LEGO launches new VIP Program

Oh these comments ought to be even-handed and cool-headed...

I just logged in to check it out and my account is zeroed out... I had over $170 in rewards banked...

LEGO is getting a phone call real quick... anybody else see this?

UPDATE: After being on the phone with them they said that about 6,500 accounts have had issues with points not transferring over and that I should wait about a week until everything migrates over and then check back in then.

Not a good look... hope they figure this out...

Soooooo....how many surveys do I need to take to get the UCS Falcon?

This is clearly not ready for prime time yet. I'm logged into my account, but the Rewards Center doesn't see me as logged in. My points are gone, and so's my wish list. I'm sure these will get fixed, but jeez, Lego. Internet is not that hard. Not sure why you have so much trouble with it.

Well, looks like the new system converts the old points into equivalent cash value. So your points are still "worth" the same. Yesterday I had about $300 worth of points, today I have about 30,000 points that I can redeem for 3x $100 gift cards. Same same.

Usual poor technology implementation

A message to our valued VIP customers

We are currently in the process of upgrading our VIP Program to give our fans more benefits and more rewards.

To do this, we need to move to a new online Rewards Centre in order to provide you with more opportunities to earn and redeem LEGO VIP points.

This involved migrating all of our existing LEGO VIP Rewards accounts from our old platform to the new centre. We have millions of accounts, and unfortunately during this process not all VIP points information was successfully migrated. As a result, some VIP accounts are not showing the correct points balance.

Please don’t worry. No one has lost points. We have a backup of all points information, and are in the process of fixing the issue. It will probably take a day or two, but we will make sure everyone’s account is showing the correct points balance.

We apologise for any inconvenience and also want to reassure you that no personal data has been impacted by this migration, only VIP points data.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to our awesome consumer service team. https://www.lego.com/en-us/service

Thank you for your patience and understanding. We’re working as fast as we can to fix this!

LEGO VIP Team

Hey folks, using adblocker on the VIP site kills it off. At least here in Germany. And in other news: the Batpod for 15.000 points is already gone from the german VIP site. Yeah, let's get a coloring sheet instead. Well done, Lego. :(

So, getting a voucher, does that mean I can’t use my ViP dollars when I walk into a store & buy something like before? I have to request this voucher, which I assume is emailed to me?

How many VIP points do I need now to have access to a Shop @ Home online experience that actually works?

A few weeks ago one of the LEGO store employees showed me the handout that staff received on the new program. The one aspect that did not appeal to me is that there will no longer be any point-of-sale redemption. VIPs will need to redeem points in advance on-line for some sort of voucher or certificate to use in the store. On top of that, there was some limitation on splitting a certificate among multiple purchases, but the extent of what that meant was unclear. I took it as a means of limiting GWP awards with on certificate.

This all doesn’t matter too much to me because my closest LEGO store is over 100 miles away, so I do most purchases on the web, but it will impact impulse purchases by some.

Upon learning this, I redeemed most of my available points that day for the UCS Millennium Falcon, which I wouldn’t want to risk suffering regular shipping from LEGO.com.

I do like very much the idea of special purchases and new ways to earn points.

For all the guff that LEGO are peddling, they’ve simply overhauled the programme to better benefit themselves rather than the customer. One of the smallest benefits I enjoyed was having pooled points with my wife’s account. She always forgot to use them so any points she accrued I got to spend on my account. LEGO have binned merged accounts with this ‘upgrade’

Anyone know if you can apply multiple $5 vouchers to the same order? Otherwise, this is a downgrade since they are restricting the reward increments offered. Yesterday, I could have received a $45 discount on my order. Today, I'm capped at $20 unless I spend more money first.

Also, it is just silly that they expect someone to spend their points to "download" anything.

Initial thoughts.

Seems like to get the VIP promo item, you have to buy something from the shop and then redeem a voucher code which you get when you redeem your points?? Within 30 days or the code will expire.

I usually spend my points in the Xmas sale. But now would have to break away from the sale site to go to redeem points if there's something I want in the sale, by which time it's probably sold out. Can't redeem in advance due to the 30 day expiration.

I see the benefit of the points realignment, the opportunity to get rewards and new ways to earn points, but why not just let points be redeemed at point of sale in store and online as before.

Because they want to make it harder for you to use them!

My understanding of the new point vouchers is as follows:

You redeem the points online for a voucher worth $5, $20, $50, or $100.

Multiple vouchers can be redeemed during any purchase. (I.e. stacking multiple $100 vouchers or stacking a $20 voucher with a $50 voucher)

If you go online and redeem a voucher for $50 and use it on a $45 purchase, the final $5 dollars are forfeit. So make sure you have your purchase planned out and ready before redeeming the vouchers.

If you see a set you want and it’s $89.99, DON’T redeem your $100 voucher unless your ready to lose $10 in VIP points. You instead will want to do one $50 and two $20.

Hope this makes sense.

Sorry TLG, but I don't beta test software unless I get paid for it. And this isn't even in beta, judging from what I've seen.

This all sounds quite frustrating. Having to print out a voucher and essentially being forced to use it in 30 days is definitely not consumer friendly. Especially not when the previous program was so easy. Simply use your points at time of purchase with a simple drop down menu that showed how many you had. I'm less and less likely to actually buy from them directly. Especially when I can get a sale from other retailers.

I used to get excited about my rewards points and let them add up to $100 or so before I spent them, but a 20%+ discount on Amazon puts the 5% VIP reward to shame. Still waiting on those Millennium Falcon VIP card special offers...

I agree monkyby87, I have no reason to buy from the Lego store now! Ill just get it on sale somewhere else. Is a 5% discount equivalent too much for our loyalty? I wont plan ahead and print or write down a voucher code before heading to the mall, guaranteed ill forget. Maybe they find their stores are too busy? I don't get the logic.

So far not impressed. I tried logging in and all the page does is refresh to the login page. So I can’t see my points or access awards. This may make me shop elsewhere (Target or Walmart), since they often times have sets cheaper. I can easily save an instant $5-10 on most sets instead of trying to collect reward points, and remembering to print out a voucher. I don’t know who they think they are listening too but it isn’t me. I liked the old way better.

Sadly the only thing worth anything is already sold out. Would be nice to have more actual LEGO build rewards instead of all this paper stuff. Sure its great for the kids I guess. As an adult consumer though I would rather be rewarded with a unique LEGO build.

Missed the mark LEGO don't think this is much of an improvement.

This is dumb, all the way around. It is not user/fan friendly, and only benefits Lego and their bottom line through lost/voided/unredeemed points. This isn't better customer service. This isn't increasing incentives or appreciation of the consumer. If Lego isn't careful, they will be suffering again like they were in the late 90's, when they forgot their roots and loyal fan base.

My favourite quote from the LEGO VIP FAQS page: "For example, if the LEGO item is $XX.XX, you are earning YY.YY points, but it will appear as if you have only earned ZZ."

Some of what was said about the new vip system sounds good but what
Is with us not being allowed to use our points in the stores namely the store in beachwood, Ohio. My brother had 5.00 in his pocket and told my
Nephew he could get something for 15.00 because he had enough points but they would not let him use them. So sale lost
Upset child upset parent and I don't like that idea either
Are you trying to put the stores out and only sell on line.
I'm going to call to!

I know system migrations can have issues but this is just another reminder of the Lego website’s ongoing quality issues. Sorting is a mess and they still can’t get images right on mobile. Brickset however works great on a phone!

Why would anyone be interested in VIP-points at all? The prices in Lego's own shops are so extremely high that eve triple Vip points don't add up to buying for instance at Aamazon.

So now we have to redeem in advance to use our VIP. What a pain in the @ss. The fact that it can't be used in stores without redeeming first in advance makes planning my trip to the lego store a lot harder. I love Lego but I see more problems with this new VIP. I'm more better off only using VIP points online, but I feel when new sets come out right away, it wouldn't be worth redeeming in hopes that is doesnt sell out. Otherwise I can't use points on brand new releases right away.

same here lost points for now. would travel to Lego Store about 150 miles round trip for a big spend making several purchases using points as i went along, No longer it seems.
Why do all these big company's want to make live hard, Profit seems to be the answer . Used to think Lego was better than the others with a good customer service suppose that will be changed to a robot system next.

To cite a previous question: "Why the negativity?" ;-)

Irony aside, even with TLG's history of messing up just about everything when it comes to launches of new stuff, this VIP system relaunch appears to be the most fu**ed up one of them all.

And what a downgrade for exisiting users. Up until now I could simply redeem the value of my points at any time either in our local LEGO store, in any LEGO store around the world, or at LEGO.com.
Now I am restricted to getting some voucher first, which incidentally over here isn't even working, as all vouchers are shown as "Sold out" (WTF?), plus those vouchers are then only valid for 30 days.
I have already written a very angry mail to customer service, as this is the way to go to lose customers. What a sh*tty new system. No reason imho to use it any longer. If that is what they tried to achieve, congratulations, they have succeeded. :-(
I mean, let's be honest. No one in their right mind would buy anything directly from LEGO when the same sets can be had with discounts anywhere else if it were not for the VIP points and stuff like GWPs. Now with this new system, even the last reason to buy directly from LEGO has turned sour. Really, way to go TLG!

If I had known what was to come, I would have simply redeemed all my points beforehand and then just stopped using the programme in future. It's not as if it had been too attractive anyway, but now it has just become a pure annoyance. Oh and yeah, way to go, show an offer of an attractive reward like the Bat-pod but with the status "Sold-out" from the get go. Just like the "Year of the pig" offer a couple of weeks ago, that was added to the cart but immediately removed again once you tried to check out. No matter how often you tried over the course of the first day of the offer, always the same procedure. Added to the cart, removed at check-out.

In all honesty, TLG is becoming ever more hated over here.
Ever increasing prices, lower quality (just look at those new "trans-clear" pieces that look worse than knock-offs, or the new "white" which looks like it has already yellowed for several years, to name but two issues), plus their pestering the German customs so that everything brick-related is confiscated, even those Bricklink AFOL designer program sets. Genius!

And now their latest coup, trying to use the Ambassador network to help in their fight against Xingbao minifigures (even though those are completely legal), has also not gone down well. I mean, I know they feel the pressure starting to build, because people notice that LEGO is not worth their asking prices anymore while at the same time loads of great alternatives are coming to market (like Cobi, Xingbao, etc.), but that should rather encourage them to get better at their own game again than trying to suppress legitimate competition and causing customers of legal alternatives undeserved trouble.

I suggest a bombardment of submissions to Customer Service complaining about inability to redeem points in-store for purchases.
Emphasising that:
We weren’t consulted on this change.
If visiting stores, on impulse, to make purchases with points redemption, is now discouraged by their actions, so too is visiting on impulse to spend money to earn points... and as their approach encourages online shopping, and less impulse, we’re more likely to choose Amazon (with its discounts), and less likely to a) use lego.com and b) less likely to visit their stores... which will result in store closures, job losses, and less income for Lego.
Also worth asking if lego really values its AFOLs - we do not want to redeem points for colouring in pictures! The AFOL community has the spending power, and would like a points system that respects that!

Well, that worked as expected for me. A complete mess mixed with no communication at all. There was no mailing in advance and now (one day later) still no information from TLG, beside the customer service responses.
Shop integration is gone, so you don't see your points in your customer profile and you can't redeem them in the checkout process. The new scheme is complicated and forces you to buy things when redeeming your vouchers (key chain by example) within a specified timeframe. No more going to a store and reducing your bill on the fly, now you need a voucher that is only valid for 30 days, so you have to plan your purchase in advance.
From the perspective of TLG they did everything right: The sole use of such a program is to bind customers and to increase sales. Check! for that.
On the other side, there are some cool rewards. I hope this will outweigh all the other inconveniences...

I think just for fun I should visit our local LEGO store today and tell them that I will never purchase from them again and that they can thank TLG HQ and their idiotic new version of the "VIP" rewards program for it. Will be interesting to see their reaction.
Otoh, their staff changes so often nowadays that I don't feel any connection to them anymore anyway. In the olden days I knew the people there and they knew me. Was a nice feeling, almost like family, and made purchasing stuff there more enjoyable than in other places. Now they are just like all the others and the special feeling is gone. Another score for TLG...

They are literally giving away stuff for free, yet people still complain. Granted it's slightly less convenient to redeem in store, but it's hardly reason to never shop there again. Most folk have a smartphone these days, so just go online and redeem there and then while in the store.

The subset of customers that visit a store on a whim, have no idea in advance how much they are likely to spend, have no idea how many VIP points they've got and don't have a phone they can access in store is likely to be a pretty small percentage.

These loyalty type schemes do tend to get less generous over time in general anyway, but the value of VIP points is still the same and they've even added other ways to earn extra points with surveys etc and given the option to spend points on other things too. Nobody is forcing anyone to spend points on colouring sheets, but the option is now there if you want it.

@dmcc0: "They are literally giving away stuff for free, yet people still complain."

They are not giving away anything for free! You have to buy from them in order to get VIP points (which you then can use to pay for the "free" items), and as they usually sell at RRP you pay through the nose for those points.

If a buy a 100 Dollar/Euro/Pound RRP set, even with double VIP points, versus the same set at Amazon etc. for say 25% off, you have already paid about 15 Dollar/Euro/Pound extra for your points. Same principle holds true for GWPs. Like when I bought the Avengers Ultimate Quinjet in order to get the "free" Avengers tower. I paid 79.99 Euro for the jet, which would have cost me 55.99 Euro at the same time at various online retailers like Amazon et al. In other words I paid 24 Euro for the "free" Avengers tower. So much for that.

And re:
"The subset of customers that visit a store on a whim, have no idea in advance how much they are likely to spend, have no idea how many VIP points they've got and don't have a phone they can access in store is likely to be a pretty small percentage."

From my experience almost all customers at our LEGO store fall into the category you describe as being a "small percentage" (other than the "not having a phone" bit obviously).

On the positive side, although I no longer appear to have any points, I can no longer see my lifetime point accumulation, so I no longer know how much money I have squandered on Lego... well, at the Lego store at any rate.

Lego creates a rewards center that gives you more options for earning, more options for spending, an exchange value that favors all customers worldwide, and exclusive buying opportunities. Fans...complain about point system and how they can buy cheaper sets on sale elsewhere(always been this way), complain about the redemption process because it MIGHT inhibit their ability to make impulse buys because emails notoriously take days to come through in 2019, complain that the accessible rewards that were never accessible before are garbage, complain about a new website that's been in use for all of a day and being promptly dealt with, threaten to never buy LEGO through TLG again (oooo they hate when you buy their product from another store...seriously wtf?). This thread is so reactionary and over the top. Take a deep breath and realize everything will be okay, this isn't the end of the world.

@Oregondete81, you're kind of missing the point. One of the ONLY reasons people shop directly through Lego is because of the VIP program and the financial benefit. It was extremely easy to use. And as others have said, it was a big reason people went to an actual Lego store as opposed to some other retailer. Now, with the way the redemption process goes, it's much more frustrating to use. I've always been able to find sets cheaper at other stores, but being able to use points on the fly kept me shopping directly through Lego. Now though, I may not worry about buying from Lego since it's not as easy to use. Of course Lego is still getting my money, but I guarantee you they'd rather have you buy something directly through them than through some other retailer. It's a bigger deal to a lot of VIP members than you realize. The additional ways to earn points is fine and all, but the real benefit is harder to use. As for the others ways to spend, let's be honest; nobody cares about those. People want to use their points to get money off on sets. That's harder to do now.

Of course this thread is reactionary...we're reacting to a rather significant change that affects quite a lot of loyal VIP members. We've been through this song and dance before; it's ok to express our opinions on something that legitimately affects our lives. This isn't just another "I don't like this set even though I would never have bought it anyways".

This new system is much worse than the old. It's more time-consuming, more confusing, and has fewer options to use your points. The old system of rewards was fine and this new system is convoluted and introduces fewer options of using points to get a discount. The additional physical rewards are welcome, but l would not have traded the old system just for those. Why couldn't LEGO combine the good parts of both systems?

And you know what's more annoying than legitimate complaints? People complaining about complainers.

I do not like it. So now we are going to pay for prints. It is harder to redeem points. Points expire. All bad deals in my opinion.

Indeed I do. Favorite hobby of mine. Next to building brick-related stuff ;-)

Where the heck was the warning? The last email I got was "Buy now to get double VIP points". What good is shopping through a rewards program that fails to keep good faith with the customer? I had $70 in my VIP that I was planning to use for my daughter's birthday after she has a major surgery next week, now we simply can't afford the set she wanted. I'm pissed.

And NO I do not, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT, want a signed artwork instead.

When I log in to my Lego.com account, it prompts me to join the sign in or join the VIP even though I'm already a member and I'm logged in. It doesn't seem joined up with their Shop site.

Anyway, choice of rewards is nice but requesting the discount in advance is a bit of a pain, round numbers isn't great either - usually I save up my points all year then redeem whatever I have in one go.

This is absolutely terrible. I work like 10 mins from a Lego store. Now there's no point in me going there for an impulse purchase if using points is harder. I might as well order it off Amazon whilst on the train home, just wait a day or 2 and save money.

I wonder how many people didn't know about this and have already walked out a store empty handed and left that store with lower sales figures they'll have to explain. I've already seen some in this thread, and I also never received an email about this change. It's lucky this article was recommended to me else I never would have known and I'd be one of the ones leaving with nothing.

Also the new site for it is terrible. I created my Lego account years ago in the UK but I moved to the US in 2017 and everything worked just fine - continued to use the same VIP card I've always had and the points were now just worth $ instead of £. Now on the website, all the redemptions are showing £ for me. I don't know if I can trust that. If I redeem some points, can they be used in a store here? Last I checked, the pound was not accepted in California. I then tried to change my account's country again. It was already saying US, but I tried to change it anyway. It asked for my password and the UI for that was terrible - the "verify" button didn't seem to actually do anything, instead I had to click this tiny padlock in the text box? Anyway I got past that, and now I find that half the redemption options are missing! In store redemptions are refusing to load now. So is that it? Have I basically just blocked myself from Lego stores?

Lego really does stink at this side of their business. I'll just limit my future direct buys from them to "exclusives".

I feel like Lego have gone a step back in terms of innovation and technology. The old system was so much easier to use. Now its like a survey site. I use survey sites, their vouchers take days to arrive, some are instant, but don't expire for at least a decade. If the vouchers are sold out, they can take ages to arrive, if you're able to order them at all.

I'm not interested in any of the posters and stuff that you can redeem them on. I used the points only for online purchases of lego, as my closest store is over two hours away.

I'll have to wait and see how long you have to wait for vouchers when I decide to buy some sets again, probably when the new modular comes out, to properly judge this change. But I do not think it is a good change at all.

Edit: I just had to update my wishlist again. I did it this morning when I found out about this because it was wiped, just logged in to the shop now and it was gone again. This is going to be a pain if you have to do this every time you visit the site.

It was working in Firefox this morning, now its not. I had to use Edge.

I just ordered the Empire State Building from Amazon at 29% off, just a few weeks after release. This VIP system is ... not particularly attractive if you have any alternative.

Have GWPs been binned in favour of having to use points to get the freebies?

If so, I think I’ll be spending my money on other online stores at a fraction of LEGO’s prices and then use the leftover money to buy the ‘freebies’ on eBay

It's a really terrible system. I can only think TLG are trying to make it harder for people to spend their points, without outright scrapping the scheme altogether.

I accidentally converted my points into a voucher I can only spend in store. I accept nobody made me do it but it wouldn't have happened under the old system.

The threshold spend freebies have been uninspiring for years. I'll buy my Lego from Amazon from now on where sets are routinely discounted by 33% and I'll use the money I save to buy the threshold spend freebies I want off eBay.

Great work, Lego.

After 6 days my points have still not been returned to my account. It was unclear whether or not I had to re-register. And not wanting to cause more confusion I called Customer Service.

I do not have to reregister and they are supposed to have it all fixed by tomorrow...sure.

The nice gentleman also said that LEGO is very aware how poorly this New Improved VIP Voucher Program is being received. They are watching all the social media sites as well as logging all complaints from CS. Please provide feedback to LEGO.

The idea of the new VIP Program in itself is not so bad, but the execution is.

Also, I was planning to buy the Harley-Davidson today, but even with my adblocker disabled, I am apparently only a VIP when I am in the reward center, not when I am in the shop.

I don't know where in the IT department it went wrong, but I fantasize it went something like:
- Management: "we want this live on July 10th"
- Super enthusiastic underpaid junior devs: "yea we can do that"
- ..Time passes by..
- Worried underpaid junior devs: "we ran into things we could not foresee so we are not going to make it before the 10th of July"
- Management: "but can you try"
- Devs: "it is not like we were not trying before you asked. We do have a prototype but it uses all kinds of shortcuts and we have not tested our migrations on production data."
- Management: "I don't know what that means. Just ship it."

The new experience to exchange VIP points for discounts is ridiculous.
Now you have to go OUT of the site, redeem a bunch of vouchers, then go BACK to the cart, then apply ONE BY ONE each voucher, and THEN you have your discount.

Oh and if you change your mind meanwhile and want to redeem less points, there's no way of cancelling a voucher and it expires in 30 days.

I've already contacted customer service to complain the current implementation is awful. I'd advise everyone to do the same. The more people complain, the faster they change at least that back.