Ordering a Lenovo ThinkPad - 4 weeks...

[OneMoreFarang]

I am getting annoyed by Lenovo.

I want to order a ThinkPad and on the website is written the delivery time is 4 weeks.

To be sure I really get this thing within 4 weeks I chatted with them on their Lenovo sales page. It seems depending on the mood of the person I am chatting with it might be 4 weeks or maybe 6 to 8 weeks. It is very annoying.

 

Does anybody of you have any experience with them and how to find out how long it will take for the delivery. Can they guarantee a delivery time if they want to?

I am pretty sure if I oder something now then all the parts must exist already. So they should be able to see somewhere in their IT when model x with configuration y will arrive in Thailand. Or do I see that wrong?

 

I don't write the model number here on purpose because this comment/question is about the principle of them promising "4 weeks". The model which I want is not available in any shop. Otherwise I would have bought it already.

[dddave]

Might the ambiguity on the part of Lenovo possibly be connected to the current shortage of chips.  I recently read HP & Asus were delaying shipment of many models for this reason.

[KeeTua]

Supply chains have been disrupted by Covid and there is huge demand for laptops by students and people forced to work from home because of Covid. Trump's trade war with China also created problems. Lenovo might as well use a crystal ball.

[KhunBENQ]

My Lenovo notepad took 2 weeks and that is about 2() years ago (pre Covid).

And it was shipped directly from the factory in China to my address.

Forgot what city it was.

Maybe part of the problem is related to this?

 

 

[fdsa]

is that particular model available anywhere else besides Thailand?

Check USA and Germany shops, they usually have much better stock than local ones.

The shipping & import tax will be about $200 USD but it doesn't matter much when you pay ten times more for the laptop itself, and that mere 10% is very considerable given the vast choice of US/DE models compared to local ones.

 

 

42 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Does anybody of you have any experience with them and how to find out how long it will take for the delivery. Can they guarantee a delivery time if they want to?

my Thinkpad has few problems and I went to the local Lenovo service center asking how much will the parts cost and when they could deliver them. They asked my phone number and told they will call me later. After one week I came back to the same shop and asked if they forgot about my request, the answer was "the Lenovo Bangkok did not reply yet, please wait and we will call you later".

More than a month passed already and I didn't receive any calls.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

why wont you buy lenovo idealpad instead? they have great stock in banana it

[tlandtday]

there is a shortage of processor chips right now get them while you can...

[gearbox]

I bought a couple of times Lenovo laptops in Australia and usually they are late from my experience. There is widespread chip shortage at the moment,  so a single component can delay the whole thing.

[kynikoi]

I would never order online. Go to Fortune town and pick it up. There you see the sealed box, can turn it on and if any issues reject it. Returns are a nightmare here. Asus is 7 days.

[OneMoreFarang]

Thanks for all your replies. 

 

To address a few points: I am aware of the global chip shortage. And I am sure that will make future deliveries difficult and uncertain. But I thought that is Lenovo (not some local dealer) write "4 weeks" on their website that they should honor that. But it seems "4 weeks" is for them something like: maybe in a few weeks, maybe later, and we don't really care.

Obviously these things have to be produced but I imagine that a global company like Lenovo should be able to see what they can ship within 4 weeks. I understand that i.e. the RAM and SSDs have to installed. But I would guess that those parts were produced already. But maybe I am wrong.

 

About buying in a shop. Until now I did exactly that but there are always exceptions to the rules. If something is not available in a local shop but Lenovo advertises it on their website then I think it should be possible to trust a company like Lenovo. They are not just some local shop with no reputation to lose.

 

About other models: I am a big fan of ThinkPads. I used them for many years and was always happy with the quality and long term support. But slowly it's time to replace my still working 10 year old ThinkPad.

 

Internationally the same model is also not available so this is not just a Thai situation.

 

Maybe I will try to call them one more time tomorrow and see what they tell me. I don't have much hope.

[gearbox]

23 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Thanks for all your replies. 

 

To address a few points: I am aware of the global chip shortage. And I am sure that will make future deliveries difficult and uncertain. But I thought that is Lenovo (not some local dealer) write "4 weeks" on their website that they should honor that. But it seems "4 weeks" is for them something like: maybe in a few weeks, maybe later, and we don't really care.

Obviously these things have to be produced but I imagine that a global company like Lenovo should be able to see what they can ship within 4 weeks. I understand that i.e. the RAM and SSDs have to installed. But I would guess that those parts were produced already. But maybe I am wrong.

 

About buying in a shop. Until now I did exactly that but there are always exceptions to the rules. If something is not available in a local shop but Lenovo advertises it on their website then I think it should be possible to trust a company like Lenovo. They are not just some local shop with no reputation to lose.

 

About other models: I am a big fan of ThinkPads. I used them for many years and was always happy with the quality and long term support. But slowly it's time to replace my still working 10 year old ThinkPad.

 

Internationally the same model is also not available so this is not just a Thai situation.

 

Maybe I will try to call them one more time tomorrow and see what they tell me. I don't have much hope.

Here is a recent discussion:

 

https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/636355

 

From there:

"Anyone else who ordered one let me know their eta of arrival mine says October 19th way behind 6-8 weeks what i was quoted"

 

AFAIK most of their stock is shipped from China, it doesn't matter where it is ordered from. The delays would depend on many things, model, cpu, etc.

 

You usually would find what the real delivery time frame is after you pay ????

 

 

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

7 minutes ago, gearbox said:

Here is a recent discussion:

 

https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/636355

 

From there:

"Anyone else who ordered one let me know their eta of arrival mine says October 19th way behind 6-8 weeks what i was quoted"

 

AFAIK most of their stock is shipped from China, it doesn't matter where it is ordered from. The delays would depend on many things, model, cpu, etc.

 

You usually would find what the real delivery time frame is after you pay ????

Thanks, I just read a good part of that page.

The bad news, confirmed, is that delivery times are long.

 

The good news seems to be that it's possible to cancel an order if it takes too long.

I will try to confirm that tomorrow and if that is the case, and if I get this in writing, then I will order one. Worst case I have to cancel the order if it takes forever. Then I can still pick up a not optimal alternative in a shop.

[TimBKK]

1 hour ago, kynikoi said:

I would never order online. Go to Fortune town and pick it up. There you see the sealed box, can turn it on and if any issues reject it. Returns are a nightmare here. Asus is 7 days.

Direct quote from the OP:

 

”The model which I want is not available in any shop. Otherwise I would have bought it already.”

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, fdsa said:

is that particular model available anywhere else besides Thailand?

Check USA and Germany shops, they usually have much better stock than local ones.

The shipping & import tax will be about $200 USD

Laptops are zero-rated for import duty.

[biwog]

Do you have a link for the zero-rated import duty? I need to convince someone to order from Germany.

[fdsa]

3 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

why wont you buy lenovo idealpad instead?

why wont you buy a Nissan instead of Infiniti? ????

 

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Laptops are zero-rated for import duty.

unfortunately I do not remember how much I paid for my laptops and I am not sure about the official government tax, but the courier services such as DHL act as a customs broker and pay the import tax themselves, so they like to make up any possible and impossible "tax" to siphon as much money from you as possible, because the difference between what they pay to the government and what they force you to pay to them is their pure profit.

So hope for the best but prepare for the worst (i.e. to pay extra for importing the laptop).

 

[asiam110]

>why wont you buy lenovo idealpad instead? they have great stock in banana it.

 

A Thinkpad is a different beast in quality, of course this is built into the pricce. Expect an IdealPad to last as long as an Acer, anywhere from a week or two, to 18months, where as a Thinkpad a decade is not uncommon.

 

They've been 4-8 weeks globally since at least the start of year. Some markets stock certain configs ready for 1-2-3 day shipping but usually flawed in some silly respect - e.g. heres an off the shelf 11th gen i7 with a 200 nits screen ready to go today..

[vinny41]

4 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Thanks, I just read a good part of that page.

The bad news, confirmed, is that delivery times are long.

 

The good news seems to be that it's possible to cancel an order if it takes too long.

I will try to confirm that tomorrow and if that is the case, and if I get this in writing, then I will order one. Worst case I have to cancel the order if it takes forever. Then I can still pick up a not optimal alternative in a shop.

many reports of refunds taking upto 45 days and longer 

[vinny41]

2 hours ago, biwog said:

Do you have a link for the zero-rated import duty? I need to convince someone to order from Germany.

if they buy make sure they have an international warranty as not all laptops do

[OneMoreFarang]

For anybody else who wants to buy a ThinkPad:

I just contacted Lenovo again, this time by phone.

When I mentioned the model which I want the agent told me right away that they are not available in the moment, no 4 weeks, no 6 weeks, no 8 weeks, just not available!

But on their website they still show "4 weeks" - some consumer organization should sue them.

 

Then I asked the agent for any alternative to what I want. Then he told me that he can't guarantee the delivery of any ThinkPad within 4 weeks. Amazing.

 

Then he told me I should contact a local shop and look what they have. That's exactly what I did before I looked at the Lenovo website. The shop didn't have what I was looking for.

 

I give up for today.

 

[pauku1]

9 hours ago, biwog said:

Do you have a link for the zero-rated import duty? I need to convince someone to order from Germany.

I am a German living in Th. and I can confirm:

No import tax on Laptops.

If you order in Germany, they deduct german VAT

DHL I paid between 50 and 60 €.

Did that twice without any problem 

I bought there:

https://www.computeruniverse.net/de

[mtls2005]

They used to offer pre-configured/pre-built systems available for shipment today. Some were heavily promoted and discounted, I went that way most times.

 

https://www.lenovo.com/th/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x1/X1-Carbon-G9/p/22TP2X1X1C9

 

Assume the OP did a custom configuration? If so, I would have worked to determine the long-lead time component affecting the build/ESD, and unless, vital, eliminated it from the order.

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

40 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

They used to offer pre-configured/pre-built systems available for shipment today. Some were heavily promoted and discounted, I went that way most times.

 

https://www.lenovo.com/th/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x1/X1-Carbon-G9/p/22TP2X1X1C9

 

Assume the OP did a custom configuration? If so, I would have worked to determine the long-lead time component affecting the build/ESD, and unless, vital, eliminated it from the order.

 

 

Thanks, that is interesting.

The model which I want is not available any version, including stock configuration.

 

Do you know if it's possible to search on that website only for ThinkPads which are available within days or maybe 2 or 3 weeks? Thanks

 

 

[mtls2005]

12 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

The model which I want

Which model?

 

12 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Do you know if it's possible to search on that website only for ThinkPads which are available

Yes, go here, choose Leadtime, select Arrive in 5 - 8 business days, seeing 17 items right now

 

https://www.lenovo.com/th/en/d/laptops-by-specs?sort=sortBy&currentResultsLayoutType=grid

 

 

 

 

[Liverpool Lou]

10 hours ago, fdsa said:

unfortunately I do not remember how much I paid for my laptops and I am not sure about the official government tax, but the courier services such as DHL act as a customs broker and pay the import tax themselves, so they like to make up any possible and impossible "tax" to siphon as much money from you as possible

Nonsense.   The import duty rate charged by the courier companies is specified by the Customs Dept and detailed on the courier's invoice to the recipient, if it's not correct it can be challenged.  They do not have the authority to scam the public by charging what they want and it is ridiculous to suggest that they do.

[mtls2005]

There is also a "Ready for Delivery" red-tag at the top of the main page, then choose ThinkPad, seeing 8 models available with 5 - 8 business day shipping, including two T14 models.

 

 

https://www.lenovo.com/th/en/d/deals/express?sort=selling-desc&currentResultsLayoutType=grid&visibleDatas=facet_Brand%3ABrand%3AThinkPad

[OneMoreFarang]

40 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

There is also a "Ready for Delivery" red-tag at the top of the main page, then choose ThinkPad, seeing 8 models available with 5 - 8 business day shipping, including two T14 models.

 

 

https://www.lenovo.com/th/en/d/deals/express?sort=selling-desc&currentResultsLayoutType=grid&visibleDatas=facet_Brand%3ABrand%3AThinkPad

Thanks, I found it. Now I have to make up my mind if I order one of those.

[asiam110]

5 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

They do not have the authority to scam the public by charging what they want and it is ridiculous to suggest that they do.

Guess this refers to immigration too?

 

 

[fdsa]

7 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Nonsense.   The import duty rate charged by the courier companies is specified by the Customs Dept and detailed on the courier's invoice to the recipient, if it's not correct it can be challenged.  They do not have the authority to scam the public by charging what they want and it is ridiculous to suggest that they do.

my post is based on my personal experience with shipping the same category items via DHL compared to EMS/Thailand Post - DHL charges the "import tax" more often and more expensive in %s, while the Post charges quite rarely and if they do the tax is peanuts. I continue to use DHL only because of their reliability in terms of shipments tracking and the customer support.

YMMV.

 

 

BTW i've just recalled - DHL also likes to add the "customs tax service" around $20 for their "assistance" with paying the import tax while the Thailand Post does not ask for that extra payment.

[Liverpool Lou]

13 hours ago, fdsa said:

DHL charges the "import tax" more often and more expensive in %s, while the Post charges quite rarely and if they do the tax is peanuts.

If an item is subject to import duty the courier companies will always apply it, they are contracted to do so on behalf of the Customs Dept and they only apply it at official Customs rates.   

 

Thailand Post charges are applied less frequently because not every postal item gets selected for examination but the import duty rates are exactly the same as charged by couriers because the rates are set by the Customs Dept.   Thailand Post does not set the rates as can be seen by the appeals procedure if the duty is disputed, the appeal goes to the Customs Dept.