Questions and Concerns for TLG

[CP5670]

The translucent white has been around for the last two years, but the gray is new to me. You're the second person to have brought up gray around here. I hope the quality isn't actually getting worse instead of better.

Edited January 17, 2009 by CP5670

[The Cobra]

Sorry if I always kind of write the same things but:

How come both 2008 Advent calendars were in the Italian catalog and

- the castle advent calendar was only sold (to my knowledge) in one shopping mall (Bossi)?

- the city advent calendar was nowhere to be found, not even in Toys Center which usually has most limited/exclusive editions in Italy?

Copmike usually says that it's the retailers decision, but are really Italian retailers so dumb?

[brickzone]

Today I received the whole Pirate line, and I must say I was shocked. Though the sets themselves are really great, the quality of the bricks is REALLY BAD. Al bricks came in a softer than usual kind of plastic, especially whites and light grays. White bricks were even a bit translucent, and some of the had a slightly yelllow hue. I'm REALLY concerned about this and is making me think wether I'll be buying other LEGO sets. I've compared the quality of the bricks with CLONE BRAND bricks, and, to my amazement, the clones were better!!!! (didn't even bother to check them against my old LEGO bricks, as it would be TOO SAD). Has other people who bought the Pirate line found the same issue? I would really like to know.

On the other hand, I received Mediaval Market Village and the bricks, in this case, where of the usual quality, and the set itself must be the best LEGO set ever... :)

I did notice some slightly yellow hued white bricks in my soldier's fort - rather a surprise certainly.

The softer plastic is usual across the board now, and has its advantages and drawbacks.I do appreciate being able to pull plates apart just by holding the two pieces by their sides in my fingers, but the uniformity of bricks is not as good (a wall is not so smooth on the sides, and the bricks don't necessarily stack absolutely without any separation).

On the other hand we've never had such an extensive colour and parts palette, such detail and mechanisms in sets, and overall the cost of Lego is less than ever!

[Erdbeereis]

I had a quick question. Does TLG plan to bring the new Star Wars magnet sets to U.S. S@H?

Many thanks,

Erdbeereis

[ditto]

I had a quick question. Does TLG plan to bring the new Star Wars magnet sets to U.S. S@H?

Many thanks,

Erdbeereis

I'd like to extend that question to Singapore as well.

Or how about "Is TLG going to sell these new magnets sets in all their markets?"

[Millacol88]

Basically the biggest problem is packing. Instructions and sticker sheets often get pushed to the bottom of the box and bent, and you're paying so much for some sets it seems like an easy enough thing to correct. I've noticed a bit of discoloration, and the occasional crushed droid arm ( ), but other than that, fix the packing.

[Front]

Why does TLC use really big boxes ? Those create issues :

- Using more materials

- Charging more for shipping

- Damaging the envirronement

And often the boxes are half empty - half full.

In the future you'll see fewer box sizes that is better suited for shipping.

It saves transport cost and the enviroment.

But boxes will probably not get much smaller. Imagine if all boxes at a given price point was half the size of what competitors have on the shelves. Unless mums buying toys have a good knowledge of the different toys, they will probably not pick the smaller box.

Front

[pr0visorak]

I have a question! Why is it places like Hong Kong get Lego promotions like the special clonws but not Singapore and whats more it is a first world country?

Thank you Copmike!

[Peppermint_M]

Will the Digital Designer brick pallet be updated to include more of the elements and colours availiable via pick a brick?

[hewkii9]

Head had to be forced onto body. It now shows stress marks.

I had that exact problem with the croc from my Loot Island.

CopMike, why are there no Lego stores in Canada? A Toronto store would be great.

[MacK]

I had that exact problem with the croc from my Loot Island.

CopMike, why are there no Lego stores in Canada? A Toronto store would be great.

Weird the croc from my Loot island had the same problem .

I thought that there already was a lego store in Toronto or somewhere in Ontario. If Leog does build some in Canada why don't they build one somewhere in the western part of Canada as well.

Edited February 14, 2009 by MacK

[Colonel]

In the future you'll see fewer box sizes that is better suited for shipping.

It saves transport cost and the enviroment.

But boxes will probably not get much smaller. Imagine if all boxes at a given price point was half the size of what competitors have on the shelves. Unless mums buying toys have a good knowledge of the different toys, they will probably not pick the smaller box.

Front

Front is right. It is a question of compromise, and you also have to take into consideration that the boxes TLG use to send sets out have a standard size which is cleverly calculated so that the set boxes fit in.

[Skipper 24]

I have a complaint about boxes, when I received a large set recently (7676) the postage cost me £5.25 (standard delivery) which was reasonable I guess considering it was mailed by a private company. However the packaging box was at least and extra half the length of the LEGO box on each side of the packaging. Why have so much extra packaging space? Also the parts inside only filled up about 2/3 of the box so a reduction could have been made there too.

Sorry about my rough explanation, it was pretty hard to try and explain my experience .

[alexrider7]

I've been having problems with the Super Battle Droid arm. I have the originals from the Republic Gunship (2002) and all the arm's "fingers" have broken off. I also have the Homing Spider Droid (2008) and the new arm's "fingers" broke!

alexrider7

[JCC1004]

Why do the prints on mnifig's head smear after you take them out of the polybag and try to place them on the torso?

Why does the Marion Ravenwood from IJ have a dot on her chin on the scared side of the head?

Why don't most minifigs have noses? ( I can understand ears, who wants a head with ears sticking out?)

Edited November 25, 2009 by JCC1004

[JCC1004]

I have a complaint about boxes, when I received a large set recently (7676) the postage cost me £5.25 (standard delivery) which was reasonable I guess considering it was mailed by a private company. However the packaging box was at least and extra half the length of the LEGO box on each side of the packaging. Why have so much extra packaging space? Also the parts inside only filled up about 2/3 of the box so a reduction could have been made there too.

Sorry about my rough explanation, it was pretty hard to try and explain my experience .

TLG's customer service said it was to store Lego bricks. All it does is increase shipping!

Edited November 25, 2009 by JCC1004

[Hinckley]

Forgive me if this has already been asked, but I'm doing a commissioned piece and I need a piece that is only available in this set. Is there any reason why that set is not available in the states?

[mrchris]

I hope the outrageous pick a brick price increases as discussed in general forum can be raised through this.

for someone ordering 2 pieces to replace a lost item it wont matter to them but for people like us or anyone using LDD its crazy.

[Kanal-K1]

To be deleted..

Edited April 8, 2009 by Kanal-K1

[jonwil]

If I purchase the new power functions rechargeable battery recharger (to recharge the battery box) set 8887 with "ship to" country set to Australia, what voltage and plug would I get? (as in which countries power system would it be for). Is there any way to get an Australian power supply that would be compatible with the new rechargeable battery box? (or would I need to buy some kind of adapter to convert from whatever plug is on the end to and Australian plug?)

Posting here because its something that one of the Ambassadors will have to ask the Shop @ Home team about. (especially since the product in question has not yet shipped)

[kill will]

Ok, something that really pisses me off, when I ordered Race for the Stolen Treasure from S@H, it never came. My credit card was never charged, but I didn't get any E-mail saying that the order didn't go through or anything. So I waited for over a month, then I just re-ordered it and it finally came.

So I really wish Lego would have better customer service. Because of that and expensive shipping, I never bought from S@H again.

Oh, and when it did come, one of the Nazi's hats was missing. I tried to get a replacement part but it never came.

Edited May 2, 2009 by kill will

[richb]

Recently placed an order through S@H and was charged an amount different from the total presented me during checkout. As it turns out, the difference in overage was sales tax, which was not shown during my online checkout because the Lego Store just opened in my state (I've never been charged sales tax previously), so apparently the Web component of the store was not updated at the time of my purchase. I wouldn't have had a problem with the discrepency if I had been notified by email or phone about the change. I absolutely understand TLG now has to charge sales tax in Ohio. It's just that I shouldn't have to find out about a change in billing practice from a large co. like TLG by auditing my credit card statements.

I'll add my complaints about packaging too, with too large boxes being used for set shipping. I know A LOT of AFoLs buy factory direct and want pristine MISB sets for archiving/investement/speculating. It's hard to justify ordering from S@H when sets rarely arrive 'mint.' My boxes from both Market Street and Town Plan look like scratch & dent clearance items.

Edited July 14, 2009 by richb

[HumanPackMule]

Here's a problem of mine: the Super Battle Droid limbs break. A lot. I'm not doing anything I'm not supposed to do with them, but they break.

[Rick]

So here are the pics I took. Again, I'm not saying "Don't spend your money on Lego" and I'm not saying "Don't buy this set" All I'm saying is you might be dissapointed if you are expecting the same quality lego parts that are in other sets. I wish I would of bought just one set, as I don't like the look of the material or quality used in the torso, hands and legs. It looks and feels cheap to me. It doesn't feel and look like Lego to me, but again I'm 31 and have been looking at lego for a long time and maybe I'm just used to seeing that true lego yellow. Maybe this is the wave of the future. Zorro I'm sure you won't believe me, and maybe your right, maybe the TTT sets are the same quality, but here are some pics that I took of one of the soldiers from the TTT set and one from the Soldiers Arsenal Set.

The TTT' parts are on the left and the SA parts are on the right. You decide if there appears to be a difference.

The torso's are both facing the same way yet the LEGO logo is facing opposite ways

Notice the necks of the torsos, black print on the neck of the SA part, no print on the TTT part

Notice the lemon looking TTT hand on the left in contrast to the more regular looking yellow yand, also note the dark shadow area of the arm hole in the SA part which contrasts with the TTT part. It's like light shines right through the plastic of the TTT part. Also note the numbe stamped on the TTT arm.

Again, I'm not saying don't buy these, I'm just saying that I have noticed a difference and if I had known there is a difference I would of not bought fou sets and would of bought more cannon battles and soldier arsenals because I was mainly buying these for more soldiers.

NOTE- Brick Beard's legs are not made of the same material of the rest of the figs, I believe he is a Brick Beard made of normal quality. Even his hand is darker and more opaque. Almost like the brick beards come from a different factory. I will pull his arms off and compare with Brick Beard from soldier fort and Bounty.

I'm not sure whether this is the right place to call for this, but is it worthwhile to let the ambassadors address the issue of inferior minifig parts with Lego? I'd really like to know the reasons for this direction* and a promise that this will be confined to certain sets. It would be totally unacceptable if these parts reach regular sets.

* I'm quite sure it has to do with the cheap manual labor involved in putting these minifigs together and the associated location of the factories. Apparently quality control is severely lacking at these locations. Furthermore, I simply cannot understand why minifigs in Battle Packs and Tic-Tac-Toe sets should be pre-assembled! It's mainly sold through S@H (and Lego stores) and I can't imagine it would make a difference whether they would sell these sets in packaging where you can see the assembled figs or in a closed box with the box art depicting the assembled contents.

I spoke to customer services and complained about the colours of the dwarfs in the battle packs and they said that all minifgs comply with the same quality control and no one has told them of a problem. Well I have now and was offered a full refund, but I was asked to tell you all to contact lego direct and put in a complaint so that they can look into the problem. If enough people complain then they should do something about it.

Ok, now I found the appropriate place. The above posts are from the 'Pirates tic-tac-toe' set topic, where there is evidence posted of inferior minifig parts. Is this an issue the ambassadors would like to address with TLG?

Edited August 20, 2009 by Rick

[Big Cam]

I guess this is kind of a rant on LEGO and their shipping policy.

Now my story has a happy ending thatnks to LEGO.

I ordered 4 chrome stormtrooper's and I lived in an apartment at that time, when LEGO shipped them (which I paid for) they went the cheapest way possible and the driver of the UPS truck left the shipment in the entry way to my apartment which has a lot of traffic. needless to say the shipment got stolen, so I called LEGO and they said they can't control the drivers actions and when I called UPS they said the shipper (LEGO) only paid for one attempt so the package had to be left. I would have been more than happy to go pick up my shipment had I been given a delivery notice slip.

LEGO did right this wrong by re-sending me all 4 of my stormtroopers. I am extremely grateful but at the same time, this could have been avoided if they just used regular shipping methods. I was'nt even aware that you could choose an option through UPS to have them only attempt one delivery, adn I've been using them for years and years.

I guess my question/complaint is shipping, don't trust that everything will go right the first time, spend the extra few cents to have the driver give it a couple tries.