ThinkPad Edge and E-series shipping thread: 2013 - 2011 edition [ Edited ]

[Maliha Community Moderator]

Post your shipping and order management experiences here:

Here are some common points of frequent discussion:

• Avoid Credit Holds - ensure that BOTH your bill to and ship to addresses are listed with your CC bank before ordering
• Lenovo will NOT bill your card until order ships - an authorization charge hold to check for available balance may show up when order is first placed.
• Estimated ship dates are based on default lead time and can vary from what was displayed on website.
• In the US and Canada, Lenovo utilizes UPS for new product shipments
• Orders may ship before the Estimated Ship Date
• Orders may enter through Alaska and pass through Louisville, KY before traveling on to final address
• Cancellation requests may take up to 2 days to process
• Requests to change configuration or other aspects of the order may require the order to be rebooked.
• Lenovo does not accept payment via international credit cards, except AMEX.

Have fun with your new ThinkPads!

[lifelong]

I ordered an e420 in late March and got an e-mail this morning from Amazon payments, which I used to pay for the order, that my order has been cancelled.  I did not initiate cancellation.  What the heck, Lenovo?  What gives?  Anyone have ideas as to what I should do?

Moderator Note: Edited subject to match content.

[haimb]

Ordered ThinkPad E420s on March 31 with April 12 shippment. It then moved to April 14 and then to April 19. Today, there is no shippment date. Customer service is telling me there is a problem with getting components. I need the laptop and I am not happy!!! What is going on here?

[1timecust]

      This was to be my first purchase through lenovo. Decided to go direct through the site instead of using a reseller figuring the customer service and communication would be better. What a big mistake. After placing my order for a laptop for my business that showed as in stock you can imagine my surprise when i received the purchase order that indicated my ship date was to be over two weeks away.  A little agitated but knowing i could make it a couple weeks with my just my desktop i sucked it up and decided would wait even though some resellers were shipping imediately. 

       Now the day before my laptop is supposed to ship the purchase order gets adjusted and the ship date is REMOVED! No email, no call, no communication at all from lenovo.  I call cust serv and am told there must have been a miscommunication in the warehouse and i would be elevated to an executive status and followed up with in the next day or two.  So i figure ok no big deal i already waited two weeks for it, whats two more days. Well what do you know after two days without any emails or calls, i check the status of my order and now its listed with a ship date more than 3 WEEKS away from the original est ship date!

      I find it almost impossible to believe that lenovo did not know there was going to be a delay in my order at some point. Instead they just let me sit there believing the order would ship on its estimated ship date and only updated it when the est ship date came and went and i proceeded to call them.  From reading some of the more popular laptop forums it seems lenovo is doing this exact same thing  to quite a few other people. Its obviously hiding some availability information from people that purchased this laptop.  You know its one thing to have to wait 3 weeks for a piece of tech equipment that is supposed to be in stock and another to wait a month and a half. But where i really lose it is when a company finds it to difficult to be honest and upfront with their customers about the status of their order.  I can only imagine how poorly i might be treated if i ever needed service for this machine in the future.  Needless to say i will be cancelling my order and shopping somewhere else for my companies needs in the future. I am usually very accommodating when it comes to things like this but when it seems like a company is knowingly abusing me as a customer i felt i should at least warn potential buyers on this forum and others.

The model i was purchasing was the e420s.

Just a warning to potention purchasers

[clever_usr_name]

I've had some issues as well; so at least your not alone in your pain : ) 

My estimated shipment date fluctuated then on the 19th completely disappeared with a note on my "Order Status" that read "If no ship date is given above, there may be an issue with your order. If you would like more information on the status, please call". When I contacted Lenovo I was told there was an issue transmitting my order to the warehouse …. I have no idea what this means and when pressed I'm not sure my representative did either; at any rate no one knows when these machines are expected to ship, could be tomorrow or next year. If you NEED a machine asap and can do without the build quality, sexiness, speedy boot, amazing keyboard (and trackpoint!) of the new Edges, Dell offers a few comparable Vostro's that both ship next business day and are a bit cheeper …but I for one would not want to be the dude who got a Dell. It would be pretty cool if Lenovo addressed this or at least gave us some semblance of a ship window… 

[clever_usr_name]

It looks like this issue was/is discussed in this thread at forum.thinkpads.com 

According to the thread the e420s is shipping just irregularly and not to people who buy directly from Lenovo; one poor fellow (pyther) had to cancel his order and buy through CDW.

The thread also mentions ship dates changing then, inexplicably, on the 19th completely disappearing. 

[clever_usr_name]

I ended up having to cancel my original order due to time constraints. I placed a second order (for my personal use) and received the laptop 16 days later. 16 days is somewhat reasonable and seems to be mirroring what Dell and HP are capable of pulling off (if you do not choose one of there 'ships fast' preconfigured systems). 

Interestingly the manufacture date on the machine is exactly 7 days prior to its received date. Thus it took Lenovo ~11 days to get the parts and assemble and 7 (5 business) days to ship it to the other side of the world. I can't complain : ) 

[gwampy]

Ordered ram upgrade and extended warranty for my E520. Took over 3 weeks to get ram. Nearly a month later I still have not received my warranty. Lenovo took the money when I placed the order. Called support was told it could take another 2 weeks to get it. I think 6 weeks is a bit much for something as simple as warranty extension plan. I don't know if I will ever get it as I was told by support that they would email me in 2 days.... it's been now 3 days and have not heard anything from Lenovo. Lenovo has my $99 for the warranty. It kind of appears Lenovo support will tell you anything but not follow up on what they tell you they will do. Not sure if anyone else has had this problem with Lenovo's extended warranty, but to me it looks like if you opt for it, be prepared for a long wait and where I still do not have mine a possible battle to get what you paid for. I have had several IBM's with great results but am now. wondering if I may have made a huge mistake in buying a Lenovo product.

[gwampy]

UPDATE: It has been 4 days now and still no email from Lenovo, after I was told they would email me in 2 days. Of course customer support is now closed but you can bet I will be on phone tomorrow. I'm getting a bit frustrated. I am not a rich man and $99 is a pretty good deal of money to put out for me for something that I have yet to receive. If I don't get results withing a week, I for sure will not recommend anyone I know to buy a Lenovo. I have quite a few friends thinking of a new laptop and watching how Lenovo operates. So far I am not impressed and neither are any of my friends I have talked with about ordering through Lenovo. If this is how Lenovo handles orders, I can't imagine how horrifying it wold be if I ever have to send it out for repair under warranty. Right now it appears Lenovo is quick on the throttle to take your money but not very interested in customer service or keeping their word on how they will handle a situation. This will be Lenovo's down fall. With todays strong competition, customer service and satisfaction is everything.