WTB: X61 Tablet Ultrabase barebone

[marcinyt]

please PM me with offers

[erik]

http://stores.channeladvisor.com/Lenovo ... =ca51j0462

this is barebones without any optical drive.

the condition of scratch and dent items varies so keep this in mind.

[Ken Fox]

http://stores.channeladvisor.com/Lenovo ... =ca51j0462

this is barebones without any optical drive.

the condition of scratch and dent items varies so keep this in mind.

I've bought many things from the outlet, in its various iterations over the last few years. The current iteration, a separate site run by channeladvisor, is the worst of the lot. Order fulfillment is very bad, they communicate poorly, and how it can take 2 or 3 weeks to deliver something that they claim on the website as being "in stock, ready to ship" is beyond me. Amazon would be a long dead footnote in the annals of internet commerce if they fulfilled orders like the Lenovo Outlet does these days.

Nonetheless, there are occasional deals. I say "occasional" quite intentionally. The garden variety item for sale on the outlet site costs more than the various (very frequent) online deals that are otherwise available directly from Lenovo. My impression is that most of the genuine deals are because the staff responsible for running the site don't actually have any knowledge about what they are selling and they tend to list things incorrectly in a way that an astute observer might occasionally spot the error and end up getting a deal. And, there are things that have long since vanished from the retail channel which occasionally appear for brief periods, to be snagged by those seeking a particular item that is no longer available.

If you call you will speak with a regular Lenovo salesperson who will tell you that they know very little or nothing more than what is displayed on the outlet webpage, that the outlet site is controlled by the chaneladvisor people and that there is no way to contact them.

As to "scratch and dent," I've ordered two different batteries with this categorization recently. Both of them took about 2.5 weeks to arrive. The first one, an extended battery for the X60 series was manufactured 17 months before I received it and had been cycled previously, about 8 months previous. I called Lenovo and told them to send me a UPS label, that this battery belonged in the DUMP, not being sold for 60% of regular retail (as it was). To their credit, they did send me a pickup label and I sent it back for a refund. The second battery, a slim 4 cell battery for the X60s/X61s, came in a battered box with the original UPS shipping label clearly visible. By inputting the UPS tracking #, I was able to discover that this battery had been shipped to someone else 3 months prior, where it was shipped, to whom, and that there had been delivery problems. There was also handwritten stuff on the box that disclosed personal information about the original intended recipient. This battery was fully serviceable and had zero cycles, having been manufactured about 4 months prior to when I got it. At 1/3 the regular price, it was a pretty good deal and I kept it. Nonetheless, the obvious disregard for the privacy of the original recipient was disquieting.

I would be very careful about any "scratch and dent" purchases from the outlet, and I'd have a very low threshold for picking up the phone and telling them to come pick up that "piece of junk" they just sent you. I would also expect a very large reduction (say 60% or more) for any scratch and dent items I ordered, or I would seek a good deal elsewhere.

ken

[teetee]

I've bought a couple refurbished thinkpads from lenovo outlet and I agree they don't really know what they have on the selling page. In one of the transactions it states the machine came with XP Pro but the actual system was Vista Home. When I called them they said they don't have the record of the machine spec. on the webpage so I have to pulled out my pdf record of the selling page, upload the file to the public domain for them to confirm that they sent me the machine with the wrong system.

Always make pdf copy of the website selling page and the receipt after payment. It makes things much easier for both buyers/sellers.

And even after they confirmed the part number, they were not able to send me the XP Pro recovery CD set. They told me I can either keep the machine as it is or return it without getting charged the restocking fee.