The two packages I mailed back to Lenovo. This photo taken at the UPS facility just before the UPS driver loaded them onto his truck
It is November 24, 2020. I bought two products from Lenovo online on July 8, 2020, then decided to return them, mailed them back on July 20, their warehouse received it on July 24, and I still have not to this day received my refund of the products back. It’s been more than four months since I returned the products and Lenovo has still not issued the refund to me.
At this point, I will never ever purchase another product from Lenovo ever again because of the horrid customer service and constant lies about giving me the refund.
Lenovo’s customer service is absolute sh!t and unreliable. Lenovo has irresponsible employees. Lenovo doesn’t keep their word. Lenovo has wasted hours of my time I’ll never get back. Lenovo is completely unprofessional. Lenovo is unhelpful. Lenovo gives inconsistent customer service. Lenovo is scamming my money. Lenovo has stolen my money. Lenovo is not to be trusted ever again.
I have contacted them TEN times through FOUR different platforms (phone, email, live chat, Twitter) to inquire about my refund and there is still no sign on their part to return the money to me. I mean what else am I to do? What else am I as a blogger to do? 😠🤬🤬😠😡😠🤬😠
If I never receive my money back, at least this blog post will stay on the Internet as a buyer beware warning to others when making an online purchase from Lenovo. 😪
The timeline of events:
July 8: I purchased two products from the Lenovo website totalling $312. After the order went through, I already knew I didn’t need one of the products so I called the customer service hotline to cancel the order. The rep informed me it was cancelled but on my end, I saw on my email that the order had shipped already. No problem, I thought, I’ll just return the product when it arrives to get a refund.
July 14: The products arrived.
July 20: I decided to return both products. Both products were unopened and still sealed. I called Lenovo to begin the return process and the rep emailed me the Return Merchandise Authorization to print out, affix onto the packages, and mail it back. Lenovo told me after the products were received, they would check the products and then process the refund money right to my credit card.
July 22: I went with my mom to the nearest UPS store to drop off the two packages. I took photos of the two packages and watched as the UPS truck driver moved the packages onto the truck.
July 23: I received the email tracking which showed that the packages had arrived and delivered at the docking place. This meant Lenovo had received my products. I waited for the refund to show up in my credit card statement. Nothing showed up.
My ten attempts to contact Lenovo about this refund outlined below:
Contact attempt #1: I called Lenovo at the end of August to follow up on the refund. I was told the refund would be issued in a couple of days.
I checked a few days later. No refund came through on my credit card statement.
Contact attempt #2: I called on September 1 at 1:18pm. I was told the same thing that the refund would be released in a couple of days. This is when I started to log my calls to Lenovo in detail.
No refund given.
Contact attempt #3: I called on October 23 at 3:51pm (I had just given birth so I didn’t have the time or energy to contact Lenovo again until October). The rep who answered the phone told me to wait while she checked my account. She hung up on me. I had been waiting for 20mins at that point. 😡😡😡
Contact attempt #4: I called them back the same day Octover 23 at 4:08pm. I waited on the line until someone picked up at 4:33pm. I talked to Rhenalyn. At 4:43pm, I was told the RMA was still open and it needed to be closed before the refund could be finalized. Why wasn’t I told about this the last two times I called?! 🤬 She said after it was closed, the refund would be issued. She said there would be an email sent to me from the “National Return Centre”.
4:50pm: I waited for the email from their National Return Centre, but no email came. I asked the rep about the refund amount because I wanted to be sure the amount corresponded with the two products I returned. She told me the amount to be returned was $276.11 only, saying they don’t refund taxes…. I thought it was absurd but acknowledged this at the time. However, after I hung up the phone, I consulted my husband who works with taxes. He informed me a company cannot legally withhold taxes after a product is returned. I felt scammed. How could Lenovo say they wouldn’t refund the taxes to me? Their staff is utterly incompetent and unknowledgable.
Contact attempt #5: I decided to reach out to their social media channels since I did not have the time to wait hours on the phone anymore. I first posted a status about my unreturned refund on my Twitter account. Their account @Lenovo tweeted me back and said they were sorry for this and to direct message them.
I sent a direct message to @Lenovo on Twitter on October 30 for assistance. No reply. I then sent the same message to @LenovoSupport at 10:46pm. For the first time, I was asked if I received an email confirming receipt of the products. I said no. I was then told to wait for updates of the refund through email or phone.
No follow-up as promised.
Contact attempt #6: I direct messaged their Twitter @LenovoSupport account again on November 4. No reply.
Contact attempt 7: I decided to reach out via their live chat service on their website. I was connected to a live agent on November 5 at 3:07pm after waiting for more than 30 mins in queue. I chatted with Ivy Simbol about the refund status. She acknowledged the refund was taking place and that she would personally follow up with the refund. I asked her to email me to confirm the refund. (I needed written evidence at this point from the company that they indeed were going through the refund process for me.) She also confirmed the refund amount with taxes this time. She said my refund would be issued in a couple of days. The email also said if I had any questions or concerns that I could reply to it.
No refund issued.
Photo of the chat with Ivy Simbol
Contact attempt #8: On November 13, I emailed Ivy directly to follow up. No reply.
Contact attempt #9: On November 16, I emailed Ivy a second time. No reply again.
Screenshot of the email that Ivy Simbol sent me stating she would follow up with the refund dated November 5, 2020 and subsequent no replies.
Contact attempt #10: On November 20, I logged onto the live chat again. I live chatted with Karl John Castro at 12:39pm. This time, the live chat connected after only 1 minute of waiting thankfully.
I informed Karl of my issue and he asked me how many other times I had contacted about this issue. I incorrectly said five times (but I realized when writing this blog post that I had underestimated my count and it had actually been more than that). And then he asked me, “What did they say?” as if this was important. Karl should have been resolving my issue directly instead of asking me what happened last time when I contacted Lenovo.
At 12:48pm, I was told to wait for him to check my account. He finally replied after 20 mins of waiting at 1:08pm and asked if I was still there.. 🙄 He told me he would “team up” with Ivy to follow up on my case and place my refund request on “high priority”. I also requested him to send me an email about my inquiry which he did as proof of our conversation.
It meant nothing though just like all my other attempts to contact Lenovo. No return issued.
Screenshot of the chat with Karl John promising me that the refund is underway
Screenshot of the email that Karl John sent me to confirm the refund is underway.
It is now November 24, 2020. I’m publishing this blog post as I see no refund credited to my account nor any email correspondence from Lenovo about the status of my refund. A refund shouldn’t take more than two weeks or at most a month to process. I already returned the products. I don’t have the products on hand anymore, so Lenovo has essentially stolen my money at this point.
For those of you who are considering purchasing a product from Lenovo and God forbid you have to make a return for any reason, I wish you luck. You’ll probably never get your money back.
I did some Googling and I’m not the only one with this problem. So many other customers have posted in online forums complaining about how they also sent back their products but never received their money back from Lenovo. This is completely unacceptable for a so-called “big” tech company that has a net income of $804 million USD. From the way they operate their customer service department, you would think they are a feeble startup company with no funds. How did they manage to stay competitive all these years with such unhelpful customer service like this? I honestly don’t know how much more precious time I need to give to get my own money back. This is ridiculous and sheer robbery.
Here are the links to other people’s experiences who have also had their money taken from Lenovo:
https://amp.reddit.com/r/Lenovo/comments/eoqrsn/still_waiting_for_refund/
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/lenovo-refund-taking-fover-2345651/
https://lenovo.pissedconsumer.com/complaints/RT-P.html
Does anyone else have this experience with Lenovo ghosting and holding back their money like this? If so, how did you finally get your money back? Please leave a comment below.
And seriously, Lenovo, for the last time, give me back my money !!!
For the last time, my info as follows so whoever from Lenovo reads this will hurry up the f up and give me my refund ASAP!
Order number: 4295694904
RMA number: 4222215480
Return tracking number: 1ZE2416F9190658617
Update: After I published this blog post and tagged Lenovo on Twitter, they responded to my tweet and then direct messaged me. They always appear to seem like they want to help and are making their best efforts to resolve the issue, but the message they send is the same: that they’re looking into it and that the refund is coming. I’ve been waiting for four months and going on forever. How is this even happening from a global company? No other big store operates like this. I’ve never had to chase down a refund more than twice because other companies are always reliable and professional — their reputation and business hinge on it.
This holding back of funds from Lenovo is so despicable and I wish more people knew about the practice so it would stop. It makes me sad that a company (and humanity in general) can be so deceitful and devoid of ethics.
Update on November 26: Posting this blog post has resulted in helpful comments from two individuals who advised me to get a chargeback from my credit card company for the funds that Lenovo owes me. I have indeed called my CC company for the chargeback. It continues to be a waiting game regardless for the funds to be traced and deposited, however. At last, there is some light at the end of the tunnel, but it is still not over until the refund money is permanently deposited into my account.
Also, what a breath of fresh air it was to speak to someone at a company who actually knows what they are doing instead of stringing me along — the CC company, not Lenovo.
Contact attempt #11. November 30: I emailed Karl and Ivy separately about the status of my refund. No response.
Contact attempt #12. December 4: I emailed Karl and Ivy again separately about the status of my refund. No response.
December 14: Submitted a complaint to the BBB at 12am. Let’s hope they can finally make Lenovo send the refund money to me.
Contact attempt #13: December 14: My husband called on my behalf again to Lenovo’s customer service line. He waited for 30 minutes. When he got through, he said, “I’m calling on behalf of a refund for a product bought in July.” The rep on the other line apparently couldn’t hear him even though my husband participates in conference calls all the time and uses the same headphone. The call was deliberately dropped once the rep heard about the refund. Again, what despicable service!!
He called again and waited 1.5 hours on the phone before giving up and hanging up. Fxxk Lenovo!
December 14 4:55pm: I received an email from Denise M from Lenovo apologizing for the delay in the refund. She said she has contacted the sales team to process the refund. Wow, finally a legitimate email that shows progress in my refund. Let’s see if she is actually going to help.
December 22: I received an email from Lenovo for the credit confirmation. Hallelujah. At least a step in the right direction.
I also received an email from the BBB asking if my complaint has been resolved. I have until December 29 to mark the complaint as resolved or unresolved. I checked my credit card statement to see if the refund has been issued from Lenovo yet. Nothing.
December 23: I checked my cc statement and finally I see an amount of $271.20 issued from Lenovo. But wait, the total amount should be $312. Fxxk again. They only issued the refund for one product. They are still withholding $40.80 which was the total of the second product.
I called Denise, left a voice message when she didn’t answer, and emailed her to follow up on the remaining refund. Long story short and because it was the holidays, she got back to me a few days late and finally sent me the $40.80 plus an extra $8 (received on January 7, 2021) . Ah, FINALLY. I finally received all my money back from Lenovo after more than FIVE MONTHS of calls, emails, chats, and countless hours of my life taken away from me, not to mention the mental toil and energy of always remembering to deal with this in the back of my mind.
Thanks for nothing, Lenovo. I will never purchase anything else from you ever again. I will spread the word about your despicable customer service and blatant lies and hope everyone else you screwed over will get their issues ASAP resolved via the BBB or any other means. Fxxk you.
stenoodie 
How aggravating. I had a Lenova computer when I worked in China and I didn’t think it was a very good computer.
I would contact the Better Business Bureau and my credit card company. They should go to bat for you. It’s worked for me in the past. You deserve your refund.
Thank you so much for reading this long post and commenting! I’ve contacted my credit card company now after publishing the blog post. I’ll look into contacting the BBB as well. Thanks! 🙂
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Omg! That sounded like such a terrible experience. I’m glad you got the money back in the end, Karen! I am pretty sure if you weren’t so persistent, they would’ve just never paid you back! I can’t believe a big company like them would do something like that… so irresponsible!!
Yeah, it was a terrible experience; I wasted so much energy and time to chase down the refund. And despite being persistent, they still NEVER paid me back. They ONLY paid me back finally because I reported and filed a complaint with a third party who basically forced their hand.