Lenovo customer service advice

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Jaduncan · #1 Post by **Jaduncan** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:07 am

I ordered my t60p as of 11/08/06, but it still hasn't shipped as of 1/4/07, and the date has just been pushed back to 01/16/07.

I'm unsurprisingly unhappy about this, and wanted some feedback. How unusual is this? Am I likely to be able to negociate a greater discount, and am I likely to get anything from a formal complaint? I'm curious to talk to people with similar exerpiences.

For reference, the order is as follows:

LENOVO THINKPAD T60P 2613
CORE 2 DUO T7400 2.16 GHZ
14.1" TFT
LENOVO THINKPAD NOTEBOOK BATTERY - LI-ION - 2600 MAH 2 GB - SO DIMM 200-PIN - DDR II
MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION
CTO TP WIFI WIRELESS ABG
LENOVO THINKPLUS EXTENDED SERVICE AGREEMENT - 4 YEARS - PICK-UP AND RETURN
LENOVO THINKPAD HARD DRIVE - 100 GB - SATA-150 CTO 8X MAX DUAL LAYER DVD RECORDABLE ULTRABAY SLIM DRIVE

steveg47 · #2 Post by **steveg47** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:40 am

Have you emailed or spoken to anyone at Lenovo yet? If not, call Lenovo and ask them to expedite the order. They probably will be able to ship it within 24 hours, express, their expense. If you get no satisfaction from the first person you speak to politely ask to escalate the issue. In the US this usually means you will get a Customer Relations rep. I had to do this when my schedule slipped last November and I got shipment from China within 24 hours and delivery within 72 hours.

Jaduncan · #3 Post by **Jaduncan** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:01 am

Yes, for about 6 weeks, with various missed promised returned calls, emails etc. The rep's name is Stephen Shute. His manager also promised a ship date of 01/04, which they've now also missed. I really don't know where to go with this.

Jaduncan · #4 Post by **Jaduncan** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:40 pm

Ah, another explicitly promised email missed ("It will ship on the 4th, but if there are any problems with this I'll mail you."). Another 2 hours trying to contact the elusive Mr Shute.

Edit: No returned call, and I've been passed to voice mail twice.

Jaduncan · #5 Post by **Jaduncan** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 5:44 am

I've now got this email from Lenovo (I suspect thanks to someone on the forum).

Our wharehouse has once again rejected your order because it is a customizable model. I know that I confirmed 01/04/07 as the ship date, but an email was sent to me saying otherwise. At this time I have swapped out the customizable model that you came up with for preconfigured part number 87414PU in addition to the 4yr depot warranty and an additional stick 1G RAM. You can check the specs online by searching the part number on our website.You will find that it is a better machine than what was originally quoted. You are not being charged anymore than what was originally quoted.
Brandon Shute
Federal Government
Public Sector
Sales Representative
877.338.4465 x XXXX
Fax: 480.467.6568
www.lenovo.com

The new part is...

T60 widescreen, T7400(2.16GHz), 1GB RAM, 100GB 7200rpm HD, 15.4in 1680x1050 LCD, 128MB ATI Radeon X1400, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11abg wireless, Bluetooth/Modem, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Fingerprint reader, 9c Li-Ion batt, WinXP Pro

Do you guys think this is a good swap? They are refusing to offer anything more but I don't know what the performance of the 3d will be like.

Advice appreciated.

Note from Moderator: The Rules of the Road say this: "6. Respect the privacy of others. Do not post other's phone numbers, addresses, pictures, etc., without their express permission." Mr. Shute's extension number has been removed.

steveg47 · #6 Post by **steveg47** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:34 am

That depends on what your definition of "a good swap" is.

Maybe in the UK or the EU this is the way things are done, but in the US most people would agree that this is not the way to do business. My registered letter of complaint to the CEO of Lenovo would have been in the mail yesterday or sooner!!

Check the "Have you ordered a T60(p)?Shipping Posts." thread (if you have not already) and see how much better service and shipping is in the states.

rmendoza · #7 Post by **rmendoza** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:49 am

steveg47 wrote:Maybe in the UK or the EU this is the way things are done, but in the US most people would agree that this is not the way to do business. My registered letter of complaint to the CEO of Lenovo would have been in the mail yesterday or sooner!!

I think this not the way to do business anywhere. Clearly this is not a case of American exceptionalism, but rather flat out bad customer service. In this very same forum, there plenty of other Lenovo customer service horror stories that took place in the U.S. I myself have been waiting for an extra 512 megs of RAM that was supposed to come with my computer, but never arrived (it was supposed to come with 1 GB, and it only came with 512). I live in the U.S. I don't mean to say that Lenovo has bad customer service in general, only that some people, like with any other company, have bad luck and get a lazy sales rep, or their orders get bounced around turning it into a nightmare. I am sure that the majority of Lenovo customers are happy, just not the OP.

Jaduncan · #8 Post by **Jaduncan** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:59 am

steveg47 wrote:Maybe in the UK or the EU this is the way things are done, but in the US most people would agree that this is not the way to do business.

This is from Lenovo US!

Jaduncan · #9 Post by **Jaduncan** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:09 am

Any comments on the swap? It's a

T60 widescreen, T7400(2.16GHz), 2GB RAM, 100GB 7200rpm HD, 15.4in 1680x1050 LCD, 128MB ATI Radeon X1400, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11abg wireless, Bluetooth/Modem, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Fingerprint reader, 9c Li-Ion batt, WinXP Pro

with 4 years depot warrabty for $1990

#10 Post by **JaneL** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:16 am

Well, at first glance, for the same price it looks like you picked up:

15.4 widescreen
bluetooth
XP Pro
fingerprint reader

Is any of that valuable to you?

steveg47 · #11 Post by **steveg47** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:17 am

Jaduncan wrote:
steveg47 wrote:Maybe in the UK or the EU this is the way things are done, but in the US most people would agree that this is not the way to do business.
This is from Lenovo US!

Are you saying that the responses you have been getting from Lenovo are from reps in the us????

Did you by any chance order your thinkpad thru some Federal Gov purchasing program?

Jaduncan · #12 Post by **Jaduncan** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:27 am

Are you saying that the responses you have been getting from Lenovo are from reps in the us????

Yes. All I ever wanted was a 14" t60p for the quoted price with 2gb mem and warranty. I don't get what's so hard, but now I appear to be being told that I have to suck up the downgrade on card.

*sighs*

Jaduncan · #13 Post by **Jaduncan** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:29 am

steveg47 wrote:Did you by any chance order your thinkpad thru some Federal Gov purchasing program?

Yeah, it's a fed purchase, but direct to the lenovo rep.

#14 Post by **JaneL** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:43 am

Jaduncan wrote:Yeah, it's a fed purchase, but direct to the lenovo rep.

Well, then, that changes everything. Was your original order from a prescribed list of options that the fed had negotiated with Lenovo?

steveg47 · #15 Post by **steveg47** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:01 pm

If you don't mind me asking, what was the original price you got for the 2613?
And you also might want to correct your location from England to where ever you are now so we can at least get the time zones right.

steveg47 · #16 Post by **steveg47** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:11 pm

nonny wrote:Well, at first glance, for the same price it looks like you picked up:

15.4 widescreen
bluetooth
XP Pro
fingerprint reader

Is any of that valuable to you?

and he lost the firegl.

justthinking · #17 Post by **justthinking** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 8:10 pm

Can you post your original model number and price so a more fair comparsion can be done?

I think the problem must be with 2GB SODIMM SINGLE STICK..

Jaduncan · #18 Post by **Jaduncan** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 7:54 am

justthinking wrote:Can you post your original model number and price so a more fair comparsion can be done?

I think the problem must be with 2GB SODIMM SINGLE STICK..

For sure, thanks.

1 2613HP CONFIGURED SYSTEM
01/16/07 $1,931.00 $1,931.00
2613HPU LENOVO THINKPAD T60P 2613 - CORE 2 DUO T7400 2.16 GHZ - 14.1" TFT
40Y6798 LENOVO THINKPAD NOTEBOOK BATTERY - LI-ION - 2600 MAH
40Y7738 LENOVO THINKPAD MEMORY - 1 GB - SO DIMM 200-PIN - DDR II
40Y8497 MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION - LICENSE AND MEDIA
41A4070 CTO TP WIFI WIRELESS ABG
41C9172 LENOVO THINKPLUS EXTENDED SERVICE AGREEMENT - 4 YEARS - PICK-UP AND RETURN
41N8354 LENOVO THINKPAD HARD DRIVE - 100 GB - SATA-150
41N8358 CTO 8X MAX DUAL LAYER DVD RECORDABLE ULTRABAY SLIM DRIVE

Total cost is the aformentioned $1,931.00, on USAF discount (hence the England locale).

steveg47 · #19 Post by **steveg47** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 8:30 am

If the additional size and weight of the widescreen and 9 cell battery is acceptable to you (the widescreen is preferred by many) and the the loss in video performance going from a firegl to an x1400 will not matter for your intended uses then the swap is an excellent deal and you should grab it. You couldn't touch that price now by hundreds of dollars. Especially with the addition of another 1gb of memory and the orginal 100gb drive was only 5400rpm not 7200rpm.
Great swap.

Also the warrantee for the 2613 is not international whereas the lookup on the warrantee of the widescreen says international and covers Great Brittain.

pianowizard · #20 Post by **pianowizard** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:09 pm

Jaduncan wrote:I ordered my t60p as of 11/08/06, but it still hasn't shipped as of 1/4/07, and the date has just been pushed back to 01/16/07.

What really baffles me is why Lenovo would slash prices like mad in the last couple months, when they were already having trouble shipping Thinkpads in a timely manner. Those price drops might help Lenovo make a little more money in the short term, but they also worsened the shipping delays (by increasing sales) and consequently discouraged customers from ordering from Lenovo in the future.

dfumento · #21 Post by **dfumento** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:49 pm

pianowizard wrote:
What really baffles me is why Lenovo would slash prices like mad in the last couple months, when they were already having trouble shipping Thinkpads in a timely manner.

The problem that the original notewriter had was that he ordered a CTO (custom built). The pre-built units Lenovo can ship in a timely fashion. The lesson to be learned is to go with the pre-built (and not CTO) if at all possible.

He should take the unit as long as he likes the wide-screen. You probably won't notice much difference in graphics performance (an X1400 is very respectable performer) and I might add that faster GPUs shorten battery life. That is why I love my X60 with the built-in Intel graphics: I get good graphics performance and very long battery life.

Jaduncan · #22 Post by **Jaduncan** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:01 pm

pianowizard wrote:You probably won't notice much difference in graphics performance (an X1400 is very respectable performer) and I might add that faster GPUs shorten battery life. That is why I love my X60 with the built-in Intel graphics: I get good graphics performance and very long battery life.

Cool, I'll take the swap then. I just got a place at Cambridge University and need a work machine (it's law so not much CAD). The FireGL was mainly for Oblivion... *grins*

steveg47 · #23 Post by **steveg47** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:06 pm

pianowizard wrote:
Jaduncan wrote:I ordered my t60p as of 11/08/06, but it still hasn't shipped as of 1/4/07, and the date has just been pushed back to 01/16/07.
What really baffles me is why Lenovo would slash prices like mad in the last couple months, when they were already having trouble shipping Thinkpads in a timely manner. Those price drops might help Lenovo make a little more money in the short term, but they also worsened the shipping delays (by increasing sales) and consequently discouraged customers from ordering from Lenovo in the future.

Trying to meet or beat short term end-of-year sales goals often make companies very nearsighted.

Jaduncan · #24 Post by **Jaduncan** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:45 pm

Oh, and I'd like to say a big thankyou to everyone for taking time to help me out here. It's very much appreciated.

thinkweird · #25 Post by **thinkweird** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:50 am

steveg47 wrote: Trying to meet or beat short term end-of-year sales goals often make companies very nearsighted.

Well said.

If they can make profits by the holiday season sale, why not keep the price relatively low for all the seasons and promote more sales? (right now there is a $300 increase compared to the sale).

Or they want to restore the price and maintain their 'high status' by high prices?

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