Lenovo responds to pricing error finally

Last week Lenovo was having a “Doorbuster” sale and caught the attention of hundreds of Canadians who fell hook,line, and sinker for the great deals being offered. Well nearly 5 full days after swooping into Canadians credit cards and withdrawing their hard earned cash, Lenovo responds with a very weak offer.

Thanks for your patience–new information for those affected by last Friday’s pricing error. Follow this link: http://t.co/4RZhUQF2q3

— Lenovo Canada (@Lenovo_Canada) May 27, 2014

Between May 22 and May 23, 2014, a pricing error occurred on the Lenovo Canada website for select Lenovo laptops. The error mistakenly allowed a “doorbuster” eCoupon to be combined with an instant savings discount price. As a result, prices and the automatically generated calculation of discount percentages and savings appeared in error. 

Once the error was discovered, Lenovo took steps to correct it. The prices on the Lenovo Canada website now reflect the correct price and price reduction. However, before we were able to correct the error, customers placed orders at the incorrect prices. As stated on our website and in the terms and conditions which customers agree to when purchasing a Lenovo product, Lenovo — like other computer manufacturers — reserves the right to cancel any orders for products placed at an incorrect price due to an error in pricing. We have informed the affected customers of the pricing error and we are in the process of cancelling their orders and any charges that occurred. We deeply regret any inconvenience this error has caused. 

As a gesture of goodwill, starting May 28th, we will be contacting customers whose orders were canceled with an offer of $100 off their next purchase of a Lenovo laptop PC. This $100 can be deducted from the total order amount regardless of any discounts already applied to that order through August 3, 2014. 

As a consumer, I sure hope no one accepts this $100 offer as it is no where near the “doorbuster” prices they were advertising. In fact, according to the Lenovo representative we spoke with, the actual discount for the Y410P laptop was supposed to be $200 but the system had somehow tripled the discount to $600. So if you take the already sale price of $879 and subtract $200, you should end up with $679. According to Lenovo, they end up with $799, and are now offering a $100 discount for a total of $699, still higher then their so called doorbuster. So why advertise a doorbuster deal ($799 from $879) that is not even close to any sort of buster? We would like some more answers Lenovo.

Unfortunately we ourselves fell victim to this botched sale and were very excited to be giving our daughter her first laptop, but instead end up with nothing more then a visa charge which has yet to be reversed, no email to notify us of the cancelled order, and the promise of a $100 good will discount that will also come in the form of an email. Again we say Boo. (oh and just to be clear, we did not take advantage of the pricing error ourselves. our order was placed in the early morning and considering we had purchased a similar laptop (HP) for Boxing day with similar pricing discounts, it didn’t even occur it could be  a pricing error, but was simply a “doorbuster”)

Source: Lenovo

UPDATE: Global News has been providing some great coverage for the #LenovoGate pricing fiasco and tonight they confirmed pricing errors on a total of 5 models during the “doorbuster” sale. Customers are refusing to accept a $100 discount and in some cases, customers have yet to even be informed of the cancelled order. (including us!) Stay tuned as we keep you up to date and if you are one of the many customers that have spoken to Lenovo directly, please share your stories.

UPDATE #2: We called into Lenovo Customer Care today with the phone number being included in their apology letter and we were greeted by an USA employee who knew very little about the pricing error situation (Clint Davis). I asked to speak to his supervisor and after about 30 seconds I was speaking to Isiah (most likely his coworker) who explained they were not able to provide any information about the pricing error, and that it is all being handled via email by the virtstore@lenovo.com. Handling the situation via email sounds a bit wonky considering I have yet to even receive a cancellation notice of the order.  And why include the phone number to a customer care team that is unable to care about the customer? HP, Dell, are you listening? Now is your time to swoop in and rescue thousands of Canadians looking for a “doorbuster”. If you have a sale worthy of mentioning, let us know!