Stay away from Lenovo. Period.
Horrible customer service. Do not expect the warranty service means anything even when you purchase a real laptop for more than 2000 dollars. Found defects 3 months into usage, send the laptop back for service and repair. Took 3 months, countless number of calls to ask for status, at last sent back with NOTHING fixed or work done, using excuse "we do not have parts". This is a current model laptop, not some old models that production has ceased. Contact to have it fixed again, they stalled me, every time left a message with supervisors will get no response or call back. Stall you until the warranty period is over, then claim that you are out of warranty, cannot fix the issue. Arrogantly, they will even ask you to purchase a new warranty plan with them after all the failure. Used many different brands, Lenovo is the lowest of the low, disappointment beyond description.
If you are interested in some more reading, these are the emails that I have so far communicated with them, they serve well as solid evidence on how bad they are, you can see how you can get frustrated with them. These emails DO NOT INCLUDE the countless number of phone calls and time that I spent with their representatives, I have literally spoken with over 20 people from Lenovo, but I am not getting anywhere. Here you go:
From: Customer Name
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2012 5:01 PM
To: 'Lenovoreplies'; 'lenovoreplies@thinkteamlenovo.com'; 'hortensius@us.lenovo.com'; 'bartolotta@us.lenovo.com'; 'websales@lenovo.com''
Subject: RE: Lenovo’s Reply [2]: Lenovo’s reply: FW: Message to the Executive Office of Lenovo from customer Customer Name
Hi Devoshree,
Please do not make the issue sound like “ because the customer is not willing to pay, and that’s where all problems start.” I fully understand there is no free lunch in this world, and I am far from expecting Lenovo to provide a “free lunch” to me as well, consider the level of customer service that I am receiving from Lenovo. Your reply simply shows even more vividly how Lenovo simply does not care, had you read my emails below and understand the issue from the beginning, I think it will be shameful for anyone to even offer such an answer in the reply email.
The issue here is even when my laptop was still in warranty, your staff failed to complete the repairing work. Your technical staff held my laptop for almost 3 months with no work done while my laptop was still under warranty, then sent the defective product back to customer with nothing fixed. Then as the customer tried to reach back for a second-time repair to have the issue fixed, while the product was still under warranty, your staff chose to ignore and refuse to reply (I don’t think I need to elaborate anymore on this with all the details described in the previous emails). Basically stalling a customer, not performing your work as Lenovo after-sales support service, until the product’s warranty period is over, then offer an answer which is what you have written “There is nothing that can be done as the product is out of warranty”. In fact, Lenovo has done nothing at the first place while my product was still under warranty. Unless you agree that a defect with a laptop needs more than 1-year warranty period to repair based on Lenovo’s quality standards; otherwise, I am sorry to say that your answer is absolutely invalid and illogical.
Sincerely,
Customer Name
From: Lenovoreplies [mailto:lenovoreplies@thinkteamlenovo.com]
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2012 3:55 PM
To: Customer Name
Subject: Lenovo’s Reply [2]: Lenovo’s reply: FW: Message to the Executive Office of Lenovo from customer Customer Name
Dear Customer Name,
Thank you for contacting Lenovo.
As I understand, you are not happy with the service as you have not received any assistance from the Tech Support Team.
We apologize for the inconvenience. There is nothing that can be done as the product is out of warranty. The Tech Support can assist only if it is an in-warranty product if not you will have to pay for the service. The policy remains same for all Lenovo customers. You can check the warranty status at the given link: Lenovo Support - Check Warranty Status (US).
You can contact us at 866-42-THINK (84465) followed by option number 4, or login via live chat Lenovo - Lenovo Chat and a customer service specialist will assist you with your query.
Once again, thank you for contacting Lenovo.
Sincerely,
Deboshree Mukherjee
Lenovo Websales/CustServe
Laptops, Tablets PC's, Netbooks, Desktops, PCs, Computers and Accessories | Lenovo | US
________________________________________
-----Original Message-----
From: " Customer Name>
To: "'Lenovoreplies'" , 'hortensius@us.lenovo.com', 'bartolotta@us.lenovo.com', websales@lenovo.com'
Date: 03/04/12 05:34
Subject: RE: Lenovo’s reply : FW: Message to the Executive Office of Lenovo from customer Customer Name
To all executive staff of Lenovo,
As a medical business owner operating a chain of clinics on the east coast, the warranty experience that I had with Lenovo serves well as a negative example for my company's staff on what constitutes total failure in customer service. I have just sent out a memo to my IT department on avoiding all future purchases of Lenovo products and services, and I have instructed my customer service training staff to use my experience as a case study to train my fellow employees.
I believe that I do not need to detail my whole experience with Lenovo technical support team, customer service team or any other teams with any more details. All the details have been described clearly in the chain of emails below. Basically what I learn from my experience is that Lenovo can say that they will provide warranty service for their products, but in fact, the customer can never take advantage of it even if it is the manufacturer's fault at the first place and the warranty is still active for the product. The warranty service offer is simply a scam, and Lenovo is skilled in stalling customer's requests, do not have the defects repaired, keep on delaying, until the one year warranty is over, then claim that the product is now out of warranty, so it cannot be serviced.
All escalation services so called by your staff does not even exist. Called in through technical support team as suggested by your staff in the emails, no responses ever received, even though your staff claimed that a supervisor will contact me regarding my case "shortly". As instructed by the email below, I called the sales support team in early January again, detailed my story to your staff in the department for a full 45 minutes, at the end, she could not reach the technical support team, she took my message, said that someone would contact me "soon". After 2 months now, no responses from Lenovo at all.
In the emails below as evidence, I tried to reach Lenovo executive office multiple times, again every time I was ignored. Ironically, some staff even suggested me to purchase a warranty service from Lenovo again, so that I can have my laptop to be covered by Lenovo's support service. I simply wondered if any support service even existed at the first place, and how arrogant it was to ask a customer to continue to trust Lenovo after more than 20 phone calls with countless amount of time spent since the start of the technical issue and ultimately nothing was resolved.
Maybe a corporate culture of ignoring customer's frustrations and requests has been deeply rooted in Lenovo already, from the very top to the very bottom. I don't think I am making any unfounded claims here based on the whole experience so far that I had as solid evidence, especially I have provided many opportunities for Lenovo to correct this issue. I am not expecting anything from Lenovo here anymore, your staff may choose to reply or simply treat this email as another one to be ignored. If a staff replies, at least I know that there is still a glimpse of hope with Lenovo as there is still someone working in the company who has a heart. If I do not receive a reply, it's fine as it has been a common practice with Lenovo, I wish your company good luck and cease attempts to contact your company again. I will also file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau regarding my experience with Lenovo, not because I am expecting anything from Lenovo after filing the complaint, but I believe that transparency in reviews regarding a brand is important for consumers to make correct choices when they purchase their products in the future. I will also share my experiences online and with my colleagues as well, as I do not want more people to be victimized by Lenovo as I was.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Sincerely,
Customer Name
From: Lenovoreplies [mailto:lenovoreplies@thinkteamlenovo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 12:05 PM
To: Customer Name
Subject: Lenovo's reply : FW: Message to the Executive Office of Lenovo from customer Customer Name
Dear Customer Name,
Thank you for contacting Lenovo.
We apologize for the inconvenience caused. This issue has to be escalated to customer relations team through technical team. As you had mentioned you were not able to reach the customer relations department, what you can do is you can call us the sales support team at 1-866-428-4465 option 2 and we will get you connected to that department.
If you have further questions or concerns, reply back to websales@lenovo.com. You can also contact us at 866-42-THINK (84465) option number 2, or via live chat at Lenovo - Lenovo Chat and a customer service specialist will assist you.
Once again, thank you for contacting Lenovo.
Sincerely,
Vineeth. V
Lenovo Websales/CustServe
Laptops, Tablets PC's, Netbooks, Desktops, PCs, Computers and Accessories | Lenovo | US
________________________________________
-----Original Message-----
From: " Customer Name
To: 'hortensius@us.lenovo.com', 'bartolotta@us.lenovo.com', websales@lenovo.com'
Date: 12/25/11 01:19
Subject: FW: Message to the Executive Office of Lenovo from customer Customer Name
Dear Dr. Peter Hortensius, Mr. Peter Bartolotta and the Executive Office of Lenovo,
I am writing to express my frustration with your company's technical support department. Although I sent an e-mail in early November (attached below), filing a complaint regarding my experience with your after-sales customer support team, I did not receive a reply from the executive office of your company, I tried to re-file my case at the same technical support department and tried to escalate my case to the customer relations department. At the end, not only was I unable to reach the customer service department, the staff in the technical support department was very skillful in deceiving customers. When I asked for a phone number that could allow me to reach a customer relations staff, he provided with a wrong phone number that would reach nowhere, not even a valid department. If you believe that what I have been describing is an exaggeration, I can assure you that what I have been describing here are facts.
I am looking forward to hearing from your company's executive office regarding this simple issue that still cannot be resolved after more than half a year. As a customer, I am simply asking to have the defects of my laptop fixed, and I could not believe that it could be such a hassle. As I mentioned before, I wish that contacting Lenovo Executive Office will be an opportunity for Lenovo to restore my faith in its brand and products.
Sincerely,
Customer Name
From: Customer Name
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011 3:06 PM
To: 'hortensius@us.lenovo.com'; 'bartolotta@us.lenovo.com'; 'websales@lenovo.com'
Subject: FW: Message to the Executive Office of Lenovo from customer Customer Name
From: Customer Name
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011 12:50 AM
To: 'hortensius@us.lenovo.com'; 'bartolotta@us.lenovo.com'; 'websales@lenovo.com'
Subject: Message to the Executive Office of Lenovo from customer
Dear Dr. Peter Hortensius, Mr. Peter Bartolotta and the Executive Office of Lenovo,
I am writing to express my frustration and would like to file a complaint against your company's Technical Support Department for the Lenovo Thinkpad Laptops. My Thinkpad X201 Tablet was purchased in December 2010 and was one of the highest end options available at that time, I made the purchase with confidence in Thinkpad's reputation in great performance and durability, but as a customer, the product that I received from your company has not lived up to its standards.
After using the laptop for 4 months, I started noticing cracks on the exterior case of the laptop, including one major crack near the latch that opens the laptop, and the other crack near the rotational hinge that connects the base and the monitor of the laptop. The laptop was never mishandled or dropped in any manner, it has always been handled with care. These two cracks were apparently resulted from weaknesses in the product itself, as they are both located near areas of frequent usage. I was not able to send in the laptop for repair until early June 2011 as I was on a business trip outside the United States. I requested your technical team to repair the cracks, and I placed tapes with arrows pointing towards the cracks for easy identification by your technicians, I also filled up the repair form with detailed information to ensure that your company's technicians could identify the defects with ease. However, the following experience with your company's technical support department proved to be one of the worst customer service experiences I have ever encountered.
Not only did your repair team took 2.5 months to conduct the repair work, the laptop was shipped back to me with none of the defects fixed. Throughout the 2.5 months that my laptop was in your company's possession, I contacted your technical support team countless number of times, and each call did not seem to result in any progress. I had contacted more than 12 of your staff members within the technical support team. Here are a list of names of staff whom I had contacted with: Jeff Jones, Keith, Wesley, Paul Mcconald, Art Marcus, Barry Yinst, Richard, Jamie, Machael Lewis, James, just to name a handful. It seems that your staff in the technical team have mastered the skills of not taking responsibility of their cases, and transferring customers to another staff to avoid dealing with issues is the rule of thumb. Throughout the experience, I felt that I was being kept in the loop of a deceptive scheme. I escalated my case according to your company's policy based on what your staff informed me, but the escalation team is so difficult to be in contact, basically "escalation" was nothing more than a word without any real actions taken by the staff. Not only did they not return calls after I left many messages, certain staff said that they would inform their supervisor about my case but I never received a call back, and none of these were occasional incidents, your staff are indeed having major problems in returning customers calls. For example, I contacted Michael Lewis on a Sunday afternoon about sending my laptop back in a second time for repair because nothing was repaired the first time, he picked up the phone and sounded like he was still sleeping, I almost wanted to apologize for waking him up. I described what happened to my request for repair back in June, and said that I would like to speak with a supervisor to ensure that if I shipped in my laptop for a second time for repair, the case would be handled in a timely manner, as I always need my laptop around me for business. He told me that I should call back on Monday, I said that it was impossible that he did not have a supervisor in his team while he was on duty, but he simply refused to help and even gave me a wrong telephone number for an irrelevant department at the end. I called into the technical team a second time after speaking with Michael Lewis, this time a staff called James (Employee ID C-C8NCUS) picked up the phone, he said that there is nothing he could do either, except to open another case for me to start from the beginning again, as the first case for repair, which I filed back in June 2011, was closed, although no repairs were done and my issues were never resolved. I asked him to relay the message to his supervisor - Derick, and give me a call on Monday, but until today (a month later), I still have not received a call from anyone. This is only one out of the many incidents I have encountered, if I elaborate on all the negative experiences I have had with the technical team, my e-mail would be pages long.
As a customer, my expectation is that my issues will get resolved in a timely fashion. After the first request for repair with none of the issues resolved, I want my case to receive the attention it deserves if I need to ship in my laptop for the second time, as I cannot allow a similarly ridiculous incident to happen again with staff telling me week after week that my laptop will be fixed, but at the end nothing was done. I am a physician, and I need a computer to use for my work every day, and having a laptop shipped in for repair without being returned in a timely fashion can cause a lot of inconvenience for my work, aside from defects that were not repaired after the long wait.
I want to share with you my personal experience with other major computer manufacturers, I have used different products from Dell, HP and Toshiba, and I have to say that the after-sales customer support that I received from Lenovo is inferior to all these companies that I have encountered so far. For example, when my case for repair needs to be escalated for an HP laptop 2 years ago, they had a customer relations manager following up with my case all the time, providing me with updates until the whole issue was resolved. I was impressed with the level of personal attention and care for detail. I am a very loyal customer and have been using those company's products for a long time. I recently switched to Lenovo for this new laptop because I heard from my friends about the long-established reputation for quality and reliability of Thinkpads.
I personally have not heard of Lenovo until I saw the brand was heavily marketed in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Although many of my colleagues have not dealt with Lenovo as customers before, I believe that ignoring customers' requests and placing customers in the loop without issues resolved are not elements of Lenovo's vision. I wish that the Lenovo Executive Office can contact me about my case and resolve my issues as soon as possible. I have come to this last resort of contacting the executive office because I have run out of options after all the mishandling of my case from your staff in the technical team. I am very disappointed with Lenovo's after-sales support, I wish that contacting Lenovo Executive Office will be an opportunity for Lenovo to restore my faith in its brand and products. I am looking forward to hearing from Lenovo's management soon and your attention on my case is deeply appreciated. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Customer Name
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