IBM EZserv Problem

[egibbs]

Even better - I believe there may be a few free-lance IT journalists who hang around these boards.

I would think that the Solectron problems are not exclusive to Thinkpads - I believe they provide a similar service for other manufacturers as well, and a hard hitting expose might be both helpful and saleable.

There are many more potential buyers reading CNET or the NY Times than reading these boards.

Ed Gibbs

[jsteele]

My T42p came back from easyServ yesterday and to all indications everything is fine. They replaced the systemboard and the keyboard and everything appears to be fine.

[draco2527]

Even better - I believe there may be a few free-lance IT journalists who hang around these boards.

I would think that the Solectron problems are not exclusive to Thinkpads - I believe they provide a similar service for other manufacturers as well, and a hard hitting expose might be both helpful and saleable.

There are many more potential buyers reading CNET or the NY Times than reading these boards.

Ed Gibbs

Back in the day...

The solectron/IBM repair center was the same as Toshibas!!

[dcouzin]

Golly, I sent my beloved T42 for in warranty system board replacement three days ago. Had I read this strand first, when EZServ offered to send me a new system board to install myself I would have grabbed the chance. They would have sent it to my old address in Chicago where I'll visit in two weeks. Instead I hassled with IBM's "Problem Acceptance" office in Germany which finally agreed to accept my USA warranty provided I sent the machine to their central depot in Heppenheim, Germany. This sounds like the EZServ treatment without the free box, but I'm hoping there's a difference. For one, IBM Problemannahme seems to be IBM not Lenovo. I seemed to communicate with <support_de@uk.ibm.com> . And the depot in Heppenheim is at least called "IBM Repaircentre". Solectron has offices in Germany, but not in Heppenheim.
More important, it requires extraordinary perversion to establish a computer service depot which mangles parts and omits screws. These are M3 screws, not watch size, but not washing machine sizes either. Where do you find the apes Solectron does? They must be able to do pretty fine soldering if not tweezer work and yet have no mechanical sense. In a one-man shop, the smart ape is a possibility. But in a service depot, where there are at least a dozen repairmen, how could such lack of training and discipline arise? The stories in this line show that it does, but I doubt that it is possible everywhere. I'm hoping it isn't possible in Germany. Here in East Berlin I watched a plumber mangle our heater cabinet and then missed him steal from my tool box. Plumbers are plumbers. Electronics technicians are a newer class, which here means they have their own apprenticeships and their own standards. I have my fingers crossed that butchering a laptop is unthinkable in this less flexible society (which also has a stronger mechanical tradition).
IBM couldn't make money Thinkpads and give excellent service, so it closed its eyes and punted. Lenovo MUST seek to cheapen something. Solectron. a seemingly good name, can offer Lenovo cheap warranty service. It does this by criminal cheating, e.g., water damage bull. on the level of car muffler and brake shops. This I can imagine in Germany (where there's much cheating) too. It also establishes workshops of amechanical apes. I doubt that this saves Solectron money. Apes aren't quick. It is just an ugly aberration grown from the management structure of Solectron. An unlucky feature which adds insult to the injury of the cheating. This part I doubt could be established in Gemany.
What this strand uncovers is SICK, and Ed Gibbs has a good idea to expose it widely. It is also SAD that the victims in the strand aren't even angrier at Solectron and at Lenovo, but they have seen worse during this time, as their whole nation became a criminal ape.

[dcouzin]

To conclude my report. The "IBM Repaircentre" in Heppenheim, Germany is actually CSG GmbH. IBM/Lenovo farms out their repair work here as in the U.S. CSG luckily is not a Solectron. Their work was clean, quick, and without quibbles. (They didn't solve the problem, which is the T4x USB 2.0 problem, but who can?)

[cantsleep]

my experience with solectron is so bitter also. i contacted sam and waiting.

[bhtooefr]

I would think that the Solectron problems are not exclusive to Thinkpads - I believe they provide a similar service for other manufacturers as well, and a hard hitting expose might be both helpful and saleable.

Correct. Dell uses their services, as I've also found out the hard way (my work exclusively uses Dells). At least the only damage they did to that machine was they left out the hard drive screws that were screwed into place to keep them from getting lost.

And, Dell is one of the biggest laptop "manufacturers" out there.

[tedlindsey]

I am appalled at the ridiculously bad support and repair experiences I've had with my new X60 Tablet. It's a wonderful tablet and the best mobile computer I've ever used, but unfortunately, once I had to deal with Lenovo Support and the Repair Depot, my long loyalty to Thinkpads is being put to the test. Here's what's happened to me:

Purchased the X60T (model 6363-A7U with the 3 year warranty) early this year and had to wait forever to receive it, dealing with shipment dates that kept slipping, etc. Although disappointed, I'm very patient as I understand production difficulties had been encountered. Updated status from sales would have been nice, however.

Received it and it's AMAZING. Light, fast, great SXGA+ screen. However, I get the Blue Screen of Death every time I undock it under Vista. OK, probably a software problem. So I call Lenovo support and the person I talk to says that he's a desktop guy, not a laptop guy, but he's been told that I need to update my BIOS. I reply that I've updated to the latest version and the problem is still occurring. So he disappears for a while and returns and says that he's been told that I need a new motherboard, because there's some kind of problem with mine that's been fixed in a revision. OK, I'm somewhat skeptical based on my experience (I'm a computer scientist for a prominent federal law enforcement agency) and the lack of postings on the forums about a problem like this, but I figure the worst thing that can happen is that I get a revised motherboard.

Three days later (which is pretty darn quick), I receive my X60T. I open it up, turn it on and to my horror, then lower third of the screen is a squiggling, flickering mess that's totally unusable plus the cooling fan sounds like a moped revving its engine! To make matters worse, I dock it and then hit the undock button and it blue screens! The original problem has not been fixed, my screen is broken and something is brushing up against the cooing fan inside the chassis.

So I contact Lenovo support immediately, report the problem and go into detail about the problems. I am told they will send out another box, fix the problem and ship it right back. I suggest that I send the Ultrabase as well since this might help in diagnosing the problem. There is some reluctance to this for some reason, but the support person finally agrees that I can send the Ultrabase as well. So I ship the X60T and dock again.

While the unit is being repaired, I call Lenovo support and they indicate that the problem has been solved since a cable was loose and it undocks fine. There are no notes about the cooling fan noise.

Once again, I receive my X60T and Ultrabase, unbox it, turn it on and what do I see: the screen IS STILL BROKEN! I try gently flexing the LCD housing and I can get a momentary flicker of proper display but it immediately goes back to a flickering mess. To make matters much worse, the technician who worked on it must be a neanderthal! Every screw cap and cover is gone, although some of them have been stuck back onto the case and screen bezel at random spots, many of the screws have their heads stripped from too much force, and there are some nicks and abrasions around the screw holes where someone wasn't too careful with the power screwdriver! In addition, some type of translucent sealing material is squeezed out between the LCD screen and surroundig bezel. I took video and photos of the damage in case I have to prove my point.

My beautiful X60T has been broken, scratched, marred and still not fixed by the Repair Depot. I am VERY agitated at this point.

So I call Lenovo support and explain what has transpired. I am told that all the managers are in a meeting and one will call me right back after their meeting. I remark that it's getting late on a Friday afternoon in Atlanta, Georgia (where this Lenovo support line is located) and I'm reassured that I will be contacted. I wait one, two, three, four hours with no call back. So I call support back and I'm told that there is only a skeleton crew on hand with no managers or supervisors and I'll have to wait until Monday to call back. I'm also told that I really need to escalate the issue to "Hotline" (who customers aren't supposed to know about and he can't reveal their direct number) and I'll have to really be a hardass and not take no for an answer if I want to get this resolved! I appreciate the candor of the support rep, but it is unbelievable that it is expected that a customer who has gone through as much crap as I have will have to "not take no for an answer" in order to get my issues resolved.

As someone who has used Thinkpads for many years and has convinced many people to switch to Thinkpads, I am completely disillusioned with Lenovo from the initial sale, the lack of knowledge of their technical support team, the ridiculously amateur hack job done at the Repair Depot and the fact that I can't even get a phone call returned for a computer that cost over $2600.

Federal employees have been ditching Lenovo ever since the transition to Chinese ownership yet I've remained a stalwart supporter, but this situation has me on the edge. Unless Lenovo can take extraordinary means to resolve this situation for me, I'm switching to another brand and my future advice to others will undoubtedly result in even more federal employees ditching Lenovo products.

After reading this topic, I'm sending a "message to Sam" to see if I can get any assistance. Any other suggestions?

[ragefury32]

I completely sympathize with your thoughts - my Thinkpad X31 recently developed a nasty break over the left corner exhaust grille. The ultrabase connector door cover also fell off. I did the natural thing and called EZServ for a bezel replacement. The spring can probably be put back in, and if not, well, I am a Thinkpad techie and knows how to read the HMM. I anticipate a tech on-site the next morning, a quick bezel swap and in-out back-to-work in one business day. WRONG! They sent me a box and asked me to ship it back so they can replace the motherboard.

Well, the shipback took 4 days and the DHL return went one business day over (from Friday Morning to Monday afternoon, so I lost an entire weekend of connectivity). When I got back the machine? Nothing on screen, no friendly IBM logo. 4 beeps.

I was [censored] as hell and called up EZServ again to file a ticket. This time they sent a tech over and he replaced the motherboard...a motherboard, that, may I add, does not seem to want to shut down when I issue the ACPI powerdown command (but reboots instead), and bombs Windows or Linux back to the IBM BIOS screen without warning right after recovering from a suspend-to-memory + power-up on AC. I tried everything, least of which a new HDD, new memory chips and removing Notebook Hardeware Control. n IBM supposedly received another ticket on the item on Saturday but I have yet to receive a confirmation until I CALL THEM.

I had to file 3 tickets with EZServ and the issue is still not resolved, and instead of carrying an X31 I have to lug a T42p (still amongst the best machine Lenovo has ever made) to my 45 minute NYC Subway commute.

The sad thing is, I just paid to have the warranty extended on that machine. Just what the heck did my money buy me?

[tedlindsey]

Just wanted to share the resolution of the issue I posted about on Friday, April 21:

Tim Supples, who writes the Inside the Box Lenovo Blog, sent me an email a couple of days later, putting me in contact with Mark H. of Lenovo's Customer Relations group. Mark, in turn, put me in touch with Terry M., who was assigned the task of resolving my issues. Tim, Mark and Terry were all very responsive and focused on addressing the issues that I had encountered with the service depot. I sent photos and video of the damage to Terry and he agreed that the problems were significant enough to warrant a full replacement. Unfortunately, my model (6363-A7U, the 1.83 GHz Core Duo X60T) is no longer available and it was not possible to locate an exact replacement. I agreed to have the unit sent to the Raleigh, NC, facility to have Lenovo technicians fix my machine and put it back into "like new" condition.

This afternoon, I received my repaired unit back. I can happily say that all of the damage caused by the service depot has been repaired and the unit is in "like new" condition. My experience with the Lenovo folks were excellent, the service performed by the Raleigh technicians was top notch, and I can definitely say that everyone I dealt with is a credit to Lenovo and they have reaffirmed my confidence in the brand. I was very impressed by the fact that Tim and Mark both pay close attention to the blogs and popular Thinkpad forums so they were aware of my problems and definitely in touch with their customer base. Terry was very professional and we were able to come to a reasonable solution quickly.

I am still deeply concerned by the issues I experienced with the EZServ service depot. Hopefully, this is an isolated incident caused by a service subcontractor although the number of incidents on the forums may indicate that this problem is more widespread.

If Lenovo can resolve this issues with EZServ and maintain the level of service I experienced with Tim, Mark and Terry, they'll be keeping my business.

[Dimitri_P]

So much for solectron...

[gator]

My advisor sent his 14" T41 to easyserv last week for an LCD issue and got it back without the HDD cover (I asked him to retain the HDD, which he did, thankfully). Some screw caps on the LCD were missing, and the laptop's lid was scuffed as it they had it on a cement floor. Fortunately, the system seems to be working fine and since the dept is going to replace the T41 soon, he is not too bothered.

I am not ever sending my thinkpad(s) to solectron - I think I'll do a better job opening up the machine.

[berlin]

Are they based in TN?

[paftaf]

Hello,

I went through similar problems over the last few weeks, and I wish I had read this thread before sending my Thinkpad X40 to Selectron..

My LCD has had a few white patches (brighter areas) for a few years.
It did not bother me much; it is only a problem when watching movies/pictures and i mostly work with that machine.
I can't work w/o my laptop.

But the number of those white spots increased through time and last month I thought it was time to send the laptop for repair.

I called IBM and they said it would be covered by the warranty. I also mentionned that the HDD was sometimes weird and had a few bad sectors, and that one of the screen latch was broken.

A few days later they call me asking for $900, saying that nothing would be covered under warranty. I disagreed and they accepted to cover the HD and the latch, but not the LCD. That brought the price down to $400 or $500.
They said the LCD damage was caused by excessive pressure on the back and that they were too many white spots.
They would have covered it under warranty if I would have sent the laptop earlier.


I asked them to return the laptop.
They made a great job on the latch and HDD. I got a new, bigger HDD and a new screen back cover.
But they did not reassemble the screen carefully and a piece of plastic was hanging from the side (attachment for the WiFi cable).
That did not look professionnal, but at least they did not loose any crews..

What should I do now?

[paftaf]

Hi again,

I used that "email to Sam" webpage and asked for help.
A guy named Tony called me and he was really amazing.
What a difference with the traditional repair service!

Tony carefully listenned, and then asked me for 48hours to analyze the pictures they took of my LCD screen.

He came back to me and said: "I looked at the damage, and I think it should be covered under warranty". He sent me a DHL sticker, I sent him my laptop.

His team not only replaced the LCD but also cleaned the laptop and changed the cover. I received my laptop back yesterday, and it now looks nearly like a new laptop!

Also, I noticed they took good care while packaging the laptop, and they use the right padding fitting exactly the X40.
The other repair station did use "any padding" and my laptop was not very well protected.

So, I went from disapointment to happiness.

I am glad I browsed through the posts here and read about the "email Sam" webpage. very efficient indeed.

have a great day!