My shipping rant

[trharlan]

I ordered a Think Express T42 on October 7. Promised delivery was two weeks.
It shipped from HK on October 12.
It was held up at customs until October 22.
It arrived in New York, where I live, on October 24.
It was not delivered, so I called UPS on October 25.
UPS said it would be delivered on October 26.
It was not delivered on October 26.
I again called UPS, who said that it was probably stolen.
I called Lenovo, on October 26. They claimed that they would start a trace. They claimed that it would take 4 business days.
I called Lenovo today (waited on hold for 24 minutes)who said that they never started a trace, and would start one now.
They said that the trace would take eight business days.


I can't believe how badly this sucks, how frequently they break their promises, and how unwilling they are to make reparations.

I bet I've thrown 15 orders their way over the past year, and this is the thanks I get? I hear Toshiba makes a pretty good laptop nowadays.

[K. Eng]

Toshiba? Most of Toshiba's consumer line stuff is garbage and suffers from poor build quality and shallow keyboards. Toshiba's business line has been improving, but it's no where near ThinkPad level yet.

If there's anyone that's catching up, it's HP's business unit. The nc and nx series machines are very competitive.

[MobileGuru]

I ordered a Think Express T42 on October 7. Promised delivery was two weeks.
It shipped from HK on October 12.
It was held up at customs until October 22.
It arrived in New York, where I live, on October 24.
It was not delivered, so I called UPS on October 25.
UPS said it would be delivered on October 26.
It was not delivered on October 26.
I again called UPS, who said that it was probably stolen.
I called Lenovo, on October 26. They claimed that they would start a trace. They claimed that it would take 4 business days.
I called Lenovo today (waited on hold for 24 minutes)who said that they never started a trace, and would start one now.
They said that the trace would take eight business days.

I can't believe how badly this sucks, how frequently they break their promises, and how unwilling they are to make reparations.

I bet I've thrown 15 orders their way over the past year, and this is the thanks I get? I hear Toshiba makes a pretty good laptop nowadays.

Well .. while I'm not looking to have a repeat debacle like the last one, I am curious here. You ordered on the 7th and it shipped the 12th, which since that was a weekend was a build to ship time of roughly 3 business days (not bad by the way). From there, most of the delays you listed involved either customs or UPS .. so why is all of your disdane aimed at Lenovo exactly?

Lenovo didn't lose your box .. UPS did.
Lenovo didn't hold your machine .. customs did.

Now as for not starting a trace .. THAT I can see Lenovo taking some heat for .. although, they DO need to engage UPS on the actual trace, and rely on UPS for the results.

I can understand you're frustrated, but to blame Lenovo for mistakes and delays caused by third party service providers seems somewhat unfair, don't you think? Personally, I'd bite into someone at Lenovo for the delay in starting the trace .. but thats about all they have done wrong here from what I can see from your information.

MG.

[trharlan]

Lenovo chose to batch-direct ship from HK.
Lenovo chose UPS.
Lenovo didn't sufficiently lean on UPS to get the packages expedited.
Lenovo didn't pressure UPS to use a competent customs broker.
Lenovo offered no concessions for the delay.
Lenovo failed to trace.
Lenovo failed to offer to ship another unit and offer a postage-paid return of the unopened box.

So, MobileGuru, if I hired you to be general contaractor for my new home, and your drywall subcontractor burned my house down, you'd have no culpability? You'd say "blame that guy!"

[GomJabbar]

What was it Forrest Gump said...............?

[bill bolton]

> Lenovo chose to batch-direct ship from HK.

ROFL.... they were never going to personally hand carry it to you!

Of course you could have bought a Thinkpad from someone who carried stock in the US if you are that sensitive to the inevitable vaugaries of international shipment.....

[trharlan]

Clever, Bill.

I hope you understand that there's a big difference between holding stock in the US and holding stock in HK.

The difference in warehousing costs are minimal between HK and USA because direct labor is such a small part of warehousing costs. The largest components of warehousing costs are land and machinery, which are no more expensive in the US than they are in HK.

The conclusion to this puzzle is that by charging for a still-in-Asia laptop, Lenovo cuts no tangible costs, but significantly bolsters its working capital-- on the backs of those who must wait for periods twice as long as those promised by Lenovo.

It's not a customer-friendly way to run a business.

[bill bolton]

> I hope you understand that there's a big difference between holding
> stock in the US and holding stock in HK.

It certainly seems that you don't understand it.

[jeffcrilly]

I'd just like to note to the community that Lenovo and UPS still seem to have shipping problems.

My recent order for a T42 has been held up in customs in Ontario, CA (I beleive thats "california") for 7 days now.

I realize there's been lots of discussion and rants about it, and some folk would rather put the subject to bed, but fwiw, this problem still exists.

I just got off the phone with Lenovo and this is what they told me:

1. Clearing US Customs should only take 1 to 2 hours.

2. At worst, clearing customs should only take 1 day.

3. Its possible the package got "mixed in" with a "bulk" shipment.
(To which there appears to be no resolution.)

3. The problem has been elevated to the Executive level.

Just thought this would be useful info for folks planning an order. Maybe there is a way to ask for alternate shipping (I.e. not UPS).

My guess is that if you order an "express" model that ships from "stock" this might not be a problem.

jeff

[akeskira]

A year ago I ordered a T42 for my sister into her Manhattan address. A long story short: Somebody at UPS (Bronx) stole the laptop twice, which took a lot of phone calls and convincing towards IBM, and finally the customer service manager ordered a third machine for *herself* in Tennessee, and *FedExed* it to my sister. This time she actually received it.

This whole ordeal took more than a month to sort out, during which my sister cursed both IBM and UPS to the deepest levels of, well, you know what. She was like "I should have bought a Vaio, I'll never ever buy from IBM again." I thought that was unfair, because UPS was the company screwing up, but then again IBM initially claimed her to be the thief etc.

[jeffcrilly]

Just to add more salt to the wound... I get this email today from LENOVO...

Jeffrey, get more for your Thinkpad with ThinkPad Protection.

Protect your investment and gain peace of mind with ThinkPad Protection

WTF?! These guys are trying to sell me an extended warranty and I *havent* even received the product?!

Give me a break.

I'll be calling the extended warranty dude tomorrow morning. Lets see how he feels about it.

Btw, I did get an email back from UPS...

Thank you for your inquiry. I apologize for any inconvenience caused in this matter. Your shipment is currently delayed in customs clearance. While the package is in the clearance process, and until it is released, any delay is beyond the control of UPS. We are working with Lenovo and with US Customs to have your package released as soon as possible so it can be delivered to you.

For further clearance information please contact your shipper, Lenovo, directly.

Classic. But no fun.

Apologies for the rant. I wish I believed that the shipping problems would affect me before ordering. But I just ignored the reports. I probably should have called the order in, and got them to do something up front to avoid the UPS hassle. Or simply settled for something else, at a better price.

jeff

[trharlan]

I just got off the phone with Lenovo.

They say that they'll ship me another unit, and it will ship in about four weeks.

four weeks.

Which puts them about 7 weeks behind their promise.

[STLEric]

Now see, I ordered my T42 on Oct 3rd. It just shipped this last Saturday. Shipping is, I think, a Lenovo problem. So now I'm patiently awaiting a long stay in customs. I did, however, hear that the long U.S. Customs waits lately are due to Bird Flu concerns, so better a long wait than a horrible illness, eh?

Somebody, please: convince me that all this is worth it. I've almost gone this whole semester without a laptop.