Poor Supply Chain Management

Hi everyone,

I am currently waiting for my first ThinkPad (T400) to arrive, and so far I am having a terrible time dealing with Lenovo's supply chain structure (Canada). Up until now I have been using Dell's Latitude series of laptops, and I am used to having a custom machine shipped within one week of order.

I placed an order for an upgraded T400 May 13, and the website projection was 11 business days. Eventually, I was given an "estimated shipping date" of May 27, which was then shifted to June 7, back to May 27, forward again to June 6, and today I am told it is estimated to be shipped June 17th! This is causing me huge losses in productivity as I am forced to use a loaner computer, since the machine that the T400 would be replacing is now dead.

One CSR gave me a $50 credit if it did not ship by the 28th, and now it is June 8th and they are telling me I have to wait another two weeks (including time for shipping from China to Canada)? This is especially disappointing coming from a company with a flagship line of "business" laptops. What business would put up with this?

Has this happened to anyone else? What did you do to deal with it? How can I go about filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, or alerting media and consumer reports about this poor business practice?

If it's any further use, the original delay was due to a "supply constraint" on the discrete graphics cards.. and now they are saying there is a shortage of bezels. Not only are they out of custom/upgrade components, but stock parts too?

EDIT: This is absolutely ridiculous. I called back and a different rep tells me it is a shortage of optical drives, not bezels! After 30 minutes of explaining, he realizes I ordered the basic CD-RW/DVD-ROM and not the DVD or Blu-Ray drives that actually have a shortage. At about 50 minutes in he tells me now that my order has been shipped. This is some of the worst logistical management I have ever seen in a large computer manufacturer.

 

We are familiar with lenovo's crappy logistics (as well as website at times!). However regarding your comment on how would a business put up with this...pretty sure for large customers lenovo has their reps kowtowing all day to make them happy and to be competitive in the business laptop market.

For regular small time users ordering directly from lenovo is a bit of a pain. There is always the option of going from a 3rd party who has the machines in hand, but lenovo tends to have good sales :\.

Just depends if it is worth it to you, but I don't think this is valid to complain with the BBB. These are estimate times. And, yes, most CSRs are useless.

 

It is not simply an issue with the constant delays (which occur like clockwork as you approach your shipping date), but also with major inconsistencies coming from service representatives. The fact that I got two different "part constraint" excuses before they told me my computer had shipped... they clearly had no idea what was going on with my order.

On its own, none of the problems I have experienced may constitute a legitimate BBB complaint, but when you pile everything together, the problem is easily greater than the sum of its parts (I've spent upwards of 3 hours on the phone with Lenovo employees today with nothing more than a $50 credit and some apologies to show for it). This issue is clearly not an isolated incident, as you said. A colleague of mine ordered a very similar configuration on the same date, and when he called in to check his order status on Friday, the reps literally told him "we have no idea when you will get your computer, if you want we can cancel your order". How can Lenovo run a successful business if they are actually offering to cancel orders instead of finding a solution?

 

Well lenovo's problems obviously mean consumers need to decide to stop buying lenovo goods so management wakes up and starts doing things better. Or hopefully on their own?

That being said I believe that the CSRs have little access to information and sort of just make things up as they go because there is very little cooperation between the production center and the people are support.

But again I don't really see how this is a BBB complaint. If anything complain to Lenovo's corporate relations. BBB isn't going to do anything anyways. Nothing illegal occurred as well.