Lenovo Customer Service Tragedy

[royco]

It is with a heavy heart that I post this story here, as I have been a
loyal and longstanding Thinkpad customer for over a decade, purchasing
numerous Thinkpads from IBM, and one just lately from Lenovo. I have
recommended IBM/Lenovo stock to all my friends and family who dabble
in the market, and I have also recommended the Thinkpad line of
laptops to anyone and everyone that I have had occasion to discuss
laptops with.

However, it is with my most recent purchase from Lenovo that I have
encountered a problem of the most horrible proportions. I in no way
wish to bog anyone down with unrelated details; however, the entire
experience I've had is a long one, spanning many frustrating months of
interaction with the Customer Service agents within Lenovo.

Due to this most recent experience with Lenovo, (outlined in full
below) I can no longer in good conscious continue to do business with
or recommend Lenovo's products and services. Since no one within
Lenovo can rectify the matter, I will be taking my business elsewhere,
as will my friends, family and coworkers. (Including my place of
employment)

Anyone who is interested in further details (aside from whats outlined
below) please feel free to contact me via e-mail at pernod@ureach.com
- I'm more than happy to provide my contact information and telephone
number should anyone wish to discuss this matter in a more thorough
fashion.

For those of you who are interested, my story in it's entirety is as
follows:

----

I ordered a T60 back in June. I was more than happy to wait the month
required for the laptop to be built and shipped to me from Hong Kong,
and I eagerly awaited it's arrival.

Much to my dismay, when it did finally arrive, it came sans battery
and power cord! I promptly called Lenovo and was informed by a
customer service rep that I would have to wait _another_ 3 to 4 weeks
to have the power cord and battery that was supposed to have been in
the initial order shipped to me. I can understand needing to wait a
month for a laptop to be built, but shouldn't they have spare power
cords & batteries handy?

Anywho, I called around locally to numerous retail outlets and
searched through classified ads to see if I could find an alternate
Thinkpad locally. It wouldn't be built to the initial specs I wanted,
but at least it would be a thinkpad.

Luckily I found one, again - not up to the specs I really wanted, but
at that point it seemed better to sacrifice some speed for the ability
to at least have it rightaway.

I figured I would simply purchase this laptop locally and return the
one I got directly from Lenovo - no big deal.

I called up Lenovo Customer Support again and spoke to a lady who
spoke very good Enligsh, I wasn't really able to decipher for certain
if she was from some outsourced call center or not... Anyway, I
informed her of the mixup that occured and stated I simply wanted to
return the machine back to Lenovo as I had already purchased an
alternate Thinkpad elsewhere.

She happily obliged (this is where the whole thing gets 'interesting')
and asked me if I had the original box that I received the laptop in.
I replied that yes, I did and asked why she asked. "Simply repackage
the laptop in it's original box and drop it off at a UPS store." was
her answer.

This struck me as odd, she made no mention of an RMA number or
anything. I asked her if I needed some sort of 'return number' and she
replied that the initial box the laptop was shipped to me in had my
Lenovo order number plainly upon it, and that thats what would be
used, not any sort of RMA number."

OK, so no RMA number - thats weird but I guess it makes sense. I
*thought* they'd be sending me a box or something to send it back in.
I asked her if I was supposed to pay for shipping, and she responded
with "Oh, no, just 'return to sender.' Wait WHAT?

"Just Return To Sender" she said again. I asked her to clarify what
she meant by that, thinking she just meant "Return the laptop to
Lenovo." No, she replied back with: "Write Return To Sender on the
shipping label and take it to a UPS store." "What about a tracking
number? What about Insurance?" I asked. "Tracking number will be
Tracking Number we gave you at first, package will still be insured."

Ok, that sounded really odd - like no other return procedure I've ever
dealt with in my life, which I guess hasn't been all that many, but
even still it was just a seemingly odd way to go about it.

So supposedly my RMA number was my Lenovo order number, my tracking
number would be the tracking number I already had on hand and the
package was insured. Like I said, I thought this seemed pretty weird,
but it sounded like all my bases were covered. Even so I ran over the
whole thing all over again with the Lenovo rep and got the same reply.
Good enough - as long as they get the laptop back there won't be a
problem I figured.

So I did as instructed and wrote 'return to sender' on the package and
dropped it off at a UPS store.

I waited... and waited... and waited... about two to three weeks later
I called back in and inquired as to the status of the whole thing. "We
have no record of you ever having called, that is not the correct
return procedure, I'm very sorry but there is nothing more we can do
to help you - *click*" was what I was told. They just hung up on me!

Ok, now I'm a little peeved, so I call back and try to figure out what
on earth happened. Again, I'm told they have no record of me ever
having called and no record of my machine. Although they didn't hang
up on me the second time around, I was unable to get any straight
answer as to what happened. I asked to speak to a supervisor only to
be told that there was no supervisor. Now thats just ridiculous,
EVERYONE has a supervisor. I again demanded a supervisor, and again
was there was no supervisor. This went on for a good five minutes till
the story changed to "the supervisor is not present." I then requested
a call back from a supervisor, gave my name, order number(rma number?)
and my cell phone number.

24 hours go by, 48 hours go by, 72 hours go by... Finally Friday hit
and no one called back. At this point I was utterly PO'd about the
whole deal, having already sent the machine back to Lenovo and with
Lenovo not even acknowledging that I had done so, it seemed like I
wouldn't be able to make any further progress by trying to call them
back and being upset.

I called up my credit card company instead, told them what happened
and they told me they would initiate a chargeback on my behalf and
that I shouldn't worry about it.

At this point I was pleased that at least someone was capable of
remedying this situation. I let it the whole matter go assuming it to
be resolved... Up until I received a call from my CC company wanting
written details of what happened for their records. I promptly
complied and didn't think much of it as it was simply a form letter
which looked pretty routine.

A day or so passes and I receive my first of many phone calls from
Tony Bumarch in Lenovo Executive Customer Relations. Mr Bumarch was
exceedingly polite; however, entirely unsympathetic to what had
occurred. He told me that they showed no record of me having called to
initiate the return process and therefore I must never have called.

I most certainly did call, and I've actually run into this similar
situation with my cell phone company. One rep @ Cingular will tell me
something but not notate my account of what was discussed, so when I
call back in the second time around, no one knows what I'm talking
about. A common problem I assume, as I've heard other people complain
about the exact same thing with Cingular and other cellular companies.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would run into this problem
with a Computer Company tho - I honestly didn't even think to request
that the lady I initially spoke to @ Lenovo notate my account
detailing what was discussed concerning the return policy.

Mr Bumarch tells me there isn't much he can do and instructs me to
call the UPS store that I dropped the package off at. The UPS store I
dropped the package off at instructs me to call UPS, UPS instructs me
to call Lenovo, and Lenovo again instructs me to contact UPS. (I'm
sure you can all see where this is going by now..) Round and round it
goes till I get upset and Mr Bumarch tells me HE will call the UPS
store on my behalf while I wait on hold. I wait on hold and Mr Bumarch
comes back on the phone and says that it sounds like the UPS store
might have a way to track my package as having gone out and that I
should call the UPS store and talk to the owner.

I call the UPS store and spoke to the exact same lady Mr Bumarch just
spoke with moments before. She informs me there there is absolutely no
way to track outbound packages dropped off at the UPS store unless
that UPS store sent it out with one of their shipping labels. THEN she
tells me that she just told Mr Bumarch this moments ago and asked why
I was calling back asking the SAME question! Why on earth would Mr
Bumarch instruct me to call the UPS store when he himself just spoke
to them and they told him that they could not track an outbound
package unless it was sent with that UPS store's shipping label?!

I call Mr Bumarch back and ask him why he gave me the misleading
information, only to be told by HIM that the UPS store employee did
not tell him what she told me, DESPITE the UPS store employee telling
me just moments after she spoke to me that she informed him of this.
(argh!@#%%)

I told Mr Bumarch that I resented the endless games of phone-tag I've
been playing with him, and the additional run around he's made me go
through with UPS and that it's to the point where it sounds like I
need to file some sort of complaint with the BBB.

His response?

"All the BBB complaints are routed through myself, so I'll be sure to
tell the BBB exactly what I'm telling you." (This was said in a
polite, yet condescending tone)

That being: Since they had no record of me calling to return the
laptop, I must never have done so.

Oh, and by this point my CC company said that the dispute was over and
Lenovo had successfully fought the chargeback off because I could not
provide a tracking number other than the initial tracking number on
the box that was shipped to me in...

So, at this point I do not have the laptop I payed $1600 for, and I'll
I've got to show for this entire experience is a massive headache from
dealing with Lenovo's customer care.

Realizing I was getting absolutely nowhere with Tony Bumarch in
executive care, I placed e-mails detailing this horror story to
numerous executives inside Lenovo, namely among them was 'David
Churbuck' VP of sales and marketing.

David Churbuck expressed via e-mail initial interest in looking into
my case, but I never heard back from him. When I e-mailed him again, I
got what seemed like a form letter (although I'm sure it was not)
simply stating "I am not responsible for looking into this, Tony
Bumarch is handling your case."

So a complete about-face was done, leaving my sole source of contact
within Lenovo to Mr Bumarch, who was entirely unsympathetic to my
situation and had just recently told me in no uncertain terms that the
case was closed.

I filed a complaint with the BBB anyway - Lenovo's response? "Customer
Never Sent the Equipment Back To Us"

So Lenovo's offical response is that I'm a liar and that I should be
expected to simply eat this $1600 fee for a laptop I already returned
to them!

Oh, here are some additional points I think I may have neglected to
mention:

I requested that some sort of audit be done at the Lenovo returns
center to see if someone could find my machine. Lenovo's response?
Thats a wildly unreasonable request. I was also told that unauthorized
returns are promptly refurbished and re-sold with a matter of weeks,
leaving me with the conclusion that it's entirely possible that Lenovo
simply refurbished (slapped a battery and power cable with the
machine) and resold it to someone else.

I was told that this situation would never have occurred, as Lenovo
has a strict guideline that they follow for refurbished machines.
If said guideline is anything like their return policy
guidelines, I'm sure it's always followed to the letter every single
time

Oh, and I was also told that "no one within Lenovo would ever instruct
you to return a machine in that manner," Which is entirely laughable,
as thats exactly what occurred! I'm left to conclude that Lenovo's
reps are probably underpayed and overworked, and as a result don't
take all that much pride in memorizing and reciting corporate policies
without fail each and every time.

Due to the above excuse being cited over and over, no one within
Lenovo will even take responsibility for giving me the incorrect
information on how to go about returning a machine to them. I didn't
even get an "I'm sorry" out of Mr Bumarch. He DID go so far as to say
he'll issue a company wide memo re-iterating the correct return
procedures to the front line Lenovo reps, but I suspect this was
simply to placate me, as later I got a reply from him via the BBB that
bluntly insinuated that I was just a big liar.

And after speaking with Mr Bumarch, I wasn't even demanding a refund
at that point, I told him I would settle simply for the return of the
machine I sent to them, but since no one will go out of their way to
look for it, that doesn't seem possible either.

Holy geez, this is a long winded post. I'm sorry, but thank you for
reading over it. I would appreciate anyone's input on what I could
possibly do to try and rectify this nightmare.

To sum the whole thing up, it feels like Lenovo lied to me, stole my
money and told me to simply 'go away.'

I dearly love my thinkpads, and I really hate to feel like I can never
purchase another one from Lenovo again based upon this hellish
experience.

---

For those of you that have come this far, you may also be interested
in looking at:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=49134

As contained therein, there is another individual (entirely seperate
from myself) who says that he too was advised of the incorrect return
procedure in the exact same manner that I was when he called in to
speak to Lenovo Customer Care. This appears to be an ongoing issue for
numerous people, and I'm very disappointed that Lenovo will not even
acknowledge it.

Anyone's feedback on the matter is greatly appreciated, and thank you
for taking the time to read this over.

[Yorgi]

Can you provide us with the "reader's digest" version? I don't think many will read that novel.

[braddd]

Can you provide us with the "reader's digest" version? I don't think many will read that novel.

Its not that long and its an interesting read.

He bought a T61. Called lenovo to make a return. Lenovo said "write return to sender on the box and drop it off at UPS store" He asked, what about RMA, what about tracking info. Lenovo says "tracking # will be the same as before , RMA number will be your order number" So he dropped it off at a UPS store and now Lenovo says they never recieved the package, they have no info of the package, and to have a good day. Original poster is out the money he spent on his T61 and it doesn't look like he will ever get it back.

If you've returned a thinkpad before you will know that that isn't the correct procedure and the original poster was given an incorrect and wildly retarded protocol for returning this thinkpad. Thus the thinkpad is now lost in space. Lenovo doesn't have it so they wont give his money back, credit card company says the fault is on him, and he is at a loss for what to do.

I read your story over at thinkpads.com where it started off, there has been no progress at all I assume? Did you get a bill from your phone company showing the call you made to lenovo, did you show that to Tony?

[smoothoperator]

Just read your post, I have dealt with Tony twice (two seperate occasions) and after harrasing the hell out of him I got him to give me a refund.


Your case seems very weird, I cannot imagine that a UPS store would allow you to write RETURN TO SENDER and send the box out. It seems like Lenovo and the UPS store are both negligent.

Lenovo has a point they cannot verify that you sent out the package since they have no record of it, I have never heard of the return procedure you outlined but I guess its possible.

Your only option at this point is to have the UPS store pull the tapes from when you were in there so that you can prove that you indeed dropped a package off and that it was stolen in transit (which is probably what happened due to their not being a tracking number). It was probably taken by an employee that worked at the UPS Store you were at.

Write a certified letter demanding payment for the returned computer to Lenovo, and then attempt to sue via small claims. Lenovo will probably settle since it is not worth their while to send someone to represent them for 1600.00.

[aan310]

ok, i read it all. Your cell company can provide the time, date, and length of your call, so ask them for it (you might have to pay for it, idk, prob. not). Then call the Supervisor back with it. Also, legal action? i mean it is $1600. keep me posted.

[aan310]

oh yea, i agree with smooth, ask for they're tapes.

[Sirius_GTO]

Exactly. I agree with OP but you must admit, you knew it was a bad way to return an item as it was incredibly unorthodox. Request the tape and proceed from there.

[meh_cd]

Stories like these scare me.

[Sirius_GTO]

and yes, definitely contact your phone carrier for the time and length of the call.

[braddd]

The UPS store isn't going to hand over store tapes to random customer #55864A you will have better luck trying to get proof from the phone company that you were actually on the phone with Lenovo when you said you were. Since that is what Tony was holding you to, its a good place to start.