The Customer Experience

[bhurley]

I've bought four ThinkPads over the years (two for myself and two for my girlfriend) and I have a new A61e desktop on order from Lenovo at the moment. I've also bought a monitor, external hard disk, replacement internal hard disk, and other hardware from IBM and Lenovo. Each time I've gone through the purchasing process I've had the same impressions, and I wonder if anyone else does too:

1. Perhaps because IBM and now Lenovo are geared mainly toward corporate customers, they don't offer the kind of customer experience that home or home office customers are used to. For example, I've never gotten a notification that my order has shipped, and unlike most other computer makers you don't get a tracking number for the shipper so you can be sure you're around when the item arrives. I just get a confirmation that my order has been received and will be shipped in "two to three weeks."

2. The lack of a printed owner's manual for the ThinkPads has always puzzled me. There's some basic setup information but you're supposed to use the AccessIBM utility to learn about your system. This has never worked well for me as AccessIBM isn't really customized for my machine. My T42 came with an internal microphone and voice-recognition software, which I didn't even know was there because it wasn't documented anywhere, not mentioned in the marketing materials, and not mentioned in AccessIBM. Heck, even my keyboard came with a printed user manual. I can understand not providing manuals for software, but not having a real manual for your computer seems a bit cheap to me. Again maybe this is a function of their history of having mainly corporate customers but it grates on me.

3. I haven't called IBM/Lenovo in years so I don't know if this is still the case, but I did once when I was using Windows 2000 and had a question about disk formatting that ended up being an operating system question, which meant they refused to give me an answer and told me to call Microsoft. When I did, I learned that Microsoft charged $200 per call for Windows 2000 support.

Other computer makers usually offer operating system support, so I was a bit miffed by this. On the one hand, it makes perfectly logical sense to pass operating system questions on to the company that made the operating system (Microsoft), but when virtually every other computer manufacturer will answer basic OS questions it seems a bit customer-unfriendly. Again, most users of IBM equipment have their own help desks so I can understand it on one level, but if Lenovo wants to expand their base into home offices it seems this sort of policy should change (and maybe it has, I don't know as I haven't called IBM/Lenovo tech support in several years).

[pianowizard]

I've never gotten a notification that my order has shipped, and unlike most other computer makers you don't get a tracking number.

I ordered a digitzer pen for an X41 tablet several weeks ago on Lenovo's site and got an email notification as well as a tracking number. Ordering by phone might be different.

2. The lack of a printed owner's manual for the ThinkPads has always puzzled me.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think most computer manufacturers stopped providing printed owner's manuals a long time ago. I've bought only 7 new computers in my whole life. The first two were Packard Bell desktops back in around 1995 and both came with lots of printed manuals. The other five (2 Dell laptops, 1 Dell desktop, 1 Thinkpad and 1 Sony Vaio laptop) were purchased between 2002 and 2006 and none of them included printed manuals.

[bhurley]

I ordered a digitzer pen for an X41 tablet several weeks ago on Lenovo's site and got an email notification as well as a tracking number. Ordering by phone might be different.

Interesting: I've only ever ordered from them online, but the last time was a year or so ago so maybe they've changed things now. But also I'm ordering from the Canadian site so maybe that's different.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think most computer manufacturers stopped providing printed owner's manuals a long time ago.

Maybe I'm just spoiled by Apple (Apple's computers come with wonderful manuals; the PowerBook..now MacBook Pro...manual is brilliant), but the last non-IBM computer (a Compaq) I ordered came with a pretty good user manual as well. However that was ages ago so maybe it really is the norm to not ship manuals anymore. It's a shame though, I think.

[ryengineer]

snip.......I just get a confirmation that my order has been received and will be shipped in "two to three weeks."........snip

That's too early for you to say. In Canada lenovo does send an email when the product is actually released from Brampton warehouse after being shipped from one of the Asian manufacturing centers. A courier will give you a call afterwards to arrange drop off logistics at a suitable time depending on your in home availability.

2. The lack of a printed owner's manual for the ThinkPads has always puzzled me. There's some basic setup information but you're supposed to use the AccessIBM utility to learn about your system............snip......I can understand not providing manuals for software, but not having a real manual for your computer seems a bit cheap to me. Again maybe this is a function of their history of having mainly corporate customers but it grates on me.

FYI, Lenovo includes a user manual with every PC it sells. The manual mostly includes get-to-know hardware related topics, it is actually called Service and Troubleshooting guide but it explains everything one likes to know about their machines as you get along the chapters; except the subject of software which is easily available via lenovo's website.

Most customers today look at the quality of product they're receiving, some manufacturers fail to provide it and tend to focus more on other areas; for instance by furnishing a better manual.

3. I haven't called IBM/Lenovo in years so I don't know if this is still the case, but I did once when I was using Windows 2000 and had a question about disk formatting that ended up being an operating system question, which meant they refused to give me an answer and told me to call Microsoft. When I did, I learned that Microsoft charged $200 per call for Windows 2000 support.........snip

I believe this is standard today and most companies practice the same policy. Like other companies lenovo provides support for drivers, non third party application softwares it provides and deals with the compatibility issues of those softwares under Windows.

Lenovo does not provide any technical or other support, such as assistance with “how -to” questions and those regarding product set-up, installation and software. There is no warranty for any third party products, including those that Lenovo may procure and provide with or integrate into the Lenovo product at your request.

[bhurley]

That's too early for you to say. In Canada lenovo does send an email when the product is actually released from Brampton warehouse after being shipped from one of the Asian manufacturing centers. A courier will give you a call afterwards to arrange drop off logistics at a suitable time depending on your in home availability.

Hm, that must be new then; I've saved all the order-related emails I've gotten from IBM/Lenovo over the past five years and only once did I get an email when the product was shipped; I don't remember ever getting a call to arrange drop-off logistics, nor did I get any email with tracking information. But if they're doing that now, that's great and it definitely addresses the situation!