Lenovo Customer Service....not sure if I approve or disapprove yet
Bought a Lenovo laptop for my daughter. Not anything high end, but a decent i3 processor, 6gb RAM, 1TB hard drive. Something a college freshman who uses it to watch youtube videos would use.
Problem was that it was interminably slow. Slow to boot--minutes, rather than seconds. Slow to open a tab.
Something wrong.
So I paid nearly $70 to ship it and box it so their Service Center could get it timely and return it prior to her departing for college. Griped me to have to pay that, but it worked. They got it, turned it around quickly, shipped it and she received it the day before she left.
They replaced the motherboard.
Only problem is--it didn't fix it. Same exact problem.
My son checked it out, and although the hard drive passed the tests, he said it didn't "sound" right. Thought that was the problem, but it could be something else. RAM, or whatever. Who knows? Obviously not Lenovo.
So I contacted them again, and told them they needed to go off script and remedy this. Sent my daughter off with a Chromebook as a temporary measure. They "escalated it" and took 2 days before somebody contacted me that they would repair it "on site."
Not a great solution, but better, I guess. Except we're still waiting. So I contact them a couple of days later, telling them I have not heard from their "on site" tech person, and they tell me he's waiting on a part.
What part? I inquire.
They say "the hard drive."
Now, that perplexes me. They "fixed" the computer the only time they have seen it with replacing the motherboard. Shipped it to me, "fixed." Since then, they haven't seen it.
Why do they know the hard drive needs replacing?
a) They don't--it's a total guess?
or
b) They do--and knew it when they shipped it back to me without letting me know.
So about this time, I get a "survey" email from Lenovo. I take it. I am fair. I give reasonable marks for ability to get in touch with them. But several "0" marks out of 10 for fixing the problem, obviously. They also have an email in the survey for their Vice-President.
I write him.
I let him know what occurred.
I receive a call from corporate headquarters. That, I like. After several stages of negotiation occur, they agree to upgrade the computer to a new computer, faster processor, and bigger screen.
Except there is a little wiggle room. He says because it's at a different price point, he'll have to get it approved.
Really? This freaking thing isn't a $30,000 machine. It's not even a $3,000 machine. It's a $300-500 machine. The price difference might be $150.
I'm still waiting on the email confirmation that was supposed to occur. He did say it might be today before it came through, and that if it didn't, "we'd have another conversation."
I really don't get it.
I've been with companies, and had my own small company, for years. I'm never been in a big corporate environment, but best I can tell, I've been personally responsible for purchasing a couple dozen laptops, maybe more. Heck, if you include my family, definitely more.
There is a documented track record here where things have not gone as planned. I told them, both in writing, and on the phone, that I consider Lenovo a good company that makes good products. And sometimes a good company that makes good products will have one not go their way. This one was that one. It is how they react to it that either secures me with a company or sours me on same.
Right now I"m in between. They could have easily gone to the top of the charts by replacing the relatively inexpensive laptop--which was brand new (a month or so old, and had hardly been turned on)--immediately. Trying to cheapskate it has put them in a more precarious position with me.
