LEGO VIP Program

ludzik

Ok, it's been a while since I redeemed my VIP points so can someone refresh my memory if one earns VIP points while redeeming VIP points? Or do you earn VIP points only on the part that you pay for and the part that you pay for with VIP points does not earn anything?

cmrt1014

VIP points are earned on product dollars spent - so, not on VIP point redemption, or taxes, shipping, etc. (So it's maybe not the best time to use them when LEGO is offering double points...)

ludzik

That's why I was asking :) Btw, why is it that when it's double VIP point time the grab bag selection sucks? :(

intromission

Can VIP points be used towards the set that earns them?

Or is it always off the next purchase?

adello25

You earn VIP points when you purchase the set. Therefore you do not have them until you pay for the set; so no, they are for future purchases

luckyruss

I seem to have quite a trouble spending mine. I always feel I shouldn't use VIP points when there is a double VIP points offer (for the reason noted by @cmrt1014 above). If there's free postage above [£50], you don't want to take your total spend below the threshold. And then I have an inclination not to buy very much directly from S@H unless there is a free postage or double points offer!

Bosstone100

If you look online at your account, it shows you each transaction and what sets earned them.

Say you have 200 points ($10 available) and you buy the Fire Brigade but use the $10 to offset part of it. You account will show a +278 points ($139.99 = 139 points/it rounds down & double points now so 278) for the purchase and -200 for using the $10 credit you had.

Hope that's not too confusing.

prof1515

Make sure during times of special VIP point offers to carefully check your totals after purchase. I *still* need to call Lego because they shorted me 184 points (the double 150 on a modular and two 17 point purchases) during their last 2xVIP offer.

starfire2

I just had to call them about my points not showing up for the Town Hall. The guy on the phone was very nice. The points were put on my account the same day. Apparently the first day of double VIP the servers were down and not recording any points.

gmpirate

^ It's actually good advice to check everything on your receipt. They quite frequently forget to apply discounts, double points and free gifts.

starfire2

This is the first time I have had an issue with points. They were very apologetic.

BrickDancer

@luckyruss I was pondering the same points this week on whether to use all my points to get a Townhall for free as I planned. But thought a lot about it and it would be a poor use of the points during double VIP.

Figured the best use is during normal VIP on Exclusive/Direct sets that are rarely on sale. May the 4th is my target date for picking up another Deathstar with all my points.

skherbeck

An interesting thing happened to me last year... I went to check my VIP points and found 900 points credited to me ... without me actually making any purchases! I love the VIP program!

graphite

I had the same issue with my first day order not applying the double points. I sent an email and they fixed it a couple days later. I thought it might have been because I ordered at like 11:30 CST on the 29th but I waited to order until the site showed double points but the guy who responded in email said they had trouble the first day.

ludzik

Yeah.. it happens. I had them key in my number and look at me and say: you don't look like Judy..... A typo can get you someone elses points easily.... also a typo can easily eat your points so check them regularly.

I just had something interesting happen to me: I purchased the Winter Post Office and two pick a brick bags. Went to check my points this AM and it showed two grab bag credits and nothing else. What I should have seen was four grab bag credits and two post office credits. I called the customer service line and the lady said that it looks like the post office points didn't reference right so she'll force it through and that fixed it as the double points on grab bags showed up as well.

legoDad

I've had some shorted points (150 one time) but they fixed 'em for me at the store. No fuss. And yeah, if anyone feels the need to use your points, definitely don't use 'em during double Vip points months. Maximize those puppies! I usually just build 'em up all year till Black Friday and make the most out of them at that time.

dsdg88

I just checked my VIP transactions history and it showed that when I redeemed $5 worth a few weeks ago 172 points were used.
A quick call to LEGO support and it's all taken care of with a few extra points added for good measure.

Steverd

I had missing VIP points last year from an $800 order. It took two emails but it got straighten out and it was fixed.

vanhan

I was wondering if this has happen to anyone. Apparently VIP points has been taken out of my account like I purchased something but I have not. This has happen on numerous occasions. I do not share my VIP Card nor does anyone have my VIP login information. Its just strange that points keeps getting redeemed from my account without me knowing. Should I be concerned with my account information being compromised?

ludzik

Call customer service and talk to them about it.

jadedanc

Definitely call customer service ASAP if you are missing points

andystar

Sometimes it takes a while for them to get the points right. If I still don't see the points after 2 weeks I call them and they quickly fix any issues.

weinner

Same thing happen to me, in the morning I had 55.00 worth, then at night I had 40.00 dollars worth. Quick call to lego and the hooked me up with 70.00 worth. I didn't call the second time:)

prof1515

I had a couple issues with points and called about it last week. They resolved the entire thing and credited me with the missing 187 points plus 63 more for an even 250. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring up another issue, not exactly related to points so much as charges on my orders (was charged for free exclusives) so I'm going to have to call again once I get settled in. Unfortunately, that might not be for weeks since I'm off on a two-week road trip of travel, Star Trek exhibits, Lego shopping, hanging out with friends and the C2E2. Fun times, woohoo!

rocao

I have a slew of receipts that say the VIP system is down and that my points will be credited at a later time. The problem is I have WAY too many transactions for me to be able to properly verify if they ever were.

If the problem is as common as it seems to be based on the responses here... I wouldn't be surprised if I've been missed out on over a thousand points :(

jadedanc

Ouch! That isn't good @rocao. I hope you haven't!

starfire2

@rocao: if you registered your VIP card online, just go to your account and you can view all the points you have earned or used. You can use your receipts to verify what got credited, and what might have been missed.

gmpirate

@rocao I feel the same. Not sure I want to start going through all my receipts, however.

jadedanc

@rocao & @gmpirate Hey I will go through all ya'll's receipts for a 5% cut of the points I find you have missed!! Lol You could just buy me a set, get even more points and mail it my way for all the hard work!

gmpirate

@jadedanc Lol, I would actually do that! Buy you a set that is :)

jadedanc

@gmpirate Hey mail 'em my way then and I will do it! I don't mind helping others out and that would definitely be helping you (and maybe me) out :) I am honest (check feedback on eBay lol) plus I am a Southerner so I always help others out whenever I can (usually at no cost but you already volunteered me a set) lol Of course you didn't say if it would be a 2K piece set or a 20 piece set hee hee hee

rocao

@starfire2: i wish it were that easy. unless i'm mistaken, the VIP transaction history only shows "recent" transactions, so it's just a snapshot. I did try to do this at the end of the year since most of the purchases in question were made around brick friday, but even then I had so many transactions that "recent" transactions wasn't comprehensive enough.

ludzik

I probably wouldn't leave the old stuff be, but in the future I don't think they'd have an issue emailing you a more detailed info regarding transactions :)

starfire2

@rocao: It looks like it only goes back 3 months. You could try what ludzik suggested and have them email you all your transactions for the last year.

rocao

heh... for me it goes back a month. I think the view shows a set number of transactions. Although mine has 21, which is quite an arbitrary number. I'll call them now that I'm hearing that people did have problems. When I asked a store employee how the points were handled "offline" I was assured that they were taken care of, so I left it at that.

andyscouse

May actually go and spend my 900-or-so VIP points tomorrow at the Braintree MA store (after helping build the ribbon models for the upcoming Peabody MA store!). I see another MMV on the cards ...

starfire2

I'm keeping mine until Jabba's Palace and Gungan sub come out.

gmpirate

@rocao Had a manager tell me this week that the system has problems processing tickets with over 20 items. She breaks up my transactions. Today one of the staff rang me up all on one ticket and the receipt read "offline". Might be something to this . . .

sidersdd

@rocao I called customer service one time and had them mail me my entire VIP history. They sent it - but the dang table of history was sorted by day, month, year. That's right, all the "01" days (e.g., 01-Apr-2009, 01-Dec-2012, 01-Mar-2010), then the "02" days (e.g., 02-Apr-2011, 02-Feb-2009)...

I haven't bothered to call back and see if they can email me an electronic copy instead, so that I can sort it how I want. You may want to give that a shot. Let us know if you're successful.

graphite

^ I never understand why anyone anywhere that writes any sort of software does anything but year-month-day. It's the most ridiculous thing ever to not want things to be able to be sorted easily and have them be in chronological order. I know US is Month-Day-Year typically in writing or display and EU is Day-Month-Year but storing it that way in software is just boggling.

ludzik

Its probably because the field was a text field. Either originally or got converted to one during export.

jadedanc

And in Army it is usually day-mth-year as well most of the times

rocao

I called today, and as always, found myself speaking to a very friendly representative. Unfortunately she didn't offer to send me my history. I don't think they have it stored in a way that can be easily output. What she proposed instead was that I fax her all the receipts that list the system as unavailable, and she would look them up based on transaction number.

It's not an ideal solution since I have receipts all over the house, including occasionally just boxing them away with the corresponding sets.

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz

Makes me think I should be checking our VIP points seeing as rocao and I shop at the same store. Fortunately our receipts are all in one location, but not many of our purchases are recent.

starfire2

You could always add up all of your receipts and then check your points amount to see if you are right on, have more or are short.

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz

That would work! Wish we didn't use them so fast, but we do have some accrued to help offset the cost of R2-D2 when it comes out next month. I'm not a SW fan, but have always loved R2-D2, C-3pio, and Yoda, so have to have this set!

meyerc13

Back in March I shopped at the Mall of America store during the double points promo. Since the store is 300 miles away I only get there 4-5 times a year. During the course of the day, I did three transactions. The first was fine, redeemed $5, got almost 600 points (I love double points!). Second transaction I redeemed the $30 I earned earlier and spent another $90, so my points should have stood at ~180, but the receipt said something about the balance being unavailable. My last transaction was for about $30, so by now my total should be ~240 points... but it was instead at ~30 points.

I called customer service today, and the rep could see the purchase that had the error, she named one of the specific items I purchased. So she credited me 300 points, not the 210 or so I was missing. She also chatted about the new store opening up near Milwaukee and asked about my kids favorite themes and made sure they were members of the LEGO club.

I deal with lots of companies on the phone, but never have I had customer service as good as LEGO provides. What an awesome company... makes you glad to be a customer.

iccarus

Slight OT, but still about VIP.

For those who registered for VIP through the S@H site: How long did it take to receive your physical VIP card? I'm just curious about when I can expect it to arrive.

starfire2

When my husband did it, it took like 2 weeks to arrive.

LegobrandonCP

Oh, they allow you to sign up for the VIP card online now? I had no idea. A few months back I had to call LEGO to get them to transfer my points to a new card because the barcode on my old was scratching off. Got here to Canada in about 3 weeks. It even had my name printed on it, so that was a bonus!

harrelmusic

I agree on the customer service. I was in the Chicago store in the summer and the register was down. They were doing transactions by hand. Old school! I didn't worry much about the VIP points because I only got a large PAB cup. Then when it came down to being close to the next 100 point threshold I thought I'd mention it to them. This was several months later on my next trip to Chicago. The manager stepped up and typed a few keys and I had 25 points added.

It's the little things that make a big difference. Lego, please give me one reason not to give you all my money! :-)