Does TLG filter negative reviews on S@H?

[jodawill]

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Edited April 24, 2015 by jodawill

[jodawill]

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Edited April 24, 2015 by jodawill

[Gnac]

Maybe that has something to do with it. A review of the price, rather than the product itself, is not helpful to others in deciding if it is a good product.

[jodawill]

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Edited April 24, 2015 by jodawill

[jodawill]

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Edited April 24, 2015 by jodawill

[dr_spock]

Did you take sreenshots of the before and after?

[jodawill]

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Edited April 24, 2015 by jodawill

[AFOLguy1970]

I would expect most reviews to be positive in general, simply because the reviewer already had the expectation it would be good. Otherwise, they would not have made the purchase in the first place. In the case noted above, the main issue is price, and that is in fact one of the things you rate the product for on the Lego site. Therefore, stating that the product is overpriced is fair game to me. There are a few reviews I have done where I thought the product was excellent, but the price was terrible--yes Lonely Mountain, I am looking at you

Eurobricks and Brickset are far more reliable for reviews than the Lego site, in part because people can comment on them and the reviews are not filtered.

[fred67]

Regardless of why it was deleted, price being fair game as part of a review means you cannot believe the average ratings on S@H. It's bad enough on Amazon when companies astroturf their own products, but it's shameful for TLG to exclude fair complaints. I realize they don't do it for every product (the flex tracks, specifically the flex+straight) being an obvious exception - but how many low reviews weren't allowed on them, either? It's terrible.

[Vorkosigan]

I can see why they would delete a review that is obviously just ranting at a price increase. Do you really think 1 star is fair because the price went up a couple dollars? Even with one star if your review was a bit longer and maybe talked about how just 16x16 plates are a better deal now I think its less likely to get deleted.

[rollermonkey]

A 60% increase in price is something to justifiably complain about... If TLG responded to him with a justification for the increase and the deletion, then maybe. The catch is that if you set up a place for people to provide reviews and feedback, then delete the ones you don't like, they might as well write their own fake reviews. It's dishonest.

If TLG hadn't increased the price of baseplates in say 10 years, and explained that's why the price went up a lot, fine, that's fair. But to delete a fair complaint without response isn't good customer relations.

[bitbang]

Sometimes my browser wigs out on me and my reviews don't register. This is the case on several sites, not just one.

[jodawill]

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Edited April 24, 2015 by jodawill

[legoman19892]

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Edited January 7, 2015 by legoman19892

[jodawill]

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Edited April 24, 2015 by jodawill

[fred67]

Even if they publish your new review after you've sugarcoated it, how can we trust their review system when they summarily just delete ones they don't like and that don't violate terms? How are we supposed to put any faith in their reviews at all, just because they allow a few negatives through now and again?

Here's a clue... if you can't handle letting people state their opinion on it, then don't include a review system.

As for pricing, over the past few years TLG has raised prices far beyond inflation. I like TLG... I think we all do, but that doesn't mean they aren't capitalists trying to make the most money possible - they most certainly are! And as a capitalist, they're certainly allowed to charge whatever they want and let me decide whether or not to get it. But while I haven't checked the past few years, the last time I looked, over the last decade, on average, their increases in profits have exceeded their increases in sales. That means higher profit margin on products... almost every year, profit margins have gone up.

It's easy to point out at the low end... these baseplate price increases, for example; a few years ago Star Wars battle packs were $10.00. The year they renegotiated their contract (2009), they did something they rarely do... increased the price on existing sets to $12. By 2011 they were $13. 30% price increase in three years - far exceeds inflation.

CMFs started at $2; a year later they were $3. We say "it's only a buck," but that's a 50% price increase. You can't tell me they weren't making a profit at $2, which means that price increase is ALL profit.... and now they're $4. People said "well, it's because of the Simpsons license." They were wrong. That's a 100% price increase in less than 4 years.

For a while people argued that it was the increasingly high cost of oil... but this 60% price increase comes at a time when oil prices are less than half what they were a few years ago. And do you read the stuff they release about their factories? How much energy they save? How much more efficient they're supposed to be? Their cost cutting layoffs? What about all the production being done in China? Wasn't that to save money? And yet our prices continue to rise at the same time they're cutting costs. Again, capitalism... I have no problem with it, but we have the right to say something, too, and of course, we have the right to vote with our wallets. I love LEGO, I just buy a whole lot less of it now.

I used to be a completist... if I started a theme, I had to get it all, but it got to be way too much... over the past couple of years, I've abandoned trying to be a completist; completely abandoned Architecture and Castle; I even stopped buying LOTR and Hobbit sets... the cost of Lonely Mountain is a joke... a bad one. I used to buy a lot of Star Wars, but not anymore.... very rarely.

So, OK, sorry to rant somewhat off topic, but the point is that complaining about prices is 100% valid. Unless they state in their terms it's off limits, they have no justification for deleting a review based on that, and that's essentially what a review really is - not just is it a good product, but is it worth it?

[jodawill]

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Edited April 24, 2015 by jodawill

[fred67]

I always assumed good faith for the CMFs. They've made a ton of new molds for that theme. Molds aren't cheap, and I think a lot of the molds haven't even been reused.

I understand... but at the same time, I stand by the assertion that they would not have lost money for any reason whatsoever when originally released back in 2010 (has it been that long! WOW!), which means 100% price increase is pure profit. It's not as if they didn't make new molds in the first few series! That was one of the major draws for a lot of people. On top of that, they WAY underestimated how many would sell (in the U.S. anyway)... so not only are they charging 100% more, but they are selling a LOT more, which helps cover the cost of the molds even more.

[MAB]

On both CMFs and baseplates, the increases in prices also start to bring the product in line with European prices. The RRP for a baseplate in the UK has been £7 for quite a while, that's $10.50 or so. Note our prices are including tax (VAT). The ex-VAT price would be equivalent $8.75, although lego won't sell ex-VAT even to businesses.

Why is this important? Lego seems to be at capacity for production. It cannot keep some products on the shelves, they are selling out as soon as they are produced. Other product sells steadily at RRP, with not much need for sales. As they are at capacity, then they would be better not selling baseplates at all in the US for $5, but instead sell them in Europe at $8.75 (excluding tax) equivalent. Even at $8 (excluding tax), they still make a loss compared to selling them in Europe.

Your increase in CMF prices are also bring them into line with European prices too. Historically you got them cheap, now lego have pushed up the price so it is similar to Europe.

They haven't done it with all sets yet, as some prices in the US are still way cheaper than Europe. But it would surprise me if US prices for specialist parts gradually rise. Not for the more general toy lego sets though, as these need to compete with other toys in the local US market.

[Sven F]

Would that mean European prices won't increase this year? Are they just normalising the price difference?

CMF's were 3$ from retailers in Europe and about 4$ from LEGO, also baseplates sometimes exceed 8$ and roadplates sell at 12$ This is all very normal to me.

Since most of if not all of the two mentioned is manufactured in eu or china, I don't see any import costs going in favor for the american market. What is the reason for the price inconsistency in the first place?

[Darth Punk]

Frankly I always thought the baseplate were unusually cheap. Have you actually bought a new baseplate yet? And compared the old with the new to see if any changes exist?

I haven't seen any third parties selling these plates yet so it would be easy for TLG to tell if you have actually purchased a baseplate. I'm sure they get plenty of people whining about their product yet never actually buy the product thus the removal of your review.

From what I understand the baseplates have been at the lower price for a good long while and this was just TLG adjusting price to reflect their actual costs.

Edited January 7, 2015 by Darth Punk

[MAB]

Would that mean European prices won't increase this year? Are they just normalising the price difference?

Probably not :-(

CMF's were 3$ from retailers in Europe and about 4$ from LEGO, also baseplates sometimes exceed 8$ and roadplates sell at 12$ This is all very normal to me.

Since most of if not all of the two mentioned is manufactured in eu or china, I don't see any import costs going in favor for the american market. What is the reason for the price inconsistency in the first place?

The price inconsistency comes from a nuber of sources. Cost of doing business (aside from taxes) in the US is cheaper, since they only need one toy license / safety approval per set, whereas they often need one per country in the european market (sometimes even in the EU). Volume is also larger in the US compared to individual countries in the EU, which again helps.

Another big factor is that US toys in general are cheaper, and many lego toys have to compete side-by-side on the shelf with them. This is where baseplates are more specialised. If you want a baseplate, you are going to buy one. It's not like you might buy a lego set, but decide to buy an action figure instead.

[kinggregus]

It looks like the debate has shifted from the key concern raised by Jodawill. The issue is not to determine whether the amount Lego charges for baseplates is correct or not but that the reviews on the Lego website are tweaked.

I find this concerning and would have expected Lego to be open to criticism. I am quite disappointed to see that they are not.

[fred67]

Did not mean to shift the debate, but to point out that criticizing prices is certainly fair game in a review. To stay on point I won't discuss the points posted here since my last post.

[MAB]

Maybe they base their decision to pull a review on whether or not the set / item has been bought or likely to have been bought as well as if you discuss pricing in the review.

If someone leaves a review saying that the set / item is too expensive without purchasing it, or says they aren't going to purchase it because it is not as good value as something else, then it is not a review of the product. But then they are just as likely to remove negative reviews of Friends sets saying "Stop making pink sets for girls" since it is not a review of the product. They would probably also remove positive reviews saying "I haven't bought this but it is freaking awesome." (Maybe someone should try!)

The UK version is quite clear what should be included.

Overall rating (1-5)

Play experience (1-5)

Value for money (1-5)

Level of difficulty

Build time

Would you recommend

Then the written review.

The review section clearly states that you should use the product before writing about it and to focus on the product. It also says not to include "info that changes, such as price".

So although they ask whether something is value for money in the 1-5 rating, it seems that is the only place you should put this information and that writing about the price should not be done in the written review of the product. I imagine that is why they have removed the reviews discussing price changes.

Edited January 7, 2015 by MAB