IBM fixed my laptop today. Service = HOLY MOLEY

[Kenn]

Interesting, and thankfully short story. So my laptop broke on Friday. I posted about it here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=10735

My support call on Saturday netted me an on-site appt. for today. The tech guy came out in the morning, but found that IBM sent out the wrong parts. Wonderful, as I'm in a "mission-critical" timeframe here. I was doing my best not to flip out.

So the tech called to get the right parts flown out the same day, and courriered to his own house (they usually send deliveries to the customer but I'm not anywhere I can sign for it). He called me at 7PM to tell me he received them, drove an hour to get to me, and spent the last 2 hours replacing my system board. He just left a half-hour ago, at 10pm EST.

Now I was disappointed when the service call was scheduled for Tuesday. I panicked when the tech showed up with the wrong parts. But boy, did he go the extra mile to make things right!! His super is getting a glowing letter in the morning, and Lenovo or not, my next machine (and extended service contract) is going to be with IBM.

[DavidNZ]

That's great. It's stories like that that need to be bookmarked so readers in other forums, who regularly bash IBM, can be forced to read!

Are you in the US, Kenn?

[Kenn]

Yeah, IBM service has never ceases to amaze me. I am one very happy customer right now! And yep, I'm in the US, over on the East Coast.

[baraider]

please add your location, not required but...ahhaha...i don't know who started this

[Steve007]

Are you in the US, Kenn?

Yes he must be. This 'unique' service is exclusive to North America it seems. We don't get anything like that in Europe, I'd love to hear a valid reason why

[Steve007]

please add your location, not required but...ahhaha...i don't know who started this

[Leon]

yeah, I don't know who started it either... but still waiting

[DavidNZ]

I wouldn't say it's exclusive to NA. I've had excellent service from IBM Australia for repairs to an old R32.

[Kenn]

Gah, I'll get around to it, promise!! But yes, I am in the US, over on the east coast (maybe it helps being closer to IBM HQ!)

[MadeInJapan]

I've heard of similar excellent service in Japan. Smaller country and less travel to get parts if needed. Shoot, a tech could jump on the bullet train to go pick up parts if needed and be back for the repair. After the repair, there is always lots of bowing and the exchange of business cards. Well worth it for IBM in Asia as word of mouth of such excellent service nets the company continued clientel. It's a "face-to-face" culture and the personal touch is the only thing that guarantees someone to do business with you. I learned this over and over when I went over there to recruit students for my school.

[GoEatFood]

yeah, I agree with that. it's all about your gwanci ?sp? basicly your contacts in asia...some one I know how a police escort off a flight when he went there for a business meeting. first to get off the flight and every thing...you could never do this in the US. but, I think no matter where you go if you have good contacts and you show them off people are always impressed and more willing to do business with you...they sure do like to drink in asia too.

[kchung]

It depends on the warranty you have and where you live...

Here at my work place, we order all laptops with 3 year, next business day support.

There are a couple catches though...
1) The part or parts have to be available.
2) If we need a tech to install them, the service call has to be placed before 5 pm Eastern time (2 PM local time - California). This needed so that the part can have time to be pulled, labeled, and tossed on a truck to catch an overnight plane here.

If it's user installable parts, we can call in as late as 4'ish local time and most of the time still get the parts the next day.

As for the IBM tech, since we're a business site, we get the same guy all the time (or his backup). They're very fast and dependable.

Be advised that you are not guaranteed to get "new" parts - we often get refurbished ones (even hard drives) and on the rare occassion, they don't work. Also speaking of the Lenovo purchase, our technician said that as far as he knows the on site service staff won't be impacted.

-Kevin

[Kenn]

It depends on the warranty you have and where you live...

Here at my work place, we order all laptops with 3 year, next business day support.

There are a couple catches though...
1) The part or parts have to be available.
2) If we need a tech to install them, the service call has to be placed before 5 pm Eastern time (2 PM local time - California). This needed so that the part can have time to be pulled, labeled, and tossed on a truck to catch an overnight plane here.

If it's user installable parts, we can call in as late as 4'ish local time and most of the time still get the parts the next day.

As for the IBM tech, since we're a business site, we get the same guy all the time (or his backup). They're very fast and dependable.

Be advised that you are not guaranteed to get "new" parts - we often get refurbished ones (even hard drives) and on the rare occassion, they don't work. Also speaking of the Lenovo purchase, our technician said that as far as he knows the on site service staff won't be impacted.

-Kevin

Good info to have, thx. Refurb doesn't really bother me as long as it works. I also have 3-yr on-site + TPP, but my plan is weekdays-only, and I definitely could have benefitted from a weekend-inclusive plan this week