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Customer service rant

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happyninja

Customer service rant

#1 Post by happyninja » Fri Jul 27, 2012 9:10 am

It's only little things but they are fast adding up. The latest one is that I didn't notice there was a UK cord when I purchsed the t530 i7 and accidentally selected the EU cord instead.

When I sent an email to Lenovo, the first response 14 hours later was just asking for my serial number. Bearing in mind I had just ordered the computer, it was no doubt an agent who couldn't be bothered to look up the number. I wasn't at work so didn't have the computer with me at the time and so asked them to look up the number. They did and have now said I have to return the whole computer in order to receive a UK cord as they don't have spare power supplies. WTF? The cost of doing that in exchange for just one cord is ridiculous. I have quite a few gadgets and if there have been any issues with cords etc, companies have always been willing to swap them over by sending out the correct one and be sending back the wrong one.

I know this error was my fault but I've never had worse customer service - all for the sake of a stupid plug. I must admit right now I am considering returning the whole computer. Just because if Lenovo are going to be pathetic over something like this, it doesn't bode well if something badly goes wrong with the computer.

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Re: Customer service rant

#2 Post by RealBlackStuff » Fri Jul 27, 2012 10:02 am

Lenovo is not the only stupid party here!
Just go buy a Figure-8 to UK-plug for a 2-wire powercord, or if you need a 3-wire one, a MickyMouse-to-UK-plug.
I like the old English word daft... :jhem:
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Re: Customer service rant

#3 Post by EasyMac308 » Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:22 pm

It's a customer service failure, and disappointing, but can't you just lop the end off of the cord you have and wire up a UK plug? As I recall from when I lived there, the plugs were less than £1 each and were available everywhere (why don't they sell appliances with plugs attached, anyway?)
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happyninja

Re: Customer service rant

#4 Post by happyninja » Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:34 pm

EasyMac308 wrote:It's a customer service failure, and disappointing, but can't you just lop the end off of the cord you have and wire up a UK plug? As I recall from when I lived there, the plugs were less than £1 each and were available everywhere (why don't they sell appliances with plugs attached, anyway?)
Yep. I'm just using an adapter at the moment. I'm just disappointed by the ridiculous nature of their answer. I know it was my fault but seriously - what a suggestion for a fix.

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Re: Customer service rant

#5 Post by EasyMac308 » Fri Jul 27, 2012 5:15 pm

I hear you. You can't have been the first person to order the wrong cord.
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Re: Customer service rant

#6 Post by bill bolton » Fri Jul 27, 2012 5:30 pm

EasyMac308 wrote:It's a customer service failure....
No, it's a customer failure! :BAAAD!:

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Re: Customer service rant

#7 Post by wolfman » Fri Jul 27, 2012 5:36 pm

We used to say FEBKAC (not original, got it online somewhere)... Failure Exists Between Keyboard And Chair. ;)
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Re: Customer service rant

#8 Post by happyninja » Sat Jul 28, 2012 1:20 am

As I said in my first post, I know it was my error. What I think is madness is that I have to return the whole laptop just for the sake of a new plug. That can't even be cost effective from their point of view.

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Re: Customer service rant

#9 Post by dr_st » Sat Jul 28, 2012 1:57 am

Yes, I realize you think it's madness. In some ways it is. But I think it's no less madness that you actually opened this thread and continue to rant about it, rather than just get the completely standard cheap part from that RBS had suggested, which I am sure is carried by more than one electronics store in your town.
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happyninja

Re: Customer service rant

#10 Post by happyninja » Sat Jul 28, 2012 2:13 am

Fair enough. Thanks for the feedback. Nothing else to say :)

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Re: Customer service rant

#11 Post by BillMorrow » Sat Jul 28, 2012 4:35 pm

ok, i seem to have been made aware of this little SNAFU..

here is my sage advice (assuming it is only the power cord that won't mate up with the UK socket) just pop down to the high street and the local, have a beer, relax and enjoy the ambiance of a welcoming pub, THEN hop on over to the radio shack (or similar shop) and lay out one pound sterling for an appropriate cord that will fit the wall socket AND the standard lenovo power supply and chalk it up to a senior moment.. :)

all should know that a big outfit like IBM and now lenovo have to work within some guidelines even if those guidelines are really dumb..
(just take a look at the US Govt. since 2009, guidelines with the force of LAW, up the wazoo)

FWIW i get to use "senior moment" a LOT these days and it WORKS..

and NO, mr. ninja, I can but i don't want to because you look to be an asset to this forum.. :)
if you insist, i will, but that would leave this instructive thread without an author..

finally "goodnight mrs. calabash whereEVER you are"..
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She was not what you would call unrefined,
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Re: Customer service rant

#12 Post by sarbin » Sat Jul 28, 2012 5:31 pm

@happyninja...
I must concur with Bill. Have a couple pints at the pub and stick around here. Lots of good folks and much expertise to share all around. Please don't let a "SNAFU", as Bill describes it, run you off.

Cheers!
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happyninja

Re: Customer service rant

#13 Post by happyninja » Sun Jul 29, 2012 8:38 am

Umm can I just say I didn't flag this thread to Bill when I asked for my account to be deleted. I just asked for my account to be deleted.

I'm sure there's lots of good people on here.

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Re: Customer service rant

#14 Post by BillMorrow » Sun Jul 29, 2012 2:45 pm

well, mr. ninja really wanted to disappear, thus he asked and thus i acted..

bye bye..
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Re: Customer service rant

#15 Post by sarbin » Sun Jul 29, 2012 3:02 pm

well... we tried.
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Re: Customer service rant

#16 Post by EasyMac308 » Mon Jul 30, 2012 11:31 am

bill bolton wrote: No, it's a customer failure! :BAAAD!:
Oh, I won't argue with you on the fact that the customer failed in their ordering process. However, good business sense is that if someone just spent a couple grand on a laptop from you that you try to help them out. The shipping each way is going to be more expensive than the pigtail for an AC adapter and a couple of bucks (or quid, as the case may be) to ship. That's goodwill and will make the customer keep coming back instead of crying about it on the Internet.
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Re: Customer service rant

#17 Post by BillMorrow » Mon Jul 30, 2012 2:38 pm

That's goodwill and will make the customer keep coming back instead of crying about it on the Internet.
yeah, yeah, yeah.. :roll:
of course the customer failed when he ordered..
BUT, in defense of this now deleted customer, the ordering process does leave one a bit overwhelmed..
i admit the lenovo ordering pages do take you through each item but it can become confusing and a little thing like this can fall the mental cracks.. in those days of yesteryear we called it the "bit bucket"..

in this case, sure lenovo should have just sent out a line cord appropriate for the UK rather than the continent.. but they have rules to follow and too many rules and too little flexability lead to things like this.. big companies and governments have to have rules.. which is one reason big companies and governments become ossified and unable to react to fast changing needs and events.. (see USA & Xerox)

if it were ME i would not have bothered calling lenovo.. i would have made do in one way or another rather than waste more time on calls here and there.. and waiting for the correct cord to arrive in the mail.. my gosh, has no one ever just stripped the end of the wire and shoved the bare ends in the frakkafrakka socket..? i know i have and i still bear some of the scars from such activities.. :oops:

but thats me and not you or anyone else.. :)
Bill Morrow, kept by parrots :parrot: & cockatoos
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She was not what you would call refined,
She was not what you would call unrefined,
She was the type of person who kept a parrot.
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Re: Customer service rant

#18 Post by EasyMac308 » Mon Jul 30, 2012 4:03 pm

Agreed. It wouldn't have been worth the effort to really fuss with Lenovo at that point.
EasyMac308
MCITP: EDA, MCSE NT, MCSE 2000, A+
Work: Thinkpad T410 / i5-650 / 8GB / 500GB / Win7 Ent x64
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