Poor customer service experience

My experience with Lenovo overall has been mixed.

I found the order process to be exceptionally well done. I ordered my X200Tablet customized laptop on 7/24, and was promised a ship date of 8/6. Much to my surprise, it shipped on 7/28 and arrived on 8/3/2009. Wonderful!

Out of the box, nothing was missing and the computer booted up well. I was disappointed with the amount of bloatware installed, however. I basically had to do a full wipe and clean build of the system in order to recover the true performance abilities. That's not too unusual though, really. Most prebuilts come weighed with crap. All in all, things were going well. Benchmarks were soaring and I was very happy.

On 9/16/2009, after watching my 18 month old son scribble on the screen in MS paint, it occurred to me that I might wish to buy the extended warranty protection, that would cover accidental damage. I went online to lenovo.com, went to their warranty upgrade page, entered my machine type and serial number, and selected the 3yr Depot Upgrade w/ 3yr ThinkPad Protection (which covers accidental damage). The prior page to add it to the cart listed the price as ~$237, but the cart showed it as $279, and after tax was a little over $300. I actually didn't even notice this discrepency until I went back to research the facts for this writeup. But no biggy, really. $300 for full protection of a laptop from all damage for 3 years is well worth the cost.

The following weekend, a crack showed up in the lcd screen. I immediately called lenovo customer service that saturday, and was informed that since I did not have an extended warranty, I would be charged $979 for the repair. I first inquired how they knew that's how much it would cost, since they hadn't even seen the machine, and didn't know all the components that were damaged, and asked if that figure was just a worst case estimate. Not so I was told. Regarding the missing warranty, they couldn't help resolve that on the weekend. The CS rep told me to call back on monday to speak with their "Entitlement Department".

As a slight aside, this was one of the most unhelpful customer service reps I have ever encountered. I had to prompt him for everything. Here's an example exchange:

Me: "Hi! I've got a lenovo X200T with a cracked screen"
CS: "Yes?"
Me: "Well, um, it's not displaying right, and I need to get it fixed"
CS: "Ok."
Me: "Can you guys fix it?"
CS: "Yes."
Me: "OoooooK, how about we do that then?"
CS: "Alright."
.
.
.

I'm used to good customer service being a fellow (or gal) on the other end of the line who hears your problem and finds out what they can do about it. I literally had to drag this guy along to get what I wanted.

Anyways.

I call back on monday, and speak with another CS rep (it's the same number for entitlement, it appears...). I inquire if I can get the machine sent in for repair while I sort out the warranty issue. No go he says, they will charge me for it. So the CS rep transfers me to the Entitlement Department.

There, I speak with Ms. P, who is fairly friendly and helpful, and she initially says I have purchased the wrong warranty. I explain how I purchased it, and it eventually comes up that she has no idea what I've purchased. She requests that I fax her my proof of purchase. Pretty ridiculous, I think, that I have to go to www.lenovo.com, pull up my order, print it out, write "Attn: Ms. P, Case #: xxxxxxx", and fax it BACK to lenovo, to prove that I've purchased the warranty. However, I follow her instructions, and wait for her callback.

On Tuesday a prepaid UPS box arrives from lenovo, much to my surprise. I assumed that the CS rep and entitlement department must have worked it out and that my laptop was cleared for warranty repairs. Great! I pack up my laptop and ship it off, UPS picks up my box on Wednesday.

Thursday, I receive a call from lenovo CS informing me that they have my laptop and it will cost $750 to repair the screen, will I authorize the repairs? Eh?

I call lenovo back, and get another rep in the Entitlement Department, Ms. M this time. Ms. M informs me that I still only have a 1 year warranty. She informs me I need to fax in proof of my extended warranty purchase. I inform her that I've already done so. She asks to whom, and I give her Ms. P's name. Ms. M has never heard of Ms. P. I complain that it's fairly ridiculous that I'm having to fax in proof of purchase that exists right on lenovo databases, but apparently the "Entitlement Department" is basically a mediation entity. Why we need a mediation entity to resolve a seemingly simple issue is somewhat beyond me. In any case, I once again fax in my proof of purchase, after obtaining Ms. M's word that she would call me as soon as she got it.

Ms. M calls me back after about an hour, and informs me that I only purchased a 1 year warranty. I explain to her that the part number is indeed correct, and that the printed invoice only shows the first half of the warranty description, and that she should probably go and look up the part number. Ms . M replies that she'll have to research the part number details.

My invoice read:
"41C9334 MOBILE 1YR DEPOT TO TOTAL 279.00 1 279.00"

The part number description on lenovo.com reads:
"41C9334 MOBILE 1YR DEPOT TO TOTAL 3YR DEPOT WARRANTY+ACCDMGPROT"

I'm currently waiting on hearing back from Ms. M and the fate of my laptop (will I have to pay or not?), which I urgently need for work and studies. The convoluted process and hoops I've been made to jump through, and the generally poor attitude and understanding of the lenovo reps I have talked to has insured that, while they make great ThinkPads (I love mine!), I will probably never buy from them again. Their customer service is not worth the headache.

I'm sure I'll get sympathizers in this thread, and others who will say "omg wud u liek some cheeze w/ ur whine?", but really, having to go back and forth with representatives like this is a real pain. The problem is very simple, but their process of resolving it seems overly complicated for the level of problem, and very un-customer friendly. I bought a product, they can't seem to recognize that, and I have to repeatedly print invoices from their website and fax them back to them to prove that I did.

Going out of your way to help your customers is one of the factors that separates a great company, from a mediocre one. The mixed signals and dropped lines of communication I've been getting from lenovo place it solidly in the mediocre category for me.

Thanks for listening. I'll probably post a follow up once I've resolved my issue with lenovo.

PS- I want to add that I used this website extensively to research my laptop purchase and I find it to be a wonderful resource. Keep up the great work, everyone!

 

I am sorry to hear that. Try to reach out to Mark from lenovo on these forums or on the lenovo forums if your issue does not get resolved and needs some real escalation.

 

Sorry to hear about the screen. I don't know that there's anything to get worked up over until Lenovo gives you the final word. Sure, it's annoying, but not many things in life work perfectly. You just purchased the coverage and the database that the reps use probably lags just like the one on the website. Maybe they use the same one. If Lenovo didn't verify your coverage they wouldn't be doing their job either. You've got all your paperwork, so you should be good. If not, you can go from there. I hope it all works out. Good Luck.

I almost forgot, welcome to NBR. Feel free to hang out and contribute where you can.

 

Sorry to hear your about story. I have the same feeling - love the Thinkpad, but hate having to deal with Lenovo's arcane customer service dept.

I, too, thought about buying warranty, buthaven't done so, due to the many horror stories of Lenovo's internal database not updating and showing the new warranty.

 

sounds like you've only had the machine for a few months, doesn't sound right that you would need extended coverage for this. Even so, if you are getting nowhere with them, you can always ask to be escalated to the highest manager possible and then just threaten them with bringing the issue up at a shareholder meeting.

I know that seems rude and unnecessary, but it is a last resort. My cousin did it with dell when they wouldn't honor his warranty and he got a brand new system out of it, albeit after 2 months of yelling at them.

you have more power as a consumer than you think, I suggest that you look up computer lemon laws, may not apply but it sure scares the hell out of managers.

hopefully you don't have to resort to any of that. good luck.

 

They are asking about the extension and accidental protection because the screen doesn't just crack on its own.

And he would have to be a shareholder...and that isn't really the way to go. He should try to talk to corporate customer relations after he tries Mark. Assuming this is all not going to work out without other intervention.

 

Most likely the CS rep was doing something else while talking to you. From my past experiences with tech support (in Atlanta I think), sometimes when you are talking to them, they seemed very absent minded, in some cases you can hear the sound of typing on keyboard (not typing something related to your case). Sometimes they put you on hold for a loooooong time (once I was put on hold for more than 30 minutes if I remember correctly), and the rep seemed surprised (probably disappointed) that I was still there when he came back on the phone. He probably had been entertaining himself or eating his night meal

One thing I think Lenovo is not getting right: Instead of having one person "Mark" deal with all the customer complaints, why don't they work on improving the quality of ALL customer service reps so that there will be less complaints. How many cases can 1 person handle? They should act BEFORE there are complaints, rather than carelessly generating complaints and then send the customers to a single individual to seek solution.

 

ROFL

But seriously, I'm sorry you're going through such a hassle. Sounds like a real pain, especially when it's something you paid for. I chose to not purchase the TPP for my X301, I hope I don't regret that decision later...

 

That may be difficult as Lenovo is traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, HKSE:992.

 

If you don't hear back from Miss M by Monday, go here -> Lenovo Forum and post your issue in General Discussions. Just the facts; leave out the drama. Mark will see it.

FWIW, it was the policy that Accident Protection had to be added within 30 days of purchase. I'm surprised that you were able to add it after 30 days.