Current Shipment Delays?

Anyone else get this email today from Lenovo?

I ordered a T400 on 12/1 with scheduled shipment for 12/9. Today I get an email saying theres a delay due to "increased demand" and that my order is rescheduled to ship on 12/15. Is this normal and expected?

 

It's life. Sometimes things don't work out as planned. Six extras days doesn't seem too bad.

 

During the winter holiday season, delays are to be expected. Sales volume goes up, sometimes in unpredictable ways.

This is often true regardless of manufacturer. Be it Dell, HP, or Lenovo, `tis the season.

 

I bought one on 12/1 and they sent me an email today saying it was delayed from 12/9 to 12/ 16.
So you're getting yours a day before I am.
I just hope they don't do the same thing next week... and the week after that...
Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to order so close to Christmas.

 

My email says my date is 12/15. Maybe our configurations are different and yours is waiting for an extra part...

As you said, im hoping this is just a one time delay and I dont get a similar email on 12/15 delaying it even more. Are these types of delays normal? One would think a large company would be able to predict the rise in sales around Christmas time, no?

Anyone else that recently ordered from lenovo get a similar delay?

 

I placed an order on 12/5 for a T400s. On the website it said ships in 18 days so it should be well before the end of the year and allow me to get my write-off this year.

Not two days later, I check order status on the website and my ship date changed to 01/12/2010. Needless to say, I called and cancelled the order.

I think this is business as usual for Lenovo.

 

I think you're sore about one transaction you had high expectations for during the holiday season, and now you're making a gross overgeneralization.

I'm sorry things went the way they did for you, and it is disappointing to have to wait longer than you thought you'd have to --but you already have one thread you created about this, and IMO, there's no reason to turn your feelings over one transaction into a stereotype.

 

I read about such delays elsewhere, might be a shortage of some parts?!?

I ordered on last wednesday and received my T400 this morning, which makes me think that some configurations are being delayed for some particular part that they don't have stock off. Otherwise no reason for an order placed after yours to ship and yours gets delayed.

 

I believer this thread is about current shipment delays, and I believe what happened to me is relevant to the topic of this thread.

You're comments have absolutely NOTHING to do with the topic of this thread! All you've tried to do is marginalize my comments; to no avail.

 

IMO, companies should increase capacity and shifts to meet surges in demand. It's an annual event and they should factor in the seasonality. The economy may have something to do with mistargeting expectations. But if you have ordered from Loonovo before this is normal. They might surprise you and ship earlier. Stop being so angry and attacking people that give help?

 

Perhaps it could have been better said, but the fact that your notebook got delayed does not make a trend remains a valid point. This is the way notebooks are made these days. All manufacturers have at one point or another experienced delays due to part shortages. Just-in-time manufacturing is how things are made these days. The benefit of it is it greatly reduces inventory cost thereby allowing Lenovo to sell you a ThinkPad for $800 that would have cost you $2k five years ago or $3k ten years. The downside is that if a particular part that you want goes out of stock you'll have to wait. If it's that important for you to have your notebook in a timely fashion, then buy a pre-configured machine, but don't complain about the price.

 

So apparently I checked my status and my notebook did ship today after all

I was looking at a previous thread from a few years ago and it appears that lenovo has special deals around christmas time and has had this very same problem before...

 

I ordered my thinkpad on 12/2 and it shipped 12/8.

 

Again as in the other thread this sums it all up. Its the season for buying, returning, and complaining to companies; so they are pretty busy. I bought at a low time of year and they delayed mine. I ordered on the ~15th of may they said by early june and changed it to 6/29, but I ended up getting it 11 days after ordering. People need to realize 1) its the holiday season and 2) estimated shipping dates are conservative estimates. Most cases they get to you well before the date (like mine did) but sometimes in rare cases it takes them the entire period. Thats life for you.

Great, are you going to bash lenovo from now on cause you are impatient?

I think they do. Every service job I have worked no matter how many extra workers we put on a shift the workload and influx of customers this time of year always seems to trump that.

Great points here. Granted I didnt like waiting 11 days give or take for mine (especially after I got lucky with dell the year before), but sometimes people have to realize that they can buy full featured laptops for pretty darn cheap these days. I remember spending a heck of alot more for laptops 15 years ago then we are now.

 

Ordered a T400 Nov 28 evening, to be delivered tom via UPS. 10 business days order to front step. Rather pleased with that, especially since I landed a terribly cheap deal using Amex card and discount codes. Got this for $693 total, including SH and taxes.

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I order a T500 on 12/1, was hoping to do it on 11/30 but the entire site was down on cyber monday. It posted an est ship date on order status as 12/9. I called yesterday being 12/9 to get an update on my order and the CSR told me that it would be delayed but shipped on 12/12. Today when I got into work I went to verify the change on order status and the est date said it would ship on 12/25.

 

I ordered and never got an estimated ship date. Today, (5 days after the order was placed) I received an e-mail that it has shipped, but there is no tracking number or further info. This is very weird.

 

Same here. I checked my status and according to that, my laptop was sent the evening of Dec. 9th.
The email saying it had been delayed until the 16th had been sent about 6 hours earlier.
I still haven't gotten an email saying it was shipped, but the tracking number says it's on its way via UPS from China.

 

I ordered a T400s on Dec 1, and it was shipped on Dec 3. I see Lenovo Canada is now showing up to 4 week delays on both SSD options, though.

Unfortunately the damn thing has been sitting at the regional cargo station since Monday, and hasn't even cleared customs yet.

 

Playing around with their website it looks like there is a back order on 15.4" WSXGA+

 

this is what happens near the christmas season.... extremely slow delivery.

 

I ordered a T400 from the Lenovo Outlet, the confirmation e-mail they sent me said that the estimated shipping date was december 10 - 2009 (today), I log in to check if they indeed sent me the laptop today and now it shows estimated shipping date december 16 - 2009.

Overall, Lenovo estimated shipping dates sucks.

 

I checked order status this morning and it says that my T500 was packaged and shipped. So 2 days later than the orginal date (12/9), 1 day earlier than pushed back date (12/12).

 

My order is now projected to ship after it should have arrived. I understand it is a busy season, but I bought it expecting them to get it here before Christmas. I now have my doubts. I'm close to cancelling (if I can) and ordering an instock computer from NewEgg....

 

I purchased custom T400 & T400s Thinkpads on December 1 and received them yesterday, one week before the expected ship date.

 

I ordered a pretty customized T400 (not a single component was the standard choice) on Dec 3. On Dec 9 it shows it shipped - 3 days ahead of schedule. Today, Dec 11 UPS shows it still in China?!? UPS told me that once the package makes it to the USA and clears customs it will get attached the actual UPS label and then an estimated delivery date will be visible online when tracking. Right now it does not show any delivery date.

Would someone share their experience on how fast things happen after an order shows shipped?

 

In the FWIW category...

I've ordered 3 ThinkPads (1 T500 and 2 X200's) in the last year for family members. In all three cases, the online order process went fine, e-mails were received as expected and two of the systems were received ahead of the ESD. The third one was ordered on 11/29 with an ESD of 12/21. It shipped yesterday and arrived in Anchorage this morning at 11:19AM. I expect it to show up next week ahead of schedule barring some delay in customs.

While my fingers were the ones typing in the orders, it was someone else's name, e-mail address, credit card info and shipping information on the orders, so I can't see how they would have been flagged for any special handling nor did I ask Mark to shepherd them on through.

As has been said so often, we mostly see people with problems coming into any of the forums because people who don't have a problem are off enjoying their purchase. That tends to make a casual observer believe that there's nothing but problems. I do realize that for someone who is having a problem it's 100% failure rate, but I thought I'd present another experience.

 

I basically have the same situation as you. According to my updated email, the laptop was shipped on 12/9. However, when I log into the UPS website this is all I see:

CN 12/09/2009 9:40 P.M. DEPARTURE
12/09/2009 8:00 P.M. RECEIVED INTO UPS SCS POSSESSION
12/10/2009 1:34 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

Left China on 12/9, here we are 2 days later, is it still there or is it in the US?

Any guesses on when it arrives? Im expecting monday or tuesday.

 

I selected the 2 day shipping option.
Online status was updated to shipped on monday night, and there was a UPS tracking number attached to it a few hours later, but UPS didn't have the package.
Tuesday morning UPS had the package and it was on its way out of China.
Then after a few hours layover in anchorage followed by a very short trip thru customs,it was delivered wednesday before noon.

I think the only thing that would slow down with basic shipping is the segment from customs to you, rather than do that by air as what I got, they would send it by ground (?) then it can take longer depending on how far away you are from location of customs.

 

An excellent point that cannot be stressed enough. It's one of the real problems with forums like this. While forums like this are overwhelmingly positive, newer people come along to see post like this, thinking this is the way things are when they are clearly are not. The vast majority of notebook buyers are happy campers. Notebook makers would not exist were it otherwise. I would point out most of the people here are enthusiasts and therefore much less likely to suffer a perceived notebook user. They come here and elsewhere for help, which is good, but it often skews the perspective.

 

Sure, but this also allows them to adjust their expectations. If I had known that Lenovo has the "reputation" of bad communication, which I think is deserved; then perhaps I would have been more patient with their processes.

I received my machine well within acceptable delivery time and I love the machine, it is exactly what I wanted. In fact I would buy another and recommend that other's do so as well.

The problem was, because of Lenovo's bad communication, i didn't know it had even shipped and in fact was told by Lenovo it would be delayed, when it shipped 6 days prior to my conversation with the rep and he didn't know that it was already shipped. Think about that.

As you note, the reason why people come here is to either vent about it or to find out why their experience is one of the bad ones and I think by having people talk about their situations, solutions, even if it is a negative one, gives people the information they need to make a decision.

Had I known then when I placed my order with Lenovo, what i know now; my experience would have been different. Hopefully the next person who wonders why they haven't received their confirmation email or why their shipping dates keep changing, will see that they will receive their machine, but they will have to take it easy. Lenovo's fulfilment process isn't what they are used to and they will have to adjust their expectations.

Your miles may vary...of course.

 

Due to those delays I ended up getting a pre-built T400 (model no. 2765-PAU) two weeks ago and found out that Lenovo had actually used a 2005 Samsung CCFL as my 'WXGA+ LCD screen' and one of the old flexy keyboards. Thank you Lenovo for depleting your stock of crappy unpopular parts on (what you hope would be) unsuspecting customers.

Now I know why Lenovo systematically doesn't list the type of backlight used in its 2765-PAU model...

 

Mine is almost the same

CN 12/09/2009 9:40 P.M. DEPARTURE
12/09/2009 8:00 P.M. RECEIVED INTO UPS SCS POSSESSION
12/10/2009 1:28 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

I hope they're not on the proverbial "slow boat from China" my Grandma used to groan about.

 

It has now shipped, 4 days later than originally expected, 6 days before the newly estimated date....

 

update:

looks like its made it to the USA, still dont know when ill get it...

US 12/12/2009 9:27 A.M. CARRIER AND CUSTOMS RELEASED
CN 12/09/2009 9:40 P.M. DEPARTURE
12/09/2009 8:00 P.M. RECEIVED INTO UPS SCS POSSESSION
12/10/2009 1:34 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

 

Mine still says

CN 12/09/2009 9:40 P.M. DEPARTURE
12/09/2009 8:00 P.M. RECEIVED INTO UPS SCS POSSESSION
12/10/2009 1:28 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

It must be hung up in customs.

 

The tabook (there is a link in the ThinkPad Sticky - Please Read Before Posting message at the top of page 1) clearly states that 2765-PAU uses a screen with CCFL backlight.

 

Huh. Thank you for that link, I wish I'd have seen it earlier (I think I even posted a thread about this before purchasing, too... damn)

 

I'd also like to point out the new models launch in about a month. I'm sure Lenovo deliberately doesn't want to get caught with a lot of old parts they can't use on the new ones. Remember all the problems with shipping the T/W/X #00 laptops when all the T/X 61s were easier to get? Or Lenovo running out of graphics cards for the T61p (like what happened to me)?

 

An update. This is my tracking info as of 12/14 @ 10:50am:

Code:

US      12/13/2009    10:03 A.M.   CARRIER AND CUSTOMS RELEASED
CN      12/09/2009    9:40 P.M.     DEPARTURE
         12/09/2009     8:00 P.M.     RECEIVED INTO UPS SCS POSSESSION
         12/10/2009     1:28 A.M.     BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED 

Ours must be traveling together . So today is 5 days since it got shipped and still no delivery date set for the package. Per UPS it may be tomorrow when it will start moving in their domestic system and when a delivery date will be set.

It will be Friday before I get my laptop or later... if I knew Lenovo's ground shipments take this long I would have opted for the 2 day option. It's just unfortunate when they don't disclose these things ahead of time. For all I know ground shipments take 3-5 business days. Wish I new they make them and ship from China.

 

My most recent update looks just like yours.

US 12/13/2009 10:03 A.M. CARRIER AND CUSTOMS RELEASED
CN 12/09/2009 9:40 P.M. DEPARTURE
12/09/2009 8:00 P.M. RECEIVED INTO UPS SCS POSSESSION
12/10/2009 1:28 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

So they do seem to be travel companions.
I wonder if the "2 day" shipping is really 2 days, or if it's "time from China" + 2 days.

 

I just got another update with a delivery estimate of Dec 16.
That's better than what I was expecting.

 

From Saturday morning until now, my UPS status still shows the same exact message.

US 12/12/2009 9:27 A.M. CARRIER AND CUSTOMS RELEASED
CN 12/09/2009 9:40 P.M. DEPARTURE
12/09/2009 8:00 P.M. RECEIVED INTO UPS SCS POSSESSION
12/10/2009 1:34 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

Anyone else have any updates?

 

chelet, do you mean your UPS page got updated?

 

Hi,

Mine has the exact same update, i tried calling UPS today to find out y there is no update and they have told me that the status on 12/12 was wrongly updated even though the customs rejected the shipment and they have re presented the shipment for customs on 12/15 and it went through correctly this time and would get a status update of expected delivery date within the next 24 hrs. Guess , we will have to wait for few more days to get our hands on our laptops.

Regards
Vickram

 

Hello fellow travelers,

Here's my tracking info...

US 12/12/2009 9:27 A.M. CARRIER AND CUSTOMS RELEASED
CN 12/09/2009 9:40 P.M. DEPARTURE
12/09/2009 8:00 P.M. RECEIVED INTO UPS SCS POSSESSION
12/10/2009 1:34 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

Thanks for the info, Vickram. They gave you more info than they gave me when I called them earlier this morning. I wonder why customs rejected the shipment?

 

is lenovo order status website not working?

 

Yes, I have the same problem.

 

An update - my laptop is scheduled for delivery 12/16. Sometimes it helps to be near a big UPS hub I visited the service center today to arrange it and will be there first thing in the morning to get it before it gets put on the delivery truck - I don't want to wait an hour more than I have to

If you still have your laptop in customs, it seems that in 2-4 days after release, it makes it to you with ground shipment.

I just hope my laptop has 2 legs, 2 arms and 5 fingers! Don't want any surprises!

Soon I will have a signature with the specs Can't wait!

 

Here's the latest.

US 12/14/2009 9:02 A.M. CARRIER AND CUSTOMS RELEASED
US 12/12/2009 9:27 A.M. CARRIER AND CUSTOMS RELEASED
CN 12/09/2009 9:40 P.M. DEPARTURE
12/09/2009 8:00 P.M. RECEIVED INTO UPS SCS POSSESSION
12/10/2009 1:34 A.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

As you can see, it was released from customs, for the second time.

I'm curious about this. Why would this happen? If it was rejected by customs officials, why? Also, has anybody else's updated?