As an aside, any clarity on whether the price of the BTTF Time Machine will be increasing in September?

The “RRP 169.99” above is ominous…

@Minifig290 said:
"Shop at your own risk, Zavvi are a very poor retailer."

Duly noted - thanks for the warning! I see it’s just come back onto back order on the Lego website at least.

One experience of ordering from Zavvi UK, failed to supply my order despite promising delivery dates. Cancelled the order in the end and I got my money back.

@Minifig290 said:
"Shop at your own risk, Zavvi are a very poor retailer.

In the last couple of weeks they have cancelled two lots of orders due to "invalid" codes which they sent out, also they are known for their poor customer service so if anything goes wrong (which is more likely than with other retailers) you will be lucky to get any sort of help from CS.

In general The Hut Group (owners of Zavvi and IWOOT) have very questionable customer service skills, and in my experiences orders are either late or damaged (though sometimes thats the fault of the shipping provider)

So shop at your own risk, you've been warned. Shame to see many sites still having affiliation with the company.

Also for many of the offers they have you are actually getting a better deal at LEGO Shop with VIP points, cashback (7% with Topcashback atm), promos such as the Pirates offer also there is a code for a free Bride Brickheadz floating about plus StudentBeans have the free Cockatiel Brickheadz as well if you are a student."

i had just placed an order and then cancel it. soon after reading there negative reviews.

I ordered the blue Fiat from them and had no issues. (US)

DeLorean is on backorder on lego.com (target delivery date September 20), I ordered mine some days ago for HUF 64,990,- which is only around £ 136 (on normal exchange rate it should be around £150-160). Luckily the ridiculous HUF exchange rates are not yet reflected in lego.hu prices.

I’ve ordered three times from Zavvi US without any problems.

Just ordered my first item from them, with fingers crossed, because of the reviews. But I missed out on the BTTF DeLorean, when it launched, and was excited to see it not only in stock, but when I saw it was back to the original price of $169, it tempted me. So this will be a test to see how it goes, and I hope I don't regret it.

I might be one of the few who have issues with actual Lego.com shipping. I buy big sets, and I spend a lot, but I keep getting sets that are banged up, in the box. My Daily Bugle was dented, my Landspeeder was dented, and the boxes I get from them usually have just a little brown paper, or in the past, just a couple air packets of plastic, and the box gets dented in shipping, and then the lego set inside is dented too. I wish Lego would improve their packaging.

I've been ordering from them for years. Found many great deals. with over 20 orders I had only one time where there was bad damage and I was sent a new set. With the exception of the DHL meltdown I have routinely received orders in less then a week and I live n the Denver, CO area. The only additional issue I had was when an order was missing a set I contacted C.S. and had an incorrect refund but by the time I could send an additional email the difference in refund was corrected.

All in all I would not hesitate to order from them and actually did just this morning before I saw this post.

If Zavvi or any of The Hut group family of retailers didn't discount their exclusives I wouldn't buy from them, awful company that regularly leave a salty taste in my mouth. Fair enough the packaging is a lot better than previous years, but any issues/damage etc and you have to jump through hoops dealing with many customer relations team members to get them to do anything about it.
Or simply wait for ages for an order to be despatched, or cancelled as the case recently.

They must be paying a lot to the manufacturers for the exclusive rights!

It seems Zavvi have more respect for their American audience then, as here there seems to be little issues with the US customer but UK customers always seem to be getting done over by this companys poor practices (their customer service is my biggest gripe, cancelling orders, refusing to deal with complaint, dragging out complaint for the heck of it etc)

@Minifig290 said:
"It seems Zavvi have more respect for their American audience then, as here there seems to be little issues with the US customer but UK customers always seem to be getting done over by this companys poor practices (their customer service is my biggest gripe, cancelling orders, refusing to deal with complaint, dragging out complaint for the heck of it etc)"

I think you hit the nail on the proverbial head - looking through some old articles as well it does seem that the US service and experience is generally well received but others and especially UK perhaps beware. Thanks for adding this insight to the conversation. As someone who has had great experiences I feel the need to stick up for the company but I 100% understand that my experience isn't the only one!

I only bought from Zavvi once, the Porsche some time ago for 20% off and it arrived in a matter of days. It was most impressive. Now I didn't need to consult with their customer service team, so I can't say how well that is. But the speed of service otherwise was solid and better than even local based companies like Target or Shop at Home.

Now the real question is how badly do I want this set...

No issues with multiple Zavvi orders in the past. I've only bought from them for the exclusive-to-Zavvi-in-the-US Blue 77942 Fiat 500 and fantastic deals on 42115 Lamborghini Sian and 10274 Ecto-1. Packaging has been excellent with tons of the air pillows Lego now longer uses, and pretty quick shipping times.

I bought the Ecto two months ago for $166.99, when it was both out of stock from Lego and on the list of rumored (and now confirmed) price increases, and it was a good decision now that it's a $240 set. A bunch of the recently increased larger sets were 15-20% off the then-prices and more than 30% off the current prices. The Sian was $280 when I got it a year or so ago and now it's $440.

The giant Ferrari (42143) is now 10% off the original price and 20% off the current price, so American buyers might want to seriously consider it.

I managed to get the Delorean from leceister square earlier this week with a couple of freebies. The lady in the shop said that they were now coming back into stock on a daily basis so check your local Lego store as even if the stock finder says no stock that doesn’t mean it won’t be there - would defo rather buy from physical store as you can get a decent box , GWP’s and VIP points. I try and avoid orders now from Lego.com now as the shipping / packaging is not as good as it used to be. My last order back in May was mashed to kingdom come, mainly due to too many boxes tightly packed together - CS sorted it promptly though with no issues.

I bought the Sanctum Sanctorium from there a few weeks back and they canceled it because the discount code was incorrect. (Too cheap). Their customer service is disgraceful. Not the first time either.

I don't think I've ever bought LEGO from Zavvi, but I have definitely been a Zavvi customer for many years, especially as a Blu-ray Steelbook collector and have never had any issues. Even used to be a Red Carpet subscriber, but I don't buy as many steelbooks these days, so the free postage is not really a saving after the subscription price. I also buy clothing from them, which are mostly okay, but I'd advise purchasing at least one size larger than what you usually wear. The biggest issue I did have with them once was many years ago (and still is an issue) when I was moving house and I couldn't change my delivery address on a pre-order that had sold out - customer service wouldn't fix my address and suggested I cancel my existing pre-order and order the [SOLD OUT!!!] item again.

My experience is that I brought the Technic Set Liebheer R 9800 from Zavvi on a discount. Take some times to ship but arrive in a very good condition. I am based in US. I would definitely order again or at least give a try from them.

The last week of 2021, I ordered the Ecto-1 for $30 off ($170 + tax) and it arrived 13 days later in great condition. That set now costs $240 from LEGO.com and I don't regret my purchase. Just bought a Delorean for $30 off (the new price) and am looking forward to another smooth transaction.

@TheLastJedi said:
"Just ordered my first item from them, with fingers crossed, because of the reviews. But I missed out on the BTTF DeLorean, when it launched, and was excited to see it not only in stock, but when I saw it was back to the original price of $169, it tempted me. So this will be a test to see how it goes, and I hope I don't regret it.

I might be one of the few who have issues with actual Lego.com shipping. I buy big sets, and I spend a lot, but I keep getting sets that are banged up, in the box. My Daily Bugle was dented, my Landspeeder was dented, and the boxes I get from them usually have just a little brown paper, or in the past, just a couple air packets of plastic, and the box gets dented in shipping, and then the lego set inside is dented too. I wish Lego would improve their packaging.

"
I too am one of those who’s had routinely bad experiences with Lego.com’s shipping. I remember back in 2005 when one of my Dino Attack sets arrived damaged when I was just a little kid. Ever since then, crushed or damaged boxes have been the norm for most things I’ve ordered from Lego directly, until the last year or so.

No other place I or my family order from has such issues, especially so consistently for over a decade and a half.

Thankfully, all of my Lego.com orders this year have arrived in better (still not perfect) condition, so hopefully whatever the problem was has finally been sorted.

As far as Zavvi goes, I made one order from them a few months ago when the UCS R2 was on sale. It arrived faster than anything I’ve order from Lego.com in pristine condition.

I've probably ordered more than a dozen times from Zavvi over the past two years without any issues. Fast shipping and excellent communication pertaining to tracking information about my orders. Items arrived in pristine condition. I notice my last order was shipped from Kentucky and not the UK.

Honestly I know they are two very different entities but in my experience people often mistake Zavvi for StockX. Don't sound the same I know but both are large operations that deal with Lego that basically came out of nowhere. Zavvi in my experience has been fine whole StockX on the other hand not so much.

@fmiskolc said:
Just my dime minus three pennies...

So seven cents worth of advice?

I've ordered from Zavvi once, the order came on time as promised but the box was damaged. Ripped open to the point that pieces could have fallen out (fortunately, they didn't). Just something to keep in mind and it explains why their items are usually discounted.

I'll echo the unhappiness with Lego packing and shipping. I routinely get sets with all sorts of box damage. There was a time I would call and complain. I've ordered from Zavvi numerous times and never had any problems. The stuff I order from them is almost always in better shape than what I get from Lego.

This is my first time ordering from Zaavi. Bought the Delorean. The package shipped from the UK. I guess they do not have US based distribution?

I am surprised it is out of stock for so long overseas.
In Singapore they are still readily available. Maybe due to the price they are charging for here?
From $269.9 to $299.90

Just wanted to offer some feedback here for this. Placed an order for the Delorean within an hour of seeing this post. Just arrived today, almost perfect condition on the box. No issues with Zavvi as far as shipping or anything. So happy to have been able to get this after the set has been out of stock virtually it's entire run life so far.

@Brainslugged said:
" @fmiskolc said:
Just my dime minus three pennies...

So seven cents worth of advice?"

Haha great catch - it would be much better advice then two cents worth though I guess! One of these days I’ll learn to differentiate nickels and dimes but apparently that time hasn’t arrived yet!

@twentythree said:
"The last week of 2021, I ordered the Ecto-1 for $30 off ($170 + tax) and it arrived 13 days later in great condition. That set now costs $240 from LEGO.com and I don't regret my purchase. Just bought a Delorean for $30 off (the new price) and am looking forward to another smooth transaction. "

Update:
My order arrived today (1 week from when it was placed) and the set is in very good condition (some very minor blemishes that still pale in comparison to the 2 copies I got in a retail LEGO store on day of release). If it had been in a store, I'd have snagged this box up without hesitation. As satisfied with this purchase as I expected to be. Will keep using Zavvi as long as the quality packing continues.

How does a secondary seller in England deliver such pristine orders when it takes longer to arrive from inside the United States (and there is little chance of the set not getting crushed)?

@FuddRuckus said:
"No issues with multiple Zavvi orders in the past... "

Following up on my post above and those this past week from @Freezetrap and @twentythree ...

My order was horribly packed and the outer shipping box had received a ton of additional tape to cover where it was smashed and falling apart.

The Lego Box itself sustained similar damage and is tearing apart at two of the seams. I think I could drop a new set off a two story house and it would be in better condition than this.

Zavvi's website says "We have high standards when it comes to packaging your order... we take care to prevent any damage to your goods during transit." Whoever packed my previous orders must have had the day off this round. There is a place to submit damage complaints along with a photo, and I created a collage to show all the angles. My complaint included a link to this discussion and noted that I had previously given them praise. Let's see if the customer service experience is any better than those who issued warnings above.

In keeping with the updates so perhaps we can establish some trends. My order for the 42143 Technic Ferrari Daytona arrived in under a week and excellently packed on the outside. LEGO box itself had one minor scratch on an edge.