General Discussion

[#1]

Before I begin. Let me set the scene with a snippet from this post.

Two weeks have passed. I figure they must be pulling out all stops on my laptop.

While day dreaming, I have grand visions of bunny suited Lenovo engineers in sterilised white 'clean' rooms, all crowded around my laptop, working 14 days of 16 hours a day, completely focused on complicated heart surgery on my laptop. I decide to call Lenovo up, and I get the 'oh I'm sure it's fine, I'll check with the service manager he'll call you back.' I offer to resend my quote, they say not to worry.

2 days go by, and I realise no one is ever going to call me back.'

----------------------------------------------------

Dear Chris Askew,

Over 5 calls to service team, It's taken an average of 25 minutes on the wait list to get through to them.

For 2 calls made to sales to make my purchase, they picked up within 2 minutes, and the turn around time from picking up the phone to getting my credit card details was 20 minutes.

It shows you care about some things more than others.

All I want is a laptop to use to manage my business.  A simple, lofty goal. Apparently for Lenovo this goal is a bridge too far.

Lenovo service aims to create as many speed bumps, delays, phone calls, pdfs, requirements and 'processes' to turn it into a bureaucratic nightmare. Sometimes I forget that all I'm doing is getting my laptop fixed.

Here are the specific details of my issue.

Mid-late-March

My beloved X61T sent in for servicing (this is the most expensive think pad.)

04/01/08

signed completed quote for service for over $600 sent to your support email. Leave a note in the email that is true 'seems expensive but I guess I'll live'

04/14/08

Two weeks have passed. I figure they must be pulling out all stops on my laptop.

While day dreaming, I have grand visions of bunny suited Lenovo engineers in sterilised white 'clean' rooms, all crowded around my laptop, working 14 days of 16 hours a day, completely focused on complicated heart surgery on my laptop. I decide to call Lenovo up, and I get the 'oh I'm sure it's fine, I'll check with the service manager he'll call you back.' I offer to resend my quote, they say not to worry.

2 days go by, and I realise no one is ever going to call me back.

04/16/08

Nolan Holladay should be given a gold star. He is my CSC.

He realises quickly that no one has even seen my quote. I send it to him. They're going to try to fix it.

I ask for Chris Askew's phone number or email and don't get it. (He's the VP of service)

It scares me that I had to follow up on Lenovo to fix my three thousand dollar laptop that had was to be fixed for six hundred dollars. We're not talking about an iPod or a tooth brush breaking. We're talking about the most expensive technology I have in my house and I'm treated like a second class citizen.

The salt in the wound? I get two emails from an automatic email generator before my laptop is even quoted for the repair service to give feedback on how great their performance went. You're not telling an authentic story when you send me a spam signed:

'Sincerely,

Chris Askew
Senior Vice-President, Lenovo Services'

And you don't even include your email address, so I can play nice.

Sincerely Yours,

Richard Yong

www.richardyong.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are references for any one doubting my authenticity:

Initial purchase Plant Order No. 3351652870

Initial CSC call reference P19R7FD

Initial Repair Quote reference P19RNFC

And the email below. That I SENT to the lenovo/IBM repair team as requested.

From: Richard Yong <richardwryong@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 12:19 PM
Subject: Re: IBM REPAIR QUOTE SERVICE
To: sgs_ops@au1.ibm.com

Signed confirmation attached.

It seems expensive, but I guess I'll live.

Cheers

Richard

--
Regards,

Richard Yong
Mobile: +61 412588389
Skype: richardwryong
Email: richardwryong@gmail.com

On Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 12:40 PM, SGS Operations <sgs_ops@au1.ibm.com> wrote:

** This email has been sent to you via an outgoing automated email service.
Email responses to this address will not be actioned **

Dear Customer,

Please return the attached IBM Quotation to IBM by fax at your earliest
convenience.
Fax # - 61 2 8853 3593

Thanks & Regards,

IBM Repair Depot Quote Administrator
Phone: 131 426
Fax: 02 8853 3593


(See attached file: P19RNFC.doc)



NOTE:

Please always reply with history and ONLY to sgs_ops@au1.ibm.com as it is
constantly monitored.

Please do NOT cc: or bcc: to the personal sign-on of the person who has
sent the mail as it will be missed.

Edit:

The amount of time and expense gone into buying a laptop and not having it has been really comedic... I think I worked out the current cost per hour of use of my laptop is hovering around $300 per hour. I can think of more fun things to do for $300 per hour than a business machine.

Message Edited by richardwryong on 04-15-2008 07:42 PM

Message Edited by richardwryong on 04-15-2008 07:43 PM

Message Edited by richardwryong on 04-15-2008 07:44 PM

Message Edited by richardwryong on 04-15-2008 07:44 PM

Message Edited by richardwryong on 04-15-2008 07:50 PM

[#2]

Richard,

Thanks for sharing.  I appreciate both your wit and your restraint.   I'll share this internally as appropriate and some help should be forthcoming.   Apologies for your experience thus far.

I might suggest that you edit your post to remove your personal contact information.  The forum is visible externally to non-members.

Mark

[#3]

Thanks Mark,

I've just had a a call from Justin G from customer care. Another great listener, I appreciate the time he took to let me know that I'm not crazy, and that all I want is just my laptop back. I do appreciate your help in escalating this as well Mark, please don't apologise either, it's not your fault.

My contact details are available because I would love to hear from Lenovo's management. I'd be happy to call them if they left me their details too.

I feel Lenovo runs like a Dell, but you're no Dell. You sell premium laptops to business customers as an enabler to their work. The cost of a laptop or repair is insignificant compared to the value it provides, through mobility and reliability. People demand uptime, and they're willing to pay for it. What I'm not willing to pay for is $600+ repairs that don't give me the uptime I need for that kind of price. You can't charge Lenovo and serve Dell. It would be like Tetsuya's serving me a Big Mac.

People just want laptops that just work. You'll know this from the lucrative corporate accounts. But as the times change, the independent consultants like myself will grow, I expect demand from the retail sector will become damned important battleground.

I want to tell everyone how sexy my un-appley black tablet is,  I want to be a return customer (heck I've used the T series for over 6 years)... Most people do, they need a little bit to work with.

If you want to read more about taking and giving - http://richardyong.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/04/are-you-a-taker.html

If you want a business consultant that specialises in process reengineering and making things work, give me a call. I'll come by your office and help you out.... once I get my tablet back!

Regards,

Richard Yong

www.richardyong.com

Message Edited by richardwryong on 04-17-2008 10:35 PM

[#4]

I've put together some commentary, from a 'where is the ship sailing' approach to my experience.

It's titled 'The Spectacular Collapse of the Ivory Tower: Why Microsoft gets hugs, but not Lenovo'

http://richardyong.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/04/the-spectacular.html

It's a little more big picture than my personal issue, but I guess that's my job a corporate consultant.

--
Regards,

Richard Yong
Mobile: +61 412588389
Skype: richardwryong
Email: richardwryong@gmail.com
Web: www.richardyong.com

Message Edited by richardwryong on 04-17-2008 11:47 PM

Message Edited by richardwryong on 04-17-2008 11:47 PM

[#5]

first off, i'm sorry for your experience.   this thread and your blog on this topic were quite entertaining to read.   your candor is refreshing.

---

richardwryong wrote:

Mid-late-March

My beloved X61T sent in for servicing (this is the most expensive think pad.)

04/01/08

signed completed quote for service for over $600 sent to your support email. Leave a note in the email that is true 'seems expensive but I guess I'll live' 

---

i'm curious as to exactly what happened to your X61T.   given the repair amount, it sounds like something not covered by warranty such as a drop or liquid damage.   if that's the case, do you have personal- or business-articles insurance on the tablet?

[#6]

An update

I've been billed over $680 for the repair.

I've also been billed by Vodafone for my mobile wireless broadband, for a month, in which my laptop sat in a repair facility. unused. I could have had more fun throwing money off the balcony.

Honestly, I've felt shortchanged every step of the way, right from the moment I said 'I'll buy it' and they said 'okay, we'll send it to you, but it'll take 2 months and it's coming from China'

[#7]

You still haven't told us what was wrong with it.

[#8]

1. brown discolouration (v. small) from the first day... I reported it but wasn't going to send it in.

2. I broke the power input, somehow something on the way home on the train jammed it inside the plastic bezel. So plastic bezel and power input and the dialup connection next to it have to be replaced.

3. Mic didnt work from day one. I thought I didn't have one, as I tested the record function for use with my interviews and it didn't seem to work. Either I hadn't enabled it or it was broken from Day dot.

[#9]

did you have personal-articles insurance or thinkvantage protection service on it at the time?

[#10]

nope. it's coming straight out of my pocket. 1 Playstation 3 worth of cash.

In other news, success. The X61T has been repaired.

I'm expecting it in the next day or so.