How do I complain about appalling service to Lenovo HQ? [ Edited ]

[mwp]

I bought a new Thinkpad X121e directly from Lenovo Japan in late July. Obviously, it is still under warranty.

Overall it is a great machine, and a credit to it's designers. Unfortunately it developed a screen problem (about half the screen failed with big blotches of light and dark, very clearly a hardware failure). Between the last time it was working perfectly and the time is was broken (only a few hours), I had the machine constantly in my possession and I know for a fact that it was not subjected to any mechanical stresses or impacts.

One of the reasons I have bought around 10 Thinkpads over the past decade is because of the excellent service I have received. But it appears that this excellence is no more.

My first step was to call Lenovo Japan. The service person at the other end started by denying that the Thinkpad I bought was sold in Japan, despite it having a Japanese keyboard and my having bought it from them directly. Not a good start.

After a week of "investigation" (perhaps they looked at their own website?), Lenovo finally admiited that they did indeed sell me the laptop. I then duly shipped it off to them for repair. A week or so later, they got back to me to tell me that the screen was broken (duh!) and that I would have to pay to get it repaired.

What the heck is this? The device is only five months old and has not been subjected to any unusal treatment or shocks. The only possible reason for this failure is a product defect, and Lenovo refuse to honor their warranty! Is this how they treat a loyal customer?

Apparently, Mr S of the Lenovo "Smart Center" has made a final decision and is unwilling to discuss this matter further, although he would only communicate through subordinates (more great customer service right there!).

How do I get in touch with senior people in Lenovo to complain about this outrageous treatment? I can't believe that treating customers like this is company policy. I would like to give Lenovo a chance to rectify this outrage without having to resort to civil action.

Note from Moderator:  Employee name/e-mail/phone removed to protect their privacy per the forum rules.

[mwp]

Any pointers? Is there any way for customers to complain to senior management at Lenovo?

[Serge1410]

hey mwp,

welcome to the forum, could you pm to me the following.



Name:
Country:
Mobile:
Email:
MTM [machine type model]:

(To locate MTM - http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/FindProductNumber.page#find)

Serial Number (S/N):
Date of Purchase:
Case/Order Number : (if any)

Screenshot of Error(if applicable) : (upload it to a hosting site and paste the link here)

Location of unit : Home / Repair Center (delete where appropriate)

Description of issue :


Troubleshooting Taken : (if any)

[Mark_Lenovo Administrator]

MWP,

Serge1410 can help you get your case escalated.   Typically, LCDs don't fail with blotches - that is a sign that the LCD had become damaged, often by some kind of impact or stress and some cracks also often accompany this symptom.  

It is rare that this could spontaneously happen, but if you are confident that the system was not subjected to stress or accidental mishandling - dropping or impact, picking it up by the LCD / Lid, packing in a backpack between books, etc, then definitely press your case via the escalation.

There is a due process and review of these kinds of situations, and we appreciate your bringing this to our attention.

Thanks!

Mark

[mwp]

I thought I'd report an update. Sadly it is not very positive.

Serge_1410 was very helpful, and I pm'd him all the details he asked for immediately. He replied to me on Dec 2, promising that a customer service rep would contact me "within 2-3 business days".

Then nothing happened. No emails, no phone calls, no voice mails. Nothing.

On Dec 13, I pm'd Serge_1410 again but I haven't heard back from him yet. Perhaps he is overloaded or on vacation? I'm hoping by moving back to the public board I can elicit some response.

I'd like to thank Serge_1410 and Mark_Lenovo for trying to help out. But after over two weeks, customer service hasn't contacted me. This is appalling. Given that my original problem was also about appalling service, this really makes me wonder just what is going on at Lenovo.

Can anyone help me out here? I'm trying to be constructive, but I feel I'm being treated poorly.

[mwp]

Well, it has been over one month since my original message. Lenovo has made promises to contact me, but unfortunately nothing has happened. The Lenovo reps on this board are great but they are clearly being let down by some of the suckiest customer service I have ever seen.

I think it is reasonable to return to the same question I started with. How does one complain about appalling customer service to Lenovo? Obviously, going through the usual customer service channels doesn't work because the problems are there. Does anyone have contact details for the CEO or other high level executives? Does Lenovo care about their customers at all? Do they understand the value of their reputation, and how easily it can be lost?

Do I have to resort to legal action to get their attention? I would much rather have a constructive dialog, but that is pretty hard when no-one will talk to you...

[Rumle]

I just finished a case with Lenovo Complaint team... They brought a long the slowest set of communication arrays I have ever witnessed. I usually had to wait 3-4 some times 6 weeks for a simple reply, I ended up real mad about it. It took over 6 months to settle a fairly simple replace/refund case. After I had a long talk with the local Lenovo support team (who where real helpfull all along), they told me the... (OK its getting complicated... Anyways) the complaint team are known for this and there's actually many complaints about the complaint team..... ?????? wth?

I intent to write a complaint about the complaint team and the UNUSUAL lack of communication. I will address mine for the local/national head/leader of Lenovo. And I hope they will pass it on.

-Rumle

[mwp]

Bump.

Sadly there has been no response to my reperated requests for communication with a Lenovo representative. As I look at this forum I see dozens of complaints similar to mine of appalling customer service. Is this what Lenovo has come to? Do Lenovo employees not realize that this is how great companies start to fail, by first losing their customers?

In the interests of being constructive, I plead again for Lenovo to respond to my messages. If I don't hear anything in the next week I will be reluctantly forced to prepare the paperwork for litigation. I will keep this board informed as to progress.

Come on Lenovo! We can still sort this out amicably. All it takes is to talk to me.

[mwp]

Bump. After over 2 months of NO RESPONSE from Lenovo, I will be filing civil suit next week. Guys, this is the WORST customer service I have ever seen. I expect the judge will agree with me.

I am still amenable to sorting this out amicably if Lenovo will deign to contact me before I file suit. Afther that, I'll be looking to recover all damages.

[Lila1]

I am ahving similar problems with their customer services department in Indonesia and Thailand.  The one who does reply is so junior she has no idea what to do and when I asked several times about the contact details of her manager, she sends me the names but with no cintact details, go figure how some people think!!  In any case, the issue I've had with a brand new Lenovo started almost immediatly after I bought it.  It's a Lenovo idea B 320.  after weeks and weeks of trying to get them to respond to my emails to get engineers over, they finally came over and changed the monitor.  a few weeks later, the machine stopped working, weeks later, they came and changed the CPU.  I had to work from an internet cafe for awhile while they were doing wahtever they do not to respond to their customers.  Now the problems continue, I acnnot long on properly, and the back of the monitor gets so hoy after having the computer on for 30 minutes, I dare not leave it on for longer.  Imagine how that affects my work.  Lenonov response is unprofessional, late and basically they don't know what they'tre doing.  I am asking for my money back since I can't imagine how I can trust a machine that has done nothing but frustrate me and affect my work in a bad way.  Anuyone out there who can suggets what I can do to deal with this once and for all.  I know one thing for sure.  I will never ever buy a Lenovo or recommend it to anyone.