newly purchased T61 arrived in non-new condition

chefnix,
Your COA is normal. The rest of your complaints including the difficulty with customer service are valid concerns.

What you are running into is people who blindly love lenovo. They have long standing relationship with IBM and are struggling with accepting the changes that occured when IBM sold the company. They don't want to hear about all the problems that Lenovo is having with customer service, manufacturing, production, design ethics and professionalism as a result of the company no longer being a part of IBM, but being a wholly owned Chinese company that cannot draw on decades of being a professional business company and delivering best in class service. My impression is that they would rather hide this information from the world in hopes that the Chinese owners will recognize the problems and correct them before the reputation hits the bottom.

There are still a few of the old IBM staff kicking around, though they are difficult to reach. A complaint to the BBB will result in contact from Tony Bumarch who may be able to solve your issues.

If you are serious about not letting this pass the BBB is likely your best line of defense.

Best of luck to you.

 

Don't be a hypocrit. You are just blindly attacking Lenovo spamming posts with silly exaggerations like "waiting since May".

 

See what I mean chefnix? Blind Lenovo Love leads them to attack anyone with valid complaints. Ignore the drones and do what you need to do.

 

Some people get unlucky and have yet to receive their laptops. Lenovo needs to work on their CTO system. Getting a notebook direct from Lenovo is a painful process. Ordering a pre-configured notebook from a reseller is a much easier and quicker way to get a Thinkpad. Waiting 6 weeks (or longer) for a notebook to even ship is way too long. I cannot see that as a successful long term business strategy. Unless every computer fabricator decides to lower their standards all at once (which I do not put past them).

 

As I've stated, I based my opinion somewhat on past experiences with a T40p and a T60. And as I've explained, this time around has resulted in a unit arriving in noticeably worse condition out-of-the-box. You're welcome to your opinion in thinking that I am being too nitpicky, but in this regard, we'll have to agree to disagree.

Ok, fair point, I doubt anyone other than key management at Lenovo would have accurate market figures of registered complaints of this type vs. units actually shipped.

1 - Yes, I did not immediately go googling for 'thinkpad torn sticker' or variants thereof. Instead I posted here- in a users forum related to ThinkPads. Does this not count as research?
2 - Yes I did, in fact, listen. I acknowledged, and rescinded the part about my concern over the COA sticker. I even thanked unhooked for educating me. That was, as I acknowledged, a new discovery for me; something that adequately qualifies as part of my research, wouldn't you agree?
3 - Oh, ok, I didn't realize I was being asked for a further account on what followed after the error screen. For those of your who are still curious, I:
- let the timeout occur, and let Windows continue booting using the default selected option
- was then greeted to what I believe should have been the original setup screen
- tried to shutdown gracefully from that point, but to no avail (no CTRL+ALT+DELETE interrupt allowed, no selectable shutdown option)
- after not being able to shutdown, I forced a hard-shutdown by holding the power button down
- put the laptop aside and began my dialog with Lenovo Customer Support

I did start a dialog with Lenovo. Actually, that was pretty clearly stated in my original post. I raised the issue, and was told that they would not process an exchange/return without a case id from their Technical Support department, unless of course, I accepted being penalized a 15% restocking fee. This is what prompted me to solicit more feedback from other ThinkPad owners in the first place.

At any rate, despite our obviously conflicting opinions, I do appreciate your feedback, as it did provide perspective nonetheless. I will still persue the matter through the BBB, as it is still a valid concern to me, however as far as this thread is concerned, I'm satisfied with the feedback I have received. Thank you to all who responded.

 

Wow, monstermaxx, almost all of your posts in this forum are negative attacks against Lenovo. I mean, you even changed your avatar today to reflect your opinion. Personally I haven't had any issues in dealing with Lenovo...obviously this differs for everyone. What I find the most interesting aspect of most Lenovo bashing in general, is the comparison of how IBM handled things before the sale of the division. If I remember correctly, the whole division was sold, that means, all the workers were the same people when the sale happened, the only thing different was who was signing their paychecks now(i'm sure many of those people that were there are now gone). It's been two years since the sale, and remember the division wasn't making any money for IBM, hence they sold it to one of their OEM contractors. So in two years, various reports of bad service and quality assurance...that's understandable, new owners -> new policy...I'm not saying that what happened to you is justified, but don't expect Lenovo to be IBM, because it seems as though those are the standards you expect them to live up to. Just because IBM owns a 30% stake in Lenovo, doesn't make Lenovo, IBM. You can call anyone that defends Lenovo a fanboy, but some people are looking at your negative perspective from an objective view. I'm not saying I'm right and I'm not saying you're wrong, but the constant and repetitive posts about what a bunch of liars and idiots that run and work at lenovo aren't helping your argument, in fact it's probably a diservice to your goal. I can only hope that you get your T61p in perfect, pristine condition, goodluck.

 

chefnix,

Simple, document the condition of laptop, file for a RMA, be polite, file a complaint with BBB.

I don't agree with those who say this is not a big deal. (Being nit picky, huh? Heck, the OS isn't even installed properly.) None of them would accept such a machine if they got it. As a test, put the pics of your computer "as is" on Ebay or even here in NBR, and try to sell it and I'm betting that no one will buy your machine for the quoted price or even a reasonable price. Heck, no one will accept it as a NEW working machine.

As far as I'm concerned, Lenovo either
(a) sold a defective machine (the OS isn't installed properly) or
(b) sold a used/refurbished machine and tried to pass it off as new (deceptive selling practice)

There is no way anyone can prove that this is in fact a NEW and WORKING machine. The burden of proof lies with the manufacturer to ship you a brand new machine.

Bottom line, you paid for a new machine with your hard earned money and you didn't get one. Why do you have to put with crap from Lenovo that clearly has no problems sending you such a machine? It is not your problem to worry about the assembly practices or the factory personnel of Lenovo. I don't give a damn if they trained monkeys to build a computer, they should have sent you a brand new working machine in excellent condition.

I don't agree with the whole nonsense "be happy that you didn't get a broken laptop, be happy that you even got a laptop in time, be happy you paid only $1500 for this"? What next? Be happy that you are even alive and can afford a laptop?

The whole laptop business has been below par with respect to quality and reliability. The industry average for new laptops found with defective parts or unacceptable quality is a whopping 16% of all laptops shipped. If people put up with crap, they will continue to get crap -- be it a simple business transaction or a relationship. This is life. By not bringing these problems to notice, we are playing a part in keeping the standards low. The truth is no solution can be found, if no one acknowledges there is a problem. People will always be complacent till a problem bites their own derrière.

I find it insensitive that people are rapping on you for the Vista COA. You weren't aware of it, it is a honest mistake. I mean, if anyone gets a new laptop with more smudges and fingerprints than a crime scene, has a broken Windows installation that begs for a recovery process, I'm pretty sure they will be screaming foul on seeing the fugly COA.

In spite of all this, if you are ok with cleaning the laptop, reinstalling/recovering OS, then it is fine, it is your call. Personally, I won't put up with this crap and avoid always having the nagging worry when the laptop is going to give out. No one should go worrying about their new machine.

Btw, I have a T61 that has given me no problems so far. But, looking at the slew of problems that people went through, I cannot recommend Lenovo to anyone with a straight face or clear conscience.

 

chefnix, I hope you get your problems sorted out. I love my T61, it's my first Thinkpad I've ever bought, I have an old 390E I acquired from a friend and I've always loved IBM's quality.

I think the moral of the story here is, if one buys a brand new, expensive sports car, you do NOT expect it to arrive with a tear in the leather driver's seat and a snotty hankerchief in the glove compartment.

 

.......................

 

Have you looked at DELL lately?
This is a busy season for the notebook manufacturers. Parts delays/shortages are very common accross the board.

 

I had to call 5 times, spent no less than 1 h each call to return my T61. :-|

 

Just to follow up on this thread, I filed my complaint with the BBB on 8/20, and finally received a call back from a Lenovo Executive Customer Relations representative yesterday (9/6).

After some discussion, we've come to a pending agreement that extending my warranty would be enough to make up for this incident (pending no discovered hardware defects in the next few days). I'll follow-up again in a week or so after we agree on just how much Lenovo is willing to extend my warranty.

All in all, my faith in the overall quality of the ThinkPad T-series is has faded, but at least it's somewhat refreshing to see there are still people at Lenovo willing to help address their customer's issues.

 

You are clogging up the system for those of us who have real issues and problems with our computers, torn stickers (that are supposed to be that way) and dirty palmrests are what makes for long hold times and skepticism when those of us with real problems contact Lenovo and are given the run around. Do your research next time instead of jumping the gun.

 

i thought lenovo produced your t60 too.

my suggestion is go for dell or hp or acer or asus. and i hope you will get one up to your standard.

i think there is never gonna be a perfect product for everyone. so everyone has to find their own peace.

i had acer before, and i will never look back.

now i got a thinkpad t61p, if it lasts me 3 years i will definite buy another thinkpad whether it carries the IBM logo or not.

oh, I got VISTA too, and i will never go back to XP pro unless forced by the company computer.

Try dell/ hp/anything other than thinkpad. go . go . go .