How long did they hold your credit card balance hostage for?

[pailhead]

I placed an order on Thursday for a T60 "student special" model Lenovo is blowing out and applied a couple of Ecoupons as well. I'm not sure if the order will go through, because on further investigation, some Ecoupons may not be valid along side others. I'm going to be quite angry if they string me along until after midnight tonight, when the 16% discount expires (the largest discount applied), in an attempt to make me pay more for the machine I want. My card has not been charged, but the balance had been on hold, preventing me from taking advantage of other offers I'm interested in.

Is this common practice with Lenonvo? If so, it's not a very positive introduction to the company for me.

[ryengineer]

snip.....Is this common practice with Lenonvo? If so, it's not a very positive introduction to the company for me.

Holding the Credit Card balance is not only a common practice for lenovo but also is today for many other companies especially computer manufacturers. Your Credit card will actually be charged once the machine is released for shipment, preferably after received by you. The hold is temporary, normally it goes away in few days but can come back again anytime, this measure is used to confirm whether your account has sufficient funds or not, you can call lenovo to verify the exact amount that would be charged from your account though, request it to be sent in an email.

It is none of my business but try to get your credit limit extended, students spend a lot on books, tuition, grocery and other needs; I think your bank will be easy on you if you request them.

[pailhead]

snip.....Is this common practice with Lenonvo? If so, it's not a very positive introduction to the company for me.

Holding the Credit Card balance is not only a common practice for lenovo but also is today for many other companies especially computer manufacturers. Your Credit card will actually be charged once the machine is released for shipment, preferably after received by you. The hold is temporary, normally it goes away in few days but can come back again anytime, this measure is used to confirm whether your account has sufficient funds or not, you can call lenovo to verify the exact amount that would be charged from your account though, request it to be sent in an email.

It is none of my business but try to get your credit limit extended, students spend a lot on books, tuition, grocery and other needs; I think your bank will be easy on you if you request them.

I understand all of that, I administrate a retail website. Being in the industry myself, I also know that leaving customers in limbo for more than four days without a confirmation of order or a definitive charge to a credit card is a great way to lose business....particularly when you are talking one thousand dollars.

And it's not an issue of funds. I would have no problem with the hold or the two week wait, provided I knew I had an order placed with Lenovo.

I am really looking forward to hopefully owning a Thinkpad, but it wouldn't take much for me to walk next door an buy a Macbook. It would be that easy for me. If a manufacturer can't provide decent customer service before the sale, what is to say they can offer reliable support afterward...or even produce a quality product for that matter.

[BillMorrow]

first, why not call the sales desk..?
and confirm your order..

second (or maybe this should have been first) read those ecoupons..
read the fine print..
so you have a case if they pull something that is not warranted..

third, quit stamping your foot..
it is not becoming..

forth, lenovo will not sink if you buy a macbook..
YOU might regret it, lenovo will be there when you come back..

you will get a superior notebook in a thinkpad..
macbook pro is really nice and well made.. jewelry..
but not so flexible as a thinkpad.. not nearly so..

and don't equate sales with support..
you're here, right..!
this is not lenovo..
but you are getting some good advice..
free..!

fifth, lenovo support is excellent..

let us all know what happens after you read your ecoupons..
and FWIW, i don't think lenovo is trying to get away with your $$ without sending you what you ordered..

welcome to the planetwide thinkpad community..

[pailhead]

and FWIW, i don't think lenovo is trying to get away with your $$ without sending you what you ordered..

Oh, I'm not saying they are, just that waking up to a FIFTH day and seeing that the email I sent to Customer Service yesterday has not been replied to or acknowledged is getting close to the end for me.

I will call them today - to cancel my order.

Sorry, there is just no excuse for this horrible CS.

[ajkula66]

None of my business, but I believe that a lot of frustration would've been avoided with a simple phone call....

As much as I've never had an issue with IBM/Lenovo customer service, these days I don't email such departments. I pick up the good-old-dialtone-landline and call...when you get a real, live, person on the phone you can actually hope to get something resolved...

I hope that you won't regret your decision to walk away, because it's after-sales service that really counts the most IMHO, and in that area no one comes even close to Lenovo...

[RealBlackStuff]

Coming freshly from Europe, I am not aware of the business of 'holding a balance' on a credit card.
In my dealings with credit cards (well over 35 years now), if I buy or order something and pay with my CC, they immediately check with the CC company, get it approved via an approval code/number and that's it. No holding a CC 'hostage'. And I have used Carte Blanche, Amexco, Diners Club, Visa and Mastercard. Never a problem whatsoever.

In your case 'impulse buying' and 'pouting' come to mind...

[pailhead]

You would a more valuable community if opinions weren't so biased and coming from the "fanboy" perspective.

Of course...it's all my fault. What am I doing expecting to actually be serviced by this company. I should feel lucky to own one of thier produts, eh? Silly me...sorry to take up all of your time.

[JaneL]

I don't think that anyone has said it's your fault - they're just trying to tell you that it's not a practice that is unique to Lenovo. Have you ever made a hotel reservation or rented a car? Even the self-service gas stations will place a hold on a certain amount from your credit card.

[erik]

i sure as heck wouldn't send an email asking such an important question about my order if i had coupons with an explicit expiration.   if you seek an immediate answer than you need to be proactive, not reactive, by picking up the phone rather than relying on email, especially during the holidays when phone lines are ringing off the hook and email is forced to take a back seat.   a quick call to 800-96-THINK would have netted you an answer by now.   this goes for any product ordered through any company, not just lenovo.

[pailhead]

a quick call to 800-96-THINK would have netted you an answer by now.

Indeed.

After two calls to Lenovo, one to my credit card company and about an hour of my time wasted, I do have my answer. Lenovo has really piss-poor customer service. I don't want to speak with some useless dude in India, no I won't call back a third time and press two - you can transfer me, and no, I'm not home at noon on a Wednesday to receive a call from you...some people actually work. I'm really not that difficult to please, this company just took every opportunity to displease me.

Apparently there is no record of the order I placed, but there is clearly a hold for the exact amount of the order I placed on my card. The only way a hold can be removed by the retailer...but they have no record of an order...

Nice.

I'll be speaking to a supervisor tomorrow an hopefully enjoying a new Macbook by the end of the week. Way to fail Lenovo!

[erik]

PM me with your customer number and order number and i'll have it looked into.

[pailhead]

Dispite all the hassle I went through, I ended up placing another order tonight. Confirmation came right through to my to my email address this time. I hope I am not as disappointed with the quality of build as I was with their initial service. For $860 to my door, this deal was hard to pass up..despite my anger. Money left over for upgrades.


*Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T7200 (2.0GHz, 4MB L2, 667MHz FSB)

*Genuine Windows XP Home Edition

*15.4 WSXGA+ TFT

*ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 128MB

*1 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)[8]

*Integrated fingerprint reader

*60GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm

*CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo 24X/24X/24X/8X Max, Ultrabay Slim

*Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG

[RealBlackStuff]

If you can still change it, I would go for a 7200RPM hard disk of 100GB.