Delorean & excl ed. crawler orders - what can you do but laugh?

kishidan69 · 2013-08-06T12:26:52.000Z

Pretty sure most of the Aussie members here would have already put in orders for this month's Crown Jewels of Lego LEGO Shop at Home - the Delorean and the 4x4 crawler, not sure how everyone's orders are tracking / processing / (dare I say) shipping etc, my experience so far has been....interesting. I'll start from the latest development. Just got an email today - "Your Lego order has been shipped!". Could it be? Could it really be that they've shipped 1 of my 2 orders, which are supposed to be on backorder? Heart pounding, hopes rising. Scrolling further down, I realized who was on his way - the brave little Galaxy Squad Orange Team member Jack Fireblade, and his trusty 4-legged mini mech. All by his lonesome self, on a long perilous voyage across oceans and continents. I just had to laugh. No doubt he will be welcomed with open arms and a well deserved rest and debriefing when (and if) he eventually arrives, though I do wonder why Grand Command had dispatched him so hastily...when he was supposed to be on security detail escorting an important load of cargo to which I have resigned to patiently wait for... Flashback to Aug 1st - D-Day. Onto LEGO Shop at Home like a flash, first thing in the morning. No sign of the Delorean. Checked the UK site. There it was, fresh and ready for the taking. Got sidetracked a bit browsing through the other new offerings. Back onto the Oz site - additional webpages for New listings had been added. Yes! Delorean - available now. Ordered just enough (3) to qualify for free shipping. Redeemed some VIP points. Order submit / confirm / set and engrave in stone. Confirmation email received after 5 minutes. Relief and contentment. Aug 2nd - checked on LEGO Shop at Home to see if it was sold out already. Saw that the crawler was also a top seller, decided to take a closer look and actually read the product description. Must confess that I'm not a Technic fan, so had ignored any prior news about this one, and was initially put off by the price. Suddenly realized the exclusivity of this thing, and the product image started to look much, much more attractive. Even the wife, who saw it as she walked past, said it looked impressive. Knew I had to put in an order, and I did. Receive an Important Update to your Order email on Saturday morning, 2 days after the order. "As you have ordered this product before, we will have to cancel one Delorean....limit of 5 per household..." Bewilderment, and then the silent swearing and cursing starts. Checked my order status on LEGO Shop at Home - sure enough, 1 cancelled, the other 2 on backorder, Jack Fireblade decommissioned and dismissed, and charged for shipping. Pretty sure that they had stuffed up my order somehow, tried hard to stay calm and rational all weekend, in anticipation of the possible confrontation on my hands at 8pm EST on Monday, when Grand Command becomes accessible to outer rim inhabitants. 8pm Monday - armed with original order confirmation on my screen, on the phone with Agnes (name changed to protect identity) from Customer Service. Agnes promises to call back in 5 after her discussion with the consortium known as Admin. True to her word, she rings back. "Admin says only 1 Galaxy mini-mech per household, so they took it off" I said that's not the main issue, and explain the whole situation. She says there's a new limit of 2 per household / customer worldwide. I tell her about the limit of 5 clearly stated on the Oz LEGO Shop at Home, she responds by saying she can't access that site and can only see what's on the US site. Sensing a cop-out and a brick wall forming, I go to plan B - and request for an order cancellation, explaining that I wasn't willing to pay for shipping if I can't order 3 (which I would have been willing to go through with if she had agreed to it, and then try to put in a new online order for 3 sets again). Agnes pauses. She then offers to put the 2 Deloreans onto my crawler order, so that I'll get free shipping. I'm not averse to this and ask about my VIP points redemption, which I want to make sure was being applied to this new bastardized order. Again, Agnes has to consult with the Admin high council. I request that she ask them about the order limit, and if the new rule is 2, then stating a limit of 5 on the Oz site is misleading for customers. As promised, the phone rings in 3-4 minutes. Apologies start flowing abundantly - Admin made a mistake, the cancellation email should never have been sent, the limit for Oz customers is 5, the order will be reverted to its original, VIP points redemption and all. Galaxy mini-mech on this order is unfortunately permanently discharged, but will be revived in my crawler order. Feeling of relief sets in, I assure Agnes that I understand its not her fault, she mentions human error and the crazy avalanche of orders that has struck them, and stresses that all my orders will be on backorder. I accept this (I have no issue with waiting, though slightly disappointed that Delor