I placed an order for another TP....which I need like a hole in the head, but that is another story.....on Monday afternoon. I immediately received an order confirmation but have heard nothing since. Last time I ordered, which was admittedly some time ago, I got an order confirmation, an order processing, and a shipping e-mail with a day. The computer came within 48hrs. which was great.

Just wondering if anyone here has ordered anything from IBM recently? If so, what was your experience? Did you get great communication and fast shipping, or something different? I'm kind of wondering if I am going to receive it at all.....the particular one I ordered has disappeared from the list of offerings.......

I got a couple of monitors from them a few months back. No problems to report.

It did take a day or two for them to send out a "your item has been released" e-mail, but given that I wasn't expecting rush processing I didn't think much of it.

My family bought two T61s at the end of next year, they arrived quickly (about a week), and in great condition. Best of luck.

Updating this topic with the rest of the story, in case anyone cares.....

I ordered an X61s w/ Ultrabase from IBM on June 27. I immediately received confirmation of my order, but never got a shipping notice. Long story short, on July 6 I received an e-mail stating that ""We regret to inform you that due to inventory constraints, we are unable to fulfill the (X61s) that you requested."

Well, ok...not the end of the world. But you would think that a company with the computing power of IBM could figure out how to run a decent inventory system....or at least follow up promptly with customers. Pretty disappointing. I guess the lesson is that if you really want something from IBM Certified Used, you'd better not hesitate.

I just got a M57 tower there last week - I don't know if it is diffrent between the states and canada, but I find that the canadian site is fairly regularly updated, even though it has the same disclamer at the bottom about the inventory and accuracy.

When they do ship, they do it quickly, we ordered the system on saturday, and got it wednesday - not bad.

I ordered a T61 about a month ago; it came with a dying fan (lovely grinding noise) and totally worn out hinges. Was not impressed, and returned it. To their credit, IBM was very quick about processing the refund.

What condition was it listed as? I'm always scared to order the "slightly blemished" items because of stuff like this.

It was "slightly blemished", in theory. In reality it was "worn out and dying." I got a good enough deal that if it had been the fan alone, I might have considered keeping it and replacing the fan on my own dime, but since the hinges were toast too, I just didn't have much motivation--it would have become a big/costly enough project that it no longer would have made financial sense.

That's too bad. It's my theory that "slightly blemished" is Solectron-speak for "we pressed the power button and it turned on, but past that who knows?", hence my reluctance to order items with that label from IBM CUE. I have had very good luck with the refurbished gear that I've ordered from them (perhaps a half dozen pieces over the last couple years.)

Then again, I could be lucky. I don't purchase enough for my experience to be much of a useful data point.

At least you got a prompt refund though. So, you know, silver lining and all...