I thought I would test drive the "Lenovo experience" by ordering my son an R series notebook before switching our business account over to Lenovo. I needed it fast. I having serious second thoughts! I did all of my homework. I checked a number of forums and blogs and saw that there were often shipping delays with the T series, so I decided to go with an R. Then I did a little comparison shopping and checked out comparable systems with other companies, and ALL of them gave me an estimated shipping date BEFORE I clicked the "Buy" button. Lenovo said only the standard "ships in 1-2 weeks." Just to be doubly sure I called a customer rep and checked on the shipping time for the system I was interested in, and got the "1-2 weeks" response. Feeling assured, I went to the website on Dec. 1, and ordered a system with the following build:
8918CT CONFIGURED SYSTEM
42V8190 SBB INTEL CORE 2 DUO PRCESST7300
42V8011 VBB MS WIN VISTA HOME PREMIUM
42X2013 SBB MSWIN VIS HPREM32 US ENGLI
42V8876 SBB 15.4" WXGA,BT
42X0857 SBB NVIDIA NB8M,PC CARD/PCLE
41W2063 VBB 2GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 2DIMM
42V8195 SBB KEYBOARD US ENGLISH
42V8884 SBB ULTRNAV TRACKPOINTTOUCHPAD
42V8897 SBB 160 GB HDD, 5400RPM
42V8892 SBB DVD REC 8X MAX ULTRABAYENH
41W1501 SBB INTELPRO/WL3945ABGUSCNLAAP
62P6054 VBB INTEGR.BLUETOOTH PAN
42V8188 SBB 6 CELL LI-ION BATT.(2.4AH)
39T6442 SBB COUNTRY PACK NORTH AMERICA
42X0949 SBB LP US ENGLISH
42X1754 SBB MS OFF H+STD.07-ENG
No sooner did order then a shipping date of Dec. 20th showed up on the order status page. E-mailed a rep, and waited 3 days before I got a response from a Paul Kounine on behalf of web sales that said:
"The projected ship date for your system, directly from the warehouse, is 9 December. This date, although usually accurate, is not a guarantee and the item will only be considered delayed if it passes 20 December (the date we initially provided you when your order was placed and confirmed)."
Of course December 9th came and went with no shipment. I called again to inquire whether there was something I could change in the configuration to insure shipment ASAP. The answer was no; any changes would further impede shipment which was scheduled on Dec. 20th. I began having second thoughts, and called the following week to see of everything was on couse. The answer was "yes, my system was shipping tomorrow, in fact". On the 20th I got an e-mail saying my system had shipped. Went to get a tracking number the next day, and the order status page says it will be shipping on Jan. 8th! It's incredibly frustrating since my son is due to travel next semester, and won't get the notebook on time if it ships the 8th. I would have changed the original order if I'd gotten a straight answer from Lenovo. I'm reluctant to call a rep because I'm pretty sure all they do is go to the same order status page that I can go to online. Nobody has ever really let me know where my order is in the system. It's very different from the good service I've had with other companies I've worked with. I'm re-considering switching over our business account, and I'm pretty sure I'll be cancelling this order when I make the call this afternoon on which a service rep will just call up the lame order status page, and tell me my order is further delayed! Also, the original e-mail from Lenovo indicated that my order would only be considered delayed if the shipment date passed the 20th:
"the item will only be considered delayed if it passes 20 December (the date we initially provided you when your order was placed and confirmed)"
Does that mean it IS considered delayed now? And if it is, what does that mean? Does Lenovo expedite delayed orders, or offer any compensation for such delays?
