This is why Amazon is winning
Oct. 25th, 2019 04:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamsharkI do most of my online shopping on Amazon for many reasons: price, selection, reviews that are actually helpful, ease of ordering, etc. But I decided to order my new laptop directly from Lenovo so I could select exactly the features I wanted. What a nightmare! Navigating the website was fricking confusing, as there seemed to be multiple ways to characterize the type of laptop I wanted. When I started with Laptop I saw one array of products. When I started with Thinkpad, I saw a different non-overlapping array. Neither list contained the one I was actually interested in, so I just googled Thinkpad X1 Yoga and found a THIRD list of models. I spent an hour or so customizing the one I thought I wanted and then saved the configuration while I went off to do a little more research.
When I came back later (entering from the AAdvantage portal so I could get American miles), my saved configuration was gone. I painstakingly recreated it, but this time the price was notably different. Various coupons had been automatically applied each time and they produced different results. I went off and looked for available coupons, came back and tried again. My recreated configuration had a new price now, different from the first two. And each time the estimated delivery time was radically different (ranging from 3-5 days to 3 weeks). After an hour of two of this I finally came up with the configuration and combination of coupons that seemed like the best deal with the shortest delivery time. I hit Purchase and the delivery time INSTANTLY changed from 3 days to about 3 weeks: "will ship on Oct 21 or 22." Well, that seemed okay. I wanted the computer before I left for Oregon, but I didn't actually need it immediately. On October 22 I got an email sorrowfully declaring that there was an unforeseen delay in my order but that they would "do our best to get to it within 30 days." I followed the link for track my order and it said: Estimated shipping date: January 31, 2020. Not okay, Lenovo. I'm only buying a new laptop because Microsoft is forcing my hand by discontinuing Windows 7 once and for all on January 14. I googled around and discovered many many complaints RIGHT ON LENOVO'S OWN CUSTOMER FORUMS of exactly this behavior - delivery windows changing from days to months when sale was confirmed. I guess I should have searched on that earlier, but I've been spoiled by years of dealing with Amazon. It just never occurred to me that respectable companies still pulled crap like this.
So I cancelled the order (which at least wasn't too hard) and placed a new order on Amazon. The downside is that I had to search for a while to find a preconfigured Lenovo that was close to what I wanted instead of being able to specify component by component. On the plus side, I think I ended up with a computer that is less glamorous but probably a better fit for me. I abandoned the Yoga feature and went with a more powerful processor instead. But the big win is that when you order something from Amazon it f*cking shows up exactly when they said it would. I got my new Lenovo X1 Carbon Thinkpad in two days, right within the 2-hour delivery window promised. Now I have to figure out if I have a Microsoft login so I can set the damn thing up. It's been 5 years since the last time I did this, and I have no idea.
When I came back later (entering from the AAdvantage portal so I could get American miles), my saved configuration was gone. I painstakingly recreated it, but this time the price was notably different. Various coupons had been automatically applied each time and they produced different results. I went off and looked for available coupons, came back and tried again. My recreated configuration had a new price now, different from the first two. And each time the estimated delivery time was radically different (ranging from 3-5 days to 3 weeks). After an hour of two of this I finally came up with the configuration and combination of coupons that seemed like the best deal with the shortest delivery time. I hit Purchase and the delivery time INSTANTLY changed from 3 days to about 3 weeks: "will ship on Oct 21 or 22." Well, that seemed okay. I wanted the computer before I left for Oregon, but I didn't actually need it immediately. On October 22 I got an email sorrowfully declaring that there was an unforeseen delay in my order but that they would "do our best to get to it within 30 days." I followed the link for track my order and it said: Estimated shipping date: January 31, 2020. Not okay, Lenovo. I'm only buying a new laptop because Microsoft is forcing my hand by discontinuing Windows 7 once and for all on January 14. I googled around and discovered many many complaints RIGHT ON LENOVO'S OWN CUSTOMER FORUMS of exactly this behavior - delivery windows changing from days to months when sale was confirmed. I guess I should have searched on that earlier, but I've been spoiled by years of dealing with Amazon. It just never occurred to me that respectable companies still pulled crap like this.
So I cancelled the order (which at least wasn't too hard) and placed a new order on Amazon. The downside is that I had to search for a while to find a preconfigured Lenovo that was close to what I wanted instead of being able to specify component by component. On the plus side, I think I ended up with a computer that is less glamorous but probably a better fit for me. I abandoned the Yoga feature and went with a more powerful processor instead. But the big win is that when you order something from Amazon it f*cking shows up exactly when they said it would. I got my new Lenovo X1 Carbon Thinkpad in two days, right within the 2-hour delivery window promised. Now I have to figure out if I have a Microsoft login so I can set the damn thing up. It's been 5 years since the last time I did this, and I have no idea.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-27 02:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-27 05:03 pm (UTC)Apparently when businesses buy computers they get a different deal. When I was working, our computer labs had a lot of PCs where we had to install every supported level of the major OS's to verify compatibility with our routing products. Since we weren't really using the machines for actual work and were constantly removing and reinstalling OS's we never bothered to register them with the manufacturers. The newer levels of Windows were a PITA - every 30 days they started flashing warnings about "unregistered copy of Windows" and threatening to shut down. There was some kind of workaround that kept them from doing that, but I don't even remember what it was. I did buy the Windows 10 Pro edition rather than the Home version, so it's just possible it might do that.