T60/X1400: they're taking it back from me!

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DIGITALgimpus · #31 Post by **DIGITALgimpus** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 10:48 pm

May want to ask what you get for the inconvience... and see if you can guilt them into throwing you something for your time.

It is a couple hours you waste in a situation like that.... it's their mistake. Especially if it's only 16 machines... i'd think they'd give you either a small token coupon towards an accessory/upgrade, or some RAM or something. Would keep customers much happier than having to eat a couple hours over their mistake.

nelson · #32 Post by **nelson** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 9:49 pm

When the salesman I've been talking to finally called me back, he did offer me some sort of incentive. I've already specced the machine like I wanted and was afraid to change anything, so I suggested an Ultrabay battery. He said he'd "get back to me on that". Of course, getting back to me is not this guy's strong suit and I've heard nothing. I did get an order number for the replacement finally, that's how I know how long it will finally be.

DIGITALgimpus · #33 Post by **DIGITALgimpus** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:36 pm

Should always ask for: Name, and contact info. So that you can follow up if they don't.

nelson · #34 Post by **nelson** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 4:56 pm

Oh, I have his contact info. He just never answers the phone nor returns my phone calls.

DIGITALgimpus · #35 Post by **DIGITALgimpus** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:22 pm

Yea, that's because these guys are typically on the phone constantly, so you get bumped to voicemail... best bet I found has been to keep calling. Just redial several times. Not 100% effective, but got the job done for me, the few times I needed to talk to someone about a problem.

nelson · #36 Post by **nelson** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 4:41 pm

Does anyone have any advice on how to escalate a customer service issue at Lenovo / Toronto? It's now 46 days after I placed my order and I still do not have a working Thinkpad, despite the fact that I've been charged for it and promised a replacement "in a week or so" for four weeks now. My contact in Toronto generally does not return my phone calls and has been unable to solve my problem. I'm now at the point where I cannot accept a replacement (I'm leaving the country for three months) and need to get someone at Lenovo to be creative / helpful. What do I do?

greynolds · #37 Post by **greynolds** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:39 pm

Something you could try is to call the sales line and simply take the first available salesperson, rather than calling your specific salesperson. Once you get a human on the line, briefly explain that you've got a serious problem with your system and that you want to speak to a supervisor. Hopefully the salesperson you get won't want to deal with your problem as they'd rather get back on the phone to sell more systems and will quickly transfer you to someone with a little more authority. Once you get that person on the line, don't hang up until you get an answer that makes sense AND that you're happy with.

If you still get nowhere, perhaps it's time to call your credit card company, assuming you paid with a credit card, and see if they can get involved. I think you said you live in Canada, so I'm not sure if that complicates things or not.

FWIW, I placed my order a few weeks ago for a T60P and can't say that their ordering process has inspired a lot of confidence. They took my initial order over the phone and forgot to factor in the 10% that my company has negotiated with them (for personal purchases). So that took a few emails as the sales guy wasn't being careful (or maybe he was hoping that I wasn't checking) and kept missing the discount on one thing or another. This weekend, he called me to tell me that the configuration I ordered is no longer offered, so I had to switch to the 14" screen ($100 less) or the fastest CPU but without the WWAN card ($100 more). So then we had to play the game of emailing him until he got the 10% discount on everything again.

Definitely a very different situation, but you sure are right that their customer service leaves something to be desired.

I hope you get your situation resolved soon - things like you're going through can be VERY frustrating. Hopefully the final replacement will work fine from the start.

bert · #38 Post by **bert** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 5:22 am

Perhaps it has a Sony battery that they want back before it catches fire?

DIGITALgimpus · #39 Post by **DIGITALgimpus** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 9:14 am

I was just thinking the same thing the other day... would be interesting to check.

mjgunn · #40 Post by **mjgunn** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 9:40 am

Its possible, but why would they take back the whole system, rather than just swap out the battery?

bert · #41 Post by **bert** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 11:32 am

Since they have not yet made a general recall decision, like Dell and Apple, they may not want to draw any attention to it.

nelson · #42 Post by **nelson** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 1:04 pm

I did try calling another salesperson once, but all that person wanted to do was put me in touch with my primary contact. I haven't yet tried the direct "let me talk to a supervisor" route, but that will be the next step. Or taking it to the credit card company, but that makes an awkward mess for everyone involved.

My salesperson still hasn't called me back, but miracle of miracles I got a notice today they're shipping the system. It will arrive with one day to spare! If the shipping notice is to be believed the new system is short 1 gig of RAM, but hey, why should I expect to get what I ordered? At least I can fix the RAM myself.

Needless to say, I'm not a big fan of how Lenovo is handling the Thinkpad business.

darrenf · #43 Post by **darrenf** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 3:23 pm

Since they threatened to revoke your warranty, I think you have to contact your credit card company and file a dispute. If this drags past 90 days you will have no protections. It might even get Lenovo to act.

This is truly disappointing to hear. I wouldn't hesitate to call a supervisor, though.

Good luck!

-darren

nelson · #44 Post by **nelson** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 6:55 pm

My saga may be coming to a happy conclusion. My replacement arrived today (24 hours from Hong Kong to San Francisco!) and seems to be working fine. It even has the 2 gigs of RAM it's supposed to.

I took a close look with Sandra SiSoftware to look for differences in the systems but didn't see anything obvious. Some parts are changed. The new machine has a Toshiba hard drive (as opposed to the Fujitsu I originally got). And the main battery is built by Sanyo (not the Sony battery I first got; conspiracy theoriests, go nuts). So who knows what's wrong with the first machine they sent me. Whatever, glad I have one that works now.

In the end I think my real problem I had is Lenovo assigned my case to a salesman. I got the impression he was much more interested in pursuing customers than helping some poor schlub who got sent a bum machine. Not returning phone calls is simply unacceptable.

PS: Fun fact of the day; it takes about 2 hours from the time you first turn on a new Thinkpad to when all the software updates are downloaded and installed. At least the new machine shipped with BIOS 1.09a already.

DIGITALgimpus · #45 Post by **DIGITALgimpus** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:13 pm

nelson wrote:And the main battery is built by Sanyo (not the Sony battery I first got; conspiracy theoriests, go nuts).

AAAAH HAAA!

I knew it.

Call me a conspiracy theorist if you must... but honestly, that's the prime suspect.

mattbiernat · #46 Post by **mattbiernat** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:27 pm

nelson wrote:And the main battery is built by Sanyo (not the Sony battery I first got; conspiracy theoriests, go nuts).

Remove letter "a" and replace with "o." And you get this

Sanyo = Sony

darrenf · #47 Post by **darrenf** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 10:24 pm

I'm surprised that it had either a Toshiba *or* Fujitsu drive. I thought all ThinkPads had Hitachi drives.

-darren

DIGITALgimpus · #48 Post by **DIGITALgimpus** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:27 am

darrenf wrote:I'm surprised that it had either a Toshiba *or* Fujitsu drive. I thought all ThinkPads had Hitachi drives.

-darren

Based on the firmware update released, looks like Seagates are used as well... which I believe is new.

darrenf · #49 Post by **darrenf** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:48 am

That would seem to confirm that all drives are made with ATA password protection circuitry. I wonder if desktop drives have this as well...

-darren

bert · #50 Post by **bert** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 7:29 am

AAAAH HAAA indeed! A stealth recall.

Call me a realist.

benplaut · #51 Post by **benplaut** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 2:48 pm

So... does this mean that the model you received had been sent back and the bad parts swapped, or will there be an influx of refurbs?

T60/X1400: they're taking it back from me!

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