My son is obsessed with LEGOs. We got him his first LEGO set when he was 3, and there was no looking back. Since then, that’s pretty much all he wants. While the types of LEGOs he wants change over time, his desire for new LEGOs does not. He’s even putting together 18+ sets now, and he’s only 8. 

Pretty much every birthday, Christmas and any time he can save up enough money, he gets new LEGO sets. These sets vary in price. We’ve scored little sets with pretty cool pieces for as little as $5, but many sets are $100 or more – for tiny plastic bricks. 

While I appreciate the amazing creations that can be made from LEGOs, I can’t help but feel my stomach churn at all the money that we have poured into these tiny plastic bricks – many of which are all mixed together in a couple storage bins that my son uses to make creations he comes up with on his own. 

I’m glad that my son is creative and comes up with creative ways to reuse LEGO bricks he already owns instead of constantly needing a new set to assemble, but it still hurts my soul when I see a perfectly assembled LEGO set disassembled in a bin.

We let our son break down his LEGO sets most of the time with some exceptions (Hogwarts is not to be disassembled); however, we always insist that he builds the set as intended when he first gets it. Then we’ll take a picture of it before he breaks it down.

The Problem:

What’s super annoying is that every once in awhile (and I mean this is very, very rare), he’ll be assembling a LEGO set and realize that there’s a faulty piece. One time it was a LEGO that was broken and another time there were two LEGOs that look like they somehow got melted in the factory. 

At this point, my son was over half-way through his build and didn’t want to have to take everything apart, put it back in the box and try to return or exchange it, hoping a local LEGO store would understand the problem. Thankfully, that wasn’t necessary.

Then there are times when a LEGO brick is completely missing from the set. For example, one time my daughter was building a Disney Princess Rapunzel set, and one of the pieces was missing. She was able to build it without the missing piece, but the piece was still obviously not there.

The Solution:

Did you know that it’s actually really easy to get a LEGO or two replaced on any newish LEGO sets? (I say newish because if we’re talking about an older, discontinued set LEGO may not make those pieces anymore.)

Watch the video below for a full walk-through of how to get a free replacement LEGO is you discover that a piece in your LEGO set is broken or missing. Or, if you prefer to read instead of watch, you can keep scrolling through this article to see how to get a free replacement LEGO.

Here’s what you need to do. Make sure you have the number associated with the LEGO set. Then, go to lego.com. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the home page and you should see a link titled “Replacement Parts.” Click this link.

Now, you’re looking at a screen that gives you a few options. First, you can either choose to click Missing Bricks, Broken Bricks, or Buy Bricks. In my case, I clicked Broken Bricks, but Missing Bricks works pretty much the same way. 

Click the appropriate link. I clicked Broken Bricks. On the next screen, you’ll be asked to choose your location. I’m in the United States, so that’s what I chose. Click “next.”

On the next screen, you’ll enter the number of the LEGO set with the broken or missing bricks. If you don’t have the set number, you can enter a description instead, like “Harry Potter” or “Ninjago,” but it’ll be easier to locate the piece you need if you know the set number. If you’re not sure what the set number is, I recommend doing a Google search with a description of the set and look for an image of the box of the set. The set number is on the box.

Once you find the correct set, you’ll come to a screen that tells you how many bricks are in the set, and when you scroll down, you’ll see pictures of all of those bricks. This is where you need to find the picture of the brick(s) you need replaced. 

When you find the piece you need replaced, click “add to bag.”

If you’re going through the Broken Bricks link, you’ll next be asked to describe what’s wrong with the brick that was included in your set. If you clicked Missing Bricks, you won’t be asked what’s wrong because what’s wrong is obviously that the brick is missing. 

When you’re done choosing the bricks that need to be replaced, you’ll click on the cart icon and proceed with your order. The best part is that the replacement bricks will be shipped to your home completely free. The worst part is that sometimes it can take a few weeks for the replacement bricks to arrive. 

While it’s sometimes hard for me to accept just how expensive LEGOs are, I really do appreciate that LEGO makes it easy to replace any bricks that happen to be missing or damaged. In all the LEGO sets my son has gotten over the past 5 years, we’ve only needed to use this service two or three times, but it was extremely helpful and made me think higher of LEGO.

Have you ever found missing or damaged LEGOs in a LEGO set? Does it surprise you that LEGO will replace these bricks for free?