Pleygo: Netflix styled Lego Rental?

[Legononymous]

What's your thoughts on it? The Netflix version of LEGO. I wasn't able to search if it's been covered before from my phone and I just read about it today. Thought I might check it out.

[Grimmbeard]

So it's renting sets? I don't really know what to think of it. It sounds like a nice idea for kids who want a set, will play with it for a little while, and never use it again.

I don't think I would really use it. I want to keep my LEGO!

Edited June 3, 2013 by Grimmbeard

[spzero]

yeah rent a set return it all chewed up and the best pieces missing, I wonder how they control the loss damage of parts / figures seams very risky and your likely to get a huge bill for the missing pieces your child lost, kept at over inflated prices,

A dvd is easy to clean up and not likely to get lost, especially digital versions this would be fun having to check every piece of each set returned.

[Hrw-Amen]

It sounds good in principle but reading through the Q&A it seems that you can only get one set at a time. That maybe fine for some sets like Technic or Creator, but for City or other themes it will not be so good as part of the fun is having other sets in the theme that interact with each other. Having just one at a time is not a great deal of fun.

[tomdobs55]

They have a Taj on there?! I wonder if it's worth it to sign up for the plan and then select the keep option and pay retail like the site says? Beats the 850$ on bricklink.

[BlueberryWaffles]

Yeah I'm wondering that too.....

[Faefrost]

Interesting? Is there really a market for this sort of thing?

[just2good]

That's a pretty smart idea for a service. It has its niches- to name a few, YouTube reviewers who don't keep their sets (like TBS), kids who are obsessed with new LEGO (lots of kids get bored with sets very quickly), and educators. It looks very professional too!

I wouldn't use it, but I can see its place in the LEGO community.

[homemade sciencefiction]

this just seems a very bad idea, kids are wreck the sets, some people won't give up the sets, in less Netflix has sare Lego to fix the sets it will go bad FAST

[Amset-Rah]

So a friend of mine on Twitter sent me a link for a place called Pleygo, which is a site like Netflix where you can rent Lego sets for a monthly fee and the size of sets depend on your subscription (Anywhere from $15-$39). I ask this because it seems like an odd concept, and what raised my interest was the fact that this was not a Lego endorsed site, as I assumed it was a sort of "Try before you buy" site, since they say you can pay the MSRP for the set if you want to keep it.

Doing a bit of digging around has shown me that they do indeed have current sets (Like the LOTR Summer sets) and you can create a wishlist of sets to be sent out during your subscription period (You get the next in the rotation if you send it back or purchase it). It seems odd, given that there might be some problems that will inevitably fall on some sets (Like cracked bricks or worn printing), so that makes the rental idea a little fishy, unless they can replace the affected parts, which would be difficult in some cases, due to the site not being owned by Lego itself, or like I said, affiliated with TLG.

What I really want to know is if anyone here has heard of this place, if they've ever used this site, or if they have any more information on it, since the idea sounds ambitious, but I'm a bit iffy on the execution (Since in the FAQ they acknowledge the instance of missing parts). I never really thought there could exist a site where you rent Lego sets like they're movies or books. I'd post the site, but I don't want to seem like I'm advertising/endorsing the site, since again, the idea sounds a bit odd.

[adotnamedstud]

http://www.pleygo.com/ I don't know what to think of this... It's weird. But I kinda want it. Like renting Mr. Gold anyways it just seems unstable. There could be a goof with the system and you could just get the set for free somehow... *Looks at old 2005-ish Netflix movie package with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom* Anyways, like in my case. I sent the movie back to netflix but I got it back the next week. Which I didn't mind but considering I quit Netflix after I sent the movie back... That's what could also happen with this... So I guess I had something to say about it but didn't. I'm sure I'm not using Pleygo anytime soon though.

[CM4Sci]

Hmm. Interesting. Apparently, this was made back in May. Not sure if I'll try this out, if it isn't some sort of scam.

-Sci

[TheLegoDr]

That's a lot of money per month that could be buying other Lego!

Try before you buy is a good idea, like see how certain elements are put together. Or I could just look at the instruction manual for free online.

[Jargo]

"Here johnny we got you a lego set. play nicely. Oh you can't keep it. We'll be sending it back so they can give it to another kid. Have fun now...."

[RaincloudDustbin]

There's nothing to stop anyone pay 39 bucks once for a 5400 piece set and not returning it...

[dvsntt]

I have yet to see any first-hand reports of this service yet. That is what I would like to hear.

[splatman]

If it's like Redbox, they have your credit card number. so if you keep the set beyond a specified length of time, you'll be charged a Late Fee of sorts, every X days you do not return the set. After Y late fees have been charged, the set's yours; like rent-to-own. The late fees would add up to some value greater than the cost of the set, like in some other rent-to-own schemes. I never checked out the service, so I'm only speculating.

If a set is returned with missing pieces, you'll probably be charged the replacement piece cost. The company will probably order replacements via Bricklink. If you find a missing piece and return it, there's likely some sort of refund thing.

[Arigomi]

I'm skeptical that there is enough demand for this service.

[DPrime]

Not an idea I'd invest my life savings in, that's for sure. I really can't see it being very successful. The prices (in order to get good sets, at least) are high enough that most parents would just end up buying sets anyway, and where's the fun in "renting" Lego?

Just seems weird to me. I would have loved to see this idea go up on Dragon's Den and see the presentation/reactions, though.

[1974]

What a daft business plan Now, they got mostly new sets where parts can easily be obtained fron S@H, but what if a 'kid' just happens to 'loose' important parts from a 6211? What will the bill say then?

[AndyC]

More importantly (from a business perspective), the process of inspecting every returned set and obtaining replacement parts as needed is going to be extremely labour intensive and there is no way around that. It simply can't scale.

[kinggregus]

There is a nice article about the company on Brickset. I had not heard of the company before. I have however to admit that I like the idea. It could be a great opportunity to try sets before buying them, or try sets for themes that do not attract you, or rent sets you cannot afford

or display. It looks like they will expand to Europe soon.

Has anyone used them yet?

[parksroad]

Not to drag up an old thread but I was just looking this over. There are a lot of bigger/older sets I'd like to build and I can't buy all of them, and $15 or $25 a month isn't a lot, really... Has anybody used this?

[rzetlin]

Pley is a new rental service for Lego where you pay a monthly fee where you get a Lego set delivered to your house.

This article have more information on this service.

On the site the monthly fee is broken down to:

• $15/month for a small set
  
• $25/month for a medium set
  
• $39/month for large set
  

--------------------------------------------------

I wonder if anybody is interested in this type of service?

I see some shortcomings with this service.

• Kids want to own Lego not rent it.
  
• People will intentionally steal rare pieces like the minifigs.
  
• If people intentionally steal expensive sets would the penalty match the price of the set?
  
• The site does not list which sets are available to rent out.
  
• How does the company ensure all the pieces are returned?
  
• After several rentals how does the company replace the missing pieces?
  

[L@go]

There's an old topic on this from June 2013, and as far as I can remember, your points were all discussed back then. Personally, I think it's a strange idea.

Edited March 28, 2014 by L@go