What would it take for you to stop purchasing Lego?

[Blackicep8ntball]

Saw an interesting article over on Brickset about problems with the coloring/sheen in many of the blue bricks in the Monster Hunter line. I'm curious if anyone here has seen similar issues with this or other lines. Stuff like this makes me keep my money close. What would it take for you to stop purchasing Lego?

The article can be found here:

Link to Brickset Article

[Aanchir]

Saw this this morning, and I have to say the comments thread on that news article is just sad. So many people are going on about how it likely is related to Chinese production or some "trend" towards lower quality, while nobody's asking any meaningful questions.

If the parts are made in China, they'll have the same Design ID as all Chinese-made 2x4 bricks. If they're made elsewhere, then they'll be numbered 3001. At least, that's how it is if China has manufactured 2x4 basic bricks in the past, and I'm assuming they have (since the activity books which often include minifigures and basic bricks have their contents manufactured in China as far as I know).

All people are doing by speculating wildly is making sweeping judgments about TLG's quality over what could easily be an isolated incident-- probably not isolated to one person, but easily isolated to a certain batch of that particular part. As it is, the likelihood that this part was manufactured in China is extremely low, and there's no reason to think that TLG made any deliberate decision to ease up on their quality control for this theme.

[Blackicep8ntball]

Dear Moderators, thanks for keeping an eye on threads and making sure they're not misplaced. However, while my topic is closely related to the quality reference thread, it's not geared towards supplementing the guide. I created the independent topic purposefully, and it would be great if it could be placed back into the community forum.

Thanks HumanPackMule - that's a great thread, but my post would be a little off-topic there; I'm looking for more of a discussion rather than to supplement the guide. However, this coloring problem does merit notice in the quality reference guide, so I'll add a post there.

Saw this this morning, and I have to say the comments thread on that news article is just sad. So many people are going on about how it likely is related to Chinese production or some "trend" towards lower quality, while nobody's asking any meaningful questions.

If the parts are made in China, they'll have the same Design ID as all Chinese-made 2x4 bricks. If they're made elsewhere, then they'll be numbered 3001. At least, that's how it is if China has manufactured 2x4 basic bricks in the past, and I'm assuming they have (since the activity books which often include minifigures and basic bricks have their contents manufactured in China as far as I know).

All people are doing by speculating wildly is making sweeping judgments about TLG's quality over what could easily be an isolated incident-- probably not isolated to one person, but easily isolated to a certain batch of that particular part. As it is, the likelihood that this part was manufactured in China is extremely low, and there's no reason to think that TLG made any deliberate decision to ease up on their quality control for this theme.

I agree regarding the China accusations. If Lego can get quality parts from China, I'm happy, and if they get low quality parts from Denmark, I'm unhappy. Location doesn't matter.

However, there has been a downward trend in Lego's Quality Control lately. I've been an avid collector since about 1992, and until 2010, I never bought a set that was missing a piece. Since 2010, I've had at least 3, maybe 4 sets missing pieces (including one set that was missing a half-dozen parts). And I'm not missing the parts because of carelessness - if anything, I've become more careful building sets now that I'm in my late 20s, as opposed to when I was a 6 year old kid. I've also noticed inconsistencies in parts quality - waxy, matte-looking black plates, color inconsistencies (particularly with dark blue parts), stickers that peel back off after application (V-wing fighter), etc. All this in the last 3 years. Compared to the relatively problem free decade and a half before, I think it's safe to say that Lego QC has slacked off, even if this specific problem in Monster Hunters is limited to that line.

...But finding out if it's limited to that line is part of the reason I created this thread - I'm curious if people are seeing the issue in other sets.

Edited June 20, 2012 by Blackicep8ntball

[Fugazi]

Sorry if your intent has been misinterpreted, Blackicep8ntball. Your initial post is confusing. If you wanted to discuss this:

I'm curious if anyone here has seen similar issues with this or other lines.

Then it's in the right place in the Quality Reference thread. If you rather wanted to discuss this:

What would it take for you to stop purchasing Lego?

Then it may warrant a new thread, but probably still in General Discussion and News. Community is mostly geared towards non-LEGO related topics.

[Blackicep8ntball]

Sorry if your intent has been misinterpreted, Blackicep8ntball. Your initial post is confusing. If you wanted to discuss this:

Then it's in the right place in the Quality Reference thread. If you rather wanted to discuss this:

Then it may warrant a new thread, but probably still in General Discussion and News. Community is mostly geared towards non-LEGO related topics.

Sorry to be confusing - wanted to discuss both items, but particularly the latter. General Discussion and news works fine. Thanks for the clarification Fugazi.

[Fugazi]

No worries. I have split your topic from Quality Reference, but it still may wind up there depending on the tangent it takes. To all posters, please try to remain constructive. Endless ranting is a waste of bandwidth!

[TheLegoDr]

That is a very good question.

I got back into Lego late 2010 because of Harry Potter. Since then I have spent thousands of dollars (I think close to $4,500) on sets and CMF. Within the last 6 months, I have noticed a huge decline in quality with the company. I've had multiple pieces missing or cracked and have contacted customer service multiple times regarding it. They have great customer service, but that isn't the point. The point is having to contact them on almost every single set I purchase to get replacement parts. I have contacted them so often, they require multiple safety steps before they will send out the parts. I understand they don't want to get ripped off, but am I really going to rip off TLG for a 1x2 dark blue gray inverted slope? It is to the point where I don't even want to contact them anymore because they make it such a hassle to get replacement parts. And that is only regarding missing or broken pieces. That isn't the many pieces that are different shades of the same color or more matte finishes instead of smoother texture.

I agree that as long as the piece is good quality, I don't care where it comes from. But something needs to change at the company.

The more I read topics like this and I actually think about the problems I have, I guess I (and others) am (are) willing to put up with less quality because we obviously keep buying. Although, I do know I have purchased significantly less this year than I did last year. So maybe it is the beginning of the end for me. Who knows.

I hope TLG will figure out their QC problem.

I will be interested to see other people's responses.

[Vindicare]

I think this is an isolated issue. I built 9466 last week and it looked fine. I checked after reading that brickset article, and it felt fine. I have yet to do the flashlight test, but I will.

I was pretty disappointed at reading the comments. Blaming China. One person even dare say it was a "sneaky move" by TLG. Come on.

[Lyichir]

In all honesty, the only reason I would conceivably stop purchasing LEGO would be if for some reason I were rendered unable to do so. If I were in dire financial straits, I might stop purchasing LEGO (at least temporarily). But I can't think of anything LEGO themselves could do to stop me buying. LEGO is a diverse enough company to catch my interest with a new theme even if I lost interest in another. And LEGO has, over the course of my life, become better and better, and I see no reason why that trend would reverse. LEGO is a very reliable company, and I hope to establish a career with them in the future. At that point there would certainly be no stopping my purchasing (unless, of course, they started giving me it for free! ).

[HawkLord]

This is probably going to sound like a bit more generalizing than I'd like, but here goes. I think as the world economy has fallen lately, people have become more and more decerning about everything. They want the best product at the cheapest price in alot of different items that they purchase. When those items disappoint to any degree, people tend to think the company is trying to save money and is indirectly hurting them. I've been into collectibles of various types for 15+ years and I've only seen alot of these style articles in the past two years or so.

Now, of course, some of the types of complaints I've seen about different companies are true in that they are trying to save money and thus go with cheaper parts, packaging, etc. However, that's usually identified after a large amount of investigating and after a number of complaints from enough source to distinguish it from just a one-shot instance. Right now, I've not had any problems with any of my Legos, so for me, the trend doesn't exist. As for the concerns of others, I really think it's too early to tell if the sky is falling.

What would take me out of Lego? A huge, definable drop in quality. Something where every other set I'd buy is missing bricks, has damaged pieces, or is otherwise incomplete. It would have to happen often enough that I could no longer attribute the issue to the fallings of a mass-market toy. Even then I wouldn't get out of Lego completely - there's still lots of older sets I could go after, but I'd avoid the new stuff for a time. Surely, Lego doesn't want to lose it's reputation of making a quality product and an issues that people were to find would be handled pretty quickly. Lego is already on top as far as successful toy companies go, there's no reason why they would want to hurt themselves now over saving some money.

[Brickdoctor]

What would it take for you to stop purchasing Lego?

Armageddon.

I'm with Lyichir; either I'd have to be financially unable to purchase LEGO or TLG would have to stop selling LEGO. If I ever did stop, I don't think that low quality would be a factor. The kind of low quality it would take for me to give up buying LEGO is a kind of low quality that I don't think TLG will ever intentionally sink to. It goes against their founders' principles, and it's just something I don't see them doing.

[Vindicare]

There's a lot of overreactions over at Brickset. It's really quite sad what some are saying. Comments like we should black list 9466, or boycott LEGO altogether. I don't really see what all the uproar is anyways. Yes, I see the difference when shone with a flashlight. Really though, theres no differences in the brick under normal light. The color, rigidity and clutch power were all fine. I built the set and never noticed a thing.

[Hammerstein NWC]

There only reason that would stop me buying lego is death. :) Seriously though only financial constraints such as the birth of a child or mortgage would stop me from getting a little fix now and then :)

[Brickity]

In summer of 2010 I bought some minifigs, a keychain and some other sets at the Houston LEGO store. In my excitement, I opened everything in the car just to put all the minifigs together in a bag. My family and I left the car just to walk around, and when I returned to the car, I noticed the faces of the keychain and minifig magnets faded! (I touched the faces with my finger and the prints *swooshed*) Just because the temperature was a little warm, the other minifigs from the actual sets were in perfect condition. In that moment I felt a little unmotivated to buy more LEGO.. I'm not buying a single keychain/magnet set again.

Edited June 21, 2012 by Otherworld

[Destroydacre]

There's a lot of overreactions over at Brickset. It's really quite sad what some are saying. Comments like we should black list 9466, or boycott LEGO altogether. I don't really see what all the uproar is anyways. Yes, I see the difference when shone with a flashlight. Really though, theres no differences in the brick under normal light. The color, rigidity and clutch power were all fine. I built the set and never noticed a thing.

I don't think it's an overreaction at all. Just because you didn't have an issue with the poor quality doesn't mean other people don't. People who are like me would agree that you get what you pay for, and if you purchase a premium building block brand like Lego, that you should get quality pieces, and it's pretty obvious that some of the pieces are severely lacking in quality. Not spending money is how you get change. If Lego's quality dips below an acceptable level people will stop buying and that will hurt TLC's profits. In turn they'll look to rectify the mistake in order to make their product higher quality and get more people to buy. That's how economy works. There's nothing sad about that at all.

[obsidianheart]

Aw, I think I broke your blacklist. I bought two. One for me, one for my son. He doesn't care, and he's the targeted demographic, so I try not to let it bother me.

[Vindicare]

I don't think it's an overreaction at all. Just because you didn't have an issue with the poor quality doesn't mean other people don't. People who are like me would agree that you get what you pay for, and if you purchase a premium building block brand like Lego, that you should get quality pieces, and it's pretty obvious that some of the pieces are severely lacking in quality. Not spending money is how you get change. If Lego's quality dips below an acceptable level people will stop buying and that will hurt TLC's profits. In turn they'll look to rectify the mistake in order to make their product higher quality and get more people to buy. That's how economy works. There's nothing sad about that at all.

Oh, my bricks suffer from shiney-light-syndrome . But when people are saying that it was some kind of sneaky move by TLG, or to boycott, or black list 9466, that is overreacting. Not to mention all the people throwing blame at China, with zero proof that brick came out of that factory.

[ACWWgal2011]

Oh, my bricks suffer from shiney-light-syndrome . But when people are saying that it was some kind of sneaky move by TLG, or to boycott, or black list 9466, that is overreacting. Not to mention all the people throwing blame at China, with zero proof that brick came out of that factory.

People could be linking poor brick quality with the exact same issues with the lego CMF's.

Edited June 22, 2012 by ACWWgal2011

[BrickPicker]

I don't think it's an overreaction at all. Just because you didn't have an issue with the poor quality doesn't mean other people don't. People who are like me would agree that you get what you pay for, and if you purchase a premium building block brand like Lego, that you should get quality pieces, and it's pretty obvious that some of the pieces are severely lacking in quality. Not spending money is how you get change. If Lego's quality dips below an acceptable level people will stop buying and that will hurt TLC's profits. In turn they'll look to rectify the mistake in order to make their product higher quality and get more people to buy. That's how economy works. There's nothing sad about that at all.

The one thing that always seperated LEGO from other competitors was quality. If that changes, my view of TLG could also change. I have not noticed any quality differences myself, but there may be some issues. It would take a lot more than a couple of faulty bricks to change my positive view of the company.

[Vindicare]

People could be linking poor brick quality with the exact same issues with the lego CMF's.

I don't doubt it. I feel for China, now whenever any problem arises, 8 million fingers(give or take ) will be pointing at them, without proof more than likely.

[ACWWgal2011]

The set and part quality combined with high set price tags and the 3DS XL announcement is enough to stop me almost completly at the moment to be honest. Almost as in if we go to the lego store, i may grab a couple grab bags since it's rare for use to go.

It's not just the monster set with quality issues but also the superheros plus misc problems with other sets. Some sets are also lacking in the design depo with is another major stopping factor. The set factor is combined with the price factor. If i was paying a lot of a set with a good design, i'd have no problem with the price. But with stuff like the blue roadster where i payed $12 for the set when i wanted it for a set and not for a parts pack, it's a turnoff with the set requires a lot of work to make it lego minifigure compatible.

And the XL is another factor though not as major since it's coming out only 2 months b4 my Birthday. However it's still a partial factor since i know that there are some video games that i love more then lego sets and an xl will be worth it. Sorry TLG, EB, and AFOL's but i'm not a one company girl and i have to make choices.

[Bilbo Baggins]

I've never had any problems with LEGO Bricks, and I think that as long as this problems aren't too noticeable I will keep buying LEGO.

[lightningtiger]

Two things that would stop me buying Lego....apart from lack of cash, Lego quality being the same as MB.....goodness forbid ! and of course, DEATH !

[dr_spock]

What would stop me from buying Lego? My wife.

[Jargo]

Boohoohooo whinge whine moan. That's all I hear. And I'll bet if every single brick was 100% top quality and cost more the same people would whinge whine and moan that they were being ripped off. If they're that bothered then fine, quit buying the stuff and leave the rest of us to carry on and maybe get some peace.