Lenovo ThinkPad T61 Order Woes

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Not that this is a new phenomenon, Lenovo has had a history of painful order delays on new laptops in the past, but the latest entry in this saga in which a glut of ThinkPad T61 orders are being delayed might take the cake for affecting the most people yet.

Pictured above is the Lesser Spotted and Rare ThinkPad T61 14.1&quot; widescreen notebook (view large image)

It's almost like clockwork -- Lenovo releases a new ThinkPad, people get excited, place their orders and get quoted ship dates of around three weeks ... and then consumers get frustrated as their order ship date gets pushed out and delayed. This has happened once again with the new ThinkPad T61. In the Lenovo section of the NotebookReview.com forums there's a &quot;popular&quot; thread with over 400 replies now discussing the Lenovo ThinkPad T61 delays.

According to LenovoBlogs.com a data entry error in the internal bill of materials orders was omitted and caused several orders to become rejected, quoted from LenovoBlogs.com:

Because of a data entry error, the bezel – the frame that surrounds the LCD panel – was omitted from the bill of materials for certain T61 &amp; R61 14.1” widescreen orders which is sent to our factories to specify how to build the products. This omission caused a majority of the orders taken between May 9th and May 24th to “hang” or get rejected by the manufacturing process. The missing part problem was discovered and we began to work with manufacturing to fix the rejected orders and get them fulfilled ASAP.

These kinds of order issues should of course be hidden to the end buyer and processing should be seamless. Dell figured this out a few years ago but Lenovo still seems to be trying to master the direct sales model and sorting out supply issues for various components.

Because of the delays Lenovo sent out the following email to its customers indicating they would get a freebie such as a Premium carrying case bag:

Dear Valued Lenovo Customer,

As you may be aware, some Lenovo ThinkPad T60 and T61 orders placed between May 9 and May 25 have been delayed, and some customers ordering these systems have received inaccurate or conflicting communications concerning estimated ship dates. We know this is unacceptable to you -- and it is unacceptable to us as well. We aspire to have an ordering process that is, like our notebook PCs, second to none. We apologize.

We have been working hard to identify and resolve several problems that have contributed to these delays. We expect to have the vast majority, if not all, of the affected T60 and T61 systems built by 6/26/2007. If you do not want to wait for shipment, you may cancel your order at this time by responding to this email or, if you prefer, by calling the toll-free number listed below.

We thank you for your continued patience. As a gesture of our appreciation, please select one of the following items as a free gift after receiving your computer. Please indicate your selection by placing an X in the appropriate box, entering your original order number, and reply to our LenovoCriticalOrders team at:

[ ] 6 Cell Battery for extended run time P/N 41U3198 - T61 / R61
[ ] AC Adapter P/N 40Y7659
[ ] Premium carrying case P/N 73P3597

[ ] Original Order Number

Your continued business and trust is important to us. We have begun a public discussion on these issues, and are offering details about the causes of these delays, on one of Lenovo's official Blogs, &quot;inside the box&quot;. Please follow the link for the most up to date news on this subject. http://www.lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=84

Please feel free to contact us at anytime should you have any further questions or concerns.

Toll free : 1-866-428-4465.

Sincerely,

Lenovo Websales Team

www.lenovo.com/think/us

 

A free bag is nice I suppose, but an order that ships in a timely manner is probably preferred. If you've been affected by the T61 order woes the discussion continues here: Lenovo ThinkPad T61 delays

 

Now I know what they meant by "offset" screen. I'm sorry, that looks ugly.

As for the orders though, mistakes happen. But communication is a requirement to deal with things like that, and from what I can tell communication has been lacking until recently. It seems like every day there are several "now that this has been delayed and I have no idea about my order, what other notebooks can I get" threads being created.

 

You irate lot have made it into Engadget. Congrats

(I lol'd @ Richard's comment in the link)

My HP was delayed by 4 weeks. Did I complain on NBR? I - actually, I think I did...

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you did...

 

That really is a shame that those ThinkPads just seem to be delayed on a regular basis. I wouldn't mind having a T61 myself.

So let's see, if I order it today I'll get it early next year...hopefully?

 

I laughed at the Blizzard comment, but then it would have been better if he said "a Duke Nukem fan". Those poor guys just aren't going to ever get a break.

 

Correction, not all delayed customers are getting any offer of compensation.

 

Well at least we know the T61 won't be suddenly canceled...

 

I'd really wish that the thinkpad design evolves to keep up with the current times...

 

oh yeah, I hope they compensate those poor customers. They are paying for the latest and greatest. Having a 20 day delay and purchasing the computer at the same price is a scam.

 

I don't know what they would do though. The ThinkPad design is one of the most iconic designs in the industry. I don't see how it could be significantly changed.

I mean, what would you do? You can't change the color...... I frankly don't think you can change the fundamental shape (i.e. if they gave it a bunch of curves, it wouldn't look like a ThinkPad any more).

You could make it thinner/lighter, but then that's really what the X series is; and it's still recognizably a ThinkPad. But making the T series thinner/lighter would probably mean getting rid of some of the ruggedness, etc.

 

I really hope one of the T61's I have on order will arrive before August 1st (estimated ship of 6/28). Someone is being shipped off and they need there laptop for online school work while abroad.

 

Woot! I just got mine! I think I'm in love!!

Anyway, August 29 (or was it Aug 30) turned into June 13.



I do think they're trying to make things right. I know people are peeved about this whole thing. I hope in the end they are happy.

I'm going to have to learn how to type on this thing. Lots of adjusting from a natural keyboard.

 

Hmmm... I ordered my laptop in May. I received an email two days ago telling me that it would not ship until August. I have since canceled my order.

 

It doesn't have to be a major redesign. Just implementing a macbook-style hinge can make the notebook look more sophisticated, serious, and classy at the same time.

 

What's particularly wrong with the current ThinkPad hinge? I can't say I've ever looked too closely at it, but didn't realize there was anything particularly wrong with it.

 

macbook hinge sucks, the lcd cant be folded down flat

 

and it doesn't allow for high cap batteries!

 

No they better don't. The more it looks like a Mac, the higher the chance is I won't buy it.

 

Pretty ridiculous....as I posted recently on tablet pc reviews, where are these things coming from, Jupiter?

Haha, I found this on the Lenovo website:

 

I think if you order now it should be fine.

I ordered on 5/27 and is going to arrive on 6/15

Can't wait to get it!

 

i see that staples offers a lenovo t61 w 1gb ram for $850. This has the new santa rosa chip, correct?
why so cheap. even with the employee discounts or supplier discounts, I can't price this out even close to that.

 

Where do you see that? I just went to staples.com, went to Computers, All Notebooks and filtered to show only Lenovo.... I see a variety of ThinkPads and Lenovo notebooks, but no T61. The cheapest I see is a T60 with a 1.66GHz Core Duo, 512MB RAM and 80GB HD for $1049.

The only other thing I see is a ThinkPad Z61m with a 1.66GHz Core Duo, 1GB of RAM and 80GB HD for $799 after $225 in savings and a $125 instant coupon.