ibm exchange and warranty

[aleung]

I am getting exchange machine from IBM. The new machine take the existing machine warranty to 1/30/2006. there is no way to extend the warranty ?

[eriqesque]

You will get the warrant of the new machine.
The paper that you signed in the agreeement of the new machine states that your new machine will assume the current warranty. This is false when you get the new machine check your warranty status online and you will see.

[Raindrop]

When you first get the machine it will show the new warranty date extended for the ful three years. However, when the transaction is finally closed out your warranty date WILL be changed to reflect the original closing date of your original machines warranty date. I just went through this with IBM and I was able to purchase the extended warranty from the IBM website. Since my three year warranty expired in January of 2005 I purchased the 5 year warranty which effectively gave me an additional 2 years of warranty on my replacement machine out to January of 2007. Total cost for the EZServ Depot option was around $240.

[aleung]

thanks raindrop
i found it few mins ago.. but the thing is. the IBM guys is so nice.. he extended 1/2 yr for my warranty. If i can buy it on website after.. that's ok

[Raindrop]

Aleung,

You can extend the warranty anytime BEFORE the current warranty expires. My original warranty was extended an additional 30 days from a December 2004 to January 2005 but I didn't want to take any chances so I went ahead and purchased the "extended" warranty last month. The extended warranty is handled through a different department than the group that arranged for my replacement machine and it took them about 30 days to confirm and provide the new warranty documentation so my recommendation would be to purchase the extension prior to your original warranty expiration date just in case. There is a good chance you could work it out if they declined your ability to extend if you wait, but why tempt the fates.

I have to say that depsite the initial problems that lead to the replacement of my original Thinkpad that IBM reaffirmed my decision to support their products once I reached the stage where they agreed to the replacement.

Good Luck!

[eriqesque]

Guess I got lucky mine has never changed
I still have the full warranty on the new machine.

[Guest]

Raindrop,

It sounds like you had a problem with your original machine and needed a replacement. I am in the same position. I have had a new T42 for almost seven weeks and as of yet, it has not worked one day during this whole time.

It has been to an authorized service center more than once and it was also sent to IBM - nothing works to fix this machine.

And I can't get IBM to do a thing about it. I finally was contacted by a very nice woman who is supposedly designated to resolve these matters. But she says that she is not getting a response from the proper folks within IBM so that replacement can proceed, even though she keeps trying to contact them. Her comments also lead me to believe that this not unusual. I don't know what is going on at IBM but I have never seen anything like this.

How long did it take you to get a replacement and was there anything special that you did that helped?

[aleung]

you should contact IBM when it stop working. My case is 8 times repair in 2 years.

[Raindrop]

rafman,

Sorry I can't share any special tricks other than patiently and politely documenting your plight and askiing for it to be elevated to the next level. I think the final turning point for me was when the tech person that couldn't help me told me that his "supervisor" wouldn't speak to me even after saying there was nothing more that he could do to resolve my particular situation. I then called back and spoke to another tech who reviewed my file and put me in touch with someone from corporate/consumer relations. Once I reached that point my decision to buy IBM in the first place was reaffirmed. All told it took me an additional two weeks to have the replacement machine in hand.

Good Luck!

[Guest]

Raindrop,

Thanks so much for your reply. I am working with someone who is in "dispute resolutions" and she seems to want to get me a new machine. So I will give it some more time - the reality is that I have no other choice.

If that fails, then I am probably dead. IBM will have stuck me with a worthless machine and legal action will be my only course. But I sure don't want to go that route as it would take forever.

Honestly, for me, whatever the outcome, I am done with IBM. I have dealt with another notebook manufacturer for many years and have had to replace bad machines on occasion - never had this kind of problem. I will just go back to them and with IBM getting out of the PC business, I can't imagine things getting better.