The 10% off coupon from the Lego Catalog isn't accepted for exclus

[tkatt]

I was excited to get the latest shop at home catalog in the mail this week, due to the 10% off coupon that is included with it. I headed to the Mall of America Lego store with the intent to buy the Haunted House. When I presented my coupon I was told that due to a new Lego policy it could not be used on any exclusive items. This is a fairly new policy, (I used the coupon for the Palace Cinema just a few months ago). It turns out that Lego will not allow any retailer to discount any exclusive set, even their brand stores. So it appears that any set with the 10xxx number will never be sold for less than what Lego sells it for.

[ALoadOfLEGO]

Sadly, this is a new policy. No more discounts on exclusives for AFOL discount day either. Everyone in a LUG is up in arms about it right now since those are the sets we most want to buy.

The end result is that our friends at the local LEGO stores who are so nice to us AFOLs will see sales decline as we buy our larger purchasers through Amazon and other discount sellers.

Edited September 9, 2013 by ALoadOfLEGO

[timtosino]

I thought the reason for the cancellation of the discount on exclusives was because these discounted sets from retail stores were winding up on Amazon and eBay....

[Cwetqo]

Thats the main reason, yes. Sets also include Mindstorms 2013 and Hard to Find sets. That makes those coupons pretty much useless.

I dont agree with it, but thats what TLG decided to do and for now there is not much we can do about it. It would not be fair of me to say "buy elsewhere", but I expect that it will happen anyway. The problem is most likely also Amazonand other sellers of Esclusive sets will get some restrictions.

I think its all part of TLG info given by Kevin Hinckle last month.:

As of July 1^st, the following “exclusive” items are no longer available to be purchased at a discount, with no exceptions:

10188 Death Star™

10197 Fire Brigade

10211 Grand Emporium

10214 Tower Bridge

10218 Pet Shop

10221 Super Star Destroyer

10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper Van

10223 Kingdoms Joust

10224 Town Hall

10225 SW R2D2

10226 Sopwith Camel

10228 Haunted House

10229 Winter Village Cottage

10233 Horizon Express

10937 Batman™: Arkham Asylum Breakout

10232 Palace Cinema

10240 Red Five X-Wing Starfighter™

10237 The Tower of Orthanc

10234 Sydney Opera House™

10236 Ewok™ Village

10235 Winter Village Market

31313 MINDSTORMS 2013

21050 Architecture Studio

There was heated discussion abou this at Ambassador forum, but so far it looks that it will stay in place. And for now its still valid just for Usa/Canada.

[TomLego]

Clearly, TLG has decided adults will buy AFOL targeted products without the discount. Ouch! Won't impact my purchasing decisions, but a discount would be nice.

[TheLegoDr]

Discounts are always nice, but I never knew of LEGO coupons, so I've always purchased all of these at full price. But typically I buy them during Double VIP points month, so I get at least some "money" back. Or if they have some good exclusives to give away for free.

As far as that goes, I didn't receive a coupon in my LEGO catalog that I received recently. It seems a lot of people did, but for some reason I didn't see one in there. Not that it matters since I don't live near a LEGO store anyway.

[Blondie-Wan]

What 10% off coupon is this? I don't remember seeing one in the catalog, and couldn't find one just now when I looked. Do you mean the Fall 2013 catalog, or something else?

[Hey Joe]

Discounts are always nice, but I never knew of LEGO coupons, so I've always purchased all of these at full price. But typically I buy them during Double VIP points month, so I get at least some "money" back. Or if they have some good exclusives to give away for free.

As far as that goes, I didn't receive a coupon in my LEGO catalog that I received recently. It seems a lot of people did, but for some reason I didn't see one in there. Not that it matters since I don't live near a LEGO store anyway.

If memory serves (which isn't a given) Lego only sends out catalogs with coupons to those people living near a shop.

Joe

[Bricknblue]

Weird I never got a catalog.

[kermit]

With all this talk about the coupon does anyone care to share the coupon so that us fellow lego builders can use it.

[Clone OPatra]

It's a physical thing on the catalog - I doubt a photocopy or scan would be accepted.

[Joebot]

No way. I did NOT know this. I was all set -- coupon in hand!! -- to go to the Lego store tomorrow to buy the Orthanc Tower. That was gonna save me twenty bucks!!

Ugh. Very disappointing. At least I found out now, and not tomorrow during check-out, thus sparing the always-friendly Lego store staff from my rage.

[Captain Blockbeard]

This will certainly undermine my plan to buy last year's Winter Village Cottage when it returns to stores later this month. Typically, I only buy exclusives at the official Lego store, saving coupons and VIP points specifically for those purchases. I can already buy non-exclusives for reduced rates on Amazon or in local brick and mortar toy stores.

[Herky]

The coupon says this:

*Discount is valid on one item only in one transaction only. Discount cannot be applied to the value of gift cards purchased, out -of-stock or backordered items. The LEGO Store reserves the right to exclude other items - see Store for details. Discount is not valid on any applicable tax or shipping costs, and cannot be used for phone orders, online orders, of Shop & Ship orders. VIP points will be earned on value of purchase after discount. Limit one coupon per transaction. Cannot be applied to previous purchases or combined with any other discount or coupon. Discounts do not stack. Offer valid only in the United States. Coupon must be surrendered at the time of purchase and value is forfeited if item is returned. Only original coupons will be accepted. Void where prohibited. Coupon cannot be redeemed for cash or replaced if lost or stolen. Not valid at shop.LEGO.com, LEGOLAND parks LEGOLAND Discovery Centers or other retailers. Cash value 1/100 of 1c. The LEGO Group reserves the right to cancel or modify this promotion at any time without advance notice. Discount may not apply to Exclusives, LEGO Mindstorms and LEGO Hard to Find items. See a Brick Specialist for details.

I now have to see an eye specialist, dang that is small print.

[naf]

If people are unhappy with this policy, I encourage you to express your dissatisfaction with the TLG, The Lego Store (if you live near one), and online. This sounds like one of those very short sighted cost cutting measures a lot of companies get themselves into. It's a 10% coupon, we're not talking a huge discount here. Don't know if it's worth it to piss off every AFOL within the vicinity of a Lego Store.

With the no discount policy, does that include using VIP points to purchase items? That would really piss me off as I've saved up a bunch and was planning on using them to bring the price of the Winter Village Market down a bit.

[Joebot]

The coupon says this:

... Discount may not apply to Exclusives, LEGO Mindstorms and LEGO Hard to Find items. See a Brick Specialist for details.

"May?" What the heck does "may" mean? Is it optional? Does it depend on the store? On the manager? On the individual clerk who rings you up?? On the phase of the moon or the tides??

Well, I'm going to the Lego Store tonight to buy the Orthanc Tower, and I have the coupon in my pocket. We'll see what happens when I try to use it ...

[Dark_Avenger]

"May?" What the heck does "may" mean? Is it optional? Does it depend on the store? On the manager? On the individual clerk who rings you up?? On the phase of the moon or the tides??

Well, I'm going to the Lego Store tonight to buy the Orthanc Tower, and I have the coupon in my pocket. We'll see what happens when I try to use it ...

It means "may" in the permissive sense. As in, were I to ask, "May I use this coupon on the Tower of Orthanc?" the store employee would have to say "No, unfortunately you may not." I have been told that this does not vary by store, manager, or clerk. The LEGO Stores' registers do not physically allow a discount to be taken off of an exclusive now, even if the manager tries to override it. Usually the employees are very good about doing what they can to make accommodations for a customer, but sadly it sounds like they are powerless to do anything but enforce the policy in this case.

[Faefrost]

Very sad about this one. While I can kind of understand why they did this, it still hurts the Lego budget.

[Cwetqo]

VIP discount should be ok. Its not bound to specific item but it substracts from final amount on invoice. So, double point seems to be best discount option for larger sets.

[Joebot]

It means "may" in the permissive sense. As in, were I to ask, "May I use this coupon on the Tower of Orthanc?"

Ah, gotcha. That makes more sense.

Turns out -- as predicted -- the answer to that particular question is: "No, you may not." I tried to use the coupon yesterday, and was denied. The clerk seemed as annoyed by it as I was! Ah well .... the Orthanc set is pretty freaking cool.

[naf]

It's really bad business practice to issue a coupon, and then deny it's use based on some asterisk that gives Lego the ability to deny specific sets at whim. It's classic bait and switch, gets you into the store but you can't get the discount that was advertised. They should be honoring this one for any set, and then for the next coupon explicitly state the sets you can't use it on.

[Herky]

So as posted it sounds like double points is the best way to go to get a discount (ok it doesn't discount the set you buy but does give you 2x the amount you paid) for exclusives and such...does anyone have a timeline on when double points occur? I know October, but I thought there were other times as well.

I guess I will just use my coupon for the Hobbit House Unexpected Gathering that the kids and I have been checking out or I guess it would work on the UN HQ Architecture set since that is coming out before the coupon expires on Oct 13.

[petero]

I'm glad I found this thread. I was planning a trip to one of the LEGO Stores outside of Boston, to use my coupon to get either Orthanc, the Sydney Opera House, or Mindstorms. Since it's not going to be accepted for any of those, there's no reason for me to spend the money to get to the store (the 120-mile round trip costs me roughly $40 in gas and tolls alone), and pay Massachussetts sales tax; it will be cheaper to buy one online with free shipping and no sales tax.

I'll be emailing the store's manager to express my dissatisfaction with the change! Earlier in the year I used a coupon to buy Tower Bridge, and picked up several other sets as impulse purchases while I was there. LEGO will lose out on those impulse purchases this time, since seeing the sets on the screen doesn't motivate me the way holding the box in my hands does.

Peter

[Hey Joe]

Sadly, this is a new policy. No more discounts on exclusives for AFOL discount day either. Everyone in a LUG is up in arms about it right now since those are the sets we most want to buy.

The end result is that our friends at the local LEGO stores who are so nice to us AFOLs will see sales decline as we buy our larger purchasers through Amazon and other discount sellers.

The sad thing is though; Amazon (and others) now have less reason to discount these sets as Lego isn't. Has anyone seen these larger sets on sale anywhere recently? I haven't.

Joe

[Infernum]

Hmm, I've known about this for a while. I found out after learning that the 30% off you get for volunteering at a Creation Event won't work on exclusives. . Damaged boxes still work though!