A Lenovo Nightmare

I needed to upgrade my laptop recently. Since I was a long term IBM ThinkPad user I did not think twice when deciding to order the new super light X60 machine, now made by Lenovo (LNVGY).

For those of you who do not remember, China-based Lenovo purchased IBM's computer business about a year ago. Well, one year later the IBM Logo is still on the machine and it still says ThinkPad, but this is not your father's IBM.

Since I purchased the machine, it has been hell. First my wireless was not working right. I kept getting an error message that said my wireless card was not operating. Then it sometimes went back on and then back off again. When we checked (our IT person as well) all of the system settings, everything looked fine. After hours on the phone with Lenovo tech support (they could not help either), our IT manager found on the web that Lenovo installed on SOME models of the x60 a new on/off Wifi Radio switch in the front underside of the laptop. I guess that it was rubbing against my leg when I held the laptop on my lap, which was toggling the switch. MMI design is I guess not Lenovo's forte.

Nor is Backward compatibility. These geniuses at Lenovo, clearly attempting to juice profits form accessories, switched the plug for the power cable! So, my entire investment in power cables for the Thinkpad went in the garbage. Not only that, but Lenovo has not produced enough power supplies so in some parts of the world (like a third world city called London) you need to wait weeks for a power cable. Did I mention the need for a new docking station as well?

And then there are the batteries. I ordered my laptop with an extra battery. That extra battery did not come. We spent three weeks on the phone with Lenovo in Israel and the US trying to get an extra battery (the slice battery that fits on the bottom of the computers). After weeks of blame shifting and passing the buck, it turned out they did not have any in stock. I finally received my battery late last week. And, guess what? Lenovo sent the wrong battery. Instead of the slice battery that I ordered, they sent the backside add-on battery.

I figured that maybe I was unlucky but, alas, our office in London had to shelve 2 X60s that they purchased because Lenovo put a different Wifi card in that was interfering or not working with personal firewalls.

Somehow it seems to me that they good old American motto of "if it ain't broke don't fix it." has not made it to Lenovo. This has been a disastrous customer experience and I am already cautioning friends not to buy Thinkpads. Since I don't think I can Bring Back Big Blue (sounds like a good compaign) I am now thinking twice about my purchase.

After almost 10 years of ThinkPads I am thinking of trading this one back for a Sony.

Comments

[Tom B]

"After almost 10 years of ThinkPads I am thinking of trading this one back for a Sony."

Try a MacBook Pro. They can boot into Windows, if needed, and the average build quality is very good on the "laptop adjusted scale": see www.macintouch.com/rel...

Besides, on the Mac side, I expect you'd find Keynote better than Powerpoint. Did you see "An Inconvenient Truth"? Gore used Keynote.

[mikegre]

I bought a Lenovo X40 about a year and I was so pleased with it I bought an X60 for my wife and one for my daughter. We have experienced none of the problems you discussed.

I did have one minor problem with my Lenovo and called customer service. They had my X40 picked up on Thursday and it was returned, repaired, on Monday.

I heartily recommend the X60's.

[Michael]

Gents -
Thanks for the tips.
Michael G - No comment on the new power cords or the wifi toggle switch?

[dadak]

I'd not want to bore you with a two year nightmare to get my Thinkpad A31p repaired. 15 Tech guys worked on it and either messed it up more or introduced new problems. Not to speak of what trouble to go through to actually get them to come. Finally fed up completely I requested a replacement which was granted. Only it never came... Two more guys in the top of the escalation team or the "IBM Global Services Client Satisfaction and Loyalty Project Office" as they call it, promised the same and told they were the ones who had the authority to approve. Well they either let me hang or passed me on. I gave up. Counting the hours I spend on the phone or in my office when the tech guys were working on it, I could, at a minimum wage, have bought a two new laptops. Almost every single promise made was broken. I have been courteous, understanding but continued to try to get the service I paid for. But after two years I gave up.

[dadak]

I have to mention that this was in the USA. I always had good service in other countries. Even service beyond what I'd expect.
Still no more thinkpads for me.

[Royco]

It is with a heavy heart that I post this story here, as I have been a
loyal and longstanding Thinkpad customer for over a decade, purchasing
numerous Thinkpads from IBM, and one just lately from Lenovo. I have
recommended IBM/Lenovo stock to all my friends and family who dabble
in the market, and I have also recommended the Thinkpad line of
laptops to anyone and everyone that I have had occasion to discuss
laptops with.

However, it is with my most recent purchase from Lenovo that I have
encountered a problem of the most horrible proportions. I in no way
wish to bog anyone down with unrelated details; however, the entire
experience I've had is a long one, spanning many frustrating months of
interaction with the Customer Service agents within Lenovo.

Due to this most recent experience with Lenovo, (outlined in full
below) I can no longer in good conscious continue to do business with
or recommend Lenovo's products and services. Since no one within
Lenovo can rectify the matter, I will be taking my business elsewhere,
as will my friends, family and coworkers. (Including my place of
employment)

Anyone who is interested in further details (aside from whats outlined
below) please feel free to contact me via e-mail at [e-mail]
- I'm more than happy to provide my contact information and telephone
number should anyone wish to discuss this matter in a more thorough
fashion.

For those of you who are interested, my story in it's entirety is as
follows:

----

I ordered a T60 back in June. I was more than happy to wait the month
required for the laptop to be built and shipped to me from Hong Kong,
and I eagerly awaited it's arrival.

Much to my dismay, when it did finally arrive, it came sans battery
and power cord! I promptly called Lenovo and was informed by a
customer service rep that I would have to wait _another_ 3 to 4 weeks
to have the power cord and battery that was supposed to have been in
the initial order shipped to me. I can understand needing to wait a
month for a laptop to be built, but shouldn't they have spare power
cords & batteries handy?

Anywho, I called around locally to numerous retail outlets and
searched through classified ads to see if I could find an alternate
Thinkpad locally. It wouldn't be built to the initial specs I wanted,
but at least it would be a thinkpad.

Luckily I found one, again - not up to the specs I really wanted, but
at that point it seemed better to sacrifice some speed for the ability
to at least have it rightaway.

I figured I would simply purchase this laptop locally and return the
one I got directly from Lenovo - no big deal.

I called up Lenovo Customer Support again and spoke to a lady who
spoke very good Enligsh, I wasn't really able to decipher for certain
if she was from some outsourced call center or not... Anyway, I
informed her of the mixup that occured and stated I simply wanted to
return the machine back to Lenovo as I had already purchased an
alternate Thinkpad elsewhere.

She happily obliged (this is where the whole thing gets 'interesting')
and asked me if I had the original box that I received the laptop in.
I replied that yes, I did and asked why she asked. "Simply repackage
the laptop in it's original box and drop it off at a UPS store." was
her answer.

This struck me as odd, she made no mention of an RMA number or
anything. I asked her if I needed some sort of 'return number' and she
replied that the initial box the laptop was shipped to me in had my
Lenovo order number plainly upon it, and that thats what would be
used, not any sort of RMA number."

OK, so no RMA number - thats weird but I guess it makes sense. I
*thought* they'd be sending me a box or something to send it back in.
I asked her if I was supposed to pay for shipping, and she responded
with "Oh, no, just 'return to sender.' Wait WHAT?

"Just Return To Sender" she said again. I asked her to clarify what
she meant by that, thinking she just meant "Return the laptop to
Lenovo." No, she replied back with: "Write Return To Sender on the
shipping label and take it to a UPS store." "What about a tracking
number? What about Insurance?" I asked. "Tracking number will be
Tracking Number we gave you at first, package will still be insured."

Ok, that sounded really odd - like no other return procedure I've ever
dealt with in my life, which I guess hasn't been all that many, but
even still it was just a seemingly odd way to go about it.

So supposedly my RMA number was my Lenovo order number, my tracking
number would be the tracking number I already had on hand and the
package was insured. Like I said, I thought this seemed pretty weird,
but it sounded like all my bases were covered. Even so I ran over the
whole thing all over again with the Lenovo rep and got the same reply.
Good enough - as long as they get the laptop back there won't be a
problem I figured.

So I did as instructed and wrote 'return to sender' on the package and
dropped it off at a UPS store.

I waited... and waited... and waited... about two to three weeks later
I called back in and inquired as to the status of the whole thing. "We
have no record of you ever having called, that is not the correct
return procedure, I'm very sorry but there is nothing more we can do
to help you - *click*" was what I was told. They just hung up on me!

Ok, now I'm a little peeved, so I call back and try to figure out what
on earth happened. Again, I'm told they have no record of me ever
having called and no record of my machine. Although they didn't hang
up on me the second time around, I was unable to get any straight
answer as to what happened. I asked to speak to a supervisor only to
be told that there was no supervisor. Now thats just ridiculous,
EVERYONE has a supervisor. I again demanded a supervisor, and again
was there was no supervisor. This went on for a good five minutes till
the story changed to "the supervisor is not present." I then requested
a call back from a supervisor, gave my name, order number(rma number?)
and my cell phone number.

24 hours go by, 48 hours go by, 72 hours go by... Finally Friday hit
and no one called back. At this point I was utterly PO'd about the
whole deal, having already sent the machine back to Lenovo and with
Lenovo not even acknowledging that I had done so, it seemed like I
wouldn't be able to make any further progress by trying to call them
back and being upset.

I called up my credit card company instead, told them what happened
and they told me they would initiate a chargeback on my behalf and
that I shouldn't worry about it.

At this point I was pleased that at least someone was capable of
remedying this situation. I let it the whole matter go assuming it to
be resolved... Up until I received a call from my CC company wanting
written details of what happened for their records. I promptly
complied and didn't think much of it as it was simply a form letter
which looked pretty routine.

A day or so passes and I receive my first of many phone calls from
Tony Bumarch in Lenovo Executive Customer Relations. Mr Bumarch was
exceedingly polite; however, entirely unsympathetic to what had
occurred. He told me that they showed no record of me having called to
initiate the return process and therefore I must never have called.

I most certainly did call, and I've actually run into this similar
situation with my cell phone company. One rep @ Cingular will tell me
something but not notate my account of what was discussed, so when I
call back in the second time around, no one knows what I'm talking
about. A common problem I assume, as I've heard other people complain
about the exact same thing with Cingular and other cellular companies.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would run into this problem
with a Computer Company tho - I honestly didn't even think to request
that the lady I initially spoke to @ Lenovo notate my account
detailing what was discussed concerning the return policy.

Mr Bumarch tells me there isn't much he can do and instructs me to
call the UPS store that I dropped the package off at. The UPS store I
dropped the package off at instructs me to call UPS, UPS instructs me
to call Lenovo, and Lenovo again instructs me to contact UPS. (I'm
sure you can all see where this is going by now..) Round and round it
goes till I get upset and Mr Bumarch tells me HE will call the UPS
store on my behalf while I wait on hold. I wait on hold and Mr Bumarch
comes back on the phone and says that it sounds like the UPS store
might have a way to track my package as having gone out and that I
should call the UPS store and talk to the owner.

I call the UPS store and spoke to the exact same lady Mr Bumarch just
spoke with moments before. She informs me there there is absolutely no
way to track outbound packages dropped off at the UPS store unless
that UPS store sent it out with one of their shipping labels. THEN she
tells me that she just told Mr Bumarch this moments ago and asked why
I was calling back asking the SAME question! Why on earth would Mr
Bumarch instruct me to call the UPS store when he himself just spoke
to them and they told him that they could not track an outbound
package unless it was sent with that UPS store's shipping label?!

I call Mr Bumarch back and ask him why he gave me the misleading
information, only to be told by HIM that the UPS store employee did
not tell him what she told me, DESPITE the UPS store employee telling
me just moments after she spoke to me that she informed him of this.
(argh!@#%%)

I told Mr Bumarch that I resented the endless games of phone-tag I've
been playing with him, and the additional run around he's made me go
through with UPS and that it's to the point where it sounds like I
need to file some sort of complaint with the BBB.

His response?

"All the BBB complaints are routed through myself, so I'll be sure to
tell the BBB exactly what I'm telling you." (This was said in a
polite, yet condescending tone)

That being: Since they had no record of me calling to return the
laptop, I must never have done so.

Oh, and by this point my CC company said that the dispute was over and
Lenovo had successfully fought the chargeback off because I could not
provide a tracking number other than the initial tracking number on
the box that was shipped to me in...

So, at this point I do not have the laptop I payed $1600 for, and I'll
I've got to show for this entire experience is a massive headache from
dealing with Lenovo's customer care.

Realizing I was getting absolutely nowhere with Tony Bumarch in
executive care, I placed e-mails detailing this horror story to
numerous executives inside Lenovo, namely among them was 'David
Churbuck' VP of sales and marketing.

David Churbuck expressed via e-mail initial interest in looking into
my case, but I never heard back from him. When I e-mailed him again, I
got what seemed like a form letter (although I'm sure it was not)
simply stating "I am not responsible for looking into this, Tony
Bumarch is handling your case."

So a complete about-face was done, leaving my sole source of contact
within Lenovo to Mr Bumarch, who was entirely unsympathetic to my
situation and had just recently told me in no uncertain terms that the
case was closed.

I filed a complaint with the BBB anyway - Lenovo's response? "Customer
Never Sent the Equipment Back To Us"

So Lenovo's offical response is that I'm a liar and that I should be
expected to simply eat this $1600 fee for a laptop I already returned
to them!

Oh, here are some additional points I think I may have neglected to
mention:

I requested that some sort of audit be done at the Lenovo returns
center to see if someone could find my machine. Lenovo's response?
Thats a wildly unreasonable request. I was also told that unauthorized
returns are promptly refurbished and re-sold with a matter of weeks,
leaving me with the conclusion that it's entirely possible that Lenovo
simply refurbished (slapped a battery and power cable with the
machine) and resold it to someone else.

I was told that this situation would never have occurred, as Lenovo
has a strict guideline that they follow for refurbished machines.
<sarcasm> If said guideline is anything like their return policy
guidelines, I'm sure it's always followed to the letter every single
time</sarcasm>

Oh, and I was also told that "no one within Lenovo would ever instruct
you to return a machine in that manner," Which is entirely laughable,
as thats exactly what occurred! I'm left to conclude that Lenovo's
reps are probably underpayed and overworked, and as a result don't
take all that much pride in memorizing and reciting corporate policies
without fail each and every time.

Due to the above excuse being cited over and over, no one within
Lenovo will even take responsibility for giving me the incorrect
information on how to go about returning a machine to them. I didn't
even get an "I'm sorry" out of Mr Bumarch. He DID go so far as to say
he'll issue a company wide memo re-iterating the correct return
procedures to the front line Lenovo reps, but I suspect this was
simply to placate me, as later I got a reply from him via the BBB that
bluntly insinuated that I was just a big liar.

And after speaking with Mr Bumarch, I wasn't even demanding a refund
at that point, I told him I would settle simply for the return of the
machine I sent to them, but since no one will go out of their way to
look for it, that doesn't seem possible either.

Holy geez, this is a long winded post. I'm sorry, but thank you for
reading over it. I would appreciate anyone's input on what I could
possibly do to try and rectify this nightmare.

To sum the whole thing up, it feels like Lenovo lied to me, stole my
money and told me to simply 'go away.'

I dearly love my thinkpads, and I really hate to feel like I can never
purchase another one from Lenovo again based upon this hellish
experience.

---

For those of you that have come this far, you may also be interested
in looking at:

forum.thinkpads.com/vi...

As contained therein, there is another individual (entirely seperate
from myself) who says that he too was advised of the incorrect return
procedure in the exact same manner that I was when he called in to
speak to Lenovo Customer Care. This appears to be an ongoing issue for
numerous people, and I'm very disappointed that Lenovo will not even
acknowledge it.

Anyone's feedback on the matter is greatly appreciated, and thank you
for taking the time to read this over.

[Paul T]

Hi Michael
I have had one frustrating experience after another, with Lenovo technical support (based in Atlanta, which they seem to pipe-up as a good thing).
We bought 8 Lenovo T60 for the office. We also purchased on-site warranty. I have owned various IBM Thinkpad model over the years and they all had been very reliable. (T20, T40, T41p etc, all from pre-Lenovo days).

The T60s that we purchased have all been lemons. Right out of the box, the built-in wireless cards never worked. Lenovo keeps blaming it on our router. We have numerous other computers that all work fine with our Linksys 802.11g router (pretty standard fare).
These T60s never work anywhere else either. (hotels, airports, home). And Lenovo is still not convinced anything wrong with them.

I believe there is something about the case design (which houses the wireless antenna). Brilliant engineers at Lenovo have made it RF-proof!

Anyway, to make the long story short, Lenovo custoner service is telling me that they don't change internal wifi cards on-site due to FCC regulations (No idea why FCC would have a problem with Lenovo-authorized repair person replacing an internal card).

The fight will continue. In the meanwhile, I would like to warn readers about how bad Lenovo customer service is (and so is their product). I have never seen anything more pathetic than this. Rather than solving the problem for a customer who has paid extra for additional warranty support, they continue to take a "We don't know what you are talking about" approach.. STEER CLEAR OF LENOVO..