I sent my Thinkpad in for service the other day, under warranty, for multiple problems. The latest one, which made it unusable, is that suddenly I was unable to charge it - the charging port seems to be broken. Other problems, which have existed for a while, are that the CD drive isn’t working and two of the three USB ports are not working. They are saying now that the system board has to be replaced in order to replace the USB ports, that the USB port(s) are not working because of physical damage, and therefore the warranty won’t cover it. They want to charge $650.
This is a top-of-the-line laptop that is actually a workstation. It cost about $2k almost 3 years ago. I could replace it for about $2k, so it doesn’t make sense to pay $650 to fix a system that is going to be out of warranty in 2 months.
I told the person I spoke with that nothing unusual happened with the laptop. and if the USB ports are damaged then it happened in normal use, i.e., trying to put something into an USB port that was failing. The USB ports are notoriously bad on these laptops. They loosen up and become hard to use, then fail.
Someone is going to call me back. Does anyone have any advice about how I can get them to fix this under warranty?
I was planning to replace it sometime this year anyway. I’d hate to buy another Lenovo if they don’t fix this one under warranty, but I’ve been using these for years, I’ve probably had 5 of them so far, and I’m not sure that I can find the same capabilities with another brand. Not many companies are still making laptops.
All I can recommend is to be firm and consistent with your (true) story. Use whatever ammunition you have - you are their customer, you would like to keep ordering from them in the future but am doubting your trust of their company and product. Ask to speak to another person higher up if you don’t get the answer or compromise you feel you deserve.
Don’t let them give you that crap, the way motherboards are made these days everything is hard wired unto the motherboard which means they can’t be replaced, yet ports like USB ports, ethernet ports and the like are not exactly robust. Basically they bank on people caving in an paying, assuming it was ‘their fault’, have seen this one many times.If they insist it is your problem, then tell them you plan on filing complaints with the better business bureau and as a business user of it you will let everyone know you work with what a piece of crap their laptops are,how bad their warranty is and so forth (they hate to hear business users say things like that, Lenovo lost the account of a major bank because they played fast and loose with both the equipment being supplied and their support and warranty that I know of)…and chances are they will fix it under warrantee IME,but be firm with them. It might take a number of phone calls to get this resolved, but put it this way, it probably isn’t worth fixing it at that price.
As far as other laptops, there are still a number out there, Dell makes some pretty nice high end laptops, for example, so don’t assume Lenovo is the only game in town.
First, I’d tell them that if it is physical damage causing the USB port not to work, they should be able to just replace the port without replacing the entire motherboard. I know this may not be cost effective as the labor costs to do that may outweigh the part cost, but $650? I don’t think so.
I’d push hard here but later be willing to compromise so that you can get everything else fixed (CD drive, charging unit, etc.) under warranty, without fixing the USB issue. Then you’d have a somewhat usable computer that should last until you replace it later in the year (or later).
I just went online and looked up “problems with Lenovo USB ports”. There are pages of “fixes and how to”. This appears to be a widespread problem. There was one entry that stated the cable itself may be to blame when unable to charge. Perhaps a mention that you may be contacting your state’s attorney general’s office of consumer affairs may help.
It is ridiculous that replacing the USB ports, which are very fragile and always break, requires replacing the system board. I had to have them replaced on my last laptop, and this wasn’t necessary.
I do plan to be firm, but no one has called me yet.
I did use a credit card to pay, but it was almost 3 years ago, so no help there (unfortunately).
NJres, I was thinking of contacting them through twitter. I have an account that I set up a few years ago because it was necessary to follow my son’s school trip. They posted updates and photos there. I’ve used it since only a couple of times, both times to resolve problems with companies - and it was very effective. I actually signed on and looked for a Lenovo account.
Actually, I have found CC companies very helpful, if you get an extra year of warranty–both Visa and AmEx. They were more helpful than the laptop manufacturer. I agree–be firm and ask to speak with supervisor if you keep getting told you have to pay.
Ask to speak with a manager and explain your problem. Ask him if he has clear visual evidence of abuse. If he sticks to his story, ask him for his full name and contact information for the paperwork for small claims court. That might change his attitude.
I had a transmission repaired/replaced under warranty. The dealer wanted to charge me a “cleaning fee.” I refused and ultimately they backed down. It’s irritating when you find folks who try to charge you when the repair should be fully covered.
If you have no success in getting satisfaction, a well worded posting on their facebook post might help. I’ve had success resorting to that in an instance or two where I couldn’t get good customer service with a problem. It often kicks your problem up the food chain a little. Worth a try.
Problem solved! When I hadn’t heard from them in 3 hours, I called again, and was transferred to someone who deals with complaints about being billed for repairs. She was very nice, and she said that she would straighten it out and get back to me within a couple of hours. She just called back, and said that they agreed with me and the repair would be done for free!
Thank you for all the suggestions, which I will keep in mind for next time I have a problem. I had gone to FB and found their page, so I was ready to post something there if I couldn’t get anywhere with Lenovo.
I hadn’t thought of small claims court, anomander, what a great idea!
The small claims court thing worked for W many years ago. She had withdrawn some cash to buy something, but then ended up not needing it. When she went to deposit the cash back, the teller pulled out some of the $100 bills as counterfeit and the bank refused to honor them or admit they were the exact same bills they had given W!
So she got the paperwork from small claims court and in the process of filling it out called the bank manager for his contact info. He immediately reversed course and credited W for the full amount.
For Lenovo, you actually have to pay to get software and hardware repaired. You even have to pay if you’re gonna go on the phone and talk with someone about it. I figured it wasn’t worth it. Ditched my ideapad and got a Mac.
I’m astounded that there are any 2K laptops still. I’m typing this on my four year old $300 Dell. It’s getting a little wonky, so I’ll probably upgrade it this summer. With another $300 one. It’s not high end, of course, but the high end ones all seem to be well under 1K. Macs are out of my price-range, as well.
garland, you probably do not need super processing power for simple word processing. Some of us need to run specialized programs or graphics-heavy applications requiring more sophisticated hardware that comes with a heftier price tag.
No graphics, but I use my laptop for heavy duty computing, programs like Mathematica or programs I write myself. I always get the fastest possible processor, and configure the system so that I have enough memory. I usually have to wait 3-4 weeks to get a new one.
Yeah I’ve been using workstation-class laptops for the past 20 years too. We load them up with 32GB of memory and they weigh a ton and they’re expensive. But I need to computational power; my company upgrades us every 2-3 years too.
I finally got tired of lugging the boat anchor around and decided to try out a lighter, less-powerful model this cycle. So far I have to admit that I hate it. It’ll be tough to live with for the next couple years.