Impasse and frustration with Lenovo Australia support

[Growly]

Hey guys - I thought I'd post here for some advice quickly before I got a little more disheartened than I already am. I'll keep it short, I'm procrastinating as it is...

I live in New Zealand. I purchased an IBM factory refurbished T43p from ebay.com (U.S.) at the end of 2007. At the time it had about 8 month of its international Lenovo warranty left but came with an additional 3-year 3rd-party warranty (which I never intended to use as shipping it back to the U.S. would've cost more than replacement parts locally).

After I'd had it for about six months, it stopped turning on with at the touch of the power button. I sent it away for repair under it's Lenovo warranty to the New Zealand service centre (we're now in June 2008), and after about a month spent waiting for replacement parts I received the unit back. The service centre note said that the planar had been replaced.

However, to my dismay, the touchpad no longer worked. Being a busy university student with many ThinkPads to use, I relegated it to a low priority and continued about my business. I then went overseas for about two weeks. On my return I finally managed to call the Lenovo support line again and try to get it fixed.

When I called them, the unit's original 3-year Lenovo warranty had expired, but it was still within the 30 day service centre repair warranty. The man I spoke to at the help desk noted this and said that he would call back the next week to continue the call, as they were experiencing high call volumes and he needed to consult with a superior on my case, or something to that effect. Unfortunately, for reasons I still do not quite comprehend, he didn't log my call or generate a support ticket.

Upon failing to hear back from anyone the next week, I tried to get back in touch with them a week later (you have to remember that I was a very busy and very stressed student at the time). However, nothing could be done for me as no support ticket had been lodged and the machine was out of both original and service centre warranties. I was upset.

Over the next few months I called and explained my case several times. In some cases I was told that nothing could be done and in other cases I was told that a customer service rep would get in touch with me within 5 working days. That didn't happen until about 5 months later, before I had to go overseas again, but I missed the call (just my luck). I called back with a definite case to get what I felt I was entitled to (a working ThinkPad following a service), and was told to get in touch with customer services.

By the time I did (early this year), I explained my case to the first person who picked up the phone and was told to email one representative as there were high call volumes and it 'would be easier if [ I ] emailed her directly'. So I did, explaining my case, detailing all the calls I had logged, providing all the support ticket numbers and dates, and trying to emphasise that some (probably innocent) error had occurred and that as a result I was left without a warranty, or a working machine.

I got a reply about a week later saying that nothing could be done about my case as the machine was out of warranty. This, of course, was the whole problem to begin with, so I replied detailing that despite attempting to get it fixed under warranty some mixup at the call centre had meant that my ticket was not logged and hence my rights forfeited.

No reply for a week. I replied again asking for some clarification and justification at the end of a very frustrating road (amicably, always). I was then told again that nothing could be done as my machine was out of warranty. I replied again, amicably reiterating my original statements: that's not my fault, I tried to get it fixed under warranty but someone messed up, and it wasn't me, but I'm paying for it.

No reply.

Now, I'm very upset. I've been civil and polite, courteous and very patient.

What can be done? Is there anyone higher up in the chain?

Incidentally I've tried fixing the issue myself - it's not drivers, it's not operating system, it's not physical connections, and it's not BIOS settings.

Thanks guys in advance

[Johan]

What a truly sad and very painful story - which brings to mind a somewhat similar case I once went through, as discussed in the thread IBM/Denmark deny to honor warranty confirmed by IBM-Support. Back then I was offered (and received) very valuable help from a person inside Lenovo; the "someone@us.lenovo.com" mentioned in the above thread – specificly that was Mark Hopkins who I suggest you contact easiest probably through the Lenovo forums (Mark is "Project Manager, Social Media" at Lenovo). Try e.g. see the thread LET´S TALK ABOUT GOOD EXPERIENCES TOO!!! or you may try search for posts by the user ”mark@lenovo” here on forum.thinkpads.com.

All the best of luck with geting Lenovo/IBM to honor your rights.

Johan

[sktn77a]

I think Johan's idea is good. While Mark may not be able to do anything directly (he's in NC, USA), he can probably point you in the right direction. Unfortunately, "He who hesitates is lost!" You gotta hound these people when they don't follow through!



Keith

[Growly]

Thank you very much Johan and sktn77a for your support. I will chase this up, and hopefully this Mark Hopkins can lend me an ear...

[Growly]

Just an update for anyone else in the same boat - Mark on the lenovo forums is helping me out. I gather that he's really quite busy (I can relate), but he's still managed to get in touch with Lenovo Care Australia for me. That man deserves a beer.

He PM'd me to let me know that I should expect a call from Lenovo Care Australia, but as to whether or not it actually happens remains to be seen.