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Placing Order Online Vs Telephone

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 12:33 pm
by thinkxplx
Is there any advantage in calling up Lenovo to place an order Vs ordering it online?. ecoupons offers addl 4% discount, which I think a salesrep would not offer.

Re: Placing Order Online Vs Telephone

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 1:22 pm
by archer6
thinkxplx wrote:Is there any advantage in calling up Lenovo to place an order Vs ordering it online?. ecoupons offers addl 4% discount, which I think a salesrep would not offer.
I personally prefer to call in my order which I've done on several occasions. Often times, if they have an order which has just been canceled they will offer a discount on the price of the ThinkPad. Also by calling in you get the latest info in terms of shipping dates and if they are behind or if there is anything else that may effect your order. As far as price a courteous request for a discount often goes rewarded. Just remember to ask, be patient, and easy to deal with. If you have a degree of flexibility on configuration many times that will help you get the same or even better laptop at a good price. Of the ten or so orders I've called in over the years, nearly every time they've just had an order cancel, or have some left from an order where the quantity is reduced after the machines have been built. Be sure to ask if they have anything in stock.

Just be sure to plan to call when you have some time, as they will respond very positively to your courtesy and it takes them awhile to check inventory, as well as to place your order. Finally take the estimated time of delivery with a grain of salt. Many people get all upset when they are quoted several weeks. Try to remember these are highly sought after laptops, due to their fantastic reliability, and high quality. Each and every time I've been quoted a wait time of 8 to 12 weeks. After all they must allow some wiggle room in case they are running late. However that said, I've always recieved mine in three weeks or less. Once I was quoted 10 weeks and it came in 18 days. So give them the benefit of the doubt. The day you receive it you will forget all about the wait, and be very happy that you did wait to get what you wanted.

I've been using ThinkPads as my main computer for over 10 years and have had some other brands just for the fun of it, and I can tell you nothing comes close to a ThinkPad.

Hope this helps. Good Luck!

Cheers!

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 4:30 pm
by sktn77a
Well, go through the web order process, apply the discount coupon code and subtract the 4% cash back (both from ecoupons.com) and get a final price. Then call them up and ask for your preferred configutaion of something very similar. If you don't like their price, just tell them that and they will likely come down!

I negotiated nearly 40% off the starting price of their extended warranty over the phone recently.

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 10:05 am
by XCoalMiner
What numbers are you calling to ask them to check inventory, 1-866-96-THINK?

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:38 pm
by sktn77a
Well, I don't think there is any "inventory" on new, CTO, machines. They all come from China, built to order. The web is probably faster than a real live person, though only by, maybe, 1 day.

Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 9:22 pm
by thinkxplx
archer6: Your advice was spot on. I placed an order for T61 went along as you suggested and the sales rep knocked off a $100 in addition to the already discounted price.!! Thank you so much. The sales rep was a very helpful guy. ETA is about 2 week or earlier.

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Waiting for my T60 T8100 100G 7200HDD 1.0gig ram XP Pro 14.1 WXGA w/camera. IGP