My rant about Lenovo and their sales department.

Holy shit I wish companies would stop wasting my time. Lenovo is yet another to add to my list of companies I will not buy from. I mean.. do these companies even understand the amount of choice people have, and that if you piss a customer off they might just never buy from you?

So - I blogged about wanting to get a tablet PC here. We really thought we would go with Fijitsu, but Lenovo was rated very high for the quality of their machines. So I decided to call them up and see how backloged they were. This is how the conversations went.

Me- I wanted to buy one of your ThinkPad X60's, and know you are back-ordered. I just want to find out what the time-line is.

Omar at 1866-428-4465 x32742 - Right now that product is shipping in about 2-4 weeks.

Me- Is that a firm number?

Omar at 1866-428-4465 x32742 - Yes

Me- Okay, because I just bought a computer from another vendor and they told me it would be 2 weeks and it wound up taking 7.. so I really want to know if 2-4 weeks is the correct time-line.

Omar at 1866-428-4465 x32742 - Which vendor did that?

Me- Alienware.

Omar at 1866-428-4465 x32742 - Oh no.. that is unacceptable. Wait a second, let me look at my database.

(I hear him clicking around)

Omar at 1866-428-4465 x32742 - I have a machine sitting in my warehouse. This is what it has:

X60 Core D 72
1 Gig of Memory
120 Gig drive
Wifi
Bluetooth
Verizon network card
Finger print scanner, and a high output battery.

This machine can ship in 4-5 days.

Me- Really? Let me call my husband and I will call you right back.

So my husband and I email each other back and forth a few times trying to figure out if we wanted things like the Ultrabase so we can watch DVD's.

My husband was also a little concerned about the screen resolution - so he calls Lenovo. When Omar calls him back he confirms the machine has the highest res screen (1400 x 1050) they offer for that model.

After about 4 hours we decide to buy it and my husband calls Omar. I wasn't paying that much attention until all of a sudden I hear a dispute about when shipping will happen. My husband tells me the machine will ship in 2-4 weeks. I was a little annoyed and asked what about the machine we had been discussing all day. So I got on the phone and Omar immediately starts defending the shipping time.

Omar, I say.. "you said you had a machine in the warehouse ready to ship in 4-5 days".

"Oh no" he says. "I could never make that blunder - I said I would have a machine on the web-site in 4-5 days".

Me- Okay thanks - I'm going to another company.

Now the thing that just pisses me off is that he could have told us that he had already sold the machine. It did take us a couple hours to decide. You snooze you loose. But he had to go on with that bullshit that he never said he had a machine ready to ship. And you wouldn't need to go into as much detail about a machine that would "be on your web-site".

I just get so sick of companies doing this. I wish they would just be up front about when you can expect a machine. Like "it will be nine years, but we will get it there exactly in 9 years". If I can't find someone else who will ship in less than 9 years.. I at least know when the hell my machine will show up.

It also makes me none too happy that they are basically booking advanced profits because they bill you right away and sit on your money often for 4,5,6 weeks.