Patrick was frustrated. He explains that he was stuck with a defective and non-functional Lenovo laptop that was only a few months old. Before pursuing a chargeback, he decided to send a letter to the company’s president and COO, Rory P. Read. His message was detailed but straightforward, and a great example of one of the finest weapons in the Consumerist toolkit, the executive e-mail carpet bomb. Read and learn.

I purchased a laptop directly from Lenovo in July of this year. Within two weeks, I started having problems with it. After multiple calls into their service center, and two house-calls by technicians, I was very frustrated and took your advice. I sent an EECB to Mr. Read, their President and COO Friday evening, August 21 of this year.

I’ll be honest and say that it was a last ditch effort on my part to resolve my situation. And although I had heard of other EECB’s leading to successful resolutions, I was preparing to present my case to my Credit Card company in hopes of a chargeback. At the most, I was hoping to hear from someone within a few days.

Imagine my surprise when I received a personal email back from Mr. Read less than 20 minutes after I sent my message. By that Sunday afternoon, I had received three follow-up emails and two phone calls from Executive Customer Care. About a week later, a brand new replacement laptop was shipped to me. I am writing to [Consumerist] using that same laptop and I cannot be more satisfied with how it is performing.

Although there was some challenges getting my situation resolved through normal channels, I must say that the customer care I received after escalating my issue has made me a very satisfied customer. And, after Christmas gifts arrive, some family members should be too 🙂

Here’s the letter Patrick sent to Lenovo:

Good Evening Mr. Read,

My name is Patrick Sweeney. I am one of your customers and I am hoping you may be able to help resolve a challenge I am facing.

On June 21, 2009 after weeks of comparison shopping, browsing reviews, and speaking with various IT professionals in my companies headquarters, I purchased a Y450 model #418939.

Within 2 weeks, the system shut down unexpectedly the first time. Between August 7-9, the system shut down unexpectedly twice more. On 08/09/2009, I placed the first phone call to your service center (800-426-7378). I explained to the technician what what was happening and that each time the laptop shut down unexpectedly, it was sitting on a hard surface (table or desk), in a clean, climate controlled environment. The technician diagnosed the problem as being heat related and said he’d be sending a technician out to replace the heatsink and fan. The case number i was given was XXXXX.

On Tuesday, 08/11/2009 I received a phone call from a technician indicating that he had received the part. The following Monday, 08/17/2009 we were able to meet. It was only after he had removed the existing heatsink that he discovered that the heatsink that was shipped was significantly smaller than the one inside of my system. The technician indicated that the existing heatsink covered the Nvidia graphics processor, the one that had been shipped did not. The technician placed the old heatsink back into my system and told me to call Lenovo. Please note that the fan was never shipped.

That afternoon (08/17/2009), I placed my second phone call to the service center. I explained what had happened and requested to have the proper part shipped. I was promised that this would take place, and was told that the existing ticket number was still the one I should refer to. The following day, I received a call from a different technician who said he had received the appropriate part. We met up that evening and again, the wrong part was shipped. This technician actually called into your service center and opened up case # XXXX(or XXXX- I’m not sure I can understand his handwriting). We were again told that the parts would be shipped as quickly as possible.

Please note the following:

• A fan was still not shipped
• I now have two of the same model heatsink in my possession that do not fit my laptop
• This technician provided me with the part numbers that are supposedly the proper heatsink and fan
• Fan PT#31037632
• Heatsink PT# 31037087

I placed a fourth call to your service center this evening hoping for an update. At that time, I was told that the previous ticket number had been cancelled. After spending nearly 40 minutes on the phone, I was told that the above part numbers are most likely correct. I was also told that they would ship the parts and that I should hear from a technician within 2-3 working days. I was given a third ticket number of XXX.

Although your service center staff have been very polite and courteous, I hope you can understand why I am frustrated. I spent approximately $1000 on a laptop that has not functioned properly for two of the eight weeks it’s been in my possession. I would appreciate any help or assistance that you and your team may be able to provide in resolving this situation.

Thank you for your time.

My ordering information:

Order date and time: XXXX 06/21/09 14:03:54
Customer Number: XXXXX
Order Number: XXXXX

He received this response within 20 minutes:

Thank you Patrick for writing me. I will have Peter Bartolotta and Victor Rios looking into this and properly address it. Again thank you for being our customer and sorry for this problem. We will address it quickly. Rory

Rory P. Read
ç½—ç‘žå¾·
President and Chief Operating Officer, Lenovo Group Limited

Beautifully done, both of you. Patrick sent an excellent, clear letter to a company executive, and Lenovo responded by making things right and making sure Patrick had a functioning computer. They earned what is sure to be a loyal customer in the process.

If you’d like to follow in Patrick’s footsteps, you can learn how to create and launch your own exquisite EECB.

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