Buyer Beware on Lenovo Price Protection

Friendly advice from a disheartened x220t purchaser. Yes, other posts and Lenovo staff have identified a price protection courtesy for 21-days after equipment is shipped. However, my experience was that an x220t cost $1800 on 5/14/2011, and $1220 on 5/30/2011.

I accomplished the 5/30/2011 quote for an identical configuration, but was refused the price protection due to a part # discrepancy with the cpu. Note that both the original and new orders had an Intel Core i3-2310M (2.1Ghz) processor. But, since Lenovo somehow labeled them differently, no price protection.

I noticed that the included stylus and the one ordered as an accessory also had different part numbers.

So, in short, I find the policy disingenous. Sometimes you cannot achieve an exact match due to changes in the online configuration wizard. Even if you do, you might get hit with dubious Lenovo internal labeling. I'll return the original order and take the 15% restocking fee rather than grind my teeth every time I buy accessories from Lenovo.

Also, the price protection "policy" is internal, and would not be provided in writing at my request.

Some folks had good luck with this. I liked the tablet. But, my experience was wholly negative.

 

I ordered an X220 exactly 21 days ago on May 22. On reading posts today, I saw that there was another Doorbuster deal, which expires at the end of today. I configured a computer exactly according to my order, starting with the Doorbuster model, and got a final price of $16 less. I then called Lenovo and asked how to invoke their Price Protection, and I was told that it wouldn't apply because the Doorbuster deal is special and expires tomorrow. So I said, "Does that mean you don't live up to your Price Protection?" and I was told, "Yes, we do, but just not with special deals like the Doorbuster!" Doubletalk, isn't it? I said that i didn't feel too bad because the difference was only $16 in this case.

I would, however, have been much more upset if the difference had been $200 or more. Actually, I'm very happy with the machine overall, even though it currently has the i7 - MSATA incompatibility problem which has been discussed on a thread specific to that issue, and also reported to Lenovo through their own forum.

 

If you have an AMEX card, check if you have return protection on it. If you do, they'll cover the 15% restocking fee, up to $300.

 

You might want post over on the Lenovo forum or shoot Mark@Lenovo over at the Lenovo forums a PM and ask him what's up. He may be able to give you an answer, though it may not be what you want to hear. I successfully did a price match on my X220i, but it has to be the same configuration. There may be a valid reason why the CPUs are different.

 

that is a lot of money involved, nearly 30% of the original purchase price.

 

Zaz:

Mark never answered to my numerous requested regarding to my warranty entitlement, he simply ignored my PMs, and I am sure he does that to a lot of other people, you might defend him because he's busy or whatever, but we all know that sometimes he does not care and PM him is futile.

If you truly want to see the issue solved for OP, why not get Mark to reply to this thread and let everybody see whatever the issue is solved or not.

 

@noob,

didn't you get the X200t from USA with 3 years warranty right? i forgot the rest of the story (your warranty got shortened to one year)?

 

I ordered two CTO x120e at separate dates. The latter x120e was cheaper than the first. I was able to get a price adjustment even though the configurations were different. The wireless abgn was ordered with the first x120e, but no longer available as an option at the time of ordering the second x120e. Also the first x120e had a smaller and slower 5400RPM hard drive versus a larger and faster 7200RPM hard drive in the second. The hard drives were also not configurable. So I wasn't able to generate a shopping cart with the same configuration as the first order.
I made two calls. The first call was shot down due to configuration cart issue. I attempted a second call because I had nothing to lose in trying again. Success!
The agent was able to submit a price adjustment request. A week later it was approved and the credit appeared two weeks after the request.
You can try again and calmly plead your case. Most likely you'll be speaking with a representative that doesn't have the power to give adjustments. But they'll be taking notes, so speak clearly. They'll submit the request to a supervisor for review. Though my opinion means nothing to Lenovo, I think you have a legitimate case.

 

I think that's extremely unfair to Mark. He's been around these forums and the thinkpads forums for years and has helped MANY people. In fact I might be wrong but if I remember right it's not even his job to do what he's been doing.

 

I know Mark gets flooded with PMs. I also don't know the details of your case. There may be a valid reason he did not respond, but I know Mark has helped many Lenovo users, but there's only 24 hours in a day.

 

Mark's inbox has 300+ PMs in it at any given time, and he mostly focuses on issues that are common to many users unless he's requested that someone PM him directly about a particular issue. If you post in the forum itself, JameZ or one of the other Lenovo employees might be able to help you. No promises, though, since the forum is designed to be peer-to-peer support and not an official support channel.

 

@noob, if you are concerned with issue still, then just follow Lenovo_ANZ on twitter, and request them to look into this issue for you. They may able to provide you with more direct help on the warranty issues and such.