May public survey

 

  • May public survey

    Posted by bluemoose, 20 May 2011 09:21. Filed under Miscellaneous.

    The Community Engagement & Communication team have asked us to share the May 2011 Public Survey with our members, so please take a moment to fill out the latest survey & let them know what you think ...

    http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LEGO_AFOL_MAY

    There are a couple of issues with the wording & functionality (particularly on the "How would you rate your satisfaction with the following ..." page, which won't let you select the same response for different questions, so be aware), but please do your best to fill it out.

    Some feedback from the CEC team about the last survey -

    "In the last survey, we found the following results:

    • We found a regional difference in our ratings as the rating in US/Canada are higher than in EU and Asia
    • The results show that many don’t feel like sharing information with others about the hobby as those that are interested in the hobby are already in the hobby
    • Quality and customer service were given high marks by the respondents
    • Only half the respondents noted that they belong to a LUG"

    23 comments, latest one posted 25 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
    837 views


 
 

Comments

Posted by Nesquik in United Kingdom, 20 May 2011 09:51

I imagine the 'regional differences' would, largely, concern the retail prices. With regards to 'hobbies' though... Thats private, LEGO! ;)

Posted by jatonaz in Taiwan, Province of China, 20 May 2011 10:09

Of course Asians give the company low scores, the prices are amazingly bad. In my country, the next wave of SW sets are priced twice their counterpart in the US, up from around 80% higher. My country has 0% tax on import toys. I fail to see what the surveys actually do, because they did the exact opposite of what we keep suggesting.

Posted by bigospedros in United Kingdom, 20 May 2011 10:22

No surprise that the US are happier than the rest of us ... they get cheaper sets *and* exclusives that the rest of us just can't get! LEARN Lego LEARN!

Posted by war44lock in New Zealand, 20 May 2011 10:36

Yep I just asked for a Lego brand store (New Zealand has none) so we could maybe get the odd promo or exclusive in my country. I hold little hope though but gosh I want one here! Many stores here just don't have the full range available in one place. Can be very frustrating!

Posted by Orthobotrex in Philippines, 20 May 2011 10:56

I just wonder if the results of the regional differences were based on a matched cohort?

Posted by mrblue in Thailand, 20 May 2011 11:33

for sure rating in USA and Canada are higher!!! have you ever checked rhe prices of lego in those country?! they are, in some cases, even 40% cheaper (usually 25-30%)!!!
I'm living in EU, but I'm going to move to live in Asia soon, and there, the prices are even higher than EU!
I think I'll have to find someone in USA to buy lego for me and ship them. even after applying (rarely) import taxes, prices will still be lower!

Posted by AETerry in United States, 20 May 2011 14:12

Yeah I can see those sentiments. As someone who lives in the US, I want to complain about the price of sets slowly climbing with inflation and then I see what the prices go for in other Countries and I'm... I should be grateful on the prices we do have here.

Posted by avoiceoreason in United States, 20 May 2011 15:04

I too am in the U.S. and I find myself thinking I would be surprised if there was a big market for Lego in Asia and Australia/New Zealand based on what I've heard from people on these boards.

Let's be honest, even in the U.S. Lego is a VERY expensive toy. There are plenty of people I know that can't believe I will spend $100+ on a toy! Fortunately we're financially able to do it, but I can't imagine buying Lego for kids in countries where the pricing is double.

And let's also be honest and state that Lego has not been raising prices w/ inflation even here in the U.S. Inflation has been around zero for the past 2-3 years in the states and Lego prices sure haven't remained flat.

It think Lego really needs to think about their pricing structure. They can get away with it now because it is so popular, but it has not (and will not) always be that way. At some point they are going to start turning off customers and new kids/fans because they simply won't be able to afford it.

Posted by pitfall69 in United States, 20 May 2011 15:59

This seems to be a sore subject with alot of people. I'm sure if LEGO is cheaper here in the US it's probably because gas is also cheaper, so shipping costs probably go into the pricing. To keep prices low, LEGO is making the boxes smaller and keep in mind producing 1 kg of ABS requires the equivalent of about 2 kg of petroleum for raw materials and energy, so when oil prices go up so does the production costs.

I don't really know if the US gets more LEGO promotional toys than anywhere else. I would have to sit down and go through the guide and see.

LEGO is an expensive hobby and one that requires alot of room in your home. I'm running out of room fast and if you are one to keep the boxes they use up alot more room.

Posted by TBOC in United States, 21 May 2011 00:48

I think LEGO just costs a lot in general, even worse with licensed themes.

Posted by H5N1 in Germany, 21 May 2011 01:04

Well - I really do not agree with some of our American friends here!

Let's take take set 7959 Geonosian Starfighter as an example. In Germany the set costs 39,99 Euros. In America the set costs 29,99$. The exachange rate Euro Dollar is 1,4156 currently (6:57 on May 21st German summer time).

Now lets do some math: 29,99 $ divided by 1,4156 is 21,18 €. 39,99 divided by 1,4156 is 28,24. So even if the set was 39,99 $ in the USA and 29,99 € in Germany it would still be more expensive in Germany.

BTW: 39,99 € is 56,17 $!!! Who would pay more than 56 $ for the Geonosian Starfighter in the USA???

And from what I heard in this forum prices in AU/NZ/Asia are even worse!

So let's face it: The USA gets pampered while the rest of the world gets ripped off good times!

Maybe that's the reason why the rest of the wolrd is angry with LEGO?

Just my two cents(€) ;-)

CYA ALL

Posted by duilim in Australia, 21 May 2011 02:15

@ H5N1 I couldn't agree with you more. You took the words right out of my mouth!

@ pitfall69 - sorry but can't agree with you on the shipping cost issue. Lego is manufactured in Europe and (unfortunately) China now, not in Nth America so technically, if that were true the prices should be cheaper in Europe and Asia. Obviously, that's not the case (no offense btw).

To be honest, I won't give up on buying Lego - I love the product too much. But yes, I'm really annoyed, bordering on angry at how they treat some regions so much better than others. I'm going to go out on a limb and take a risk here by saying that I'm glad the M***Bloks brand exists - even though I would never buy it, the competition should keep prices a little lower (as hard as it is to believe). Imagine if Lego had no competition at all.... imagine the prices then!

Posted by DrathMaul1997 in United Kingdom, 21 May 2011 06:48

I gave them a small rant on the topic of 'Why LEGO is now not as good as it was before.'

I just can't compare the newer sets and themes withy the older ones (such as Blacktron). Even now many of my ' newer' sets, from about 2006+, are packed ready to be taken to a carboot sale. Though LEGO seems to be learning this, until they reduce their number of one-piece parts and firing missiles, for now I'm gonna be buy sets off eBay. And the older sets at that.

Sad really.

Posted by hewman in Australia, 21 May 2011 08:17

Anyone else have the issue with the question where you score things on a scale of 1 to 10 that you can only select one of each score? It's like they set it up as a ranking question between a bunch of statements rather than stating separate scores for different statements. I've used surveymonkey a fair bit before and this mistake was rather elementary, unfortunately they didn't put in a question at the end for 'any other comments' so I could tell them.

Edit: I should have read everything up the top. If that's the case they really should have had it fixed by now, it's no more than a ten minute job.

Anyway, as I'm from Australia, I let them know about the pricing issue. One thing those not from Australia may not be aware of is since we have no Lego shops, any exclusives we need to order from shop at home (unless we wait a year and cross our fingers that it arrives at another retailer), and we get charged at least $40 shipping.

Posted by vynsane in United States, 21 May 2011 08:43

Anyone else encounter an error on the survey on the first page that had multiple rows of ratings? If I selected '9' for one row, I couldn't select it again for any other row, as if the COLUMNS were the part that you had to choose, which is incorrect.

Posted by bluemoose in United Kingdom, 21 May 2011 08:45

^ & ^^ Re: the technical problems with the survey - yes, I mentioned it at the top. It was reported to LEGO by the Ambassadors a few days ago.

Posted by vynsane in United States, 21 May 2011 09:08

Ah, that'll teach me to click on links before I read the article...

Posted by pitfall69 in United States, 22 May 2011 00:27

I don't really know the true reason why Lego is cheaper here. I just got off the phone with a friend from the UK and she says it's robably because our taxes aren't as high here (we don't have a VAT tax),plus handing petrol is more expensive. We have differnt labor laws, European labor laws tend to increase the cost of labor and European distribution and retail efficiency is below that of the USA.

Posted by DwarfSleepy in Europe, 22 May 2011 06:06

I'm lucky that I travel to the US regularly, so I just vote with my feet: I buy my lego in the US, and not in Europe!

To have a fair comparison in the cases above you DO have to add appr. 8% of sales tax to the US prices though...

Just curious, does anyone remember the EU and US prices in the early days of the Euro, say 10 years ago, when the exchange rates were the other way around? Was it then cheaper to buy lego in Euro's? Unfortunately those were my dark ages, so I wouldn't know...

Posted by pitfall69 in United States, 22 May 2011 21:01

@DwarfSleepy every state has there own sales tax rates. I don't know where you travel to, but Delaware has no sales tax.

Posted by Dlakii in Australia, 23 May 2011 06:31

brb; making as much noise as possible about abominable Australian pricing on this thing

Posted by birgoyle in Australia, 23 May 2011 08:13

@Dlakii, @hewman & @duilim
THANKYOU!

I've done exactly the same - I've paraded the Australian pricing issue on every survey question. I provided them with direct examples (Diagon Alley for starters) so they can't deny it.

I'm almost at my breaking point with LEGO as a brand (I rated the Brand quite poorly) - it makes me sad to think it but I don't see myself collecting LEGO for much longer at these prices. I'm one of those silly people that buy nearly every set (if not multiples of) that include minifigures, but I just can't justify the purchases any more........

The new Pharaoh's Quest only just hit the shelves here (6 months late) and the big Pyramid set is $148 AUD!!! Normally sets of this size are $114 - $128 maximum.... Obviously this brand is being priced like all the Licensed sets here in Australia..... Terrible really....

Posted by jonbuddy in United States, 28 May 2011 17:11

@birgoyle, But Pharaoh's Quest isn't a liscensed theme. Why is Lego being so mean? (or is it just Australia)

Commenting has ended on this article.