Advice about thinkpadworld

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marsbt · #1 Post by **marsbt** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 2:44 am

Hello all,

I'm a potential thinkpad buyer and was looking around various options about where to buy one from. While searching for thinkpads on ebay, I noticed the big seller "thinkpadworld". They have a big range of thinkpads and offer attractive prices.

However, as I haven't bought such an expensive thing off the internet let alone ebay, I thought why not ask around here. Has anyone done business with them? How was your experience? How is their reponse to your questions? Is the delivered product exactly what they say?

I tried to find more information about them, but couldn't find anything more than their day-time phone number that they show on every ebay advert. When I did a reverse look of that number, it was in (or very near) NYC downtown. Looking at the area from google maps suggests shabby buildings and also that the reverse lookup tells that the phone is registered to some fashion company!! This thing also reminds me of the problems faced by people ordering cameras from NY online shops and then getting burned.

Their website only contains a hotmail.com email address as contact method and nothing else e.g. no company address, no privacy policy, etc. nothing!!

Any pointers on what this company actually is will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

#2 Post by **BillMorrow** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 4:10 am

lets see, they seem to be a big company but use a hotmail address for email..

sounds like a red flag to me..

get more info or take your chances..

marsbt · #3 Post by **marsbt** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 10:28 am

a whois search gave me this:

Domain Name: THINKPADWORLD.COM
Registrar: MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE
Whois Server: whois.melbourneit.com
Referral URL: http://www.melbourneit.com
Name Server: NS1.INSTANIX3.COM
Name Server: NS2.INSTANIX3.COM
Status: ACTIVE
Updated Date: 12-dec-2005
Creation Date: 15-dec-2004
Expiration Date: 15-dec-2006

Domain Name.......... thinkpadworld.com
Creation Date........ 2004-12-16
Registration Date.... 2004-12-16
Expiry Date.......... 2006-12-16
Organisation Name.... Maurice Tebele
Organisation Address. 2111 E 2nd St
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. Brooklyn
Organisation Address. 11223
Organisation Address. NY
Organisation Address. UNITED STATES

PS For detailed listing, please google for whois and do a search yourself. The above should not be thought as giving out private info, the whois records are made available for public viewing.

dsvochak · #4 Post by **dsvochak** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 11:12 am

If you do a search on this forum for "thinkpadworld" there are 14 other threads where they are mentioned. The threads include questions similar to yours and include a response here http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=17315 from someone who "actually stopped by their offices".

#5 Post by **K. Eng** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 5:13 pm

Brooklyn NY hardware dealers have a reputation for being shady. The Philadelphia Inquirer had a large article on some of the digital camera dealers in the area and the trouble they gave their customers.

Organisation Name.... Maurice Tebele
Organisation Address. 2111 E 2nd St
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. Brooklyn
Organisation Address. 11223
Organisation Address. NY
Organisation Address. UNITED STATES

marsbt · #6 Post by **marsbt** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm

K. Eng wrote:Brooklyn NY hardware dealers have a reputation for being shady. The Philadelphia Inquirer had a large article on some of the digital camera dealers in the area and the trouble they gave their customers.

Yes, I had followed the PriceRitePhoto.com controversy last year. That was one of the reasons I'm trying to know more about them and their reputation. As I do not have much experience in buying stuff from ebay or judging the reputation of the seller, I wanted to ask around first.

Also I didn't like the fact that their contact phone number is not in their own name but is registered under the name of a fashion company. Also, the address corresponding to the phone number does not match the address from the whois records

#7 Post by **BillMorrow** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 12:06 am

if there are that many inconsistancies then run.. don't walk, run..
away..

there was (and maybe still is) a scam that was advertised on google and other legit websites..
selling new thinkpads and other new laptop computers..
at about half price from list..
a deal too good to be true..

they required a bank wire before they would sell outside of their home country, which was new zealand..

a clever scam..

and no way to warn others or even complain to google..

notebooknewbie · #8 Post by **notebooknewbie** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 12:12 am

Well I'm not endorsing/bashing "thinkpadworld", but he/she seems to have quite a bit of good feedback

>> http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d ... nkpadworld

Worth checking out.

Then again, I rarely use eBay so I really couldn't say how legit this place is...

#9 Post by **GomJabbar** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 1:50 am

Two sites I use to check out perspective vendors are http://www.resellerratings.com and http://www.bbb.com .

Another usefull site for user opinions on products is http://www.eopinions.com .

smugiri · #10 Post by **smugiri** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 2:45 am

I bought a t40p from this guy on eBay early last year.

Called him before I bid, he picked up the phone in 3 rings, answered all my questions.

When I paid, the Paypal went to Maurice Tebele like the whois says and not to thinkpadworld, this does not bother me too much though since I also have a commercial paypal account that goes to a gmail address. I made sure to use my credit card though and not an bank account ( for the added protection that the credit card offers ).

He emailed me a DHL shipping number 2 hours after I paid and I had the machine 3 days later. Perfect machine as per spec with 1 year of IBM warranty. Battery had 1 cycle. Not an issue since aside from a broken trackpoint that I care nothing for. It was mentioned in the auction though I think.

I think that this is a business on the level. If you look at the closing prices for auctions run by this eBayer critically, you will find that in almost everyone of them, the machines on offer are slightly overpriced for the spec even for the "Buy It Now" deals when compared with market value for similar or equivalent machines being sold by "regular joes" doing a one time sale. I paid what I thought was about $100 to 150 more than I should have. I figure thats how he makes his money and I thought it was worth the peace of mind for buying from a seller who has sold more than 6000 thinkpads as of jan 2006 with a 99.1% rating.

No relationship with the guy apart from very very satisfied buyer. My 2 cents, is all.

dsvochak · #11 Post by **dsvochak** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 2:04 pm

Never having used whois, I tried it this morning.

I'm pretty sure that most, if not all, of the members of this forum would (or should) be comfortable purchasing from either Absolute Raleigh or (what is correctly described on the web page as) "The World Famous Thinkpads.com". The information given by whois on thinkpadworld may be more detailed than the information available on either Absolute Raleigh or thinkpads.com.

The point being that there's a lot more to this than information from whois.

The thinkpadworld ebay listings all contain the following:

"We are an Authorized IBM Business Partner and Service Center. The merchandise we offer is purchased directly from IBM. You will receive a proper invoice in your name with product part number and serial number. Your warranty will begin from the date of your invoice from us. Thank you for your business!"

I don't know what an "Authorized IBM Business Partner and Service Center" is. Perhaps Mr. Morrow could explain it. I'd assume it means more than someone selling thinkpads that "fell off the back of a truck". And if it does, maybe that's something that increases the comfort level.

Most of the listings contain this: "These remanufactured products are sold by IBM with a L-Claim classification, which means that they are in brand new condition.... They are carefully tested and recertified by IBM and come in a IBM factory sealed box." which makes them look a lot like IBM Certified Used. I'd be most concerned about the Mack Warranty, which may or may not be worth anything beyond the IBM warranty.

Bottom line: if you're not comfortable with a deal, go someplace else.

I'm not in the market for anything thinkpadworld seems to sell, but if I was smugiri's comments and the one from bibendum, who "... actually stopped by their offices one afternoon to pick up my Thinkpad", would increase my comfort level.

#12 Post by **BillMorrow** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 2:00 am

business partner must qualify to get that designation..
must also have a "service department"..

you can check with ibm/lenovo as all BP's should be listed there..

if the guy has sold 6000 thinkpads on ebay at least you will be more or less protected by that volume and more so if you use a CC..

regardless, i have a low opinion of the "mack" warranty..

Bdave · #13 Post by **Bdave** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 8:28 am

Let me add my experiences.
Here what I bought from them over the last 15 months through Ebay:
1 X30
1 X31
2 T41
2 T41p
3 X40
1 X41
1 20' TFT monitor

I buy these laptops either for myself or my colleagues at work (I'm an IT mgr for a Belgian group).

I have been happy with every item I bought from them.
I am in Belgium, far away from NYC, so I wired money to them.
They have always been very responsive and helpful. shipping was quick and well organised (I often combine several items at once).

For the last 6 months, every laptop I bought from them was warranted by IBM for 3 years. I had a HDD replaced under warranty last week on a T41p without any trouble from IBM in europe.

I highly recommend ThinkpadWorld.

monsieurlee · #14 Post by **monsieurlee** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:53 pm

My $0.02:

I came across this thread a while back and read through all the related threads about this seller. I got tired of waiting for Lenovo to ship my [censored] laptop and yesterday I found that they are selling a T43p that I wanted. So around 11AM PST I placed the bid. At 2PM the auction was over. I called them right away and asked if they can overnight the machine to me. They said ok so I paid and kept my fingers crossed. This morning I got my very first ThinkPad, a T43p, from the UPS guy. Overnight from New York to San Francisco in 19 hours. Not too shabby.

As a customer I'm pretty happy. I would definitely keep them in mind when I'm in the market for another ThinkPad next time.

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