Subject:
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Okay, that's the last straw (was Re: Translating catalogues)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.dear-lego
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Date:
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Wed, 20 Jan 1999 09:07:01 GMT
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Viewed:
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1208 times
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Dear Lego:
I've been developing a greater and greater dislike of (or even contempt for)
current business practices at TLG. I hope they're making you money, because
it sure as heck is losing customers and their loyalty.
Of what do I speak? How about poor service at the S@H phone service?
Granted, I've heard reports of very nice people there, but I have yet to
meet any. Fortunately, I also have yet to meet any of the poor ones, which
have been popping up in increasing numbers, if the talk on RTL is to be
believed. The answering service in effect after business hours is no help
at all, and I wonder if they even know they're working for Lego, or what
Lego is in the first place. One run-in with them is enough for me.
How about poor S@H stocking practices? You continue to place backorders for
sets that end up getting cancelled at the turn of the year. This is
pathetic. If you knew the line was going to end in 1999 (I'm speaking of
the trains, among other things), then you should not have taken backorders.
I had a 4552 and 4555 coming, and what do I get? I nice letter saying my
set is no longer available. You had orders in hand and refused to fill
them. That's $100 from me you're not going to get. Now multiply that times
however many backorders you had. You have no idea how it makes me feel to
know I'm never going to get my 4555 and 4552, and all because you have no
intention of honoring your agreements with your customers.
How about poor customer service practices? I called for a replacement part
and, after telling the operator which page, which step, what piece, and what
color of the piece (a blue rocket engine for 6980), you sent me the wrong
piece (a blue radar dish). Actually, you sent me two wrong pieces (of four
total). I asked for a 1x2 tile with the word police on it and you sent me a
1x6 BRICK with the word police on it. Do people at Lego ever see Lego
bricks?
I followed with a written letter, hoping that I could explain in writing in
clearer terms. I listed approximately 20 items I needed, in clear Auczilla
format, and said I would be happy to pay if necessary. You sent back a bill
for $6.95 and said nothing, leaving me to think that you had all the pieces
I needed. When my pieces came they came with a letter saying that some of
the pieces were not available. "Some" was half, and that half was not worth
the $7. If I had known what pieces you didn't have, I wouldn't have paid.
But wait, there's more. I asked for transRED 1x4 antennae, and you sent me
transORANGE, without any explanation. You sent me a 1x2 tile with the word
police underlined instead of the old style (not underlined) that I
specifically requested. I asked for two 2x2 white tiles and you sent one.
There was no explanation as to which pieces were completely unavailable,
which had substitutes, and which should be chalked up to color blindness.
But is that all? Nope. Now I see that Lego's shoddy and lackluster
performance standards also extend to PR. Learning that Lego is incapable
(or worse yet, unwilling) of translating their catalogues properly was
little surprise to me. Just one more brick in the wall.
I'm not going to repeat the arguments against Town Jr. (a process that is
slowly taking over other themes). The CD-ROM programs (now being sold at
discount) speak for themselves.
So, what do we have? A company that has abandoned attempts at good PR, has
inconsiderate S@H practices, is actively dumbing down their product, and is
leaving their customers out in the cold. I'd love to see where the profit
is coming from. I hope I'm there to see what happens when people begin to
realize that Lego has become another run-of-the-mill action toy, and has
nothing unique about it. I'd love to see the profit margins when kids lose
interest because the latest reincarnation of the Power Rangers (a.k.a.
Voltron, for you old-timers) is more interesting.
My accusations, in summary:
1. Lego is abandoning it's original uniqueness in a quest for quick profit.
2. Lego is abandoning it's more intelligent customers (all of whom are not
necessarily adults) in an attempt to appeal to the Nintendo generation.
3. TLG's customer service/S@H service is poor.
4. Lego is treating it's customers like cattle, expected to buy whatever
crap they're fed and be happy about it.
5. And, most importantly, TLG just doesn't care.
Is this TLG's right? Sure. If that's the way they want to do things, so be
it. Not being a Libertarian, I'm free to complain about their incompetent
business practices. It's going to bite TLG in the butt one of these days,
and I hope I'm there to say "I told you so." You cannot abandon quality,
creativity, and service without it coming back to haunt you. There may be
quick profit in these changes, but I doubt it's going to last. You can only
license so many movie toys. When people realize that Lego has lost it's
uniqueness, then you'll see sales drop. Lego can't compete with the latest
flash-in-the-pan toys. They shouldn't, in fact, unless they want to go the
way of the Go-Bots, My Little Pony, Silly Putty, MuscleMen, and Strawberry
Shortcake. That shallow stuff only pleases for a season, and then kids move
on. People will always come back to where the quality and service is, and
that is (was, anyway) Lego.
All right, I'm done. I give up. I just had to get that out.
Jesse
__________________________________________________________________
Jesse The Jolly Jingoist
Looking for answers?
Read the rec.toys.lego FAQ! http://www.multicon.de/fun/legofaq.html
Power-search in Deja News! http://www.dejanews.com/home_ps.shtml
Selçuk wrote in message <36A55EDE.DD40B807@nospam.superonline.com>...
> Fredrik Glöckner wrote:
> >
> > Dear LEGO,
> >
> > please put some more effort into translating the catalogues. I'm sorry
> > to say that reading the Norwegian LEGO catalogue makes me feel ashamed.
> > I don't think the poor quality of the translations matches the overall
> > very good quality of virtually all other aspects of your products.
> >
> > Under the 8448 Super Car, one can read the term "hydraulic air pressure"
> > (translated from Norwegian), which does not at all make sense. Under
> > both the 8251 and the 8417, the word "chopper" is translated into
> > "helicopter". This is just two examples of the bad translations.
> >
> > Fredrik
>
> Smae problems are rendering the Turkish catalogs also. One of the most • funny one
> is "space helicopter carrier" for set 6336 Launch Response Unit. There are • also
> many pure English words through out the catalogs. From page headers to set
> names, like "advanced sets", "starter sets", "desert 4WD". So,
>
> Dear lego,
>
> if you want a Turkish translator, just call me. I won't charge you anything • for
> the service, and believe me your catalogs won't be looking stup...uhm, lame • as
> the current ones anymore.
>
> Selçuk
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Message has 1 Reply:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Translating catalogues
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| (...) Smae problems are rendering the Turkish catalogs also. One of the most funny one is "space helicopter carrier" for set 6336 Launch Response Unit. There are also many pure English words through out the catalogs. From page headers to set names, (...) (26 years ago, 20-Jan-99, to lugnet.dear-lego)
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