Depot Repair ( Easy Serv ) broke LCD

[rssb]

Wanted to see if anyone here has faced similar problems.

Sent in my Thinkpad for memory errors. Shipped in the UPS box to EasyServ. Before sending in the image was completely fine on the screen, it showed up on the whole screen. The screen was a bit dim, I thought it was the backlight dying out. So I made a note on the problem sheet for checking the backlight.

Got a call back from billing saying LCD was broken and they wanted around $950 for it. So asked them to return it. Got the machine back and the lcd is definitely cracked. They claim that they check the box for any damages when it arrives at the depot and they didnot find anything. Which I believe they might do.

And before I shipped the box, I was made a backup of my harddrive. Since I packed the box , I know my screen was working before I put in the box. I dropped off the package at a UPS store which I have used many times in the past.

Another colleague of mine, sent in his kid's laptop for a bad graphic card / motherboard problem. They did the same thing to him. Instead of repairing the motherboard they claimed it was a broken LCD. His argument was if it is a bad lcd, he should have gotten an image on the external screen. So instead of his motherboard getting fixed, they broke his LCD.

I can provide both of our case #'s to prove the validity of what happened. The thing common to both of our cases are

1) The packages went through Richmond, VA UPS processing facility.
2) Both ended up with broken LCD's at the hands of Easy Serv technicians.

Have been a Thinkpad user since 2003 ( after I moved away from Dell's). As I am composing this email, I have been on hold for more than 2 hrs trying to reach someone at 1-800-883-9902 ( silent option 8 ). I didnot mind paying upwards of $2000 for a thinkpad when a Dell costed around $600, just because of the quality and service.

If this is a precursor to the quality of Thinkpad service in upcoming years then Lenovo has lost my business and whomsoever I have referred to so far.

[ZaZ]

You might want to post this over on the Lenovo forums where you'll have some access to Lenovo staff. Also send a PM over there to Mark@Lenovo over there too. He may be able to cut through the red tape and get you an answer. Good Luck.

[rssb]

Thank you Fred. I will give that try. I have opened a case with UPS also.

[rssb]

UPS came back and said the box used by Depot repair is not an approved one and hence they are not liable

Is this a new type of packaging ? which is required. I used the prepaid box sent by the Depot.

"The contents contained in the package described above were damaged. We regret any inconvenience
this may have caused you or your consignee.
The complete contents have been kept by the consignee.
When damage occurs, UPS inspects the package and evaluates the packaging according to our
packaging guidelines which include the International Safe Transit Association (ISTA) 3A Test
Procedures for small parcel delivery shipments, published by the ISTA. Your packaging did not meet
these guidelines. UPS is not liable or responsible for loss or damage to any package from improper
packaging.
The evaluation revealed the following deficiencies in the packaging that was for this shipment.
The new, double-wall, corrugated shipping container with no visible box maker´s certificate was not
sufficient to protect the merchandise. Based on the dimensions of your packaged product, the shipping
container needs to be of sufficient strength to support the size. Consideration needs to be given to not
just the weight of the contents, but to the overall size of the shipping container used.
Recommendation: Use a new, single-wall, corrugated shipping container with a 275-lbs-per-square-inch
burst strength or non-U.S. equivalent.
To help avoid this problem in the future, we would be pleased to offer additional suggestions for
improved packaging.
Please visit us at http://www.ups.com/packaging?loc=en_US for additional information, or contact us at
1-800-PICK-UPS."

[Mark@Lenovo]

rssb,

I've replied to you on the Lenovo forums and have opened a complaint for you today based on the information provided in your PM.. Hang in there, our customer relations team will follow up with you hopefully tomorrow and certainly by Thursday.

Let me know if you need more help

Mark

[rssb]

Thank you Mark.

[duke1]

Maybe someone should send in a broken cheap laptop and compainabout a bad hard drive, but pack the thing in 3 boxes, and in a case, take photos before shipping, see if they break the LCD and then sue the piss out of them

[Harryc]

Maybe someone should send in a broken cheap laptop and compainabout a bad hard drive, but pack the thing in 3 boxes, and in a case, take photos before shipping, see if they break the LCD and then sue the piss out of them

Your comment is hardly helpful since Lenovo has replied here and on Lenovo forums and is working to rectify the situation.

[rssb]

Special thanks to Mark, the situation has been resolved. Taking the pictures before shipping might not be a bad idea, it may be useful n case if the box gets damaged or dropped.

My laptop was returned from repair today, everything is good with the laptop. However the outer box had a hole in the box ( size of dime ) as if something was punched through it. The UPS driver acknowledged that in writing on the info notice slip. So far I dont find any damage with the laptop, so may be the padding protected it well.

However I am facing another situation currently. Sent in another laptop ( T61) for a right broken hinge. The hinges were a little bit loose for sometime but they never bothered or hindered opening or closing the lid. However last Tuesday it started making cracking noises and I noticed the right hinge was broken and the broken piece was stuck and started bending the bezel plastic. Opened a case , box was sent promptly. The rep on the phone was very courteous and said broken hinges are covered as long as there are no damages other than that. I told him the plastic was being bent by the broken piece inside, he said that would be covered too.

Easy serv status showed "Hold for customer information", I called and was told that it is not covered, got to pay. I said it is a broken hinge and it happened while opening the lid, as I normally did all these days. I was asked how long the problem persisted, I told the hinges were loose for sometime but they never bothered hence didnot send it in for service , as the laptop was functional.

The billing rep told me, it was my mistake I had to take preventive maintenance. It is like a car when the brakes squeak, it should be taken to service. Agreed I could have send it in earlier, but again how many people drive cars on the road which are not 100% upto standards as long it is functional, is it possible for everyone to keep changing their tires every month to have a 13/32 tread reading. If people get a common cold, sneeze, or a minor discomfort do we end up going to hospitals every time.

Again lets say if I did send it in for a hinges being a little loose, what if they returned saying there is nothing wrong with it after normal usage, hinges don't have the same tightness as a brand new one.

If an end costumer has to send it in for preventive maintenance before the problem starts, guessing what could be wrong next, the machine could end up being in depot / transit 10-15 days a month. What is the using of buying warranty if it doesn't cover when needed, and the machine cannot be used.

Preventive maintenance is understandable for airline industry, trucking industry or something where there is constant wear and tear, the rep told me even electronics industry needs preventive maintenance.

How many people send in voip modems, routers, switches, wireless routers in home, cable modems , cell phones for preventive maintenance guessing what could go wrong. No business or office would be able to survive if their gear is constantly sent for preventive maintenance !.

I have reached out to Mark about this incident also this evening, but thought about it long before composing this. Mark and many people at Lenovo or even IBM could be good people, who might look at the problem from a customer's perspective. However if everyone reaches out to Mark or a single team for every issue, it will not be long before the channel gets overwhelmed. Something like my LCD situation, I can understand is a gray area and needed help.

Earlier models had good hinges upto T4x, even old 600E's. They have no play and feel solid. Googling for T61 hinge problem shows up lot of results

This time I was careful and took pictures of the laptop with webpages and date & time showing up, laptop in box and sealed box before dropping it at the UPS store.

Imagine all the T4x series owners being told, loose GPU issue is not covered because you waited till it broke completely. You should not have picked your laptop because it flexes the motherboard in a certain way leading to damage. Or all Nvidia based motherboard owners sending in laptops before there is an actual failure, how much additional overhead would it add to Lenovo for UPS shipping & service technicians time.

Someone needs to retrain the staff at billing holds / easy serv or take a hard look at their competencies, before letting them give suggestions to customers on preventive maintenance.

I am frustrated because an end user should not undergo such a stress dealing with ridiculous and meaningless policies. I don't want to be a situation when a machine has nearly 2 years warranty left on it , wondering if something would be covered or not. How will my next service be handled. Will Mark be there always to help and can he always help.

Given the previous experience , I was refreshing / checking the easy serv page every 15 mins today, just in case this hold shows up. So that I could call them immediately. Here I am 8 hrs later after the hold showed up wondering what happened to the thinkpad quality and its service.

[rssb]

problem --> open case --> ship box --> billable hold ---> provide pictures for review --> no response from depot or billable hold, was told only way to escalate is have machine back in hand ( neither tech support nor people at depot can escalate ) --> got machine back, tried to escalate ---> sorry machine should have been at depot to escalate --> new case opened ---> ..... cycle repeats

[bill bolton]

Again lets say if I did send it in for a hinges being a little loose.....

The bottom line is you made a choice not to do that, and its turned out to be a poor decision.

I am frustrated...

That's clear enough, but at least part of your problems are self inflicted and until you are able to recognise that, you shouldn't be fishing for sympathy on that aspect of your overall issues here.

[rssb]

Yup agreed. Next time I find something even remotely failing based on the current experience, I will obviously send it in for service.

But because of my current experience, if a fellow thinkpad'er sends in for service and does not end up in the same situation as me. Then that is something positive which comes out of my experience.

If you think I am looking for sympathy, you got it wrong. A used top cover with LCD + hinges goes for $30 or less an ebay. Probably an hour of labor to fix it.

I have registered on this site in 2004, I visit this site regularly as a thinkpad fan/user. This site provides useful information on variety of topics. Show me what % of my posts out of 400 posts over all these years represent anything even remotely close to my current experience. It should not be difficult for an experienced person to distinguish what is a genuine anguish when something is wrong vs a onetime troll venting out something.

Most of the senior members like ( pianowizard, harryc, ajkula, realblackstuff etc..) spend a lot of time, I believe they do it voluntarily out of a passion for something, respond to posts etc. I am sure they are not doing it for money, they are sharing their knowledge & experiences to help out others.

I have owned T40's, T41's, T42's, T43's, T60's before this. Obviously they had service done on them and all I am saying is, I didn't face anything like this in the previous years. So something is different now!.

[bill bolton]

If you think I am looking for sympathy, you got it wrong.

Since you could have made your point adequately in a few sentances, your lengthy post spoke for itself on that

[dr_st]

Again lets say if I did send it in for a hinges being a little loose, what if they returned saying there is nothing wrong with it after normal usage, hinges don't have the same tightness as a brand new one.

And based on my two experiences with two different laptops at two different times, this is exactly what would have happened, thus throwing the remark

you made a choice not to do that, and its turned out to be a poor decision

completely out of the window.

Both my T42 and T60 15" hinges are somewhat loose. The lid wobbles up to 1cm when up right, but the hinges are still very tight holding it (in fact sometimes two hands are required to open the machine). This looseness developed after about 1-2 years, but has not been degrading (the T42 is 6 years old, the T60 is 4 years old right now).

The T61 (at least 14" wide) hinges are notoriously poor as far as wobbling goes, and this is based on dozens of machines I've seen deployed in my company. All of them without exception wobble much more than my T42/T60, and we are talking about younger machines here. None of them has been sent to service. None of them broke.

There is no connection between wobbling hinges and breaking hinges. I find any attempts to blame it on poor decisions by the customer utterly ridiculous. The only thing poor here is the steadily degrading Lenovo's repair service and customer service, especially in the EasyServ department.