BEWARE: Collectable Minifigures US Online Purchases

[Edmond Dantes]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news...

Two days ago, I placed my 3rd order at S@H for the minifigs. My online order was accepted and confirmed. Then yesterday, I received an e-mail, stating that my order of 5 minifigs was cancelled with no explanation at all (I did order 2 other smaller sets - these were shipped according to a separate e-mail). So this morning, I called S@H to find out what the reason of the cancellation is.

I was told that S@H limits purchases of 5 minifigs per household, not per order. Huh!? And when I informed the person I was talking to that this was the only way I can buy them, he said that the limit of 5 per household was lifted yesterday but then they sold out and so the cancellation of my order. What in the name of...!? I really don't buy this crap (and I mean CRAP! - I rarely get frustrated) because I was able to place 2 separate orders in the past for the minifigs (see my earlier postings in this thread). I apologize to ALL TLG/S@H employees who does their job wonderfully for this outburst.

So there you have it folks... Any of you guys/gals had the same experience and what alibi were you told by the S@H employee you spoke to?

That really is bull (the excuse you received from Lego). I ordered 24 of these figs over five orders (5,4,5,5,5) and when the last five are delivered today, I will have received all five orders. I also ordered 60 (hopefully a box) yesterday when the limit was lifted AND there was stock. That order is still in process, but I'm pretty sure it will ship successfully. So, (obviously) the limit of five per household is BS.

[Scrib]

That really is bull (the excuse you received from Lego). I ordered 24 of these figs over five orders (5,4,5,5,5) and when the last five are delivered today, I will have received all five orders. I also ordered 60 (hopefully a box) yesterday when the limit was lifted AND there was stock. That order is still in process, but I'm pretty sure it will ship successfully. So, (obviously) the limit of five per household is BS.

Sorry to tell you, but I don't think you'll get a box. I called Shop at Home yesterday when the limit was lifted to inquire about the same thing, and the representative checked directly with the warehouse. He told me that they are all dumped into a common receptacle.

[Edmond Dantes]

Sorry to tell you, but I don't think you'll get a box. I called Shop at Home yesterday when the limit was lifted to inquire about the same thing, and the representative checked directly with the warehouse. He told me that they are all dumped into a common receptacle.

Yes, I read that post. I don't believe that's the case, sorry. All the people that have complained about receiving five of the same minifig (when ordering five from S@H) only received five of those that were among the group that those that received the European boxes noted were next to each other and indeed five in number. Ie, they were plucked from next to each other from a box that contained the same amount as those the Europeans noted, and not from a giant receptacle, where they just "happened" to be the same minifig.

I hope I am explaining my reasoning clearly.

[Scrib]

Yes, I read that post. I don't believe that's the case, sorry. All the people that have complained about receiving five of the same minifig (when ordering five from S@H) only received five of those that were among the group that those that received the European boxes noted were next to each other and indeed five in number. Ie, they were plucked from next to each other from a box that contained the same amount as those the Europeans noted, and not from a giant receptacle, where they just "happened" to be the same minifig.

I hope I am explaining my reasoning clearly.

Hey, don't get me wrong, I wish you the best and I hope you get a box, but I'm just restating what I was told by the rep. Maybe this is their new method of countering the problem of people getting multiples of the same figure in an order of 5: by just dumping all their stock into a bin and mixing it around a bit.

[BigDumbWookiee]

Are there any trusted online retailers still selling 60 ct sealed boxes for a decent price? As in $120-$130ish? I've seen a couple of sites that I do trust, but they've jacked the prices up to $250 and more.

[Asterios]

Yes, I read that post. I don't believe that's the case, sorry. All the people that have complained about receiving five of the same minifig (when ordering five from S@H) only received five of those that were among the group that those that received the European boxes noted were next to each other and indeed five in number. Ie, they were plucked from next to each other from a box that contained the same amount as those the Europeans noted, and not from a giant receptacle, where they just "happened" to be the same minifig.

I hope I am explaining my reasoning clearly.

And hate to burst your bubble but other then them having the same figs thats the only commonality between Europe and America's minifig collections, they have differant box designs and differant fig counts, so until you get a box if they even send you your order don't be so sure your right, as it goes several people finding out their order they made yesterday is being cancelled, it turns out that the available Qty was far outceded by the desired amount.

Are there any trusted online retailers still selling 60 ct sealed boxes for a decent price? As in $120-$130ish? I've seen a couple of sites that I do trust, but they've jacked the prices up to $250 and more.

I can't even buy a box at TRU for that cheap anymore.

[Edmond Dantes]

And hate to burst your bubble but other then them having the same figs thats the only commonality between Europe and America's minifig collections, they have differant box designs and differant fig counts, so until you get a box if they even send you your order don't be so sure your right, as it goes several people finding out their order they made yesterday is being cancelled, it turns out that the available Qty was far outceded by the desired amount.

I can't even buy a box at TRU for that cheap anymore.

What bubble are you bursting? I was explaining my reasoning and I believe it's decent logic. I ordered 60 and will definitely receive 60. Well, we'll find out in a few days if I receive a box (I had a $5 off coupon - that's why the price is $1.91, instead of $1.99 apiece).

Ship Date Item Name Qty. Price Order Total

17 Jun 2010 8683 LEGO® Minifigures 60 USD 1.91 USD 114.60

[TheCrimsonTrooper]

I don't know about you guys but I just kept on calling the Lego Store nearest to my location to see if they had any. The first time I called they said their shipment sold out within little over an hour. When I called about five days later they said they had them, so I brought three people with me to get as many as I could. That amount ended up being sixteen minifigs: two ninjas, three cowboys, four dummies, two divers, one nurse, two skaters, a tribal hunter, and a robot. I felt lucky enough to get any at all, because the day I finally got them mine were the last sixteen packs leftover from a five box shipment. And now I'm rather hesitant to get them online with the overpriced minifigs on ebay, lack of US sellers on Bricklink (yes overseas shipping sucks that much for me), and based on this forum, ordering from the Lego website seems to be the bane of randomness.

[Asterios]

What bubble are you bursting? I was explaining my reasoning and I believe it's decent logic. I ordered 60 and will definitely receive 60. Well, we'll find out in a few days if I receive a box (I had a $5 off coupon - that's why the price is $1.91, instead of $1.99 apiece).

Ship Date Item Name Qty. Price Order Total

17 Jun 2010 8683 LEGO® Minifigures 60 USD 1.91 USD 114.60

if you ordered those from TRU don't hold your breath since they have been cancelling online sales of the figs now for over a day, and if you ordered them from LEGO then even more goodluck since they have been cancelling massive orders and if they ship its not a whole order one guy ordered 60 they shipped him 15 anther ordered 60 and his order was cancelled, and this was in the first hour of the limit being removed from LEGO.

also ship date does not guerantee shipping until its been shipped and the money removed from your accoutn thats what someone found out today, they got the same info you did and then found out only 15 were shipped.

Edited June 17, 2010 by Asterios

[Bruce]

I just got my five from Shop@Home.

3 x Ninja

1 x Wrestler

1 x Nurse

These were ordered June 9th

Bruce

[Edmond Dantes]

if you ordered those from TRU don't hold your breath since they have been cancelling online sales of the figs now for over a day, and if you ordered them from LEGO then even more goodluck since they have been cancelling massive orders and if they ship its not a whole order one guy ordered 60 they shipped him 15 anther ordered 60 and his order was cancelled, and this was in the first hour of the limit being removed from LEGO.

also ship date does not guerantee shipping until its been shipped and the money removed from your accoutn thats what someone found out today, they got the same info you did and then found out only 15 were shipped.

Mine has been shipped and I have a tracking number. My entire order (60) is still shown as shipped (S@H order).

Edit: My credit card is showing a charge for the quoted price as well, so I'll definitely be receiving the full 60.

Edited June 18, 2010 by Edmond Dantes

[Asterios]

Mine has been shipped and I have a tracking number. My entire order (60) is still shown as shipped (S@H order).

well good luck, wouldn't be the first time LEGO S@H screwed up an order, but don't count on a box though.

[AFOL SF]

I went to the nearest Lego store this afternoon and saw the new City/Train sets already on the shelves. No minifigs. When I inquired, I was told that 3 boxes are going to be available come Monday morning but this is the last shipment this store is getting. I'm still 5 minifigs short of having a complete set.

Next stop was TRU but have none either. Will check Borders on Saturday. For those who's S@H orders were processed, good for you. I placed my online order Monday morning and got the cancellation notice Wednesday evening. As I always say, you win some-you loose some.

[Blondie-Wan]

The interesting thing with these figures is that everybody likes something diferent. Personally I can't stand the dummies. I find the figure bland and have no real use for any of the parts. The same goes for the zombie yet for many the zombie is a must-have. Different strokes I suppose.

Indeed. I personally love the crash test dummy and the zombie, and would like several of both - after all, if one is going to have any zombies at all one is probably going to want packs of them to wander in search of brains, and if one conducts LEGO vehicle crash tests, one would probably like to fully outfit a car with four or five dummies, right?

Actually, I personally like all the figures, albeit to varying degrees, and I'd like at least two or three of each of them, with lots more of several of them - the forestman, the spaceman, the robot, the tribal hunter, the ninja, the crash test dummy, the cheerleader, the zombie, the nurse and even the diver. The diver is one of the least interesting for me, as it is for many people, simply because we've seen so many LEGO divers over the years, but I can always use more variety so this one is still welcome, and it's also something I could easily use multiples of for a dive team; it's just that building a team out of this figure isn't my highest collecting priority. It makes for an interesting situation, in that some figures I find more interesting than others, but the ones I appreciate most aren't always the ones I want the most of (for example, I'm much more interested in the clown and the luchador than the diver, since I didn't have anything like the former minifigs in my collection before these came out, yet I'd rather have a slew of the divers than a slew of the clowns and luchadors - I don't have much use for lots and lots of the same clown and luchador minifigs, but I can always swap heads / faces to create different divers).

_________________________________________________________________________

I went to the Borders here yesterday to see if they were offering them; they don't have them yet and haven't heard of them (though I did learn my local Borders does have far more other LEGO sets than I'd realized). Perhaps not all Borders are carrying them.

Edited June 18, 2010 by Blondie-Wan

[Santhor]

Dang, all this is terrible. And I thought TLG hit rock bottom with the 2008-9 quality issue, and the Kingdoms battlepacks.

-Santhor

[buddy]

I think that TLG still have a problem with the randomisation of the Collectable Minifigures when ordering them from S@H, I ordered 3 Series 3 Collectable Minifigures and have received 3 Baseball Players. I don't have a problem with this in my particular case, the Baseball Player is one of my favourites from Series 3 , but you may have this randomisation problem and not be as lucky as I have been in getting your favourites.

~buddy~

[Henchmen4Hire]

You know you guys can just trade with each other, right?

I'd rather trade them away for stuff I want instead of sending them back to get 5 more random ones.

[escortmad79]

I think that TLG still have a problem with the randomisation of the Collectable Minifigures when ordering them from S@H, I ordered 3 Series 3 Collectable Minifigures and have received 3 Baseball Players. I don't have a problem with this in my particular case, the Baseball Player is one of my favourites from Series 3 , but you may have this randomisation problem and not be as lucky as I have been in getting your favourites.

~buddy~

My nightmare would be getting 3 of those Cyborg monstrosities!

You were lucky with your 3

[fred67]

The distribution of my first set of Series 3 from S@H was quite good:

Snowboarder

Gorilla Suit Guy

Baseball Player (x2)

Rapper

Tennis Player (x4 )

Alien

Race Car Driver (x2)

Hula Dancer

Fisherman

Elf

Tribal Chieftain

That's 11(*) different out of 16, which I think is pretty darn good.

(*) Duplicates are all unopened, including the Elf and Tribal Chieftain, and fisherman, which I already had, but I'm 100% on the "feel" method so far, and the tennis rackets, spear, bow and shield, etc., make me 100% certain about the ones I didn't open except the race car driver, but I double checked the bumps online and I'm pretty sure I got that one, too.

Edited January 7, 2011 by fred67

[madoka]

I bought 64 Series Two figures from Lego.com. Not a single Spartan. I'm pretty convinced at least one of their workers was pocketing the good stuff for profit.

[Henchmen4Hire]

I bought 64 Series Two figures from Lego.com. Not a single Spartan. I'm pretty convinced at least one of their workers was pocketing the good stuff for profit.

If you've ever worked retail then you'd know by now that you are always 100% correct when you say the employees pocket stuff to keep for themselves. It's always the case, no matter what job it is, no matter what's being sold, it's a guaranteed fact that the employees are hoarding stuff. Every retail job I ever had had employees hiding stuff and keeping it off the sales floor to take home later.

Also, never buy from sellers that sell entire cases, they take the good stuff out and replace it with stuff no one wants. It's especially problematic with trading cards and sellers who scale their packs.

[CorneliusMurdock]

If you've ever worked retail then you'd know by now that you are always 100% correct when you say the employees pocket stuff to keep for themselves. It's always the case, no matter what job it is, no matter what's being sold, it's a guaranteed fact that the employees are hoarding stuff. Every retail job I ever had had employees hiding stuff and keeping it off the sales floor to take home later.

Also, never buy from sellers that sell entire cases, they take the good stuff out and replace it with stuff no one wants. It's especially problematic with trading cards and sellers who scale their packs.

While I agree that this may be the case at certain places, I think it's still somewhat cynical to say it happens everywhere. I think there are still a fair number of decent people in the world that are willing to do a job right and not always looking to gain an advantage for themselves. Even if there weren't, management normally doesn't turn a blind eye to this sort of behavior, so some of the greedy employees will get caught eventually.

I'm absolutely positive that most of the time when an order contains multiples it is just overworked employees trying to fill orders quickly and just grabbing what they can from the boxes, not worrying or thinking about getting an even distribution. Shipping at big warehouses is not done at a leisurely enough pace for employees to feel up bags and compare dots.

Edited January 9, 2011 by CorneliusMurdock

[Henchmen4Hire]

You're right it's cynical to say everywhere, it's more like 99.9%

[jonwil]

If I was going to buy an entire case of Collectible Minifigures, I would specifically buy one that is still sealed to ensure I get a full set and not one that has had the good ones replaced with junk.

[Lego Wargammer]

I bought 64 Series Two figures from Lego.com. Not a single Spartan. I'm pretty convinced at least one of their workers was pocketing the good stuff for profit.

Just for the record when I got series two from Shop At Home (16 packs) I received two spartan warriors, so they were shipping them out.