Article: Deep Problems at Lenovo Canada

Digital Journal, a Canadian publication, is now carrying an exclusive on "nationwide internal flaws" at Lenovo Canada, resulting in a "terrible customer experience." See http://www.digitaljournal.com/artic..._Uncovers_Nationwide_Internal_Flaws_at_Lenovo

The article, by the way, is utterly devastating.

 

LOL, this has been going on in the U.S for some time now. Beginning mid last year was the worst, but I do like how the software has become the scapegoat.

 

Not surprised by the article. For anyone who has been following Lenovo Canada's website past few months, there's been a lot of inconsistencies. The latest one: it cost more to upgrade to a T7300 than a T7500 . So it begs the question: if they can't even get their own website right how are they supposed to manage and service their customers properly?

However one point needs to be mentioned. Up until just over a month ago it was virtually impossible to customize a Thinkpad online from Lenovo Canada. All that was offered were a few preconfigured models and you'd be lucky to find one with the specs that you wanted. And if you did the price would be a whole lot more than a similarly configured system from the US site.

The site is moving towards a fully user configurable system with prices that match favorably with its US counterpart. It may be $100-$200 more before tax but that's a far better scenario than before when prices were $800 or so more.

Remember too that prior to these changes, nowhere in the world can you get prices like that outside the US with customization to boot.

So that's a big positive. For a company where retail was never really their focus but rather business and corporate accounts, I welcome the changes they've taken to improve on the retail end. They still have a long way to go tho as evident by that article.

 

You're quite right. The web-site and prices have improved. However, I'm still reading a fair number of complaints here about lost orders.

Also, more than half the time on the Lenovo Canada site, it's still impossible to access T61 mobile workstation models (T61Ps), let alone configure them.

I hope Lenovo Canada gets past these problems because in the next few months I'm going to be buying either a T61P or a Dell.

BTW, the article claims Canadians are the guinea pigs for Lenovo's new global ordering system. Do you think the world will thank us?

 

Hmm I must have missed that part about the new global ordering system..sounds like a sinister global communist takeover if you ask me.
Where's Lou Dobbs when you need him?

 

Oh man, just great, I'm ordering my system on the weekend, looks like I'll get my T61p right around the time Nehalem hits

 

I think Lou Dobbs would likely blame Canada. Maybe we should send Don Cherry down to set him straight.

 

I think before everyone thanks Canada for being the guinea pig we have to first apologyze to the world for Celine Dion

 

haha celine dion and don cherry yeah those should be enough against the Americans.

 

Oh that's just great news. My estimated ship date was yesterday and I still haven't received word yet about it shipping. I tried calling today but was on hold for 30 minutes twice, and for 1 hour the last time I called. I finally ended up hanging up. I think everyone in their call centre must have called in sick. Just that there would lead me to believe there are some problems at Lenovo Canada.

As for the other problems at Lenovo Canada, that's something most of us knew about anyways considering all the problems with the website, etc, but considering its a new system that is somewhat expected. You can't expect that because someone had a week of training on a system that they are experts, but you would expect them to be proficient in finding things like estimated ship dates, order status, etc.

As for my order, the waiting game continues.

 

OMG

This is getting me worried, I ordered on Dec 22nd, but I did get a shipping date from them on the phone, Jan 8th.

It should be arriving soon....I really hope so

 

Heh, heh. Last week I ordered 42 Penryn-based T61s for an average price of $350 (US) on Lenovo.com.

My orders got cancelled. In the US, it's only half broke.

 

Celine Dion, Don Cherry? I surrender!

 

I've got it! We'll send Rick Mercer to make the apology.

 

Extremely similar experience in Toronto here.

Ordered my T61 without DVD-R on 12/17. I want to pay using a Chinese credit card so I called them to confirm that I can inded use a chinese credit card to purchase. The answer was a definitive "YES". I went on to place my order. No word from Lenovo until I finally decided to call them two weeks to see what happened to my order. They say there's a problem with my credit card and they can only accept a Canadian website. In addition, no apology was received, all I heard was "that was a mistake". I was promised to get a call-back later that day for resolving the problem. 2 days past and I decided to call again, I was asked to place a bank transfer. I asked for a discount for all the inconvenience and was refused. I got an instruction on how to do bank transfer by email and was told to hold on to the bank transfer until they call me with a final confirm. A another week past and I just got a call today says my laptop is in Brampton and they cannot charge my credit card. I told him all happened and was promised a callback today.

I will keep update the status.

Ling

 

That article doesn't really sound any different to me than innumerable stories posted on many forums - for Lenovo USA, Dell, and so on. Personaly, I placed an order for an X61s from Lenovo USA and it took nearly 2 months to arrive. OTOH, I placed an order for a V200 from Lenovo Canada and it arrived within days.

As has been said already in this thread, the problems in Canada do not appear to be any different than the problems at Lenovo USA. And lest we forget, Dell has shipping delays just as bad or worse. Personally, I recently ordered 2 Dell notebooks and they both took over 2 months to arrive.

The author of the article sounds like a bit of a whiner to go to such lengths to publish his sob story. So his notebook took ~40 days to arrive. This is hardly news as this happens all the time with a multitude of companies. To be sure, this is poor customer service and poor business performance. But his "exclusive report" is a bit sensationalist.

 

In Canada, orders aren't just delayed; they're lost. I've read no American reports here of Lenovo losing orders so badly that their phone reps couldn't even answer questions about them. For most of 2007, none of the notebooks were configurable on the Lenovo Canada site. This has only changed recently, and even now half the time you can't select a mobile workstation (in other words, a T61p) and configure it.

 

You should read back through the "shipping" threads. There were plenty of orders (mine included) from Lenovo USA where the reps did not know exactly what stage of build or delivery the laptop was. The delivery status for my successful order was "indefinite". I had 2 of my American notebook orders canceled without any explanation (about 1.5 weeks after each order was placed) before I had a successful order (which took almost 2 months for delivery).

I don't understand your complaint (?) about custom builds on the Lenovo Canada website. This has never been a feature available to Canadian customers until very recently, so to say that it was unavailable "for most of 2007" is quite natural since it is a brand new feature (which is most welcome!).

Some notebooks and/or hardware not being available isn't unique to the Canadian ordering system either - the same thing happens all the time for American custom builds - processors, hard drives, wifi cards, LCDs, etc become available/unavailable as the supply of hardware overseas is affected by the interplay of market demand and a JIT inventory system. My personal case in point - when I placed my X61s orders - the first 2 (unsuccessful) orders did not give me an option for the ultralight screen, while the 3rd (successful, but delayed) order did allow the ultralight screen option. Other changes in my ordering debacle included (strangely) OS options (only vista business was available for one of the builds), wifi options, HD options, and minimum memory options.

Bottom line, I don't think the ordering system problems are unique to Lenovo Canada (vs. the USA), nor to Lenovo (vs. Dell, who is the only other major custom builder out there that I follow).

 

In Canada, the custom builds weren't available in most of 2007. They were in the U.S. Why is that? Are we further from China or something?

I know there have been delays and problems in the U.S. But in Canada, according to the stories reported here, the Lenovo reps don't just confess their ignorance about the stage an order is in. They say they don't even know whether the order still exists because the ordering system won't tell them whether the order exists.

The story seems to indicate that the reps haven't been trained in the ordering software, or that the software is so buggy it can't track anything, anyway.

Several people have reported that they can't get through at all to Lenovo Canada customer service. In the circumstances, would you answer the phone if you were a Lenovo customer rep and knew you'd end up dealing with an irate customer you couldn't help?

I'd be the first to acknowledge Lenovo Canada has improved in the past few months. But there still remain serious problems. Acknowledging and publicizing them are the only ways I know to bring about some improvement. Nothing changes if we roll over, play dead and say, "Well, gee, it's an inconvenience. But, heck, they're doing the best they can and at least everyone is happy in the U.S.A. despite a few delays."

 

Mark @ Lenovo is working on it.

 

With the exception of a few CSRs that I have spoken to at Lenovo Canada, most are able to provide me with most of the information I am looking for.

As for the last couple of days, getting through to customer service has been impossible. I honestly think they all took the last couple of days off and left the call centre unattended. There is no way you could wait for 1 hour to get the status of your order and have no one pick up. Most of the time, getting the status of your order takes a whole, what, 2 minutes. It's that kind of stuff that drives customers nuts, after all, if the first guy you talk to doesn't know what he's talking about, you could always call back and try and get another CSR. I've done that a couple of times myself.

Either way, hopefully all this stuff gets figured out, and we start getting the laptops that we ordered. However, the likelyhood of that happening in the near future is slim to none.

 

The problems on the US site are insignificant compared to the problems in Canada, which have been detailed in a couple of threads:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=204773&highlight=canada
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=178075&highlight=canada

It's pretty bad when the Lenovo Canada website doesn't even mention all the laptop models they sell. For example, Ideapads are for sale at TigerDirect in Canada, but Lenovo Canada hasn't yet managed to mention them on their website, unlike the US site. For quite a while, the Canadian website omitted all the T61p's, even though some were for sale if you phoned. And just lately they priced a couple of T61 laptops at $11,000 for at least a day.

 

Day 27, still no laptop

I ordered on December 20th, got a confirmation on the 22nd.

Called them and my laptop was shipped on January 8th and should arrive within 5-7 days.

Caleed them today, waited 30 minutes on hold to be put back on hold again then to be told it will arrive early next week.

Recently ordered another laptop from Dell Canada, within 2 weeks, it arrived...

 

How many other stories contain evidence that the President and CEO of a Lenovo regional division was basically lying through his teeth? Not to mention exposing the other questionable corporate practices going on at Lenovo Canada?

Sure the author did a little whining like everyone else who had their shipment delayed, but he also took things several steps further and attempted to investigate the root of the issue. You have to give him credit for not just lying there and taking it.

Personally I don't have any problems with Lenovo's shipping delays or them having a few issues with the roll-out of the new Canadian online ordering system. The big eye-opener for me was all the attitude and dishonesty even when these people knew they were dealing with a journalist.

 

So has ANYBODY gotten their customized Thinkpad from Lenovo Canada?
Might have to look at other laptop manufacturers... too bad. Lenovo never called back. I'm presuming that the order system is still screwed up, correct?

 

Same problem for me. 30 minute hold on the phone. Ordered on Dec 26... estimated ship out date Jan 18th. Called, new ship out date Feb 7th... WTF

I'm really considering the m1330 again, since the LED backlit option is back.

 

bump; has anybody gotten their customized thinkpad from lenovo canada?

 

i called last week, order placed on december the 19th. they fixed my order and i've received a new confirmation e-mail today. hopefully it comes in soon

 

Order place Dec 20th, 2007
Received order confirmation Dec 22nd, 2007

Called and was told that it was shipped on Jan 8th, 2008

Received SHIPPING CONFIRMATION email Jan 22nd, 2008, this is THE ACTUAL REAL shipping date...

Total time waiting for my laptop, 30 days and counting...

 

I ordered Jan 4th and received my order confirmation email on Jan-23. lol...

Hopefully the shipping confirmation email is a little faster.

 

Is there any chance that I wouldn't receive my shipping confirmation?
I ordered it 21st of dec, and I called yesterday, and they told me I should receive it on 28th.

 

That weird, I was just talking to Lenovo Canada yesterday and they told me the exact same arrival date, Jan 28th...

 

hm... may be I should give them a call again.... I've called them so many times, it feels like I've spoke with everyone there...

 

UPDATE: Received computer just now. unpacking....

 

where are you located BTW?

 

I'm in toronto. Just checked the hardware, i ordered 2G of ram, they give me 2*512m... so mad...they can't get anything right..

 

I'm in Toronto as well
I ordered both a T61 and a T6p last Sunday, we'll see what happens...

 

hm... I'm live in Scarb, but I didn't receive it today hopefully tomorrow...I've been waiting for it for more than a month.... Did you get shipping notice?

 

Yes I did. I ordered mine Dec. 19, got shipping notice tuesday

 

I ordered a 14 inch CTO model on Dec. 5/2007 and received it Dec. 21/2007.
Some sort of shipping notification was sent out on Dec. 13/2007, but I believe those were generated at the factory in China. Checking the tracking number on the order I received it was sent from Brampton on Dec. 17/2007.

They were shipping the products to their warehouse in Brampton, where the orders are split and sent out to Canadian customers.

Unfortunately the notebook I received was not configured correctly, I was shortchanged on the RAM and received 1 GB instead of 2 GB. I spoke to a customer service representative on Dec. 26/2007 and was promised that the module would be sent, but I have yet to receive it.

I also asked to for the student computers discount and CAPBOXINGDAY discount to be applied retroactively to my order (saving $200+) but so far my CC has not been credited yet.

 

hm... I called twice already, and CS reps keep telling me I should receive it on 28th, I haven't seen shipping notice yet.... I doubt that I'll receive it on monday, but they keep telling me all the orders are different and I will receive it on 28th...

 

Did they say they are going to send you the new memory? Or do you have to go somewhere and install it?

 

UPDATE: I called them today and they promised to ship the memory to me very soon.

 

Has anyone had issues with their warranty service and customer service?!

I first reported my computer issues with my T61 laptop mid-December, and my latest update which *I had to call and get was that my computer wouldn't be fixed until the week of February 4th at the earliest. They say they're waiting for a part from China to arrive next week.

Now there were a whole lot of issues and mishaps in between (one of which was that my T61 was returned after replacing a "defective hard drive", and broke down the next business day-obviously it was not the hard drive.), which deserves it's own thread. But the fact that the complaint representative I was assigned to has not called me back even though I've left messages for the last two weeks is extremely frustrating.

I'm a very busy student, I do not have the time to be going to the computer lab at school all the time, it's difficult to keep up in my competitive classes, or keep up with my responsibilities at work without my own laptop.

Is there any way I can get someone from Lenovo to actually listen and do something? So far all I've gotten is the equivalent of "that's life, and there's nothing we can do."

 

What is the issue with your T61 if I may ask?

 

I know exactly what you mean. I was trying to get them to change my address, and at the end of every call, they said that someone would call me back. Three calls (15-30 min wait), zero call backs. There's a guy on the forums.lenovo site that's helping me now, and he's given me more response than the combined feedback from weeks of calling lenovo canada.

 

Thanks for the response IKTang and morphy, after being jerked around by Lenovo it's nice to know at least someone even if it's just on a forum is listening.

I'll definitely look into the forums.lenovo thing.

Morphy-I know nothing about computers. But basically the computer kept freezing on me and experiencing unexpected shutdowns which culminated into not being able to turn on at all. At best it would get to the Welcome screen and freeze. Usually it would just give me a blank screen. It wouldn't even let me get to the ThinkVantage utilities for system restore and diagnostics.

For the long saga of my complaining I've posted it here. That's mostly me venting and yes there are a lot of outside influences of world/luck/tptb whatever you want to call it raining down on me. But ultimately bad customer service is bad customer service. It does not take two weeks and counting to return a call, especially when the customer service/complaint rep requested that I call her!

 

I just received my T61 yesterday (Ordered since Dec 20) and guess what?

I only have 1GB of RAM even though I paid for 2GB and it's written on the outside of Lenovo's box I will have to call them Monday.

 

so those who were promised to have their systems delivered on JAN 28, have you guys received yours? I was told last week that I should receive it w/in this week. So far, have not received any shipping confirmation. Wait on the phone for almost 30 min - and no answers.

I'm disappointed. Maybe I'm just expecting too much. I guess as the prices of the computers are coming down, so as the services - hopefully not the quality of the products too. Now I regret (just a bit) for not ordering the Sony SZ instead; if I did, I should have received it by now.

I remember back then when IBM was still in the PC business; their C/S was awesome.

 

I feel your pain spellbinder!! Here is my story... a guy from forms.lenovo offered to help, so I guess I see what kind of info he can provide me...

I ordered my laptop on the 21st of december, and I was told I would receive it on 16th of Jan.... I've called 4 times before Jan 16th to make sure I would receive it.... on Jan 17th, I called to ask what happened, and they told me it was delayed, and I would receive it on 28th (today), if not earlier. But, I started to question because I haven't received shipping confirmation from brampton warehouse so, I've called several times last week to make sure I would receive it today, but. when I called I got different answer from different CS reps....
1) Your package will be shipped on 22nd, and you should receive it no later than 28th.
2) yes I see that your computer is in bramptopn, and they should ship it out to you very soon. She told me bunch of lapstops were stopped at custom due to the volume.
3) I see that your package will be sent out from brampton between 22nd to 28th, so you should receive the package and shipping confirmation some time on 28th....

Today I wake up inthe morning and I see shipping confirmation, so I was like YAY for once they were right. but when I opened the email there were no tracking number... so I called lenovo, to ask for tracking number they answered, it was shipped from china, and you will not receive the tracking number until it gets to canada..... I was like huh??????? so, I asked to speak with a manager, and she said "all of them are busy, I will ask them to call you back". I asked for their name, and she responded "there are 12 managers here in lenovo canada, and I cannot give you specific manager that will call you back"....

I thought there were only like 10-15 customer reps in call center... At least that's what other representative told me.... feels like I got scammed....

the worst thing is I prepaid for this laptop, and if I want to cancel, I'm scared that they are just not going to refund.... Although they are big ass company, but they are acting like a some mama papa manufacture....