Something went wrong...

I'm sorry for all of you who are having troubles.
I just went, clicked and got my confirmation e-mail seconds later.
Let's hope they have enough so that you can get one later in the day.

I just managed to do it by turning on mobile data and redeeming it via my phone. Hopefully this method works for others

It's really unfortunate that this is how these launches are going, because it's always for cool sets. I somehow managed to order the Ulysses Space Probe with the Space Shuttle Discovery, although I am sure many are having problems with this reward

Just been able to get it... Ordered together with the Shuttle.

But, yeah, what a purchasing experience

Managed to get one after a lot of refreshing. Keep trying and don’t give up - the fisher price IT system of Lego will eventually work. They really need to invest in decent IT systems though all jokes aside

Took me half an hour of constant refreshing and error messages - but I finally got it!

Any one in the US on an apple device get it yet?

20 minutes, 5 browsers and after I finally got on the page it froze on the 'confirm' button for way too long, but success. I now have 'refreshers finger' but a couple of weeks for that to recover before the final coin (expected) debacle :)
Good luck to everyone who's still trying

I got one finally, but took 18 mins of refreshing to get it. @Huw well said, this isn't a new thing sadly.

Black Friday 2019 - website crashed - crashed quite spectacularly if I remember correctly that time

Then this year the Space Coin and now this.

They should have invested after the 2019 crash, they've had 2 years to do this and they've done nothing about it, and what they say they have done hasn't done much of an impact at all.

Happy I got one though, just shame it was such a hassle to get it.

I even got me some extra VIP points to get the Ulysses.
LEGO IT indeed sucks in a big way.

Already on ebay for £150 (not me I hasten to add), absolute joke

..... doesn’t bode well for the final coin - I have ‘coin FOMO’ already!!!!

Finally get through after trying 5 browsers and its sold out! Its appalling!

Sold out when I finally got through at 9:30 uk time.

And now it's sold out. So obviously I can get to the site easily again.

SOLD OUT!!!

finally managed to get into rewards only to find out its sold out...

Now the site works for me, an of course it's sold out already. Like wtf lego?

Finally got through (just before 9.30am) to be told it's sold out.

Thanks Huw, I was logged in 20 minutes earlier, but it throw me out. Since then I was not able to go in to the VIP reward centre, because of the same error.

A bloody shambles! Of course it's now sold out when the site works at last… Brilliant, Lego, brilliant! I'm also increasingly disappointed, especially price hikes are getting more and more common in the Benelux!

Sucks

Finally got onto the rewards page using mobile data on a phone - sold out for the UK.

NOT AGAIN LEGO ..... after the site crashed, and I spent far too long refreshing my browser, its finally connected, and all sold out. Not playing this stupid game any more, I will just buy from Amazon, saving me money and hassle - you really just dont care about us adult fans!

I absolutely hate their website. It’s the worse one to deal with and their customer advisor lied saying they have delayed the launch because of this problem

Have been trying since 9am and now when the website starts working again, it's sold out. Nice one, Lego. Might as well have launched it as GWP and avoided another website muck-up.

Finally got to the page, but the section where it’s supposed to be is still not loading. Can’t even see that it’s sold out

It was working fine for me unto about 8:50! How can they think this sort of thing is acceptable!

I had 3 separate laptops and my mobile poised ready for 9am... and we all know what happened next. After 23 minutes of continually refreshing the screens, trying different browsers, incognito windows etc... I struck lucky and snagged a Ulysses probe but boy was that unnecessarily stressful. Then almost straight after I was kicked out the reward zone and now see the same "something went wrong" message. What a absolute joke their IT is. Thank goodness for the confirmation email otherwise I wouldn't have believed it worked. As ever Brickset is on the ball, shame Lego can't follow suit.

@Captain_Eugene said:
"Unbelievable. Was this done on purpose? This can’t be a coincidence, can’t it?"

Its likely done on purpose. If they made enough of these probes it would burn everyones VIP points but Lego loses a ton of money. Vouchers is different as they already make the money back from normal retail markup.

I thought all these shenanigans were fixed last time when they introduced a queue. It's not a perfect solution, at least everything flows a bit better.

After countless refreshes I finally managed to get through and placed my order including the Ulysses Space Probe. At checkout I got a message that something went wrong when I confirmed my order, yet it does show up in My Orders.

Well said Huw!!! Hope they read this!!!

Glad I was able to get one.

I reckon there was a grand total of about 10 on offer here in NZ... Woeful again from LEGO!

Unbelievable, just seen eBay... those sellers make me sick, prices already ranging from 75 to 500+ pounds. And I even see bids going in for that. The world has gone made!!!! Shame on the sellers, trading in peoples dreams

This is yet another shambles from LEGO. A disgrace.

Finally Vip page loaded but the ship is nowhere to be found

Huge space fan an looked forward to this reward enormously. Error messages and unable to load for 45min and missed it... Up for a 5-10x value increase on BL or Ebay... very, very sad :(
Wasn't there a delay with the release date of 1st of April at first to ensure 'sufficient sets for the expected demand'? Definitely didn't work out the way it should have... still sad :(

Still waiting. 45 minutes in. Would have been easier to just sell it as a "special" set for £15.
Joke, just like that farcical Vidiyo range that is already discounted everywhere.
Come on Lego, get your focus back on the fans and stop chasing the digital dollar.
We want Ulysses !!

I managed to redeem points for a code. Added the Shuttle to my basket, redeemed the code and showed the Uly. checked out, added all my CC details and then got "Looks like something has gone wrong". Checked my account, no order showing. So went thru and added shuttle to bag again, went to redeem code and now get "invalid code". Lego online is such a nightmare!

Lego customer services is engaged. Can’t get through. Lol. Serves them right.
It is a shambles what they are doing at the moment.
But I can’t help but feel that the critical mistake, certainly for me, was the release of the collectible coin holder. If it wasn’t for the holder the collector bug in people would not have latched on to Lego rewards so much.
The collector side of it has drawn in non Lego fans

let's see what happens in USA when 10am arrives

It was a total joke, I only got it because someone on Twitter posted the like to the specific widget that had the redeem button for the probe in it, it didn't load for me once during half an hour of refreshing, even when the 'accept the terms and conditions' box didn't appear.

Could someone who has managed to get a probe put the instructions up for those of us who haven’t, when they receive them. Thanks

@cosworth3d said:
"Sold out in 30 min, it really is embarrassing"

That was exactly the time I couldn’t log in.....

Finally started working now sold out in UK, what a farse!

Logged into the VIP centre at 08:30 on my phone to made sure it worked fine - At 08:50 still worked fine - At 08:58 then gave the popup for terms and conditions with the resulting 'something went wrong' error and no matter how many times the page was reloaded (Which in itself took some time!) failed to get past this. Finally get past this post 09:35 to find it sold out ... Rather poor show lego all said and done.

Can someone inform LEGO Customer Service about these Comments here ? Not that it will change anything but they should get confronted with all these Comments of AFOL's who pay a lot of Money for their Products and how ANGRY we all feel about their IT

Absolute dog poo.

had some issues but got lucky and got one of it.Happy day

As of now looking on eBay the cheapest one you can get is £60, the others are over £100

Oddly enough yesterday I placed an order using VIP points (entirely unaware of the space probe being released, tbh - I just redeemed a coupon for money off) and ALSO had technical issues with the website. To be frank, since moving to Ireland I've had on/off issues with European websites that I mostly chalked up to infrastructure or something else, but this seemed very strange since my internet was still up and running, I was having no other connection issues, etc. This issue occurred for about 1/2 hour between 2 - 2:30pm GMT or so, then miraculously resolved itself. I wonder if LEGO was in the process of trying to bolster their server capacity for the oncoming onslaught, and unfortunately miscalculated. :/

Either way, agreed that 2021 will include more IT infrastructure investment!

Anyone know if it’s been released in the USA yet?

Unacceptable
Joke
Embarrassing
Ridiculous

Thank you for ranting Huw, hopefully your voice will with the support of fans from the page will get to the people who need to hear it. I was waiting prepared for the scheduled time but it never turned up, until a few hours later apparently when it sold it within 30 minutes.

I wasn't able to get one, of course. About four different browsers open and constantly refreshing. Finally got the rewards to appear at about 9:30, only to see "Sold Out".

Utter shambles of a website, Lego.

The one consolation is that the mighty Huw was among those of us unable to snag this set. ;-)

And there are already various scams on EBay, some are trying to sell even the VIP code at unbelievable prices.

Had the same experience as the majority (only got in just before 10:30 to discover it was sold out after having tried on several browsers and devices since a bit before 10) and while not surprised I am still disappointed. Woeful of Lego to treat their loyal customers in this way.

Fired of an e-mail to customer service along the lines of Huw's rant before even reading his, and call on everyone else to do the same. By now, with the countless jumbled launches over the last few years, however, I suspect that not much will change anyway. Still, we should at least try, in the vain hope that TLG finally take notice and do something about these issues.

I was on from 8:45 UK, and that message kept coming up no matter what.
The first time I could refresh the page and it worked was just past 10:00, so I had no chance of getting one.
It would have looked nice next to the shuttle. It's disappointing that they didn't make enough stock available, as everyone who bought the shuttle, probably would have picked it up.
Still at least it was a good set, and not another one of those coins!

what a joke the lego website and this for years.....

I don’t say this to discredit anybody’s experience here because I’m clearly in the minority but... I haven’t had any bad experiences with LEGO online in... I can’t remember how long. I was able to log on today around midday AEST to find the Ulysses available for me to order with no issues. I was able to get all of the VIP coins with no fuss whatsoever. Every time I’ve stayed up to midnight for a product launch, I’ve had a smooth and easy time buying whatever it was, and am almost always finding that when I check the LEGO online shop in the morning that I needn’t have stayed up to midnight because the website still says stock is available at that time...!
Does anyone else share my experience?
I’m sorry for everyone else who has so much of a harder time with it all...! I wish you all could have an experience as smooth as mine!

Same experience as Huw
Constant refreshing,
Constant VIP Terms and Conditions errors!?!?!?!
(why am I agreeing to T's £ C's today, when I've been a VIP for as long as the programme hs been running)
Three different devices,
Different Browsers,
Wifi and Mobile data,
When the page finally resolves... they've all gone

Never understood why these kind of releases are not a pre-order.

So disappointed. Spent all morning refreshing then in the window when I couldn’t it appeared and sold out. So much fail from LEGO on this one. Can’t believe how badly they set this up. Can only hope they do a second run for those of us that were let down.

Just to underline the problem, this is the result of the present politics regarding VIP rewards and collectable items: https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/a1/dd/NX5ypsqT_t.jpg

@BooTheMightyHamster - I can't bring myself to 'like' your comment, but you're absolutely right.

well there on ebay now for £149.99, bummer want one if these to go with my shuttle, might not bother now

Even though I am anticipating it will be a shambles here in NA, I am still going to try. I stayed up until midnight a few weeks ago to get the Shuttle just in case it sold out - still lots of stock it seems - so am wondering if you need to purchase something else in order to redeem this VIP offer or can you just get it (hopefully) and be done?

I got one after many frustrating refreshes at 0920. I am however going to keep and build and display mine. Unlike the terrible scalpers already listing it for £££ on eBay. Why wasn’t it a GWP? Was it because they weren’t ready to ship the same time as the shuttle?? Seems like many people missed out unfortunately.

I failed as well. Such a bummer. Would have been a nice addition to the Shuttle :(

ALREADY FOURTEEN ON EBAY

Ranging from £150 to £1000

I'd have liked one for myself. Frustrating to see so many on ebay for a huge sum...

Forgive me if someone else as made this comment before - at work now. And will read them later. Once again Lego have messed up when are the going to learn. It is great to see that the real collectors have go this item and felt so good that they decided to share it with others by putting it up on eBay for the modest of 100-700 euros. I think at this stage the vip program should changes it name to the disgruntled Lego fans DLF or disgruntled Lego collectors DLC.
We should put it to a vote. Will they ever learn that there is true collectors who actually build these sets. The whole system needs to be overhauled make it a lottery system where you need to get your name in a draw. It works for other items i.e. special collectors Minifigures. At least then you feel like you had a chance.

I had this terms and conditions problem for months now and I finally find people with the same issue. How did you guys fix it?

Thanks Huw for your post. I truly hope some higher people in the hierarchy of the group pick this up and that they finally do something with this feedback and finally enter the '20 with their website.
It's shocking & frustrating they still suffer this kind of issues every single time.
Whishing for some sort of statement from TLG about today is also I guess whishfull thinking...

I'm not surprised at all tbh. Lego doesn't exactly have the best track record with anything digital.

Tried several times to get into the Spain page, of course when I got in it was already Sold Out...

Well, everything is said... I was lucky after some minutes but this is absolutely inacceptable. The shop system is a complete mess as it doesn't even work flawless on normal days.

@diamosuk said:
"As an aside, we are calling the people on Ebay scalpers, but they are obviously Lego fans who spent money on the Lego website and amassed enough points to get the gift.
Some may even be on this forum...and are keeping quiet!"

The same thought occured to me, but at the same time I would hesitate in calling them true LEGO fans when they are willing to do what they are doing to their fellows.

But, of course, if a person has zero interest in the space sets but regularly buy sets from other themes nothing is stopping them from making a quick buck by turning a small amount of VIP points into a big sale on Ebay or similar platforms.

When coming out of my dark ages a few years back I always heard that the LEGO community was among the best there is, and although that is mostly true there are certainly some bad apples in this basket as well. Queuing to get a (very) limited edition set only to turn around and immediately offer it at an extortionate rate is morally reprehensible if you ask me.

All the same, when I shop on other big-name store websites it's kind of appalling how awful their setup is, so in general it seems like Lego has a lead on them. Lot of companies from the brick-and-mortar era still have not properly transitioned into the digital age.

@diamosuk said:
"As an aside, we are calling the people on Ebay scalpers, but they are obviously Lego fans who spent money on the Lego website and amassed enough points to get the gift.
Some may even be on this forum...and are keeping quiet!"

More likely, they bought other exclusive sets (probably Star Wars and other pop culture stuff) so they can sell them for crazy prices once they're retired and they just see tohse exclusive VIP rewards/GWP as a bonus instant profit.

(Also, considering the many screwups they've had with GWP lately, I don't see how making it one instead of VIP reward would have helped)

@Doe
Thank you, that was the most constructive comment among all those (justified) rants. Let's hope it doesn't go too unnonticed ^^

@diamosuk said:
"As an aside, we are calling the people on Ebay scalpers, but they are obviously Lego fans who spent money on the Lego website and amassed enough points to get the gift.
Some may even be on this forum...and are keeping quiet!"

So let’s be honest I will be selling mine (as I do with most GwPs etc) but I do this to help fund other (expensive for me) Lego purchases - so I suppose that is scalping, but feels like ‘good’ scalping? (I’ve got my bulletproof jacket and tin hat on in case I am wrong!)

LEGO waste way, way to many resouces on their crappy AR apps, like hidden side and vidiyo, and not enough on their own webstore.
I live in a country where LEGO don't ship to from their store, however I have a relative who does and they were willing to do me a favor and recieve a package for me and then ship it to my country: so I went to the official LEGO shop to make an order to their address, let's just say "something went wrong!".
So my only experience with their platform was very annoying. Googling around a bit I realized it wasn't just bad luck, it's just their website.

@diamosuk said:
"As an aside, we are calling the people on Ebay scalpers, but they are obviously Lego fans who spent money on the Lego website and amassed enough points to get the gift.
Some may even be on this forum...and are keeping quiet!"
I would go further than calling these people scalpers. I simply call them disgusting...

Someone who does something like that is no LEGO Fan, or else he would keep the set, build it and be mega happy about being lucky enough to have gotten one!

As it is I have nothing other than the utmost hate and disrespect for these people.

@Huw: Love the description of the notes at the set description about the Ulysses 5006744!

But no worries if you missed it, you can easily buy the set on ebay for 150 pound?!? Crazy. There should be a clouse you can't sell those VIP extra's, so only the interested people have a chance of getting them.

its just a sad situation, LEGO is meant to be about joy of building things, instead it becomes a stressful - albeit 'first world' problem. I don't think it's the technology that is the underlying cause of the problem, its the poor expectation setting - if you can't deliver then don't promise it. If 'Ulyseesgate' had been promised as - if you are a VIP we'll put everyone globally in a big raffle for one of 10,000 sets (who know how many they had) for the cost of 50 points (to weed out those who down want the set, and to capture those who often look at the VIP rewards page) then we wouldn't be having the now tedious - Website Down Again + Sold Out comments. Personally i'm going to weigh up the 'value' to me of any exclusive vs the unnecessary time and effort it takes.

@yellost said:
" @diamosuk said:
"As an aside, we are calling the people on Ebay scalpers, but they are obviously Lego fans who spent money on the Lego website and amassed enough points to get the gift.
Some may even be on this forum...and are keeping quiet!"

More likely, they bought other exclusive sets (probably Star Wars and other pop culture stuff) so they can sell them for crazy prices once they're retired and they just see tohse exclusive VIP rewards/GWP as a bonus instant profit.

"

I sell stuff as well occasionally, although I really did want this Ulysses and keep it for myself.

Regarding "exclusive" sets (that are limited in production time, not quantity) one should be happy to have resellers that buy them. Otherwise they would not be available at all, or only at an even higher price.
The only faulty thing here imho is making something like this so limited in quantity. It just calls for abuse. Unlike GPU's, there shouldn't be any reason for the limited availability.

I have zero hope of actually getting this. Such a shame. I called to try and redeem points for it early pointing out that the website in Europe crashed and was basically told there was nothing they could do but they would forward my feedback about needing to produce more to meet demand. I doubt anything will come of it though.

Guess it's off to eBay, fairly certain the resale bots will get most of these in the U.S.

Edit: Whelp, eBay is out. Listed there for $200 already. What a joke of a promotion.

I'd like to add to this issue of the IT of Lego.com. I placed an order and was told it didn't go through and I needed to try again. I tried again, same thing. Told myself I'd try again, again later. I now have 2 of the same order coming my way and Lego.com can't cancel 1 of them due to it "already being in the warehouse". I enjoy Lego, but they need to fully reinvest into this department.

@Slave2lego said:
" @diamosuk said:
"As an aside, we are calling the people on Ebay scalpers, but they are obviously Lego fans who spent money on the Lego website and amassed enough points to get the gift.
Some may even be on this forum...and are keeping quiet!"

So let’s be honest I will be selling mine (as I do with most GwPs etc) but I do this to help fund other (expensive for me) Lego purchases - so I suppose that is scalping, but feels like ‘good’ scalping? (I’ve got my bulletproof jacket and tin hat on in case I am wrong!)

"

But I guess you wait until you have the set in hand. And if you find someone that’s willing to pay a premium for it, good for you.
But the current auctions on eBay are just air.

Luckily the set parts don't seem too exclusive, so making it myself wouldn't be too much of an hassle.

Awesome.

@Ben_Bricks257 said:
" @Slave2lego
When the VIP coins were released, lots of people were doing that and not many people said it was wrong for them to do it. Now with this, because it is an actual set made of bricks and because it is space it is a lot more desirable and selling for more so people are angry at people selling it. Theres also the fact that people that wanted it for their own collections were ready to get it but the technological failures that plague lego at the moment with releases like this prevented them. I agree that it is kind of a moral scalping, but I doubt many people will agree."

This time there was a massive problem with the website so most people didn’t get the opportunity to look at the reward section until it was sold out so that’s why people are annoyed. If everyone had an equal opportunity to buy it at the same time then it’s fair game.

Don't worry @Slave2lego this is a supply and demand system. You're not doing anything wrong. It sucks for the people that missed out but the people selling aren't doing anything wrong. Lego set up this system, and this is what's happened. But it sounds like this has happened several times so isn't new. If they want to stop this happening then it's very simple, make more of these sets!

But a lot of people are stressed, angry, frustrated right now, pick your adjective. It's exactly the same with trainers, PS5s etc. It's so disappointing when you miss out, but that's life, we can't have everything. We all miss out on a million and one things but we usually get over it, and hopefully people can look at times they got lucky with something and say well at least they got that.

Does anyone know if purchasing a code, but not redeeming it immediately reserves you copy?

@Wake425c said:
"Does anyone know if purchasing a code, but not redeeming it immediately reserves you copy?"

I believe so. I got my code at about 9:20am and I didn't redeem it till lunchtime as I had to get back to work and it appears to have worked. It says it's on the way anyway.

Thanks for the comment. Totally agree. The site here in Spain was blocked with that pop-up window showing up even for registered VIP users for more than 30 min after 10:00h. I was online and setups since 10 min before. I can imagine it has been an IMMENSE frustration for many VIP user like me that just wanted an opportunity to get this reward. We just saw the “Sold out” message appearing less than 30 min after opening. Incredible. Very bad management from LEGO, terrible treatment to the VIP users once more time. After all this version of the Ulysses probe is not a hype. Yet it is totally unjustified that LEGO, again, has this with the VIP users.
Please LEGO, just STOP making these fake rewards to VIP users; discontinue the VIP program as it stands now. It is making a disfavor to the LEGO trademark. Very bad management, very bad attitude, very bad leadership.

i'm done with Lego

- the quality sucks
- the prices suck
- the sets suck (esp. Technic)
- the Power Up / Handy remote sucks
- the website sucks
- their lawsuit against "Held der Steine" sucks

no more Lego for me, and i already have tons of Lego

Trying to get into the site in preparation, but it said, "We won't let you in via the Brickset link. Huw said mean things about us this morning. Whah whah whah" :(

9:00am update - LOL - "VIP is offline" message.

I don't understand why LEGO can't seem to get their website in order. I also don't understand why LEGO didn't just include this as a GWP for buying the Space Shuttle when it first came out, and then shipped it out separately once the item was no-longer delayed.

All-in-all, LEGO can afford to beef up their servers, so I don't know why they seem so reluctant to do so or even acknowledge the recent issues people have been experiencing.

@Lego_Prime said:
"I don't understand why LEGO can't seem to get their website in order. I also don't understand why LEGO didn't just include this as a GWP for buying the Space Shuttle when it first came out, and then shipped it out separately once the item was no-longer delayed.

All-in-all, LEGO can afford to beef up their servers, so I don't know why they seem so reluctant to do so or even acknowledge the recent issues people have been experiencing."

From experience I can tell you that non-IT companies tend to not want to spend the proper funding on IT infrastructure. They'd do much better outsourcing their IT needs to an actual IT company.

VIP is currently under maintenance.

U.S. website crashed.

I’ve decided to return my Discovery Shuttle set plus the Star Wars set I bought prior to that to ensure I had 1800 VIP points. May as well buy them from another retailer instead of paying RRP at LEGO at some point in the future. With the massive savings using a third-party retailer I could then buy one of the Ulysses sets on eBay for £500 :-/

VIP went offline right at 6:00 AM PST for me :(

8:59 EDT, all is well. 9 rolls over on the clock, I hit refresh...and VIP is down for maintenance. What a tease!

Apparently something went wrong in the US as well.

"VIP is offline" in the States

Interesting, ten minutes ago I was able to get into the VIP section of the site with no issues, but there was no mention of the Ulysses probe. Now (at 7:02 MDT in the US) the section is blocked with the "under maintenance" message.

I just tried in the US and received a message that VIP is currently offline and under maintenance.

Total mess in NA as well. At 9:00 am EDT exactly, the site reverted to: "VIP is offline". Fortunately for me, I was on the line with an agent and we waited until it was 9:00 and she was able to get the order for me. I missed the coin but at least I was able to get this one. I am wondering, who are the people who vote this company to all the awards it receive years after years? Someone reading this post, would surely not arrive at the same conclusion. Happy that I managed to get mine and unhappy at Lego as I side with all of you who got a "once again" very crappy service.

To me, it seems that lego is a company, focused on making money. We can complain all we want here; as long as we keep giving Lego our money, why would they do anything differently? Vote with your wallets, people!

In NA at 9:08: VIP is currently under maintenance. Go figure....

Yep, no surprise at all, but the US site is a disaster at release time as well. It's truly pathetic. I normally just don't bother with Day 1 purchases because my backlog of wants is long enough that I just wait until everything is available in 2-6 months without any issues. I do rarely want something like this reward set, and every time it's truly maddening. I don't know how people put themselves through this for every major release!

Dealing with website demand surge is a solved problem. Is LEGO unwilling to spend money on this?

Its live on VIP, good luck all.

Also (un)happy to report same issue w/VIP Rewards Center going offline the moment the supposed avail. of Ulysses probe went live at 9:00 AM Eastern. At least TLG is being globally consistent in this epic failure, lmao.

Update: After (too) many attempts managed to get to Rewards Center and applied the 1800 points, and received my Reward Code, even got the email. Then placed an order just large enough to qualify for free shipping... and it wouldn't process. Restarted whole process and system now saying code (that I have an email confirmation for!) isn't valid. On hold w/Customer Service... I shall attempt to be polite :)

Oh, I could momentarily get Legoland or Lego House tickets, but that was it. Now back to VIP offline.

Just got one but what a mess. Good luck everybody.

Have no idea how but I managed to get a code.

Don't refresh the maintenance page, try clicking the VIP link at the top of the page.

Was just able to redeem in the US. Was very buggy to do so but finally worked.

Finally got one.

I just got through on my iPhone, my PC keeps bringing me back to the rewardless reward page

Managed to snag one after a lot of frustration on their website.

Went through many iterations of a broken website to get to it. I wonder how long it will last for the US.

Just got one in the US. I just cut and pasting this into Chrome: https://www.lego.com/en-us/vip/rewards-center/rewards until it finally loaded. First time I saw the probe, I clicked Redeem and it failed. Second time, about a minute later, I got thru and got my code.

Just redeemed points. 9:16 am EST

Sold out, at least when I just tried via my phone

Got one! Persistence is the key! And don’t hang out on the maintenance page.

@alfred_the_buttler said:
"Just got one in the US. I just cut and pasting this into Chrome: https://www.lego.com/en-us/vip/rewards-center/rewards until it finally loaded. First time I saw the probe, I clicked Redeem and it failed. Second time, about a minute later, I got thru and got my code."

Tried that and SOLD OUT

Redeemed but can't BUY anything now to get it.

I managed to get a code after tons of reloading but got the "something went wrong" error after pressing Place Order button. CC account shows a transaction pending but no email and nothing in my LEGO account. smh

Edit: Nevermind, LEGO.com is just slow syncing orders to your account. I'm glad I got this but LEGO needs to do better.

Yep, you seem to have to not just refresh, but keep trying to get to the rewards page from scratch by clicking at the top, then the Rewards Center link. It eventually worked for me.

It also looks like it might not really have been "live" at 9:00. It seems to have taken then 10-15 minutes to maybe get everything public.

Exactly how I got mine.

Should have waited to try and redeem it because now I have two pending $212 charges for 10283 as the first one gave me a "Something went wrong." message so I tried a second time. The second one also errored out but I have the two pending charges with no actual order available or confirmation.

So the entire site is still having issues and I need to figure out how to fix this in a timely manner because having $424 held up is obviously not ideal.

Man, well at least I know when there's actually a reward promo that I want outside of FOMO to just use my phone!

Was able to get a code, but when i try to make a purchase (Moon Lander) with the code added I get a "Looks like something has gone wrong" screen and my bag goes empty.

Was able to get one, got my email at 7:15am MT. Sorry to hear about all the trouble everywhere else. This stuff needs to stop! Not sure why they can't do a pre-order type deal and then make the amount of sets needed for demand (plus a few extra)?

Don't worry, I'll be keeping mine! I only try for the things I want, not the things I can make scalper money on!

@CDM said:
"I managed to get a code after tons of Alt+R but got the "something went wrong" error after pressing Place Order button. CC account shows a transaction pending but no email and nothing in my LEGO account. smh

Edit: Nevermind, LEGO.com is just slow syncing orders to your account. I'm glad I got this but LEGO needs to do better."

Phew exact same situation for me and it took about 10-15 minutes for my order to appear in my Order History after the error message. Good luck to everyone else, and wow does LEGO need to work on this. The stress, and amount of preparation/persistence needed, is ridiculous.

Finally got into the VIP site 8:25am CST but sold out :(

This should have been a GWP for the space shuttle.

Instead it is a world-wide sh!tfest.

Yup, can comfirm that refreshing on the error page didn't do anything but reloading from the main link worked. Didn't matter since it was sold out already. >=(

O.K EVERYONE, for those that got it and then purchased a set only to say "something went wrong", DO NOT panic. If this happens check your bank/ credit card account and then look under your Lego orders. A few of us had it say it did not go through, however Lego has taken the money and the order is showing up as processing, so just relax and all should be good!

I tried to process my order twice, and got the something went wrong screen twice. But two charges went to my credit card. So if I end up with two orders what do I do? I'm afraid to cancel one with the complete mess that LEGO.com is. It'll probably cancel both.

@lee_fett1980 said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @Slave2lego said:
" @diamosuk said:
"As an aside, we are calling the people on Ebay scalpers, but they are obviously Lego fans who spent money on the Lego website and amassed enough points to get the gift.
Some may even be on this forum...and are keeping quiet!"

So let’s be honest I will be selling mine (as I do with most GwPs etc) but I do this to help fund other (expensive for me) Lego purchases - so I suppose that is scalping, but feels like ‘good’ scalping? (I’ve got my bulletproof jacket and tin hat on in case I am wrong!)"
So you're one of those people?
Good for you.
Try sweeten the fact or ease your conscience as much as you like, to me you are still as amoral as it gets and the complete opposite of a LEGO fan.
You deliberately went to obtain this set without having the intention to keep it in the first place, but only to make a quick buck (or quid in your case).
All while knowing how many people would really have loved to get this to complement their Space Shuttle.

I wish you and your ilk only the worst! Good riddance! "

OK I think everyone needs to calm down a bit now. This person isn't stealing food from kids. There isn't anything more or immoral going on."

Counterpoint: It's gross and should be shamed. Want to make a quick buck? Fine but don't come in here and brag about it.

My first order with the Ulysses Satellite finally appeared on Lego's website. I'll feel better once I get a shipping confirmation that has both items listed though.

Hopefully I can get the other one canceled and the hold removed.

@dmikester said:
"Phew exact same situation for me and it took about 10-15 minutes for my order to appear in my Order History after the error message. Good luck to everyone else, and wow does LEGO need to work on this. The stress, and amount of preparation/persistence needed, is ridiculous. "

Yep, I just now got the order confirmation email, a full 30 minutes later.

You had about a 5 minute window (9:10 - 9:15) between VIP site functioning and sold out. Congratulations to the lucky ones.

Well said sir Huw, well said.

@lee_fett1980 said:
"OK I think everyone needs to calm down a bit now. This person isn't stealing food from kids. There isn't anything more or immoral going on.

It's Lego, as much as everyone here loves it, if you are angry then please direct your anger at the right place."
As far as I'm concerned I am directing my anger at exactly the right place!

This person admitted that he blocked valuable resources for people who were trying as hard as they could to get this set for themselves, while he never had any intention to keep it but just flip it at an insane price just for his personal enrichment.
Pardon me but if someone like that isn't deserving of our anger I don't know who is.

In that sense he is no better than someone who steals whatever from whomever. He should have done the right thing and let those get a chance who deserved it. He definitely didn't deserve it!

Huh. I had the Rewards Center loaded at 8:15am EDT, and was regularly refreshing it (did the same thing last night before going to bed, after what happened with the Space coin). Just in case, I opened four copies of the same page a bit before 9, and right at 9am any time I refreshed one of those pages I'd get a notice saying the Rewards Center was down for maintenance. Periodically, I'd get this Terms & Conditions thing, and clicking on the button would just produce an error result, but the window wouldn't close. At 9:13am, I finally got the list of rewards to load, and immediately claimed my Ulysses code. Right after that, I tried refreshing again, and got the maintenance notice again, or the T&C window. I found that the only way I could get back to the list of rewards was to open the Rewards Center in a page until I got the T&C window, and then refresh it. I got back in a second time, and now it's showing the Ulysses as Redeemed. Definitely worth blowing a vacation day to stay home for the launch, from the sounds of it.

Nice notes on the set details page @Huw!

I've been here waiting for 9AM eastern time to arrive. It's currently only 8:57AM. I'm west coast but got up early. Refreshed the VIP Rewards page just to see if it shows up ahead of the time it's stated to go live. I see it listed there already now, and it shows Sold Out. What sort of nonsense is this?

@yacoub said:
"I've been here waiting for 9AM eastern time to arrive. It's currently only 8:57AM. I'm west coast but got up early. Refreshed the VIP Rewards page just to see if it shows up ahead of the time it's stated to go live. I see it listed there already now, and it shows Sold Out. What sort of nonsense is this?"

I think you got your time zones mixed up. It's currently 10:05 AM in the Eastern Time Zone for the U.S.

My experience...

In the US:

VIP is offline
VIP is currently under maintenance.

Members who wish to use their points will not be able to do so at this time. However, members who converted them into voucher codes before will still be able to use their discount online or in-store at checkout.

Updates:
10-15 minutes to get the rewards page to load with the Ulysses Satellite, then was able to redeem for a code.

When redeeming the code, I got an invalid code error for a few dozen times of trying to apply it. I got on hold on the phone with customer service right away.

Finally the code worked and added the Ulysses Satellite to my cart. First few times trying to check out, I got a couple different payment errors.

Then it acted like it was going through, but finally came back with an error.

Went back to my cart and it was empty. Added items back and tried to use the code a few more times, but came back as invalid.

Then I got a Paypal receipt that showed the Ulysses Satellite, but the order hadn't showed up on my order page. Finally it showed up several minutes later with the Ulysses Satellite on it. I took a screen cap of the order "in process" on their site as well as the rewards page showing I redeemed the Ulysses Satellite.

So I hung up before getting through to customer service.

Just now, I got the LEGO email with the Ulysses Satellite on it.

So I figure I've done as much as I can and hopefully should be good...though I'll feel better once it ships.

I got mine in the US. Didn't have a problem.

Tried to get it, sold out.
Look at the friggin' eBay prices.
Through the roof on this, some in the hundreds, $200 plus range to get this things THAT SHOULD'VE BEEN GIVEN FREE WITH PURCHASE of the Shuttle! smh
Or at least whomever purchased the shuttle, gets first dibs on acquiring one with ViP points.
Ah, but hey, I'll live ;). I'll put my points to other Lego I have on my wish list.

@lee_fett1980 said:
"Hope your day gets better and you're able to park the disappointment and enjoy whatever else comes your way."
Thanks. As soon as I have written my complaint to their CEO tonight my bitterness will hopefully have come across to him.

My day just got better by the way because I headed over to BlueBrixx and bought some of their sets, because as yet they have never let me down, nor has their website. And I always get a GWP there with every order, without even having to call myself a "VIP" or jumping through some hoops to get them.
TLG doesn't want my money. Not my problem any longer. They can stick their smeggin' Shuttle where the sun don't shine, and their unredeemable GWPs along with it!

Looked an hour after it's release time ... sold out.
The whole new VIP reward system is not very consumer friendly ... but this is a joke ...

I think I was just able to get one in North America. At about 15 mins after the release time, the page loaded and I was able to get my code. And YEAH, for the 1st time I got in to a very heated discussion with a supervisor over the space coin being sold out. Be it with Fedex taking longer to get me my order or having an issue with the warehouse, I always call and complain. I will be writing the CEO.

You can change all of this: https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/careers/job/59285017 (job posting 59285017 at LEGO is looking for a VP Global IT Infrastructure) .. :)

Speaking of Lego's incompetent IT, I haven't been able to even log into their sites (e.g. shop, ideas) with Firefox since the new VIP system was introduced.

Yes, I know, it works fine in Chrome; but I want to use Firefox, and it's ridiculous I couldn't in 2019 and still can't in 2021. (I get an "Error" that has "already been logged" and their IT team is "investigating".)

Kinda off-topic, but this situation reminds me of how Nintendo makes really great games, but its online services are absolutely horrible. It seems a weird coincidence, that two big toy making companies that are appreciated by anyone have features that are really bad...

I agree with the assertion by @Huw here.

The LEGO Group should outsource the management of their website to professionals that know what they are doing. Unless of course, this is the great regard LEGO has for their VIP loyalty program and the adults so welcome.

Why are these problems continuing to happen? why is the problem first seen in Australia and perpetuates for hours while it hits other portals in other time zones; while no one fixes the bug on the launch of the product?

Definitely the disappointment with the LEGO experience goes to the purchasing through their website. One of the buggiest I have ever used.

My message to LEGO: keep making great toys and let the portal be handled by a reputable company that knows what they're doing. You have proven to all us again and again that you don't.

I added a set in my bag to purchase at 9am waiting for the 9:30am Ulysses release. I refreshed my web page every 30 seconds. Kept get a blue maintenance screen. It 9:25am the VIP site was back up and instantly the set was sold out. I mean not even 1 available. I went in my inbox and deleted my planned purchase. Thank you Lego for saving me money this morning with your joke of a VIP release.

well looking forward to the Ulysses instructions, anyway

In North America, the page loaded instantly at 9:00am, however, it was already sold out. :0

As someone on Pacific Time in the United States, there was literally no opportunity to even consider the reward since it seems to have sold out before it was even available.

That said ...

1. It is a toy.
2. It can be valued for different reasons by different people.
3. Neither 1 nor 2 deflect from the truth that the experience was terrible customer experience for people who most value the toy.

All of these things can be true, and it's okay to be really frustrated.

this should not still be happening after so many product release failures... absolute embarrassment on Lego's part and they should be ashamed.

If LEGO were serious, it should launch the set for sale, thus ending speculation in the parallel markets and thus giving the opportunity to acquire the set. I'm frustrated, I don't want VIP coins or anything but the buildings ..

"to develop world-class digital experiences" doesn't necessarily mean develop or invest in the ICT infrastructure.
It could just as well mean create more and more pointless app-based products or more computer games.

@8lackmagic:
You're not wrong, but I suspect if they'd made it a GWP, there would have been a run on Shuttle sets when it launched, and there'd still be a lot of unhappy people. What's worse, since there's a limit of 2 on the Discover, people could have placed two orders for one copy each and bagged two copies without having to do anything underhanded. With this being a VIP reward, each account is limited to one copy, and people who couldn't afford the Discovery right now could grab the Ulysses early...but it also allowed anyone with an eye on eBay to snag one to flip. There's no clean way to handle this aside from getting a better handle on which promos are likely to be highly popular and make sure they produce a lot more of them.

@dbbunny:
Yeah, but at least I (hopefully) don't need to take a vacation day just to grab the last coin. You know, the crazy thing is I actually forgot to grab the Octan coin code at midnight, and read about it selling out in Europe while I was on break. I had to wait until I got home to actually grab a code for myself, so I know that they lasted well over half a day in the US. The next coin didn't last half an hour. I don't know how much of that was just the fact that it's the most popular of the four logos, and how much was that people caught on to the fact that they could flip a "worthless" coin for three figures easy. Either way, if anyone hadn't noticed that they were popular by the Octan coin, they certainly found out with Classic Space, and I'm a bit worried that people will assume they can net the same payoff for the logo coin in a couple weeks. I also got the larger case, and noticed that the regular cases are wildly inconsistent in size, so I really want to complete the set and transfer them all to the bigger case.

@Minifig290:
They had less than four months before everyone started going into lockdown. The first major launch following would have been January 1st, but they probably couldn't get anything done during December due to the holidays, and after that they probably wouldn't expect any major issues until late 2020. The pandemic probably threw a wrench in any upgrade plans they were working on, and it sounds like they're looking to get those rolled out later this year after vaccinations have made it possible to regain some semblance of normalcy.

@GhostCat:
If I spend 650 points, I get $5 off a set, which means they get $5 less in payment. If I spend 1800 points, I get this set, which means it's effectively paying them about $14 when I redeem points for this instead of taking rebates. On top of that, I can't redeem points for a physical reward without making one purchase per code, and I'm not likely to ever place orders below $35 so I get free shipping. If I grab three codes for physical rewards, I have to place a minimum of $105 in orders just to claim them all. If I cash the points in for rebates, I can use them all on one order and just pay them a couple bucks to cover the difference. Then there's the fact that they make more money on direct purchases than when you buy from their retail partners, and they can't compete with them on price or risk losing those accounts. GWPs and VIP are two ways they can entice customers without having to break MSRP. People have let them know that they like these physical rewards more than just a cash discount (ironically, I just said that myself on a survey I saw posted in the Rewards Center while I was waiting for the 9am launch). I've also seen at least two different people claim they made last-minute purchases just to get enough points for either the Classic Space coin or the Ulysses set (both found you only get the points when the order ships, so now they've learned they need to stock up on points in advance). Make no mistake, these things pay for themselves.

As of the moment, it seems the LEGO VIP Exclusive Rewards section of the Rewards Center is DOWN... Link: https://www.lego.com/en-us/vip/rewards-center/rewards

Can anyone re-confirm this???

@gold682:
I'd seen enough reports to expect an issue on checkout, and to expect it to clear eventually. It took 18 minutes from the time I placed my order and got confirmation of payment from Paypal to the time I got confirmation of the order being received by LEGO.com. Now it shows up in my Orders page with the Ulysses on the list. It just takes time for things to work through their overloaded system.

@LegoMike:
The coins were always going to be a problem because they released them one per month, people had plenty of time to discuss them, and people started flipping them online. As the prices have risen, the coins have been going faster, and the prices have risen even higher. It's a nasty feedback cycle that thankfully ends in a couple weeks, hopefully with the final code in my hands (because I did buy the 5-coin holder as I always planned to get the complete set). If they stick to one-off releases like the Carbonite Han keychain, or the 2x4 plate keychain, people will be able to choose which ones to skip without feeling like their collection is incomplete. This kinda plays the same way, as it's clearly designed to be paired with the Discovery, so most people who buy that set will want this sitting right next to it.

@Morniendur:
At 10am? Nothing. This was supposed to go live at 9am EDT, which means 8 Central, 7 Mountain, 6 Pacific, 5 Alaska, and 4 Hawaii/Aleutian before you hit the International Date Line.

@HoodedOne:
Unfortunately, that's the way things work. Everyone bumrushes the system when it's supposed to go live, the system collapses, and as people manage to squeeze through the rubble there's less people piling on. Once the offer is over, people start seeing that the offer is sold out, the dogpile clears out, and suddenly the system has a manageable level of traffic again. People can get it to load normally again, but by then it's too late.

@Jmooresey:
Judging by the number of people who have sworn off buying the Discovery, it's hard to say. I mean, ultimately all of them will likely end up with people who actually want them, though how many stops each copy makes on the way is hard to say. I hope that most of them went to people who actually want to own it (even if they keep it sealed), but I expect there will even be people who want to build it, sell off their own copy, and use a portion of the proceeds to buy the parts needed to build a replica, just because it makes financial sense if you don't care about the box or instructions.

@PeterT_AFOL:
So...how exactly do you tell what eBay account matches up to which VIP account? A few people have been locked out, and no explanation why. It's possible they got flagged for this behavior. It's also possible they got flagged for someone else's behavior by mistake.

@muddy:
Worse, yes. But people wouldn't go to such extreme measures just to obtain a code if there wasn't a history of the site crashing anytime there's something of interest to AFOLs. You can spray gas around without any major problems unless you happen to point it at a fire that's already burning.

@Wolfolo:
I guess that means we're about to find out if the codes are locked to the account that purchased them, or if they are transferrable even if the points used to buy them are not.

@Montyh7:
Yeah, if people have at least a full day of availability, they wouldn't freak out so much when the site crashes for a few minutes, and they wouldn't overload it even more with multiple devices.

I'm happy that this set didn't interest me. With that being said, Lego doesn't have much of an excuse for a launch this disastrous.

@The_scizz said:
" @fakespacesquid said:
" @The_scizz said:
"Gets hundreds of free lego sets from the company. Missed out on rare vip set that many people still got. Cries like a baby. You entitled brat, lol. "

That's not the issue at hand. When they go out of their way to publicize a release, then delay it, then the website isn't able to handle the traffic (and has the exact same shutdown in each timezone right at the drop), and they still don't have enough stock, that's reason to complain. It's not that people didn't have a chance to get it, but they were told that they would have a chance and they simply didn't get one. It was an absolute cluster, regardless of how invested you are, and needs to be called out as such. "

Disagree. "

Do you disagree that it was a cluster or disagree that it should be called out? I don't think you can make the argument that it went well, and I don't think you can make the argument that Lego should just get off scot-free for the 27th straight gwp/product release that was a complete failure

Can someone confirm you have 60 days to use the promotional code? It's not mentioned in the email Lego sent out.

Welcome to the ire of a actual coin collector. Dealing with the US Mint and other world mints on low mintage coins is the same thing. We even have TV shows like HSN that figure out ways to violate the "one item per household" limits. Then they resell the coin for 5x the purchase price for example. Exact same thing with eBay. But unlike the LEGO Space Probe, you can't make your own government issued coins.

When LEGO decides to make anything a "limited run", welcome to the big-boy adult world of overloaded ordering systems and resellers.

Maybe some other coin collectors can chime in here. I've only been doing it for a few years.

their website has never been performant during peak demand times. its embarrasing

Has it occured to anyone that even if the Lego site worked perfectly, they still only had x amount to give away, there would have still been hundreds/probably thousands of dissapointed VIP members, me being one as I didn't get one either! It would have just meant that they sold out quicker!

@EriktheRed:
So the US supply was gone in no more than 21 minutes after "launch", judging by the timestamp on your post. I got mine at 9:13, so all of eight minutes to spare. Worth using a vacation day, at least.

@tgewin:
The first person to claim seeing it live in the US posted at 10 after, and the first person to claim seeing it Sold Out posted 11 minutes after that. That's a pretty short window for sure. That's even shorter than the 18 minutes it took from getting confirmation that Paypal was processing my payment to confirmation that my order had actually registered on their system.

@BigDumbWookiee:
Regarding your coin holder, I expect these were actually cut on a CNC router, and that someone didn't clean all the chips off before cutting your insert. Even a single chip in the wrong place can be enough to break the vacuum seal that holds sheet stock down for CNC routing, and allow it to shift position. It sucks that whoever they farmed that out to doesn't care enough to catch something like that. I'd definitely call LEGO.com up and ask if there's any possibility they could replace it. They might have held back a few in case of situations like this, and someone in Europe even said they saw more coin holders up for grabs today.

@flipus74:
I...think I'd rather have a job forecasting weather. And I live in Michigan.

@Arakafafian:
If you were refreshing the maintenance page, you were never going to get through. That had a different URL, which meant you were shunted off the page you wanted. I had one page open showing the Classic Space coin in the upper left corner, and kept "refreshing" that by creating duplicate pages, which I'd promptly close if they took me to the maintenance notice.

@YodaWorst:
Did you forget that it was 9am Eastern? If you waited until 9am in any other time zone, that was at least 40 minutes after the last code was gone.

@snarljones:
Unlike Europe, the US operates off one site. What's live for the eastern seaboard is live for the west coast. Your clocks just show a different time is all. West coast should have seen it go live sometime around 6:10am, and sold out around 6:21am.

@Marc100:
60 days to redeem any VIP code is standard policy. I believe it's mentioned in the "Congratulations" pop-up right after you've purchased the code.

A note on the personal attacks (which are beneath this community) based on the label “scalper”, if someone is going to sell a set later that they were able to buy, I don’t have a problem with that. I don’t see that as some unforgivable line to cross, especially if that person enjoys Lego but just happens to not care about that specific set. That’s the nature of buying and selling. I distinguish between that and “real” scalpers who deal in large quantities with the goal of flipping and have no interest in Lego as a enjoyable hobby.

On another topic, honest question about the new system of redeeming VIP points: Is it meaningfully different in a bad way? I’m not seeing the problem, but I also haven’t had a chance to use it yet.

Thanks for speaking out Huw. I haven’t thought of purchasing this just yet, but I agree LEGO needs to update their IT software.

I never thought I might say this, but if this continues, LEGO might be the EA of toy companies! At least you get all your parts (99.9% of the time) in the one set.

@B_Space_Man said:
"On another topic, honest question about the new system of redeeming VIP points: Is it meaningfully different in a bad way? I’m not seeing the problem, but I also haven’t had a chance to use it yet. "

Under the previous system, redeeming points for cash value in-store was much easier. The cashier would say "you have X number of points (or dollar equivalent), would you like to use any or all?" Now there is an extra step involved requiring a smart phone at best and a computer and printer at worst. It's just not very convenient in store. Online it's a less of a hassle as you're already at a computer and can apply a code via cut and paste. Still a bit clunky.

The added benefit to the new system are they non-cash value rewards, if you are so inclined.

@B_Space_Man:
It's gotten a lot more complex, to be sure. The upshot is, 100 of whatever currency you use will still be able to net you 5 of that same currency in rebates. The point values were adjusted both for what you earn on purchases, and what it takes to grab a rebate code, so that each VIP point is worth about the same no matter what currency you use (so if you travel, you earn, and spend, points at an equitable rate based on the currency involved). Before you would earn the same number of points for a $100, £100, or €100 purchase, and you could spend the same number of points to get a $5, £5, or €5 rebate. This allowed a select few to earn points at a rapid rate under one currency, and get heftier rebates under another currency.

Rebates have also now been split into online-only rebates, vs in-store/phone order rebates. You have to pick the correct one, or you might have to change your purchase plans. I accidentally bought the wrong type when I wanted to make an order through the website, and I either had to make an unplanned trip to my local LEGO Store, or do it by phone instead.

The addition of both physical and digital rewards is new to this program. People frown on the coloring pages, but now you can get physical items, LEGOLAND tickets, or admission to LEGO House, where before the points you earned just got you price reductions. Rebates must be locked in prior to purchase (before you could choose to apply them at the register or in your online shopping cart), and physical rewards require one LEGO.com purchase per item to ship. Rewards, once claimed, expire 60 days later (I have no idea if you get the points back), but points no longer simply expire because they're too old. Now all you have to do is make a few purchases per year to keep your account active, and the points will continue to pile up as fast as you not-spend them.

@CDM:
On the contrary, that was updated. If you're at home, you can always fill your cart, then open the Rewards Center to grab your codes before going back to your shopping cart to check out. Alternately, if you're going to make a purchase in a physical store, you can now have them cash in your points _BEFORE_ they start to ring you up, and you never even have to sign in to your account (which works great for those of us who don't use smartphones, and shop at a LEGO Store where there's no free wifi). Over the phone, I think it works as normal, where you can tell them at any point that you want to cash in points for rebates to spend on the same order.

And wasn't there a point where you had to place a LEGO.com order to get a physical gift card that you could use in a LEGO Store? Now they can see your available rebates on the register screen, if you bought any of them in advance. This makes me even more curious as to whether reward codes are transferrable. Someone reported that people have put their Ulysses redemption codes up for auction/sale, rather than offering to send the physical item once it arrives. Not only does that seem like a surefire way to get your account locked for scalping, but it may not even work as planned.

@PurpleDave said:
"On the contrary, that was updated."

Now that you mention it I do recall the tweaks to the system. I’ve been banking points for no particular reason ever since the changeover so it didn’t really stick with me. Today is the first time I’ve redeemed.

@PurpleDave said:
" @LegoMike :
The coins were always going to be a problem because they released them one per month, people had plenty of time to discuss them, and people started flipping them online. As the prices have risen, the coins have been going faster, and the prices have risen even higher. It's a nasty feedback cycle that thankfully ends in a couple weeks, hopefully with the final code in my hands (because I did buy the 5-coin holder as I always planned to get the complete set). If they stick to one-off releases like the Carbonite Han keychain, or the 2x4 plate keychain, people will be able to choose which ones to skip without feeling like their collection is incomplete. This kinda plays the same way, as it's clearly designed to be paired with the Discovery, so most people who buy that set will want this sitting right next to it."

It sounds as though you are in exactly the same place as me.
I never imagined it would be like this when I picked up the holder and first coin but the intention was always to get the set. And more importantly it is for me, not to sell or profit from, but to hopefully display when my wife eventually buckles and allows me a cabinet or two ;-)
Completely agree on the way forward with one offs and regarding this probe. I also wanted the probe and have already got the shuttle. I just refuse to let this one wind me up. Gonna save that for the final coin. :-)

I'm used to the website crashing whenever something interesting is first made available. I can only assume that the cost of a really up-to-date, uncrashable (or at least less-crashable) website is so high that TLG, like many of its customers, finds it more reasonable to wait until the dust settles and then proceed as usual. (The fact that ticket-purchase sites and other purveyors of limited-edition and desireable merchandise have the same problem supports this idea, frankly.)

I'm not thrilled with the new VIP program, either, but mostly because it's so hard to remember how to convert from points to cash when you aren't close to any of the magic points values. The system itself has worked smoothly for me, and I can see the extra flexibility it provides to TLG in terms of the various promotions or other benefits it makes possible to offer customers.

So the real problem today was that the number of available Ulysses sets was much smaller than the number of people who wanted it. Maybe the extra publicity caused by the delay and the subsequent notifications of upcoming availability made more people aware of the set who wouldn't otherwise have wanted to buy it; maybe TLG always expected/wanted it to be as scarce as the coin sets are going to be. It doesn't really matter. There are bound to be a lot of people like me, who loved the Shuttle set and very much wanted this extra little set to go with it but weren't able to join in the fray at 9:10 EDT (or the equivalent anywhere else in the world). And that's the most frustrating part of all--this was a global problem. I am glad for the people who struggled through all the problems and obtained a set they will appreciate and enjoy. But given TLG had already delayed this release once, why didn't they build up enough of a supply of the set to allow more people a chance to get one without all the difficulties?

@Laminated said:
"Couldn’t have said it better myself - it baffles me that massive companies like Lego and Disney still have such awful digital infrastructure. "

I agree completely, but at least Disney has been making visible efforts to improve their digital products, I haven't seen LEGO do anything other than give us empty promises.

@RoboTobo1 said:
" @Laminated said:
"Couldn’t have said it better myself - it baffles me that massive companies like Lego and Disney still have such awful digital infrastructure. "

I agree completely, but at least Disney has been making visible efforts to improve their digital products, I haven't seen LEGO do anything other than give us empty promises. "

It's pretty clear at this point that Lego has no idea what they're doing when it comes to the digital realm. Stuff like this is just another reminder not to invest in the Powered Up system that's so heavily reliant on an app that will inevitably have support dropped, just like all their other digital endeavors of the past.

TT Games seem to be the only competent area of Lego's digital works, and even then I've noticed many of their more recent games have multiple crashes and issues that were left unfixed.

'Something went wrong'

@CDM:
Part of the reason I started sitting on my points was that the original means of redeeming points for rebates was so cumbersome that I never found it worth even trying. Eventually I had a pile of points saved up (though not as much as some here), and they started offering physical rewards that got my interest.

@LegoMike:
The coins, and any future multi-component reward offer, really needed to have a "season pass" offered when the Castle coin launched. Buy the pass up front for full points, and every first of the month they send you a code for the next coin that expires 60 days after the code is sent out. If I miss out on that last coin, what's the point of the coin holder? I'm not dropping hundreds of dollars to get the logo coin. I would, however, have loved to get at least a full second set of coins (only one holder, though). I have ideas for MOCs based on all five, but will never build any of them because I don't want to put my _ONE_ copy of any coin in the build. Especially not if they're selling for those prices. I've already had a $10 minifig stolen at a convention. I don't want a $200 coin to be next.

@sklamb:
The magic number for the US is that 650 points gets you a $5 rebate. Everything else is just multiples of those numbers, and after the updates made to the new VIP system, you can redeem multiple rebate codes on a single purchase. Just don't buy more rebates than you can use right away. Points don't expire as long as your account gets regular activity. Rebate codes do, 60 days after you claim them.

Guys don't worry about ordering the Ulysses probe from Lego. You can easily just buy one on Bricklink for 199 euro.

@Xiaolong said:
"I'm sorry for all of you who are having troubles.
I just went, clicked and got my confirmation e-mail seconds later.
Let's hope they have enough so that you can get one later in the day."

I had the same experience. Usually, I log on and everything is gone due to being a west coaster so this was a nice change.

mock VIP program