Terrible customer service [ Edited ]

[jam11991]

I wrote this on 12/30, but could not find an email address to send this to so I posted it here. As of 1/4 I have not received any confirmation of a box with a shipping label being shipped to me. 

I would like to express my extreme dissatisfaction with your product I am using (SL510), but mostly with your customer support representatives.

This dates back to November 17th, when I had my first issue with my laptop. The hard drive got corrupted, causing me to lose all important documents that I was working on last semester, and upon contacting lenovo technical support they sent me a replacement hard drive. After replacing the hard drive my machine worked smoothly for about a month until I experienced an identical problem (Dec 22).

After contacting technical support for a second time, they agreed that it would be a good idea if I sent it into their Notebook Repair Center in Memphis, TN (tech support referred to this as 'Depot'.) I obliged, in fear that I might not have it back before my next semester started, to avoid the same problem.

I received my "repaired" laptop on Dec. 27 and installed a few programs that I would need for the upcoming semester. On 12/29 I again experienced the identical problem, and upon calling technical support, they acted as if this was the first time that I had this problem and offered to ship me a new hard drive, or a drop ship box to send it back to their repair center.

After being on the phone with them for a combined six hours 12/29-30, I had learned that the department that worked on my laptop had NO IDEA why my hard drives kept failing, and had just replaced the motherboard and harddrive. They then told me that it would be in my best interest to send it to the SWAT department for repairs, because that is where they send problem machines if their Depot could not figure out the issue.

This irks me, since my laptop had been shipped back to me without them knowing what is wrong with it, and that they just replaced the problem parts. The people I spoke to on the Escalation Team told me that my only option was to send it to the SWAT department, and that it would take 7-10 business days to get it back. I told them that this was not acceptable, as I needed it before my next semester gets underway on Jan 9 (gray area in 7-10 business days).

They provided me with no reassurance that I would have my laptop back in time, or that what was causing the issue would be fixed beyond "replacing my hard drive." They refused to answer my question "Will I have the same problems in a few weeks and have to go through this whole process again?" One person I spoke to on the Escalation team named Rupert was exceptionally unhelpful, and equally condescending when I tried to tell him my story.

He would also interject when I would try to tell him that their "best" option would not be acceptable for me. I was then transferred to Tom Hilo on the Escalation Team where I was told the same thing. I asked if it was possible if I could talk to someone in the SWAT department, but I was told that there was no way for a customer to contact them.

They both refused to be understanding to my situation, and before I lost my temper, I swallowed my pride and conceded to what they were saying. I now have a box headed my way to ship my laptop to the SWAT department for them to work on it. They did not confirm an address with me, as it is dependent on me either being home, or away at school. 

I find this kind of customer service atrocious, and unacceptable. I am in disbelief that your company does not stand behind their products, or service at all in my experiences. If a problem persists, I think other variables should be reviewed before applying the same exact treatment to it. As a college student, I have spent too much money to just buy another laptop and start over. I was informed that because of my warranty there was no way that I could receive a replacement machine, so it seems that they are bending over backward to only replace parts on it without addressing the cause. 

Here are all of the case numbers that I have acquired with my encounters with Lenovo Technical Support. (In descending order, starting with the most recent)

A02H4R4

A02GZYY

A02FBR5

A029D7L

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope we can come to a resolution

Admin edit: changed alignment for ease of read

[Cleo_Lenovo Administrator]

Hi jam11991,

I'm sorry for your situation. It is frustrating indeed to have called for service again and again on the same issue. 

I have some hands on experience with my systems but i wouldn't say i'm an expert. I must say that sometimes it's not easy to find a real root cause if an issue continues to happen. It could be due to a single or multiple parts/occasions that cause a failure.

Your concern is truly understood and i wish i could do something to help. Do you mind to send me a private message along with details mentioned below? 

• Full Name
• Phone Contact
• Email Address
• Machine Type Model
• Serial Number
• Date of Purchase

You mentioned about Escalation Team. Is there any case number given by this team?

Thank you for your feedback anyway. I wish we can do something to restore your confidence in Lenovo.

Best regards,

Cleo

[jam11991]

I called lenovo tech support today to see if they were actually going to take care of my problem. I was informed that they had made ZERO progress. They havent even sent me a box to ship my laptop back to the depot. WHAT WERE THEY DOING LAST WEEK? I had called on 12/30, and while not happy, I agreed that them shipping me a box to send my laptop back to the depot would suffice, as I would only go a few days of my new semester without a laptop. While the person I spoke to on the phone was proficeint at apologizing, and saying that he was understanding of my problem, he failed to even ADMIT that they had made a mistake on their end, or offered me any other solution besides "sending a box out on monday." I thought that I had hit rock bottom as far as customer service experiences go, but I cant believe that Lenovo will not take any responsibility for the mistakes that they have made. They ignored me this entire week, and wont even acknowledge it. Im really questioning how they conduct their business, they need to learn that there is a difference between saying that you are understanding, and actually being understanding of my situation. Im sick of wasting my time getting nowhere. Out of the four months of ownership, my laptop has not been usable for one of those months. I cant believe that I spent this much money for a product that repeatedly fails, and to be spoken to over the phone like im not a human being.

[Klinux]

I've actually never experienced this lack of customer services before and that say's something, I've had to call Lenovo today because my Lenovo S10 3T keyboard has stopped working well a handful of keys 4 to be precise, I tried emailing Lenovo and my email was diverted to a company called digital river who are the official reseller in the UK who promptly washed their hands of my problem regarding locating the replacement keyboard and a question about a compatible replacement they sent a reply telling me to contact IBM giving a number, that number was no longer in use a message told me to contact another number, finally I got hold of IBM parts who denied that they were anything to do with Lenovo but had Lenovo's service number...hmmmm.

I finally having run the gauntlet got through to Lenovo service department who advised that they would repair the laptop under warranty, my Lenovo is out of warranty only just, I asked the CS member of staff well can I buy the replacement part "ie" the keyboard, he advised that they didn't sell parts and that was a company policy my only option was to have it sent in for service at the cost of £100.50p.

Now I have been on a popular auction site and found many replacement keyboards for all sorts of manufacturers including Lenovo for around £25 but not for my particular model, there are loads of S10 series 2 and 3 keyboards but none have the same fittings, I asked the CS member if they could advise about locating something compatible I have seen a keyboard replacement quoted as fits 3T series K12 series the U110 and U150, I asked if this would be compatible as paying £100 before I've even started was just quite frankly daylight robbery for a laptop that wasn't worth far off that, let's face it a new netbook will set you back £200 with a full warranty I suspected from his encrypted talk that the fee of £100 was simply for them to collect it there would be additional cost's for parts and labour I'm sure.

The Customer Services staff member said he couldn't assist with compatible keyboards that the only way I would get the keyboard replaced was to pay the £100. I found this member of the service departments staff to be totally dogmatic, entirely unhelpful and quite happy to give me the complaints department address so that he could get rid of me.

I find it quite unbelievable that Lenovo regard both their products and customers with such disregard, and ultimately I will find myself trotting off to buy a replacement laptop I will however make sure it's neither an IBM or a Lenovo I'm also going spread the word that it's a brand that other's need to steer clear of. A replacement keyboard is such a silly part to basically render my laptop pretty useless.

I've dealt with HP / Toshiba / Samsung in the past with issue's that were far more serious and always found them to place customer satisfactions and services high on the list, getting this in perspective I have an as new swish netbook that has 4 keys that don't work, I haven't spilt anything on it or dropped it, and because of this one silly issue is totally useless and worthless, I've been given the run around and then flicked away and unfortunately the only way of complaint is via letter, no email address which say's to me Lenovo is a company who do not wish to interact with their customers and prefer to keep them at a distance

Regards

Disgusted and Frustrated

[Aarti]

Hi Jam 1191

I am a lenovo customer and i am facing the same problem . It has been just 6 months since i bought the laptop and i have hardly used it for 2 months because the hard disk got corrupted thrice and all the customer care did was to change the hard disk rather than checking for the root cause. So please let me know if you got your system replaced or the problem got resolved by replacing the hard disk.