Lessons Learned during online order issues

I have started this thread so that others may learn from the issues I have encountered in the ordering process and thus increase their chance of receiving their correct order. In short I have spent over two months trying to get a "order system error" resolved. Below I document my experience and lessons learned.

BASIC TIMELINE:
My initial laptop order was placed through the Lenovo site on 7/15. Upon calling the following day to confirm the order I was told by a salesperson that there was a "ordering system error" (likely due to the 7/15 systems maintenance) and it would have to be re-entered. The salesperson then created the order and sent me confirmation.

It has been over two months Since my initial order, over which time I have been directed to place a third order (online) due to the second order having a "ordering system error" as well. on 9/18 I was informed that the third order also had a "ordering system error". Something about the BAPI used for the systems integration.

In both online orders I followed the advice on the boards and documented everything - screenshots, salespersons names, everything. These "ordering system errors" each resulted in the cost rising significantly - this last change was ~$700.

In the latter two cases I received multiple email confirmations from Lenovo confirming the order.

In both cases I followed up within 48 hours to verify the order status, again following advice on the thinkpads.com and notebookreview forums. A hearty thank you to the members that have provided this sound advice.

In both cases I was told that I would be contacted if there were any problems. In both cases I was escalated to a "Customer Complaint Resolution Team". In both cases I placed calls and emails to my active contact at Lenovo and in some cases received no response for as many as 7 days.

In both cases it took WEEKS to achieve any kind of "final" answer. The latest answer was that I would have to place the order again, or pay the adjusted price that was ~$700 higher than I initially paid.

In both cases this answer was provided close to the delivery date, making it difficult to cancel.

In the 2nd case I was told that I should take receipt of the unit and only then can anyone at Lenovo help fix the situation. When I received the unit there were both hardware and warrantee service issues with the unit and the "solution" was to return the unit and reorder.

In both cases the Customer Complaint Resolution representatives told me to contact the sales team to resolve the issue, and the sales team told me that since my order had been escalated I must talk to the Customer Complaint Resolution Team.

Today (9/19) I still do not have the laptop I paid for and await a call from a manager in the Customer Complaint Resolution Team. I have had to swap to an old laptop since the slow death of my T41P was the trigger for my initial order.

As I indicated previously I have documented via screenshot, email and log each contact I have had with Lenovo and provided these to them. It has not resolved the issues.


SANITY:
It is reasonable for you to ask why I still pursue this after all this time and trouble. There are three answers.

First I love Thinkpads. I have had six over the years (600, 600x, T20, T21, T41, T41p) and I find them outstanding; I don't think I could survive without the little red eraserMouse.

Second I have had two instances where I needed to use my service contract and both experiences were outstanding. Far better than any other vendor I have used.

Third and perhaps most importantly this has become a matter of principle. It is just wrong to sell a product at price X, wait until close to ship date when the customer is in dire need, then increase the price by 90%.


LEARNINGS:
The following are my conclusions based on my experiences over the past two months. Your experience may differ.

1) The Customer Complaint Resolution Team indicated that they are only empowered to resolve issues once the laptop has been delivered.

2) If you accept escalation to the Customer Complaint Resolution Team then the sales team cannot touch your order so take care in this.

3) If you have a hint of issue escalate immediately. If you don't get a call back from one group call the other and seek a manager - that was the approach that was the most successful in getting a call back after waiting days for response.

4) Don't trust the online ordering system. The prices and options there can change on a day to day basis and - in my experience - are likely to be false. I am sure that many of you have had no problems with the online shop but my experience has been consistently poor.

5) Knowledge levels differ greatly among salespersons. Twice one salesperson gave me information about the hardware of the laptop that was untrue. In his defense these new 500s are new units and I understand that training may fix this issue, but the response should have been "I don't know let me get back to you" rather than provide bad information. I have also recently spoken with a salesperson that had outstanding product knowledge and good customer service. I won't name him here lest he get inadvertently associated with this negative review but I have given feedback to Lenovo on his excellent performance and I am happy to provide his name if anyone on the board wishes it - just message me.

6) Document everything. Others have said this and I believe them right.


CONCLUSION:
If you have experienced issues with the online ordering system I ask that you document them here along with any "lessons learned" so that the community may benefit from our trials. I expect that my experience is atypical (but obviously not unheard-of). Please don't let this turn into a flame war. I document these issues and pitfalls in the hope that it will help others avoid the same problems. I will return with final result when/if it occurs.

 

Good post! While I'm sure you have an exceptional and (hopefully) rare case, what you've learned can certainly come in handy for some of us.

 

What price did you original buy the T500 at?

 

Is there a way to get to the Customer Resolution Team ? because every time I've been told that my issue will go to them, and I've heard from no one.

 

Very sorry to hear about your issues—what a mess—thanks for taking the time to detail them. FWIW, I had an extremely pleasant experience with my order. I placed it online and, because I couldn’t find the spare memory module, I did something I’ve never did before—I used the online chat support to help me with my order. The chat support person was very helpful and knowledgeable and after I placed the order I communicated with this personal exclusively though email until my notebook arrived. He consistently replied to every one of my emails with 24 hours and, with the exception of some minor things, I am very pleased with the notebook.

 

Thank y'all for your kind words.

Sockman, I'm glad it has helped.

gmoney, lets just say that the price was quite good - under a grand (pre-correction).

Kubala I have been working with the Customer Resolution Team for almost two months now. Perhaps that says something.

Interesting note: I cross-posted this message to a number of the common watering holes where Thinkpad folks drink: here, thinkpadforum, cnet, lenovo.com. Interesting that the posting at lenovo was removed. As you can see there was nothing inappropriate in the message - unless one considers a factual documentation of a companies failings to be inappropriate. The issue is that if Lenovo is actively combing their forums in order to remove messages that may not paint the company in the pretty light they desire then that resource is - to me - tainted and not to be trusted. Unfortunate. To further support this view last Friday (9/19?) an admin on the site (tim_lenovo) foretold that the LED screens on the T500 would be "announced" on 9/23. http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=T_Series_Thinkpads&thread.id=14115 Unfortunately this proven to be false since the site still has no LED screens for the T or W 500. Speaking of 500, over 500 people have viewed this prognostication and countless others have quoted Tim. I grow concerned that this lack of attention to the fundamentals may also apply to the service side of the business - which is one of my top reasons for buying a Thinkpad in the first place. Does anyone have recent experience with the Thinkpad support team? I hope my concern proves unwarranted...

UPDATE...ish:
A few hours after my initial post I was contacted by a member of the Executive Customer Complaints (or some such office). The woman I spoke with was understanding, apologetic and willing to work with me to resolve the issue. While we have not yet had final resolution in the situation I do believe that she both wants to fix this and is empowered to do so. I don't want to claim all is well before all is done but things may be looking up. I will continue to keep y'all informed.

 

Thanks for posting this. I am about to order a T400 and this is very timely and helpful. I am also Thinkpad owner and lover.

 

I initially had a less than satisfactory expierience ordering my T61, but I must confess ,Lenovo came thru in the end, for I recieved my laptop today.

 

That's hardly what happened. I simply moved it to the shipping thread where it belonged. See for yourself:

Your message -> http://forum.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=T_Series_Thinkpads&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=17423#M17423

The breadcrumb -> http://forum.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=T_Series_Thinkpads&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=17419#M17419

 

Nonny - thank you for chiming in - if there were the customary indication that the post had been moved I would not have claimed that it had been removed. That said I do observe that there are no less than 41 PAGES in your shipping issues thread - I'd imagine the individual post count is in the hundreds. This sounds like a burial ground to me. While I am glad to hear that the posting was not deleted I can hardly expect anyone will benefit from my posting when it sits on page 41 of a thread filled with the complaints of dissatisfied customers.

Furthermore my posting is in no way related to shipping so I fail to see how it "belonged" in the shipping listing. In fact it does not. If you have a "Lenovo ordering system pricing rules have been misconfigured and my order has been repeatedly screwed up" thread then I would be happy to post there. Note that I did not post to get assistance from Lenovo, nor to whine nor vent but rather to offer my experiences and lessons learned to the general Thinkpad community so they don't fall into the same pitfalls that I did. I have received a significant quantity of appreciative responses, probably because I didn't whine and yell but rather document and explain.

Since this is an ongoing process my documentation will continue and I will continue to report on this saga so that others can better understand the process that a path such as my own can follow. your moving the post prevents such education (and hopefully comfort that the process can end with a positive outcome) so readers on your site will only know that Lenovo massively blew it. As I see it the entity most hurt by burying this "mini-documentary" is Lenovo.

Oh well, another entry in the odyssey.

 

The second link in my message above is the pointer or breadcrumb to the post that was moved.

I'm sorry you're unfamiliar with how the Lithium forum software indicates moved messages or threads. It's not that different from either the vBulletin software used here at NBR or the phpBB software used at TPF.

 

I appreciate your condolences but my knowledge of the forum software is beside the point. The fact that the post was incorrectly moved is the issue. I assume from your lack of response to this most central point that you do not disagree with my assertion. I'm pleased that you recognize that the posting was not related to shipping and should not have been moved to the Shipping issues thread with over 410 messages documenting shipping issues.

Now as a moderator of course you have the right to do whatever you wish on your forums. Delete the post outright if that is your desire. Similarly I have the right to share my experience as I choose, both with the community and with Lenovo regarding those folks that are helpful and those that are decidedly not helpful.

 

That would be an incorrect assumption.

I don't know how the moderators here at NBR would define it but the stickies labeled "shipping" at Lenovo's forum and at TPF are for messages concerning post-ordering and shipping messages whether gleeful or issue-ridden. You are welcome to disagree over how they are titled, however most forum members appear to understand their purpose.

At TPF, that purpose is solely to keep them from cluttering up the forum. At Lenovo's forum, it's also to get them concentrated in one place making it easier for Mark and others to keep track of any issues they're helping with.

 

I greatly appreciate the efforts of those that are both hosting and managing these forums and don't wish to increase their workload. In fact, I believe that the "best practices" I have described will hopefully aid others in having a more successful ordering process and through this, reduce the number of frustrated posts associated with those that have had similar experiences. I noted that a number of folks on the shipping thread experienced "corrupted" or faulty orders, the cost of which (in terms of time and frustration) could have been dramatically reduced had they learned from my experience.

The background description of what led to these insights I felt necessary to add in order to provide some frame of reference and credibility to the post - especially since I am a newcomer to the forums.

I tell you what, I'd be happy to post just the pertinent learnings on some kind of a sticky whose purpose is to collect these approaches that folks have found most successful. Again, this would be a great benefit to us all.

Now I will caveat that my own experience is just that - one person's experience, as I disclaim repeatedly in my post. Nonthless I believe an open dialog benefits us all; consumers, forum owners, and Lenovo. Not *****ing but rather ways to minimize the likelihood of issues. I hate just whining about a problem - I was taught to never raise a problem without a suggestion for a solution.

I will point out that I am currently working with a member of the Executive Customer Complaints department who is thus far quite capable and a pleasure to work with (as I indicated in my update post above). I am not here to bash Lenovo nor to get attention or assistance. I'm trying to help others and that effort is wasted if the post is buried within a list of over 400 problem posts.

Perhaps the suggestion I mention above could be a great way to support those of us who desire to help our fellow Thinkpad enthusiasts yet still keep the boards clean. Perhaps posts structured in a (symptom or situation) : (solution) format. What do you think?