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email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

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Alejandro Audisio
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email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#1 Post by Alejandro Audisio » Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:53 pm

For those that do not reside in the USA but want to shop for a ThinkPad on the Lenovo USA website, I want to share my experience so that your shopping experience ends up being better than mine. Before I start, let me say that I dont blame Lenovo for this, I understand that security measures are needed these days but perhaps they are overdoing things a little... regardless, I hope that sharing my story will help those that shop for a machine in the US will have less headaches than what Im currently suffering.

I live between Argentina and the US... so I wanted to shop for a new machine on the US Lenovo site. I configured a machine and was ready to order. I created an account, entered my order, and put my US credit card on the system for payment. Shipping address was the same as billing address, both to my office in Houston.

After placing my order... the system seemed to take it... but about 1 hour later, I get an email from customer service informing me that my order had been cancelled. I call credit card services and they say that my billing address did not match the records that they checked. I call my bank, check the information, they confirm it is correct... and I warn them that Lenovo is going to charge a purchase. They say they will note the account and that all is well.

I revert back to Lenovo Sales department.... get my order activated again, and process the charge once again. It goes through.... then, 45 minutes later, my order is once again cancelled.

I call credit card services again. Ask to speak to a Supervisor.... they ask me all sorts of security questions, say they will call my bank while I hold.... I stay on the line for 30 minutes. Finally, the supervisor comes back and says that all is well with the Bank, they approve the charge... BUT, he informs me that Lenovo cannot honor the payment..... (????)

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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#2 Post by Alejandro Audisio » Thu Mar 22, 2012 7:58 pm

(continuation of above post)

I ask them why they cannot honor the payment... they reply that because I generated my order from an email address that is located in another country (Argentina), they consider this as a high-risk of fraud order, and cannot accept a payment by credit card. This despite the fact that I wanted to pay using a Visa Card issued by Chase. The only solutions they offer is for me to use PayPal, or else wire them the funds.

I will wire them the money and get this over with... but a wire takes about 10-12 days to process, so this order will take for ever..... what Ive learned from this is that next time I order from Lenovo, I will create a Gmail or similar email account in the USA and remote access it to place my orders.... else, even if I use a US issued credit card, the Lenovo security police will give you trouble.....

(sigh) :roll:

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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#3 Post by dr_st » Fri Mar 23, 2012 8:27 am

Thank you for sharing.

Unlike you, I do blame Lenovo for this. I see their behavior in this matter as totally ridiculous, bordering on harassment. It appears that their customers service (as of most companies that outsource everything these days), has been rapidly degrading into the toilet, and I am sure it's not the end.

To quote:
Alejandro Audisio wrote:I understand that security measures are needed these days but perhaps they are overdoing things a little...
They are not "overdoing things a little", or a lot. They are being downright dumb as doorknobs. A "security measure" that is trivial to circumvent by a fraud in exactly 2 minutes with any free email account, but harasses good honest people is not a security measure, it's just a retarded policy.

Hope you still enjoy your Thinkpad. :)
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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#4 Post by ArtShapiro » Fri Mar 23, 2012 11:30 am

Lenovo seems remarkably creative when it comes to ways to screw up the ordering process.

I've mentioned in the Forums previously that I can't order from Lenovo, despite my best efforts. I believe that their zip code database has my town misspelled as "Lake Forrest", so when the orders come through with a billing address in "Lake Forest", the credit card specs don't match and they jettison the order. (With no notification, of course.)

This isn't a big deal now that they only sell useless 16:9 machines, but nevertheless...

Art

Alejandro Audisio
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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#5 Post by Alejandro Audisio » Fri Mar 23, 2012 12:39 pm

Am I the only one that doesnt dislike the 16:9 ratio displays...???

:wink:

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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#6 Post by RealBlackStuff » Fri Mar 23, 2012 2:24 pm

You belong to a minority here, most of us prefer 4:3 LCDs.
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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#7 Post by http302 » Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:24 pm

I do not dislike 16:10 or 16:9 displays. Nor do I dislike 4:3. Each can serve a purpose. IMHO, I prefer 16:9 in my monitors as it allows me to do timelining and source/final video feeds for video editing/production, which is one of the tasks I will be asking my W520 to do for me.
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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#8 Post by killer » Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:42 pm

Alejandro Audisio wrote:Am I the only one that doesnt dislike the 16:9 ratio displays...???

:wink:
On the contrary, there are people who love 16:9 and there are the "old guard" who hate it. I like 16:9 and so do all the millions who have bought the format. :)
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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#9 Post by dr_st » Sat Mar 24, 2012 1:35 am

killer wrote:I like 16:9 and so do all the millions who have bought the format. :)
Yes, all the millions bought it because they like it. Having no real choice on the matter had absolutely nothing to do with it. :wink:

BTW, at least 90% of those millions probably couldn't care less or don't even notice the differences in screen formats. :mrgreen:
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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#10 Post by bill bolton » Sat Mar 24, 2012 4:44 pm

dr_st wrote:BTW, at least 90% of those millions probably couldn't care less or don't even notice the differences in screen formats
So the percentage of users who care about any particular screen format is at most 10%!

There go all the "its a no-brainer that there's a huge market demand for my favoutrite format" arguments :BAAAD!:

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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#11 Post by dr_st » Sun Mar 25, 2012 2:17 am

bill bolton wrote:So the percentage of users who care about any particular screen format is at most 10%!
That's my opinion. Not everyone agrees with it. So the arguments you refer to are unlikely to stop anytime soon. :)
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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#12 Post by Alejandro Audisio » Mon Mar 26, 2012 5:00 pm

Back on topic... I wired Lenovo the funds this morning. Apparently, the Lenovo Credit Department can take up to 2 weeks to verify and clear the payment... :roll:

I will keep you all posted on the progress.... I will probably wait until Wednesday or Thursday of this week before I call these guys and start asking questions... wonder what that will do, aside from cost me a good 15-20 minutes on hold which they review... :roll:

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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#13 Post by Alejandro Audisio » Thu Mar 29, 2012 9:37 am

Well... I think I have some good news. Lenovo emailed me yesterday to inform me that my quote had been transformed into an order, so Im assuming they have already honored my wire. Yes, this is not exactly light speed, but considering I had budgeted 2 weeks, the fact that they took only from Monday to Wednesday afternoon seems like a miracle.... :roll:

I will get in touch with my sales rep to confirm this... looks like some of the accessories that I ordered have already shipped.... 8)

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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#14 Post by BillMorrow » Fri Apr 06, 2012 4:22 am

i unlocked this thread...
not sure why it was locked.. seems like a fit subject.. :roll:
in the past i ordered and transshipped a new thinkpad for a fellow in europe..
it turned out to be good for him and lots of haggling with lenovo, for me..
the order changed and things that were so were not..

i would have chosen paypal as it would be fast and sure..

and i too do not blame lenovo.. fraud must add to the final cost of doing business..
when i was selling new thinkpads i ONLY did bank wires but they would usually only take a day MAX except for one from switzerland which the bank there lost..

or i would take a direct deposit to a bank local to the customer..

no fraud, fast service and no credit card %..

i am curious as to what the final outcome of this direct order will be..
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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#15 Post by Alejandro Audisio » Fri Apr 06, 2012 5:42 pm

In the end, this was a lot faster.... my laptop was not supposed to ship until 4/11 but it was delivered to my Houston Office yesterday..... 8)

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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#16 Post by BillMorrow » Sat Apr 07, 2012 7:30 pm

Alejandro Audisio wrote:In the end, this was a lot faster.... my laptop was not supposed to ship until 4/11 but it was delivered to my Houston Office yesterday..... 8)
IBM and now, i guess lenovo, almost always would promise less and deliver more..

its all a good outcome..
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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#17 Post by ThinkRob » Mon Apr 09, 2012 5:55 pm

I don't think this sort of thing is *that* recent of an issue with Lenovo's ordering service. I remember similar issues when ordering a ThinkPad in the UK with a US card several years ago. It's also not unique to Lenovo either... and given the might with which the CC companies come down on retailers with high chargeback rates I can certainly see why they do it!
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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#18 Post by dr_st » Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:55 am

No one argues that it's good for retailers to have fraud protection. The issue at hand is the particular policy that they chose to follow in this case, which is (a) doesn't protect them against anything and (b) harasses good honest folks. There is no excuse for this policy except sheer stupidity.
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Re: email drama when ordering my W520 from Lenovo

#19 Post by thePCxp » Thu Apr 12, 2012 2:05 pm

Alejandro Audisio wrote:Before I start, let me say that I dont blame Lenovo for this, I understand that security measures are needed these days but perhaps they are overdoing things a little...
I'm with you on that. I don't think its Lenovo's fault. I think this is a security measure that they needed to take. Honestly, I don't think they are overdoing it, it probably had to be done.
Alejandro Audisio wrote:regardless, I hope that sharing my story will help those that shop for a machine in the US will have less headaches than what Im currently suffering.
It should probably be: "I hope that sharing my story will help those that shop for a machine in the US, who generate an order from an email address that is located in another country,..." or something like that.
dr_st wrote:Unlike you, I do blame Lenovo for this. I see their behavior in this matter as totally ridiculous, bordering on harassment. It appears that their customers service (as of most companies that outsource everything these days), has been rapidly degrading into the toilet, and I am sure it's not the end.
You're completely wrong. It is not ridiculous and its not harassment and they're not being dumb. Lenovo's customers service has NOT been rapidly degrading into the toilet. What you have to realize is that Lenovo is still young and is still learning. But the point is that unlike a lot of companies out there, Lenovo is willing to learn from its mistakes. The problem is that it can't monitor everything that goes on so its up to us to bring them these types of issues up and offer them advice to improve. Also, don't believe everything you hear. A lot of that stuff is pure ignorance and propaganda. Lenovo is different from all of these other companies and its inappropriate to compare them to all of these other non-passionate, incompetent companies. I find these type of comments insulting, by the way.
ArtShapiro wrote:Lenovo seems remarkably creative when it comes to ways to screw up the ordering process.
Not exactly. But I'm sorry about your negative experience, friend :) .
ArtShapiro wrote:This isn't a big deal now that they only sell useless 16:9 machines, but nevertheless...
They are not useless. The only reason you think they're useless is simply because you have no use for them (you just don't need one). I find them very useful, by the way.
Alejandro Audisio wrote:Am I the only one that doesnt dislike the 16:9 ratio displays...???
No. I like them. In fact, I just don't care about these display ratios. I believe that each of them has a purpose. I actually prefer the widescreens. I find them spacious and I like how I can do multiple tasks at once. I can work more efficiently and are more productive (note that I'm in the fields of graphic design and music).
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