Support quality dropping?

I've just ended a long running discussion with Lenovo's support service (Lenovo-1, Me-0), and while I feel that the whole thing ended up being a big waste of time, I was struck by the nature of how the quality of their service has fallen in recent years. For example:

1. First level tech support is not empowered to really provide any assistance beyond phone support. Second level techs were not even on-site the first couple of time I called.

2. While I was assured of phone calls being returned within 24-48 hour time frame, it was usually double this.

3. While email responses indicated I would be contacted the following day, it was only after I sent a second email a week later that I typically received responses.

4. The level of helpfulness was *far* lower than what I have experience with either Dell or HP. Note that I routinely handle dozens of these calls each year for multiple companies, and while I am used to dealing with layers of support, only Lenovo has so thoroughly refused to assist/resolve basic issues dealing with customer satisfaction.

Just wondering what other people's thoughts were. I still think Thinkpads are about the best built laptops available, but I'm just wondering if the drop in customer service is an anomaly or a more widespread phenomenon. And no, I don't want to compare Lenovo to Dell, or any other vendor. I want to compare Lenovo 2007 to Lenovo 2005.

Thanks!

 

Can I ask what the issue was?

 

Of course: the issue was a couple of stuck pixels on a brand new T61. Now, I know that this falls within Lenovo's "acceptable" number, but I've dealt with similar issues with both Dell and HP, and with them I've always had some resolution (replaced laptop, upgraded warranty, etc).

But that's not really the gist of my complaint. It's that I found dealing with Lenovo's support staff to be worse than it used to be (long wait times, little to no communication, snippy and unfriendly staff, etc). These are issues that any use would have had to deal with, regardless of the issue at hand.

 

Replace Lenovo with any company that sells technical products and you will get the exact same answer. Well, maybe not with Apple.

 

I have heard good things about Apple, but virtually all the users I support are corporate types. I have found that both Dell and HP have improved in recent years (but they were always so much worse than Lenovo to begin with it's hard to compare them).

Is an equivalent warranty the same price with Apple as it is with Lenovo? Lenovo's *big* selling point (IMHO) is their international coverage...

 

I cannot get Lenovo to reverse a charge for something I cancelled and never was shipped. They're so unresponsive and do-nothing. Had to open a c/card dispute.

 

Have you voted in this poll about Lenovo Customer Support?

 

Lenovo doesn't charge anyone's credit card until an item invoices/ships.