the points for each set individually, but he was extremely cooperative. Everything worked out great in the end.

I can think of a lot of stores that wouldn't go to nearly such lengths for somebody who had forgotten their membership/points card. Helping us out in this way definitely went above and beyond our expectations.

Edited August 18, 2016 by Aanchir

[Blondie-Wan]

AFOL discount?

[Aanchir]

EDIT: confidential info removed

Edited August 18, 2016 by Aanchir

[zux]

Isn't this something you shouldn't mention publically?

[Rotundus]

Isn't this something you shouldn't mention publically?

What's the worst that can happen? My guess is that there could be an increase in the memberships of local LUGs. That wouldn't all that bad, would it?

[ctx1769]

Not for me

[Aanchir]

Isn't this something you shouldn't mention publically?

According to my brother it is. Sorry! I didn't realize because I'm not actually in a LUG myself, and because I've seen people talking about it on the Brickset forums so I assumed mentioning it was OK.