Y450 *read Before Purchasing*

**READ THIS**

For those who have not read my previous two posts, I think it is fair to say that I have been more than patient with Lenovo. I have anxiously waited for the Y450 since it was announced at CES many months ago and have finally decided it is time to cancel my order.

The sole purpose of this post is to inform others what I have gone through so they can make an informed decision regarding their own situation. I will do my best to keep it as brief as possible while still including the major points of relevance. I suspect many of you will find something similar has happened to you already. (All names have been removed as I’m not trying to single any person out)


Tuesday, April 28th
Order Placed for the $999 top build Y450 (Model: 418939U) (I paid less w/ a coupon)


Monday, May 4th
I called Lenovo to ask why the price on the order status page differed from that on my order confirmation email – and why I have yet to be charged. I was told there was nothing to worry about, the website is wrong. (note: this order status page has consistently been called useless by every Lenovo rep throughout the entire process)


Friday, May 8th
I called on my ESD to see why the status hasn't changed from "in process" and was told that my credit card was "rejected". To see how far they would go into this fabled story, I asked why I didn't receive any notice of this, the reason for rejection, etc. I finally said "this is impossible" to which I was told "No sir, I assure you your credit card was rejected". When I told him I submitted a payment with PayPal (linked directly to my bank account) he backed off, put me on hold for 5 mins (obviously looking for a new excuse) and came back with apologies.
His "solution" was that he told the warehouse to continue with the order and that he will have a status update in 24-48 business hours (which will carry over the weekend). I asked if this would push me back to the next round of shipments (which seem to be every 12-15days) and was told "no sir, I marked your order as 'urgent'"... at this moment I truly felt he knew that I was fully aware he was lying. It was almost as if he was communicating: "look I'm saying what I have to say" (note: at that point in time I have read seven other instances of the EXACT same issue I've encountered – many of them received the same response -- as in: exact same responses, situations and excuses -- verbatim)


Monday, May 11th
The laptop dropped in price to $899 on the website. I called to ask for an update along with a price match. The seemingly nice, honest and well spoken agent said he will send the price adjustment to the billing department for correction in such a way that it would not move my order to the back of the line. He also said he would fix the incorrect shipping charge and both issues would be resolved on the order status page within two business days.
This agent also said (something along the lines of): "We didn't expect such a large response when the product went live. We couldn’t meet the demand. Ignore the estimated ship date on the site - There is no reason to lie to you, the ship date I'm seeing is May 28th."
He also assured me that he will personally manage my order proactively and will let me know if anything changes. He then provided me with his direct email address saying it’s the best way to reach him.
Keep in mind, regardless of the supposed backorder, my friend purchased the machine within hours of it’s posting on the site (either April 20th or the 21st – I can’t recall) and hasn’t received his order to date. I find it hard to believe that they still don’t have enough machines to ship those placed within the first half day. In addition, I’ve been to MANY laptop forums and websites – I have YET TO FIND A SINGLE PERSON WHO RECEIVED A Y450. With that said, this guy seemed sincere and since all I wanted was the truth, I decided to wait.


Friday, May 15th
I notice the order status page now has an ESD of June 11th, the price is still wrong and the shipping charge is still on the page. I sent the following email to the agent who was “watching my account”:

“Hi XXX,
When we last spoke you said that the estimated ship date is auto generated and should be ignored. With that said it now suggests a date (6-11-09) that is far beyond what you stated (end of May). Which is correct?
Additionally, I was told the price would be adjusted and the shipping charge would be removed. Neither of these has yet to be reflected on the status page.
Is there any further information you can provide?
Thank you,
YYY
Order# ZZZ”

Within 30 minutes I received a response:

“Hello YYY,
I am glad that you wrote. I was actually notified today that due to issues with PayPal, your order is no longer valid. Because of issues such as these, we no longer use PayPal. Unfortunately, due to this your order was cancelled. We can rebook the order under the new price if you would like. I am sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause you.
Thanks,
XXX”

Now it is clear he is giving me the same runaround as the first guy. Don’t most businesses follow-up with customers for secondary forms of payment rather then just cancelling customers and throwing away money? My PayPal is fine is fine by the way – I’ve since used it to purchase goods for more money then this laptop. Additionally, it’s obvious he was saving this email until I contacted him, the “proactive account management” was false.

A call to Lenovo brought me to another agent who literally changed his story 3 times while placing me on a series of holds. He then had the nerve to say: “We are sorry for cancelling your order, but if you would like to place the order again via credit card we can hurry a laptop to you very quickly.”


So that’s my story, sorry for the long read but hopefully it will make some people think twice.


Oh, and my “cancelled order” still says it’s set for delivery on June 11th…

 

Ugh.. Sorry to hear that. I've seen no word of Y550's in the real world either. I keep making new quotes on the lenovo site to lock in the best price, but I've been holding off pulling the trigger until I see that (1) these things really exist and (2) people are happy with them.

Who knows, maybe you'll get that 6/11 computer after all and not be charged for it

 

I was really really interested in this series of laptops but after hearing this testimony and others, I decided to go with Dell. Too bad for Lenovo. Being so renowned for their Thinkpads, I wonder how they can get away with this sort of crock they pass off as customer service?

Or do they suck up to businesses and leave the casual consumers hanging?

 

That bites. Sorry to hear about it.

I guess I made a decent decision to cancel my Y450 order and pick up another dell outlet refurbe (with 15% off coupon). Does lenovo ever have outlet coupons? I wouldn't mind picking up a refurb 530.

 

Wow, that's really unfortunate. I ordered a T400 a couple months ago and received it within a week. It seems like management at Lenovo has changed or something has gone very wrong. It seems to me like there is communication breakdown at Lenovo, and the consumers are paying the price.

I'll wait out the mess and get the Y450 when things get back to normal.

 

I would hardly define a couple weeks as patient. It always amazes me when this people get this unsettled over a notebook that was ordered a few weeks ago, they feel the need to come here or elsewhere to write a lengthy post about it to warn everyone. Unfortunately, there's been a few of you all here of late. This is the downside of the price notebook prices dropping like a rock the last few years. Everyone runs to FatWallet or SlickDeals to get the best deal, which is completely understandable, but do consider what they give up when they pay less. People used to wait six months or longer for certain configurations of ThinkPads. Life's too short to get this upset over a notebook. Besides, it's not good for you either.

 

lol I hope all the early orderers cancel that way I will get mine sooner. I'd rather wait a month than get a dell that will probably die within 2 years. I'm surprised people on these forums don't check reliability.

 

I definitely agree with ZaZ's opinion. The Y450 hasn't even been reviewed by anybody yet (that I've seen). Clearly Lenovo is having some sort of problem with the rollout of this machine. I agree with PlayJurist that Lenovo hasn't properly handled his order (I'm going on his story; I have no personal experience with Lenovo), but I also think it's risky to order any computer before seeing independent reviews of it. If you need a notebook now, I don't think you should be buying the Y450 because it's so new and nobody knows anything about it other than the specs. Either be patient and wait until the Y450 has been out for a while and accumulated some reviews, or buy a machine that has been on the market for a while and has gone through some independent analysis.

I'm in no way trying to apologize for what appears to be very poor customer service on Lenovo's end. However, you could easily minimize your risk in this situation by taking your business elsewhere or deferring your business to a later date. Early adopters do accept some level of risk when they purchase new technology.

 

Trust me, I checked everything. And unless the long time members of this forum know next to nothing, they all swear by the solidity of the E6400. Thus my purchasing decision.

@ZaZ:

I totally agree with you. But why can't Lenovo simply tell people who call that they are having problems or some sort of unforeseen delay? Why start coming up with crude excuses like credit card rejection? Just seems to lack class if you ask me.

 

The new latitudes are the ONLY dell's worth buying. They are much better than their home lines. I've heard much better things about lenovo's ideapad as a consumer line. I don't want to spend $400 more for a 3 year warranty and marginally better specs.

 

ZaZ has a good point, I was complaining, I was annoyed I think mostly because it kept changing, but really isn't worth getting to upset over, they haven't charged yet. We are a bit to of a got ot have it now, patience isn't what it used to be. Thanks ZaZ, now I just feel stupid for complaining in another topic haha....

I read this same post on the Lenovo forum, it was a place I also complained with others, I will say it is kind of fun to join others in complaining...

 

That seems to be an odd notion of fun to me.

 

Maybe fun isn't the right word....it makes you feel better knowing you aren't alone...

 

Venting is a well known pastime. I do it all the time too