Can I ask a question about a particular dealer? Ethics?

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Carbonfish · #1 Post by **Carbonfish** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:23 am

First off, Greetings!

I have a question that I need answered before I can find out what I need to know, so please bear with me. Here goes. Is it ethical for me to ask if anyone on this forum knows anything about a particular on-line vendor of IBM products? The reason that I ask is that yesterday I ordered a used ThinkPad T23 from a store that has a highly visible web presence, and in many ways appears to be completely legitimate. After two conversations with one of their representatives and some billing/shipping problems right out of the gate, I am already more than a little bit nervous, and when I tried to follow the "order/shipping tracking" link on their web site I found it broken. I may be jumping the gun a bit here, but I would feel much better if I could get some objective feedback about this storefront. I am reluctant to just ask for a "review" on a forum, but have searched all of the other resources that I can think of, including the BBB. Before I post the company name, I thought that it might be a good idea if I got some feedback about the ethics of asking such a question.

TIA for advising about ethical dilemma.

dsigma6 · #2 Post by **dsigma6** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 7:19 am

when you say the tracking link is broken, do you just mean that it says theres nothing available for the item you entered?

#3 Post by **Kyocera** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 7:28 am

Who is it.?

Website · #4 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 10:13 am

Yes, it is fine to ask about it.

Carbonfish · #5 Post by **Carbonfish** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 11:52 am

Hi everybody,

Thank you for the warm welcome to the forum.

The name of the company is ThinkPad Depot. Their web presence is at www.thinkpaddepot.com When I say that the link is broken, I mean that I get a server error:

Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server error '80040e14'
Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'order'.
/html/track_orders.asp, line 5

Makes it a little tough to know what's happening. I spoke with one of their representatives this morning, and they said that the "billing problem" (I used a credit card, so I'm still a little fuzzy about what the "problem" was) was fixed and that the product shipped this morning EST. But he could not provide me with a tracking number, and said he would have to call me back. He was also unable to tell me who they shipped the laptop with. These kinds of inconsistencies make me nervous.

Thanks for your responses. I'll be very interested to know if anyone has had any experience with this company and if their experience was good or if my fears are justified.

#6 Post by **Kyocera** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 11:59 am

Well, it looks like you just have to keep those fingers crossed now

Have you tried the betterbusiness bureau web site or done a google search on that company?

I hope they are not trying to rip you off, good luck. And report back.

NS · #7 Post by NS » Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:06 pm

I knew that it was confirmed a server error and i posted about that just now. And who deleted my post away??? That post is correct and hit the target and is not a useless post so why delete... Give me a reason and who did it please own up... !!

Website · #8 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:27 pm

NS wrote:I knew that it was confirmed a server error and i posted about that just now. And who deleted my post away??? That post is correct and hit the target and is not a useless post so why delete... Give me a reason and who did it please own up... !!

Did you see your post afterwards? I know that I had a problem about two hours ago in trying to post in this thread. The system timed out on me and when I went back and checked my post wasn't there (normally in a time out situation, it would still post). I had to repost.

dsvochak · #9 Post by **dsvochak** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 1:11 pm

PriceGrabber reviews of ThinkPadDepot can be found at:

http://www.pricegrabber.com/rating_getr ... hp/r=3178/

Carbonfish · #10 Post by **Carbonfish** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 1:24 pm

In reply to Kyocera, yes, I went to the BBB and did a search about the company, and where a report would be generated the page read "We are attempting to develop information on this company. At the present time we do not have enough information to issue a report."

I am not sure what this means. Could it mean that there have been negative reports submitted on this company and that they are investigating? or is this the default "no info." page?

I guess all I can do is wait.

I have Googled ThinkPad Depot, and have gotten the responses that one might expect. Links to the site itself, links to "pay-to-appear" lists like PriceGrabber.com, and then the fake blogs from blog servers like "blogger" that all have similar content ("Marlena's blog-- You guys wont believe the great deal I got an a used computer at thinkpaddepot.com. They were fantastic! U need 2 go there!!"). That sort of thing just makes me more nervous. IMHO, no legitimate business needs to resort to those tactics to get our eyeballs.

That said, I kinda wish I had done all this before I had ordered the notebook. *sighs*

I guess like so many people, I am great at warning others to do their homework before buying on-line, but I was sucked right in by ThinkPad Depot's professional looking web site.

I hope things go all right. I'll keep you posted, and thanks for the interest.

dsigma6 · #11 Post by **dsigma6** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 1:55 pm

is that 25% negative feedback? hmm..im not bashing you, but why would you spend hundreds of dollars at a site you never heard of?

Carbonfish · #12 Post by **Carbonfish** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 3:50 pm

dsigma6 wrote:is that 25% negative feedback? hmm..im not bashing you, but why would you spend hundreds of dollars at a site you never heard of?

I guess that you missed the end of my last post...

"That said, I kinda wish I had done all this before I had ordered the notebook. *sighs*

I guess like so many people, I am great at warning others to do their homework before buying on-line, but I was sucked right in by ThinkPad Depot's professional looking web site."

Website · #13 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 4:02 pm

I just noticed that their site is now under construction.

Carbonfish · #14 Post by **Carbonfish** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 4:22 pm

tfflivemb2 wrote:I just noticed that their site is now under construction.

After seeing your post, I went to have a look. The site is up, but something that I find interesting is that the T23 that I bought is still listed as "in stock" and appears to be available for purchase. Maybe they only update their site at the end of the business day after the item ships, but it sure looks like somebody could still add item # 26474MU to their shopping cart. HMMMMmmm.

KC

#15 Post by **BillMorrow** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 4:22 pm

site is gone..
i would be more than a BIT worried..
i think if it were I, i would call them again and if i could not get an answer or the right answer IF they DO answer i would give my credit card issuer a call..

and start over..

there must be a bunch of used T23's out in the "channel"..

find one from a better vendor..

Carbonfish · #16 Post by **Carbonfish** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 4:27 pm

BillMorrow wrote:site is gone..
i would be more than a BIT worried..

I am not sure why you guys are finding the site under construction, or missing altogether. I just went there 2 seconds ago, and the site is up!

Are you sure that you're going to www.thinkpaddepot.com ?

Website · #17 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 4:28 pm

Carbonfish wrote:After seeing your post, I went to have a look. The site is up, but something that I find interesting is that the T23 that I bought is still listed as "in stock" and appears to be available for purchase. Maybe they only update their site at the end of the business day after the item ships, but it sure looks like somebody could still add item # 26474MU to their shopping cart. HMMMMmmm.

Still down. In their defense, some sites will only update overnight (eg. USPS). Maybe this is just a coicidence. Their feedback seemed somewhat ok on PriceGrabber, which by the way, is a site that I use quite often.

Orevin · #18 Post by **Orevin** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 4:31 pm

The link Carbonfish provided has a typo. The site is up: http://www.thinkpaddepot.com/

Carbonfish · #19 Post by **Carbonfish** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 4:35 pm

Wow, that typo really scared me. Sorry about that. I'm glad that I wasn't coding, I never would have found the period at the end of that URL. The link that I provided in a post further down the thread works.

Again, forgive my poor attention to detail.

But MAN!! You guys scared the @$#* out of me!

Kent

Website · #20 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 5:39 pm

Glad to hear that it was a typo.

I looked through their site, and it seems ok. See what happens tomorrow. If you can't get the tracking update through their site, I would call them. If they can't give it to you over the phone, I would call your credit card company and atleast give them a heads up...just in case.

Carbonfish · #21 Post by **Carbonfish** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 5:58 pm

tfflivemb2 wrote:Glad to hear that it was a typo.

I looked through their site, and it seems ok. See what happens tomorrow. If you can't get the tracking update through their site, I would call them. If they can't give it to you over the phone, I would call your credit card company and atleast give them a heads up...just in case.

I'm glad that it was a typo as well. Your advice is sound and I will follow it.

KC

bigtiger · #22 Post by **bigtiger** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 6:07 pm

This site is very interesting. The domain points to IP address at: 71.4.194.143 but once I type in this address, it says it is under construction.

I suspect that the company is using shared webhost. If that is the truth, I would avoid them like disease.

Well, I may be wrong. Maybe some experts can share some light on it.

christopher_wolf · #23 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 6:07 pm

Did you do a search of the forum?

Something is knocking around in the back of my head telling me of bad experiences in combination with the URL thinkpaddepot.com

bigtiger · #24 Post by **bigtiger** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 6:14 pm

I may be wrong. Here are some reviews. But a mere 16 reviews still make me nervious.

http://www.pricegrabber.com/rating_getr ... 618b5eeeda

Carbonfish · #25 Post by **Carbonfish** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 8:56 pm

christopher_wolf wrote:Did you do a search of the forum?

I am not sure that I understand what you mean by "do a search of the forum."

I did a Google search of the company name, and got mostly junk or seemingly internally generated promotional stuff. Another thing that sort of gives me the yips is that on their "About Us" link at the top of their page, it says that ThinkPad Depot is a subsidiary of some parent co. named "Irazim", but this is another link on ThinkPad Depot's site that goes nowhere.

The more I look at this company the less I like what I see. Unfortunately, they now have $369.00 of my money.

I figured out how to access their "order tracking" info, by registering, and entering my account info. Again, unfortunately, all the "tracking" info that was there was a order number and it indicated that the order was approved. No shipping info. or anything else.

I'm starting to think that it will be a miracle if I ever see a working "Factory Refurbished" ThinkPad T23.

bigtiger · #26 Post by **bigtiger** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 9:04 pm

Do let us know your experience when you got the laptop. I am curious about this company.

Can you cancel your order? If you paid with Credit, you can also refuse to pay, I guess.

Carbonfish · #27 Post by **Carbonfish** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 9:16 pm

bigtiger wrote:Do let us know your experience when you got the laptop. I am curious about this company.

Can you cancel your order? If you paid with Credit, you can also refuse to pay, I guess.

I don't know what the bank would do about cancelling the order, or how long I would have to allow the company to make me whole. Because the card is issued by a big bank (US Bank) I have fraud protection. So supposedly the most I can lose is $50.00. But that's not really the issue. As we all are aware, time is money, stress is money, and every minute I spend trying to find out my order status, and worrying about whether or not I'm going to get this thing at all, is a minute of my life that I'll never have back.

To be realistic though, This process only started this past Sunday, so in all fairness, even though this company has done everything wrong as far as making the customer comfortable after the sale, they actually haven't ripped me off yet. I'll call tomorrow morning and ask them for my tracking number, and if I gett a song and dance, then I'll really start to worry and make some phone calls to the bank, etc.

I have to say thanks to you all for your support and concern though. I find typing about it cathartic.

KC

JHEM · #28 Post by **JHEM** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 9:16 pm

Carbonfish wrote:'m starting to think that it will be a miracle if I ever see a working "Factory Refurbished" ThinkPad T23.

They've been around for at least 5 years under various owners, including Kaanza for a spell, although I haven't seen any emails or NG posts about them in a while. I wouldn't worry too much about not receiving anything, at least for a week or so.

They used to sell on eBay, don't know why they left.

I've never heard anything specifically bad about them.

Regards,

James

christopher_wolf · #29 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 9:21 pm

You can do a search of the forum with the "Search" button in the white margin at the very top of the forum list.

Seriously, I *do* remember hearing some things about them here some time back.

NS · #30 Post by NS » Wed Jul 26, 2006 9:29 pm

Hey people, let me tell you about this from what i have read in this thread.

I smell something fishy and this company looked suspicious. Better be careful...

* NS\'s most talented skill is to verify people & company who/which behaves oddly *

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