Partners in Panipat, Karnal give Lenovo a cold shoulder

Panipat

March 10th, 2008

Lenovo's attempt to hold a dealer meet with partners in Panipat and Karnal
has not garnered a good response. While last month in Panipat the company could
not attract even a single dealer, in Karnal they managed to gather only about
five dealers in an event that was held way past the scheduled time. According to
sources, Lenovo allegedly had their share of problems in another market-Yamunanagar,
where a company official engaged in a brawl with partners.

Ajay Singla, President, Panipat Computer Dealer's Association maintained that
Lenovo wanted to introduce their sub-distributor, Gurgaon-based D Computer Park
in an event to be held in February. The company was also looking to appoint a
few other dealers as their partner in the region. However, the company
approached the association through D Computer Park and did not disclose the fact
that Lenovo was actually holding the event until the evening of the day the
event was to be held.

"The reason why we did not want the event to take place was that the
partners in Panipat region were facing problems related to services. Besides,
there were many claims against the company that were lying unattended as well.
As President of the association, I circulated an e-mail few days prior to the
event notifying the members not to attend the meet until Lenovo was willing to
resolve the pending matters," elaborated Singla.

He further added that following this, Lenovo decided to postpone the meet
only to receive a cold response yet again. "It is not only in Panipat that
Lenovo is facing issues with dealers. They could not hold the meet successfully
in Karnal as well," stated Singla.

On contacting the association in Karnal, Vikas Maan, Joint Secretary, further
added that about five partners from the region attended the Lenovo meet.
"Five of the dealers including me attended the meet held by Lenovo last
month but the event did not draw participation from a large chunk of partners.
In the first place it started very late and there were no projectors at the spot
to indicate that the company wanted to conduct a genuine partner meet. When we
were about to leave, we met Lenovo officials outside the hotel gate and that was
what the event was all about," he said.

He further added that there were numerous reasons behind low participation
from the partners end. Firstly, Lenovo's sub-distributor D Computer Park was not
doing billings in accordance with the amount of business a partner was
generating for them. "The margins as it is are not very attractive for us
and above all there is no difference in rates from Lenovo's end. The rates are
equal for all the dealers irrespective of the amount of business they bring for
the company. However, Lenovo had certain issues in Yamunanagar as well where the
partners and officials from Lenovo engaged in a brawl like situation," Maan
mentioned.

However, on contacting RK Malhotra, President, Yamunanagar Computer Dealers
Association, he denied any problems with the vendor. "We never had any
issues with Lenovo. The dealer meet organized by the vendor was typically a
get-together and nothing beyond that," he stated.

When contacted, an official from Lenovo denied all the allegations and
refused to give any further clarifications on the issue.