Warranty: Arguing Out of Scope Exclusions?

[mr_mbuna]

Hi - recently sent my T42 in for depot service. They replaced a bunch of parts - the LCD, keyboard, palmrest, hard drive and some others - but said that my loose/broken DC-in plug was an out-of-scope repair and I would have to pay to have it repaired. It will take a "Miscellaneous Parts Kit," 91P8681, to do the repair. From what I read here, it's not a labor-easy repair either. They said that it was loose due to some kind of abuse so they wouldn't cover it under warranty.

The question is - can warranty scope be argued? How can they say that I have abused my machine? Or is this something that, once they decide, is final?

Thanks!

[richk]

Once they decide, it is hard to get them to change their minds. I would expect it would take about half an hour. You remove the keyboard , touchpad and keyboard bezel. The jack is right there. (a 15" machine is similar time, but the touchpad and bezel are 1 piece.) They need to glue back the 5 screw covers when they are done. Usually when the jack is bad, someone has pulled or kicked the cord. I cannot believe they don't have a bunch of jacks sitting around. You should ask for the rest of the parts in the kit when they are done. You paid for them. At least make the crooks get one.

[PhilS]

Do they still have the system? Find out if there's a separate charge for the parts kit and the labor. From your description, it sounds like they should have everything apart to get to the jack which should eliminate most of the labor charges. If they've already reassembled the system, you can ask some pointed questions about customer service that maximizes your repair cost.

Phil Sherman

[mr_mbuna]

Thanks for the replies. My warranty runs out in September and I have an international flight home between now and then. I just asked them to repair the machine with the DC plug still loose at this point. When I return home, I'll send the machine into the USA depot for one last "warranty polish up" and see if it's covered at that time.

Cheers!

[cpease]

My T42p quit holding a charge this week and I thought it was the little yellow thingie DC-in plug. The adapter wouldn't charge my computer but worked fine on my old A31P. Anyway I was completely blown away by Lenovo support. They sent someone to my office to change out what I thought was going to be an easy repair. My tech said that you had to take the whole machine apart and remove the motherboard to get to that part so they changed the motherboard and the DC-in thingie. He tuned up the whole machine while they had it apart. He put some "grease" on the CPU and dusted it all off. The whole thing took about 40 minutes. I was really impressed by how sturdy my little Thinkpad actually is. There are enough screws to take it apart and to hold it together. My Thinkpad had a spa treatment.