EZServ Depot Repair Experience

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pramit · #1 Post by **pramit** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 8:52 am

The LCD on my 2379DYU is acting up (ghosts of images are left behind for ~5 seconds) and I've got IBM sending me a box to ship my machine into them for repair.

Now, what have your experiences been with the EZServ Depot Repair? Specifically, how long have they taken from when they receive the computer? Also, I requested that they not re-image my hard drive to the factory state... do I need to be worried about losing my data? I'm going to back up my important stuff needless, but I don't want to have to re-install and re-set up everything once it's back.

Thanks!
Pramit

#2 Post by **K. Eng** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 9:37 am

I had a system board failure. I called in on Monday morning, and IBM had Airborne send out a box. Airborne picked up the machine monday night. I had it back on my doorstep by 8AM on Weds morning.

Leon · #3 Post by **Leon** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 9:38 am

usually return within 48 hrs. or less, usually don't re image unless something is wrong with your drive... the overall service is very good...

#4 Post by **K. Eng** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 9:39 am

do I need to be worried about losing my data? ...

No - the technicians will only work on the damaged part of the system. Actually, you can send in the machine without the HDD (that is what I did - the Customer Service Representative said that was fine).

kjarrett · #5 Post by **kjarrett** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 10:36 am

My experiences (so far) have been awesome. I think my T30 will be heading in for service soon and I hope this experience is as good as the others.

I always remove my HD, RAM and ultrabay devices when sending it in (presuming they are unrelated to the issue). Sounds like you would be able to do the same - and have less to worry about!

Good luck!

-kj-

awolfe63 · #6 Post by **awolfe63** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 10:37 am

Ditto.

I had a broken ultrabay latch. I sent it in without the HD or battery and got it back within 48 hours fixed.

#7 Post by **JaneL** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 7:47 pm

>Also, I requested that they not re-image my hard drive to the factory state... do I need to be worried about losing my data? I'm going to back up my important stuff needless, but I don't want to have to re-install and re-set up everything once it's back.
>

If you had read the FAQ for this forum, you would already know the answer to this question.

From the FAQ at http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=1689 :

5) Does EasyServ need my HDD to fix my ThinkPad?

Never send anything to EasyServ that isn't part of the problem. Period.

T23_Owner · #8 Post by **T23_Owner** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 7:49 am

pramit · #9 Post by **pramit** » Fri Jul 09, 2004 4:56 pm

An update on my T42p's EZServ experience if anyone's interested.

I called Tech Support in on Tuesday (6/6) morning and it was decided that my LCD ghosting problems required that my machine be sent in for depot repair. As promised, the Airborne chap came Wednesday (6/7) morning with the empty box to send the machine back to IBM. I filled out the paperwork making sure to check and sign against the 'NO' in the 'Re-Image My Hard Drive' section.

IBM received my machine Thursday (6/8) morning, worked on it all day. It was dispatched Thursday evening and reached me today, Friday (6/9) morning.

Here's where things went south. On the 'repair action sheet' I noticed that the system board was replaced. Thinking that IBM knows what they are doing to remedy the issue I sent my machine in for, I turned the machine on only to find the ghosting problem still persisted even at the IBM BIOS start-up screen. Windows started up and prompted me to log in. After putting in my password, windows attempted to continue starting up but stalled at a blank screen. The cursor wouldn't respond and I forced a shut down by holding down the power button for 5 seconds.

I tried starting up again but this time the machine would not start. The power LED (next to the battery) would come on but the display would show nothing, the hard drive LED wouldn't light up, and there was no system beep. Tried this 2 or 3 times, and each time taking out the AC adapter, battery, letting it sit for 5 mins between tries, but no luck.

Frustrated and highly ticked off, I called IBM back. Of course, the first person I spoke to couldn't tell the back of his hand from a donkey's backside. I hung up and tried again. This time I got lucky and the person I spoke to was helpful. He apologised for the screw-up and said that he was escalating the service request (and further disaster) to the 'RAID Team'. Also, according to him, since the machine is a T42p (IBM's flagship laptop) I was entitled to receiving help from the 'Gold Team'.

After five minutes of holding, I was connected to a person from the 'Gold Team' (sadly there was no a-team like theme music before she spoke to me). The woman was very helpful and has opened a new case and assured me that this time they'd fix the problem with the LCD AND return my machine in working order. I tried to push her to send someone out to me as opposed to doing the depot service 3-day thing, but she said that IBM's policies don't allow for this unless there have been 2 botched up depot service attempts.

So, now I wait again to receive the box on Monday (6/12) and hope that come Wednesday I will have a working computer. Until then, I have a svelte $3,000 door stop with an IBM logo on it.

T23_Owner · #10 Post by **T23_Owner** » Fri Jul 09, 2004 5:01 pm

Same thing happened to me almost exactly except they botched the second attempt as well. I am waiting for IBM to send me a whole new machine as promised, but like I said I am still waiting. 3 weeks now.

mattfromomaha · #11 Post by **mattfromomaha** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 12:05 pm

Makes me wonder - when I replace my T30 with a T42, is it worth getting the onsite repair upgrade? I did that with my T30 but have never needed service...

Matt_ · #12 Post by **Matt_** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 7:06 pm

I've been reading through some of the threads (regarding warranties and experiences with Depot repair service versus onsite repair service) such as this one, this, and this one.
I know that I want to get at least the 3 year "ThinkPad Protection".

And even though the depot/onsite repair can be upgraded from 3year to 5 year, from here

This is the menu you will get un a ThinkPad with a 3yr base warranty:
--Base warranty
3 years international
--3 year Thinkpad Protection Service
Accidental Protection
--4-Yr Protection w/3-Yr Depot to 4-Yr Depot Service
Upgrade of base and Accidental Protection to 4 yrs
--3 Yr TP Protection & 3 Yr Depot to 3 Yr OS
Upgrade of base and Accidental Protection to On Site service
--4 Yr TP Protection & 3 Yr Depot to 4 Yr OS
Upgrade of base and Accidental Protection to 4 yrs with On Site service

it sounds like the 4 year "ThinkPad Protection" can only be applied to 4 year onsite/4 year depot repair warranty (as opposed to 4 year thinkpad protection with a 3 year depot/onsite repair or 4 year thinkpad protection with a 5 year depot/onsite repair).
(Besides, the 5 year depot repair is $ 220, while the 4 year onsite repair and the 5 year onsite repair are $ 299 and $ 449, respectively -- and given the experiences on this board with people's thinkpads currently sold and formerly sold models, it sounds like the quality of the IBM thinkpads is such that hopefully I shouldn't have any reason to need to spend that kind of additional money for that kind of length of time)

Generally speaking, with the exception of the experiences of pramit and T23_Owner, people sound very pleased with the quality of the depot repair service. In addition, as has been pointed out, the quality of the onsite repair will vary depending on the experience/skill of the tech who comes out to where you are.

I was just wondering if anyone has any additional experiences regarding depot/onsite repair to share.

Thank you

Matt_ · #13 Post by **Matt_** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 6:05 pm

I'll probably be ordering my laptop on Monday, but I just wanted to give this thread a bump in case anyone had anything to add regarding their experiences. Hopefully pramit's, T23_Owner's, and eriqesque's experiences are exceptions to the level of service that I can expect with EZServ.
In the customizing section for the 2373-CWU, the options for the "ServicePac for Warranty and Maintenance Options" are
"Base Warranty"
"3 year ThinkPad Protection Service [ +$152.10]
3 Yr TP Protection & 3 Yr Depot to 3 Yr OS [ +$251.10]
4 Yr TP Protection & 3 Yr Depot to 4 Yr OS [ +$422.10]"

I don't have the $400 to spend on the last option, but I do want to get the TP Protection, so I guess my choices are down to the 3Yr TP Protection w/ EzServ ($152.10) and 3 Yr TP Protection w/ on-site repair ($251.10)

Leon · #14 Post by **Leon** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 9:39 pm

get ezserv and save the $$$.. I have actually found depot sevice BETTER than os..

Klangfarben · #15 Post by **Klangfarben** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:55 pm

Unfortunately I suspect that pramit's, T23_Owner's, and eriqesque's experiences are not that rare, since I am also having a problem with the Easyserv right now. In short, they spent three weeks and have not fixed my T22 yet.

At the end to July, I noticed that the screen was displaying "stripes" or "blotting-outs" intermittently, which would disappear if I moved the LCD cover back and forth. Not for long after that, I was able to see only a white blank screen. I sent the machine on August 5, got it back unrepaired a week later. They replaced the motherboard and the keyboard (!), but the same white blank screen. Further, there were scratches on the LCD cover.

I sent it back right away with three pages of problem description and five photos of the symptoms, explaining why I thouhgt it should involve a failure of some LCD parts. I had to wait two full weeks because the Easyserv staffs had kept telling me that they were waiting for an LCD panel to replace. (Do any of you know why it should take that long to get the part?)

On August 26, I got the machine back. They replaced the LCD cover and the motherboard (again), but they never touched any LCD parts! Not surprisingly the screen went blank again within five minutes. During the five minutes I was able to observe that the trackpoint was disabled although it was "auto-disabled" according to Thinkpad Configuration, and all the attempts to enable it failed. So I guess they created another problem using some defective motherboard/keyoboard.

I do not know what is the best way to do in this situation. I will appreciate any suggestions...

gcchatel · #16 Post by **gcchatel** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 1:12 pm

klangfarben, you should be happy, i'm sure this is a hassle, but you've tried twice and they failed to repair. You should now be entitled to a new computer of your choice, just call ibm and complain and ask to talk to supervisors.

Klangfarben · #17 Post by **Klangfarben** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 2:11 pm

gcchatel, thanks a lot for your encouraging words. I will write again about IBM's solution to my problem, hopefully in the near future.

Matt_ · #18 Post by **Matt_** » Mon Sep 20, 2004 9:40 pm

Thank you, Leon and Klangfarben, for your replies -- And I'm sorry to hear about your situation, Klangfarben; do let us know how things turn out for you.
The sort of things that it seemed to me to be important to learn about were things like the frequency/infrequency/severity/type of problems encountered with the IBM notebooks, how EZServ and onsite-repair addressed (and resolved) the issues, and overall the quality of EZServ and onsite-repair.
It was hard making a decision, but I decided to go with the default 3year coverage for the 2373-CWU but also opted for the 3 year TP Protection. Something that a sales rep. told me is that the coverage can only be upgraded once. So, if I had not gotten the TP Protection, then ~ 3 years from now, I could choose to purchase a warranty extension.
But now that I chose the TP Protection, then when my 3 years are up, that's it.

Thank you again everyone for the help.
Matt_

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