Spoke to Lenovo regarding Shipping issues for the T400

Hey Guys,

I Know that there are a whole bunch of T400 shipping threads already - but I spoke to one of the managers at Lenovo over the phone (this is probably what people in the service industry call "tier 2," which basically means you are talking to someone not in India - nothing against indian reps, of course) who gave me information that was really terrible regarding shipping statuses. I don't know if this info has been posted yet - so I will apologize if this is a reiteration.

Basically, I ordered mine on 9/23, estimated ship date 10/07 - which was yesterday. That date passed, and now the ship date is 10/20. I have seen some people who have ordered before me, and have had theirs shipped within a week.

Here's the info that I got from the various customer service agents.

-the ship date that you get on the webpage is generic. It will always be 2 weeks from the day that you order - it does NOT actually reflect the build date, inventory stock, etc. when my shipping date came and went, the counter automatically jumped to 10/20 - 2 more weeks. So don't rely on this number too much.

- The problem seems to be that there is a technical glitch that prevents some orders from actually getting to the warehouse (which is, I assume, whereever they build the machines). So, while the people on the phone have the information in front of them (i got them to confirm this), they cannot send it to the warehouse to be assembled. this has nothing to do with the availability of parts or anything like that.

-the first customer service rep i spoke with told me my order was essentially stuck in limbo and that he would "expedite" my order. my subsequent conversations indicated to me that this "expedition" could be just a way to get people off the phone.

-they don't know what the problem is, they don't know how long it will take to fix - though the manager stated an estimated fix for this glitch is 1 week - but would not commit to the statement.

-it doesn't matter if you order from the website or over the phone - the problem persists across the board.

-the manager would not give me a percentage figure as to how many orders are affected. but, she told me that the info was confidential, so it left me with the impression that she knew, but could not tell me.

-People affected by this would get an e-mail when the problem is fixed.

she offered me several options:
-cancel the order and try to get it locally.
-try and order it again over the webpage, and maybe it will go through.
-wait it out.

Not really great options in my opinion. I've kept my current order active - they haven't charged me for it yet and I'm going to try and reorder on the web. I didn't get the name of the manager, it just slipped my mind at the time. I got the distinct feeling that I was being given the run around - and that it may very well be that the people answering the phones have no idea what is wrong, but they know SOMETHING is wrong.

So, my advice is that if you decide to order -call them 2-3 days after you order and follow up to make sure that yours got through. If anyone else has had similar experiences, I'd like to know. anything that confirm or refute anything that I've listed above, please let me know and I'll update this post. Anyone with more info - of course, post it and I'll append it.

 

Building and shipping this many notebooks all over the world is just a massive undertaking, it's to some degree understandable that there's a few kinks in the system.

I personally just don't understand how some people can get so worked up because their notebooks has been delayed a few weeks or a month. It's, in the end, only a notebook. Being that way probably isn't good for you anyway.

If you need a notebook quickly, some people do, you should probably buy a pre-configured model. It will ship faster, but limit your options and probably will cost more. You can't have it both ways. Thanks for the info.

 

Yes, Lenovo is a huge company. But there is no reason why I should not expect them to ship my order within the time they stated, or barring that, give me a valid reason and a solution. They gave me neither.

If other people are having the same problem I am, hopefully they'll find this info useful, and maybe someone will have some more info for me. If this issue is just me, I'm happy to let this thread die.

 

go for dell or hp =]

you got to understand that it is far from china or hong kong.

 

I don't think it's just you who's had a shipping issue. The vast a majority of users get their notebooks on time. I think being here in some way skews peoples perspective because they see lot of threads with issues and complaints, many of which are valid, but we're a very small slice of the pie. The vast majority of buyers are happy campers and feel no need to post here saying so. It's sort of like the teacher doesn't send a note home when you were good in school.

In a perfect world you could call up they could give you every detail, but it probably don't work that way.

 

For a while it seemed like Lenovo was shipping notebooks out at a steady pace. I guess their must be a supply crunch for all these delays.

 

It may be possible that their glitch is the Chinese Holiday that just occured. It is my understanding that it was a week long. I ordered mine on the 1st (the holiday ended on the 5th) and my order was "flagged and escalated" when I called earlier this week. I have read others' posts that experienced the same thing. (I also ordered the 9cell batter which may also create a shipping delay). My estimated shipping date is the 15th so I am awaiting ,,,, anxiously.