Lenovo Customer Support vs apple, etc

[CRAZYBUBBA]

Do these ratings from the BBB mean anything? The Canadian counterparts have MUCH lower ratings. for example Apple HQ in America has a rating of "B".
Lenovo:
http://www.bbb.org/kitchener/business-r ... on-1157612

Apple: http://www.bbb.org/kitchener/business-r ... on-1090738

[archer6]

Well yes the F for Lenovo stands for "Fast", as they do build the fastest laptops available..... just kidding....

OK, getting serious. I've been a decade long customer of both these companies. Using ThinkPads a my primary laptop of choice. I've had more than 40 ThinkPads personally, and I have a few hundred in my business. I also have bought more than 20 Apple laptops during this same time frame mostly for personal use and a diversion as I get bored easily and like to use a variety of laptops and Operating Systems. That said the point is simply that I have used both warranties, and sent both brands in for service. Far and away the best all time service is IBM then, and Lenovo now. And I'm speaking individual service, as of course as a company my fleet of ThinkPads receive great attention on the corporate side of the isle. Apple used to be pretty good in the 1980's and the early part of 1990's. Now it's rather hit or miss with Apple. I'm not married to a any brand but rather use what's good and delivers as my work, like most peoples is mission critical. Therefore down time is a real problem and I can honestly say I've had next to none with ThinkPad. The one time I had a bad hard drive after 80 days on a new ThinkPad. IBM sent out a shipping box, I dropped it at FedEx and had it back from the repair depot in Atlanta GA (to CA) in less than 48 hours. A problem I had with an Apple PowerBook took three weeks to resolve and it was simply a display replacement cut and dried, no mystery, no difficult diagnostics involved. So, bottom line while no company is perfect I would take a ThinkPad hands down. Especially over the last few years since Apple's service has deteriorated. At least in my experience.

Sidebar: Just my opinion, but based on a deep understanding of the "Apple Faithful". I do tend to think that Apple gets overly high marks for service in the US, because of their nearly cult like fan boys. Thus they put up with a lot and believe everything that comes out of the Steve Jobs / Apple hype machine.

Hope this helps.

Cheers...

[Mark@Lenovo]

crazybubba,

Thanks for pointing this out. We will look into our scores on the Canadian link. We recently reviewed our US scores with the BBB and they found some of their ratings were outdated and updated our prior B- to an A in the US just this past month.

While not impossible, I find it odd that we have cases that are marked that we did not respond to them. I know that here in the US, it is a very thorough process, and we do respond, address the issues, and communicate the resolution to the BBB. It should be understood that each case is investigated, worked, and resolved according to the particular merits of the situation.

Best regards,

Mark

[thePCxp]

Mark,

I think It's great that Lenovo cares about its customers. Why can't we have more companies like this? Keep up the great work!

[zenit]

I just had a bit of an ordeal with a Thinkpad that ended up being a total lemon. It was in for repairs from the first week I had it completely eating up my refund/exchange 21 day period, and after 3 more repair attempts and replacements of just about every component, they agreed to replace it with a new built computer. The case esclation worked pretty well and people I dealt with were very professional and understanding and most importantly I was never treated like I was stupid (often a case with tech support in alot of the companies). I am happy with the outcome of the ordeal so far and should be receiving a replacement computer in next two weeks. Haven't ever had Apple computer, but customer support in Lenovo was better than Asus.

[ZaZ]

One of the problem with boards like this is they often skew the perspective. When someone posts it's either the best or worst ever, but they are such a small slice of the pie. When subsequent people come along and read they think its representative of things, when it's not.

[spuddog]

I have never dealt with Apple, but the two times I have used Lenovo support out of Atlanta I have been very happy. Of course you need to speak southern English, but I am fluent in that.

Scott

[mattbiernat]

from my limited experience both are terrible

[ajkula66]

spuddog wrote:

Of course you need to speak southern English, but I am fluent in that.

Or maybe-in my case-English with an accent that they couldn't figure out even if their lives depended on it...

Worked well in most cases over the past decade...