Okay. I admit my little business is not the most lucrative one that ever existed, and big companies aren't exactly clamoring for my services. But I do work hard and I do treat my clients pretty well. I maintain multiple means of communication so they can contact me pretty much on demand, and I try to anticipate their needs.
Not true for Lenovo. I bought the Lenovo Think Center, a desktop PC model, because Lenovo is a leading "green" company. I read somewhere that people are the single greatest threat to the ecosystem's balance, and killing humans is the best way to restore Earth's environment. Lenovo has earned their green status by getting people so frustrated they either jump off the nearest bridge or their heads pop off from extremely high blood pressure.
You see, I am into instant gratification. I can't stand to wait for much of anything to happen. I didn't want to wait for the Dell PC to arrive in 3 days - I wanted it NOW! I drove to Office Depot to buy a PC NOW! We live in a society where things happen faster than ever, so I am not alone in my expectation of speed. Lenovo still hasn't gotten that message, apparently, because they not only didn't pack the power cord with their esteemed Lenovo 3000 J series I picked up, but also because their customer service response is not slow... it is nonexistant. My brother called Lenovo on my behalf since I was pretty busy. I called him 2 hours later. "What the hell is going on over there?"
"Well, you aren't going to believe this. I have spent all this time talking to people and calling a bunch of different numbers."
I immediately assume my brother just kicked a hoochie out of bed and is just starting to get Operation Power Cord out of the way. I am annoyed. "Give me the number. I'll call."
"Which number do you want?" He actually sounds exasperated.
I call a bevy of numbers, each leading me to a person who can't wait to transfer me. The Warranty Department tells me it is an issue for the Technical Department. The Techies transfer me back to the Warranty folks. They give me a different number. I call Sales. Sales tells me to call IBM, since Lenovo is full of IBM parts. I call IBM. IBM says Lenovo bought this division, so I need to call them. I get yet another number. My brother comes over with his spreadsheet and I realize I have spent 90 minutes on the phone already. Unbelievable.
The numbers my brother has are completely different from the half dozen I have collected in my own expedition. While talking to Rachelle in Sales, I snap. "Well, if you want a power cord, I can ship you one. That part is $9.95 when bought individually and shipping is $6.49 for that part. Will that be bank draft or credit?"
"Look, RACHELLE," I spit out her name with all the venom I've built up. "I bought a PC. A Lenovo PC. I already bought a power cord. You didn't give it to me. That is fraud now that you want me to buy one from you. If I bought a Dell, I would call them, tell them the power cord didn't ship, and the little UPS man would show up the next day with a power cord."
"We're not Dell." She shot back.
"That's pretty (expletive) obvious!" I scream into the phone and hang it up. My brother salvaged a power cord from an old PC in his PC graveyard and the esteemed Lenovo was powering up for the first time. It is now 2 in the afternoon, and I realize that ten dollar power cord has cost me at least five hundred bucks in poductivity. I may need to take the rest of the week off to recover from the trauma. I should've bought the Dell. I could've avoided work for three days and not had the stress.
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