Lenovo Outlet Review

Buying at the Lenovo Outlet store can give you a great machine at an incredible price, but at the same time, the experience can be a rather frustrating one.

The Lenovo factory outlet doesn’t have the greatest organization and ordering system in place, and there are all too many reports of people who have never received a confirmation of their order, had their order cancelled without their knowledge, or had their order processed but by the time they got it it was a good three weeks after the order had been placed.  There have also been many cases of customers getting an item with different specifications that described on the site; in most cases the item was superior to the description, but in some it was inferior.

There are some tactics that you can use to make sure that you have the best experience possible, and to make sure that you do indeed get what you order.

1) Keep detailed records of all your transactions, and of what the product’s specifications were described on the site when you placed your order.  Don’t bother saving an html copy of the webpage– you either need to take a screenshot or save a PDF of the page.  You can use Adobe Acrobat, but if you don’t have it there are numerous free PDF Creators available online.

Make sure that the PDF lists all the system specs.  You will want to have the machine type plus the serial number.  In Lenovo Outlets this is commonly written out in the format XXXNNNNNNN.  XXX refers to the first 3 digits of the number of the machine type, and the NNNNNNN refers to the serial number).

You also absolutely MUST take a screenshot or save a PDF of the order confirmation page.  This is the page you will come to immediately after you place your order on which your name and billing address is listed, along with the items you purchased and the price that you paid.  This is an essential step, since the Lenovo Outlet Center does not always send out an order confirmation email, and if they do, that email may only contain the order number, without giving a customer number, no listing any of the specifics of what you actually ordered.

2)  Call the company after 24 hours to make sure that your order has been placed.  If someone else ordered the same item as you right before you did, your order will have been cancelled, but you will not be notified.

3) About shipping– the shipping dates you will be given are completely unreliable.  They may change several times, and you may receive your order before the listed shipping date.  If it is taking a long time, getting on the phone can possibly speed up the process a bit, but it might just give you further aggravation.

4) If upon receiving your Lenovo Outlet order you find that it is not the same item that you ordered and paid for, contact customer service. They will likely ask you to send in proof of your order as well as proof the specifications that were advertised.  You will be able to e-mail them the screenshots or PDFs that you have, and the issue should be resolved within a few business days.

Buying from Lenovo Outlets stores can save you a lot of money and give you a really wonderful machine, but it’s not for the faint of heart, or for those who need their new ThinkPad by Friday.   But if you follow these tips for a better Lenovo Outlet experience you can make sure that you get an incredible deal without losing your money or your mind.