Post here if you've had good experiences with Lenovo Customer Service

Reading this forum may or may not have warped my perspective of Lenovo Customer Service, but the feeling I get is that it is terrible.

I bought a T61 last night and there were some pricing errors that a sales rep (whom I finally got to talk to after waiting for an hour) said could be fixed once I get my computer. After reading these boards, I get the impression that Lenovo will not be understanding and I will have a very tough time getting the issue resolved, regardless of what the rep told me today.

So now I'm regretting my purchase from what seems like a very unorganized, poorly managed company. Now of course, this is the impression I am under after reading the forums, and satisfied customers hardly post on forums to praise the company.

So please, tell me about your GOOD experiences with Lenovo customer service, tech support, etc.

 

Make this a poll so people like me who have had bad experience can let you know.

 

IBM's technical support is EXCELLENT, but lenovos customer support is a PITA. First off, you have to wait about a half hour to speak to someone, and then once you have them on the line, you ask them to clarify a few questions for you and they say "i dont know, but i can build you a system with one" I guess in reality, to be a good salesman, you dont really need that much product knowledge, but lenovo should atleast hire some competent staff.

 

I have added a poll for you. Please elaborate when you cast a vote.

EDIT: this is related to tech support, not customer service: I have not yet needed to call them.


I have only called Lenovo once due to a broken battery catch on my T60. They were courteous, prompt, and professional. The man who answered the phone was based in GA. I did not wait on hold very long at all. They let me know that the batteries were on back-order due to the fire issue, but promised me one as soon as possible. I had 1 within the week. They included pre-paid labels to mail back the old battery. I realize that's not earth-shaking news, but their prompt resolution has made me very keen on their products and service.

 

I voted poor because this really is the experience I have had with customer service so far, they lied to me several times about shipping dates and I have had to wait on hold for over 45 min on each call. Very poor.

 

Half hour? I wish.

I was on the phone today for TWO HOURS each time, and never made it to a rep. Had to hang up each time because of having to log in to conference calls.

I find this extremely disrespectful of me as a customer that I cannot get a hold of a rep for this amount of time for a pretty important issue (to me, of course, obviously not to them).

 

you were probably on hold for 2 hours because :
1) the amazing thinkpad deal ran out on july 30th, so people were rushing to fill those orders
2) it's monday...enough said there.

 

Unfortunately, these days it's either "hold for two hours" or "spend two hours interpreting a foreign accent."

 

My most recent order, I used a coupon that worked at checkout and showed in order confirmation, then card was charged $270 more than confirmed purchase price. At first told the difference was just tax lol. Then even after CS admitted this was not an uncommon glitch, it was still treated as a price match situation where I had to choose between waiting until after it shipped then submitting a price match request to a different order number (for which he could provide no guarantee of working), or cancelling the order and resubmit at correct price. I chose to cancel, and of course it shipped anyways, and took way too much time and fighting on the phone to get credit issued. FW cashback email, screenshot of order confirmation, independent order quote for "price matching"- finally they issued it.

Order previous to this was cancelled two days after placed because again, a coupon didn't work. Was told by scott, sales supervisor, that order is canceled, asked for cxl number, "we don't have them, don't worry it's canceled". Of course never canceled. Over a month later, and getting credit card and BBB complaints involved, and HOURS on the phone- credit finally issued.

Most everyone is very nice, but I agree the worst part is the lying. I can forgive alot of incompetence, but they will lie even when it is not to their (short term) advantage. Like telling me backwards of what their website says about a part delaying shipment, when it would have been opposotie of what they assume "i wanted to hear" lol. But stuff like assuring me a Z I ordered was of magnesium construction is just as much my fault for not researching as much as their incompetence. Similarly assuring me my Z's optical would fit in a T 61's bay, the same- that's on me. Should have done my homework. So just learned the hard way not to trust them at all. That's not necessarily lying, just incompetence/not wanting to admit you don't know/etc, I can deal with that. Not necessarily lying.

It's the internal stuff you can't find out for yourself that's most frustrating.

First told 8-10 days after delivery of return credit would be issued. Then after a couple of weeks- oh it's actually 8-10 days after they get it identified and invoiced, not recieved. Then after a couple more, oh it's actually 8-10 days after we actually submit the credit to your bank. They just tell you whatever lie will get you off the phone with them and buy them another week.

I've been told that calls have been made to warehouse, then by someone else that CS doesn't even have a direct line there. They've told me card has been credited, then someone else says return hasn't been past identification/sorting yet. Then someone else says it went to a special department for credit investigations?! That alarmed the hell out of me, so got to supervisor, who didn't knw what that even was. Been told they will send an email to "greg" in the warehouse, who would issue the credit within 24 hours. Then greg must not have gotten the email- "do you want me to email him again"?! As if I know wahts best for interdepartmental communication. All I could think to say is if the first email didn't "Get to him" how will a 2nd one help? Then finally got a pissy csr who enjoyed leveling with me that it does not matter what is emailed to greg- there's a huge stack that gets sorted, and he gets to it when he gets to it.

They'll call or emial me one way or another with an answer to something by the end of the day- never happens. "didn't hear back from the warehouse." Always have to call and hold for them, until...

They do seem to respond to the BBB though. As soon as I got the East NC BBB involved, they were calling me for the first time ever. FINALLY got my money back on both "glitched" orders.

 

Oh crap, sorry I saw the poll and voted poor- but I didn't notice the title said post here if you've had "good" experience with lenovo CS.

 

I've had excellent customer service and tech support when dealing with Lenovo's Canadian call centres.

I have had the worst experience when dealing with the American call centre (located in Atlanta IIRC). Without going into boring details, the rep was just plain (and several times, overtly) rude. I was in disbelief that he was employed. In the end he hung up on me! I was at no time anything but pleasant to deal with so his choice to hang up on me was simply because the request was probably more work than he felt like doing. It was almost as if it was his last day of work and he just didn't care. Very wild. I was transferred to a random "customer satisfaction" survey after he disconnected me in which I gave him the worst possible rating.

 

I voted poor 'cuz they still havent credit back to me yet for the price match which they said within 48 hours and it's been 1 week.

 

Fantastic service with my t42. All US based, overnight of parts under warranty for 3 years going now, really great.

 

I voted satifactory because they did answer quickly during a workday and that's better than perma-hold. The knock is their answer of "we'll cancel this order and then you reorder," when I wanted to change my order's operating system. Their customer service reps picks up quickly (on my 2 attempts), but their ordering and erp systems seem real weak for a "world-class" computer maker

 

Excellent.

My X61T had the vertical lines LCD problem. I called and someone came in like 4 days and replaced the screen. The technician was very nice and knew what he was doing unlike some Dell ones Iv seen. However apparently the screen wasnt the only issue and the problems resurfaced after 2 month. Anyway Lenovo offered me an upgraded X61t for my X60t. Im on vacation so they are holding on to it and shipping it to me when I get back to college. I also got a free Ultrabase with DVD burner apparently.

 

No problems here, usually I've gotten someone on the phone within 10 minutes each time. The longest wait was ~30 minutes on a very busy day (I actually gave up the first time and tried in the afternoon instead.)

No trouble cancelling orders and the reps have always been polite and have acted quickly. However, I needed to make followup calls to actually get the orders fully closed instead of having the rep just "send an email to the factory."

If there is room for improvement, it's definitely in these areas:
1) The website Estimated Shipping date is way off. Some people get their machines in a week or two even though the ESD is 7 weeks in the future. Others end up waiting for months although others are getting the orders shipped very quickly.

2) They should link their ordering system and the factory order database. I can't believe the CSRs need to send an email to the factory. EG. when cancelling or changing an order with Dell, there is no delay - they just do it. With Lenovo days can go by, anywhere between 0-3 days depending on who you talk to.