Is Lenovo Malaysia interested in selling their stuff?
I’m trying to buy a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge 11″ without an operating system in Malaysia. I’ve seen prices widely quoted at RM1,899. With Microsoft’s operating system, it costs RM2,099.
Lenovo Malaysia does not have an online store like Dell or Apple. I’ve had no problems purchasing Dell and Apple based machines before. Even with a credit card, none of Apple’s or Dell’s resellers attempt to charge me 2% extra so that I bear the cost of credit card processing fees.
Cue to Lenovo. I call up their help line today. They direct me to Ingram Micro who very helpfully tell me they do not deal with end users.
So I visit Low Yat. They seem to have an authorised reseller there. Here’s where it gets interesting. If I buy the Windows version at RM200 more, I get free gifts (USB hub, thumbdrive, and some other random stuff) plus they’ll waive the 2% credit card fee (which they should not be charging to begin with). If I buy the OS-less version, they will not provide me with any gifts, and I would pay 2% on top of the cost of the laptop.
All this seems ridiculous since if I wanted to deal with Dell or Apple I’d never have this problem. And they’ll never tell me to pony up an extra 2% so that I bear the processing costs.
The problem lies in the fact that I like the Edge 11″. I think it will make a perfect portable Linux machine. It might only have an i3 processor, but its a portable 64-bit machine, quite unlike most netbooks one can buy today.
My only problem? I can’t buy it online. And if I have to walk into a store, I’ve got to bring cash or pony up a 2% fee.
I have not given up getting this laptop yet. If anyone has suggestions on how I can get this laptop from a retailer who knows that sending credit card processing fees to the consumer is not allowed, please leave a comment or shoot me an email.
P/S: Lenovo should train their support staff better. I called them with the intention to buy and they led me to a dead end that wouldn’t deal with end users.
Aflexi’s machines are mostly Lenovo. We bought it from Lowyat too, the only Lenovo store (3rd or 4th floor IIRC) they have. I can’t remember exactly about the $ issue, we got our R series around 1.9K~2.1K two years ago.
Maybe you wanna give Digital Mall (first floor) or TimesSquare a try?
Thanks yc! I just find it shocking their callcentre is a dead end, and such a huge retailer claims for 2% charges.
I forgot to mention that I once grabbed 2 HP laptops from Thundermatch (I think?) in lowyat sometime in 2009 and they didn’t charge me the 2% fee.
Seems like an inconsistent policy but something a consumer groups association or those issuing those card terminals need to take a closer look at.
Try buying a Lenovo accessory, like a Thinkpad keyboard or mouse. Same deal, Ingram Micro won’t deal with you and none of the shops are willing to order it in. Even though the part is listed with price in their dealer list.
Wow. I didn’t realise the situation was so dire here. A common replacement is the red trackpoint cover, and I presume no one cares to bring it in? I used to have no issue getting this in Melbourne. Then again, this was in the day of IBM…
This would be my first Lenovo purchase after they bought over the consumer unit from IBM. Last ThinkPad I had was the T20 from years ago afaik.
So far, the experience hasn’t been very great, and reading this I’m thinking maybe I should avoid dealing with them entirely. Pay a bit more for a larger Dell, and at least I’ll enjoy piece of mind, and servicing of product without any complaint. Oh, and I can order accessories online or over the phone, to boot.
Thanks kaeru!
Interesting. I remember seeing a Lenovo concept store in Mid Valley. Not sure if that’s still around. Might be better than a reseller.
Thanks Ben. Will give it a go. If I recall correctly, what’s in Low Yat is also their ‘concept store’ since it only had Lenovo and ThinkPad stuff. They also moved from the Ground floor and are now in Upper Ground.
Colin, below is a link that my be able to help you locate a suitable vendor/reseller that may help you. Hope it works out. As for the 2%, I believe this is based on the individual store and/or CC machine provider. I do not think it has anything to do with Lenovo/Dell or Apple for that matter.
http://www-07.ibm.com/lenovoinfo/my/express/bp/thinkbp.html
Thanks! But I’m not planning on calling each and every one of them ;) I was called by Lenovo’s PR firm to tell me that I should go grab it at MidValley. I’m busy at the moment, but I’ll keep everyone updated when I finally do.
2% is a store policy, nothing to do with the CC terminal provider. And its not a “legal” store policy either (the terminal provider says that the store bears the cost, not transfers it over to consumer)
[…] with no OS loaded. Much props to Lenovo Malaysia’s PR agency Text100 – they read the post, and attempted to solve my problems for me by liaising with Lenovo. Paid for it today with no extra […]