Thinkpads Forum

The customer service oriented thing to do when these machines finally get built would be to priority ship them. This would show to the customer that Lenovo understands the frustration and is willing to do something about it. If there is a parts shortage, not really their fault, but this would provide some relief.

Ordered my T61 on 5/22, and even though my online order status says it should ship on 6/8 (as it has since the beginning), the rep I talked to on the phone (after a 30 minute wait) says it will not ship until the last week of June, approximately 4 weeks after the order was placed. Since I'm moving from Maryland to Boston this week, I had to change the shipping address, and this tacks on another few days to the shipping date because they have to send in a "request" for the shipping adress change. ARGH.

I asked them if there were any special provisions for customers who have been waiting so long. Negative. He said the delay is due to some malfunction in their ordering system combined with the unprecedented number of calls they've been getting for orders recently.

LESSON #1: The online estimated ship date on T61 orders means nothing.

LESSON #2: If the price goes down while you are waiting, the way to get the credit for the difference is to configure another order online exactly the way you did when you originally ordered, but instead of entering your credit card information, hit "save my order" or something like that, and then this generates an order number. Call Lenovo after your order finally ships (within 21 days of the shipment) and reference your two order numbers. They will verify that the two configurations are the same and credit you any difference.

LESSON #3: The poster who commented before is probably right in that threatening to cancel your order will not get you any special favors like rush shipping or whatever because they have a huge number of orders coming in.

I've come to realize each rep you speak to gives a different answer and pulls a different date out of the sky. I just wish lenovo would get their act together and just tell people the truth instead of making us more upset when their fictional ship dates come and go.

My thoughts exactly

within 2 weeks, within 3 weeks, by the end of June, or 8/31 as shown on my order.

As to how they could possibly say 1 - 2 weeks on their website? ... beats me.

This is very strange. I ordered a T60p on 5/30/07 and the order receipt said that it would not be ready until 6/26/07. But, the computer arrived today - only a few days later.

The bar code label on the box shows that the computer was manufactured on 6/1/2007. However, the bar code label on the bottom of the computer shows 07/05. That's nearly 2 years ago!

Anybody know what is going on? The serial numbers match, but the dates sure don't.

JPOESQ wrote:This is very strange. I ordered a T60p on 5/30/07 and the order receipt said that it would not be ready until 6/26/07. But, the computer arrived today - only a few days later.

The bar code label on the box shows that the computer was manufactured on 6/1/2007. However, the bar code label on the bottom of the computer shows 07/05. That's nearly 2 years ago!

Anybody know what is going on? The serial numbers match, but the dates sure don't.

I dont think the T60 series has been out for 2 years. But its possible they manufactured your machine in 2 days...Dell and HP have a quick turnaround so maybe you just got lucky.

briboynyc wrote:

JPOESQ wrote:This is very strange. I ordered a T60p on 5/30/07 and the order receipt said that it would not be ready until 6/26/07. But, the computer arrived today - only a few days later.

The bar code label on the box shows that the computer was manufactured on 6/1/2007. However, the bar code label on the bottom of the computer shows 07/05. That's nearly 2 years ago!

Anybody know what is going on? The serial numbers match, but the dates sure don't.

I dont think the T60 series has been out for 2 years. But its possible they manufactured your machine in 2 days...Dell and HP have a quick turnaround so maybe you just got lucky.

Maybe they use backwards dates? So 07/05 means May 2007?

Oh, nevermind; that's it - my other thinkpads have the backward date convention - it's year/month - good grief!

But, I did order a 3-year warranty upgrade and the website shows only a 1-year warranty. I guess a phone call is in order.

sounds like I should cancel my t61 and order a t60 instead

congrats on your new laptop!

briboynyc wrote:I've come to realize each rep you speak to gives a different answer and pulls a different date out of the sky. I just wish lenovo would get their act together and just tell people the truth instead of making us more upset when their fictional ship dates come and go.

Why Lenovo hired those helpless phone sales in US? They said sorry to me for hundreds times, but what I need is the real laptop shipping date, not the apology. IBM should never sell the PC brand to Lenovo, What Lenovo has done in this business is really damaging the great name "IBM ThinkPad"; If you have commit to your customer, then you have to deliver your product on time. I'm sure they will be out of business in next couple years if they don't improve.

I rec'd my T61 in about 2 weeks.....7664-17U

Don´t get confussed JPOESQ, date must be read yy/mm so your laptop manufacturing date was 2007-May that´s a most recent machine!

JPOESQ wrote:But, I did order a 3-year warranty upgrade and the website shows only a 1-year warranty. I guess a phone call is in order.

From past experiences, it takes Lenovo 2-4 weeks to update the warranty database. If you purchased additional warranty, it will show up on their website later. Just keep your original invoice showing that you have purchased additional warranty, just in case.

tfflivemb2 wrote:I rec'd my T61 in about 2 weeks.....7664-17U

Yours are from corporation order. Hence, it is fulfilled before customer order.

Did anyone order t61 this week?? If yes, what estimated date of shipment did you get??

korek wrote:Did anyone order t61 this week?? If yes, what estimated date of shipment did you get??

I cancelled my original May 9th order and reordered on May 31st. I got a ship date of June 19th.

Interesting, I ordered mine on May 28th and still have the funky Aug 30th shipping date.

Today was the date that last week's CSR told me was "practically guaranteed" my T60 would ship by. The CSR today told me it was supposed to ship today, but didn't. I am officially on the "critical" list now, but that doesn't seem to be buying me much so far. The CSR checked with someone, and came back with a new date of 6/13. The 15.4" LCDs that were supposed to arrive by 6/2 (before that it was 5/26) either didn't show up, or weren't the right thing. Now the LCDs are supposed to be delivered by 6/10. I'm not holding my breath.

The CSR did offer me a free accessory for my troubles, and I took him up on it. He offered a carrying case or a mouse, but I asked for an additional AC power adapter, and he was able to get approval for that.

I'm still shopping around, and if I find something else, I'll cancel this order, but I can't find anything that compares. I recently figured out that the custom machine I configured is incredibly close to the standard 8744BU, which I could get from Newegg or a dozen other retailers shipped to my door in less than a week, but it would cost several hundred more than the Lenovo deal I got.

i wonder if they will upgrade our shipping method for free

cptcoconut wrote:Today was the date that last week's CSR told me was "practically guaranteed" my T60 would ship by. The CSR today told me it was supposed to ship today, but didn't. I am officially on the "critical" list now, but that doesn't seem to be buying me much so far. The CSR checked with someone, and came back with a new date of 6/13. The 15.4" LCDs that were supposed to arrive by 6/2 (before that it was 5/26) either didn't show up, or weren't the right thing. Now the LCDs are supposed to be delivered by 6/10. I'm not holding my breath.

The CSR did offer me a free accessory for my troubles, and I took him up on it. He offered a carrying case or a mouse, but I asked for an additional AC power adapter, and he was able to get approval for that.

I'm still shopping around, and if I find something else, I'll cancel this order, but I can't find anything that compares. I recently figured out that the custom machine I configured is incredibly close to the standard 8744BU, which I could get from Newegg or a dozen other retailers shipped to my door in less than a week, but it would cost several hundred more than the Lenovo deal I got.

Exactly same thing happened to me, i was told twice, 6/1 will be my final shipping date, but....still. I would rather paying hundreds more at Newegg because being shopping happily is priceless.

The new MacBook Pro's have been announced using the latest Intel components. On Apple's store website the estimated ship is 4-6 weeks. So, it appears a number of manufacturers are taking awhile to build these latest machines. I guess the difference is they (Dell and Apple) are being more upfront with their delayed shipping dates.

I'm not sure how this happened, but I now have a T61 on the way after thinking the worst - that it would never get here - and I've now made other laptop plans.

IF it arrives, or I can confirm shipping, I will (with admin permission) post it for sale in pure, unopened, condition and reasonable price.

Regards,
William

willgriam wrote:I'm not sure how this happened, but I now have a T61 on the way after thinking the worst - that it would never get here - and I've now made other laptop plans.

IF it arrives, or I can confirm shipping, I will (with admin permission) post it for sale in pure, unopened, condition and reasonable price.

Regards,
William

Thats amazing...you submitted the order on the 3rd and shipped today. Congrats. Now thats how a laptop should be built...not like the 30 days I've been waiting. I actually saw the Sony Vaio FZ in person and its a sharp looking computer. It's not a lenovo but it looks nice

willgriam, how is this T61 configured? I ordered one on 5/28 and still have the funky August ship date. I may be interested if yours is configured similarly.

korek wrote:Did anyone order t61 this week?? If yes, what estimated date of shipment did you get??

I ordered mine yesterday (6465 CTO) and show a 6/29 ship date, but I expect it to take longer than that!

so i called lenovo today and the rep ended up arguing with me that there is nothing more he can tell me besides the fact they are running behind. he then asked if i have talked to the original rep which i havent. then he just put me on hold and transferred me to a voicemail...what kind of service is that?

My T61 order of 5/29 said "Estimated ship date 8/28/07". I had read here that that is a computer/web error so I did nothing for a week. I called Lenovo 6/5 and was told it would ship by 6/21 (3 weeks form credit card approval). I thought, no problem, that is acceptable. Got an email yesterday 6/6 that it has shipped!.

Tracked it today and to my surprise it is shipping from Hong Kong. I don't know if this is the norm for online orders but I doubt it. My guess is that instead of filling a container ship of laptops to the US (and losing two weeks transit time) they are for now, shipping direct to the customer from the factory.

if you don't mind sharing, what was your configuration?

they are actually all from hong kong. my roommate's t60 came from there too last year.

i ordered on 5/9 and still havent heard anything. they told me 6/22 estimated ship day.

Happy to share - My configuration is pretty basic: T7300 processor, Win XP, WXGA w/o camera, Intel X3100 graphics, 2 GB (2 DIMM), 100GB x 7,200 hard drive, DVD Recordable Ultrabay, 4 cell + Ultrabay battery, Thinkpad 11a/b/g/n, Ultranav w/ fingerprint reader.

I think that about covers it. It would be anyone's guess if there is a specific component or two that is slowing down some orders. Mine shipped in 8 days.

Yeah, it makes sense all custom laptops would be from HK.

there are a few other people on the notebookreview forums who's t61 orders have recently shipped. Obviously, this is drawing in a very small sample, but from what people have posted, there aren't really any common factors to the shipped orders...

7300 7700
integrated, nvidia
xp, vista basic, vista business
etc. etc..

What is more odd, and somewhat annoying , is that it seems like orders are being fulfilled somewhat randomly. Lots of very vocal people who placed orders in early may are still waiting, while people who ordered around late may, or even early june, have had their orders shipped already.

Oh well, nothing to do but wait I guess. and keep our eyes peeled for a better deal maybe