Konrad e-mailed me his Lenovo experience, it appears in its entirety below:

I just came across this site and I just wanted to express my frustration with Lenovo as well. I have a T61 thinkpad and I can't believe how it's given me so much problems. What initially started as a random shutdown when running graphics intensive programs. When I first called Lenovo support they had the audacity to tell me, "hmm I've never heard of anyone having this problem before." The funny thing is when I took a look on the Lenovo forums page they have an 800 posts long thread detailing the exact problem

http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=T_Series_Thinkpads&message.id=35071

Subsequently after I sent it to a depot to be fixed, the problem has grown into a hard drive crash and subsequent replacement, an unresolved first issue - as the random shut downs werestill occurring. And now the service depot doesn't want to fix it anymore calling it a 'billable issue.

I had a Dell Inspiron laptop prior to this for 2 1/2 years without any problems except for a battery getting old... so for my Lenovo laptop to last me 9 months... I don't know... just so frustrated.

Konrad

 Thanks Konrad!  What was your ultimate solution?  Did you stick with Lenovo or did you get another Dell?

 

 

I received an e-mail from Ann today.  Her e-mail is posted here with her permission:

I ordered a refurbished Lenovo on the 19th of April, 2009. They sent me a order confirmation on 4/22/09. The tax that was online and the tax they put on the e-mail was different. Of course, the amount only increased. This is aside from the $16 recycling fee that was charged only in the order confirmation e-mail. Because they confirmed it on the 4/22/09, they logged it in their system as order received on 4/22/09.

I sent them an e-mail inquiring about the discrepancy in the tax. They sent an e-mail back on 4/27/09 that the tax is only estimated on their website, and is not final until they send the order confirmation.

Ok, I wasn't happy, but I accepted that.

They kept changing the estimated shipping date on their website. It became 5/12/09. Then 5/19/09. When it became 5/12/09, they sent me an e-mail saying that the order was cancelled due to credit card problems.

This was puzzling as I've been using the same card for years without a problem. I have a descent credit score, two in the high 700's, and one in the low 800's. I've used this card for multiple orders in the past week without a problem.

I e-mailed Lenovo. Then I called using the number 877-698-4465 that I found online. I was told that my order was canceled because there was a problem with my credit card. I asked what the problem was. I was told that it was because I did not respond to their e-mail. Since the only e-mail I received were the 1) order confirmation on 4/22/09 (which I responded to as the tax amount was different), 2) 4/27/09 e-mail response to my inquiry about the difference in tax, and 3) 5/12/09 cancellation of my order which I responded to, I was kind of puzzled. I asked what e-mail? And I was told it had to do with my order. I was also told that I would have to go online and put in another order since the original was canceled.

I told the guy on the phone that since I did not cancel the order, and have waited several weeks for this cancellation, I am not willing to place another order and wait another few weeks just to see if it will go through this time. I asked to speak with his manager.

On 5/13/09, Doris called me from Lenovo. (919-[removed]). She, unlike the first guy I spoke to, was polite and willing to help. She said she'll look into it, then she called me back. Doris said that because my billing and shipping addresses were different, Lenovo checked the shipping address to see if it was listed as one of my credit card addresses. Since the shipping was not, they sent an e-mail out on 4/27/09. Since there was no response to the e-mail, they cancelled the order. (This had never happened to me before, and I've used the same ship to address for years.) I told Doris that the only e-mail I received on 4/27/09 was the e-mail response to my e-mail. There were no other e-mail. I had checked each and every single one of my spam e-mail, and no there was no Lenovo e-mail. I searched for Lenovo anywhere in my inbox, and no there was no other e-mail. I told her that it looks like someone made a mistake on their side, and they should
make sure this doesn't happen to any other person.

I was told that since the original order was canceled, I can place another order on their website. I said no. (Seriously, did I want to place another order in the hopes that this wouldn't happen again in a few weeks?)

Basically, if your shipping address is your work place, or anywhere else you'd like to ship to, and it is not listed with your specific credit card company, they can and will cancel your order. They say they always send an e-mail out first, but I never received one, and I suspect this may have happened to others as well; I would not trust them to not to cancel arbitrarily out of the blue.

And if they cancel, your only recourse is to place another order. They do not give any other option.

In my case, I went out to Costco and bought a laptop the same day.

Having been without a laptop for several weeks, with the only solution they provide to THEIR cancellation of the order, is to have me place another order (and wait and hope), I tend to think their customer service sucks.

I will never order from Lenovo again.

Last night when I returned home, I turned the tablet on and the screen stayed blank.  I removed the hard drive and verified that it worked in my SATA dock.  I took the RAM out to verify the system beeped when no RAM was in it.  The diagnosis - dead mainboard.  A new Lenovo repair order is underway.  Let the games begin.