Thinkpads Forum

I ordered a T60p which arrived recently. Got about two hours of use on it before the LCD developed evenly spaced flickering vertical stripes on its right-hand half.

Sent it off for repair two days ago. When I checked yesterday, they said it was "on hold awaiting parts." No estimate on how long it would take or what parts. They said that machines in such holds "typically take 5-7 business days," which I figure means a minimum of two weeks.

The EZServ status website does not even show that the machine is in their system.

This machine is my fifth ThinkPad and I've never had such bad service. Have I just made a very expensive mistake?

What would have been "a good service" in Your opinion? If they don't have the parts in at the moment and they have to order them, okay, so be it. Every manufacturer can't have all parts in all the time, unfortunately.

I know it stings to send a machine away after just two weeks, but that doesn't sound like "bad service" to me since You have some info on the progress of Your case. You didn't mention where all the info is from, a webpage? If You need more info or more accurate info, perhaps You should call them?

Just my $0.02.

PS: A Thinkpad is never a "expensive mistake"

"Good service" would have been to be able to tell me what part they were waiting for, and to give me an estimate of how long it would take to arrive.

Better service would have been to offer to exchange the machine for one that works. In fact, when I called back today to try to find out more information (I called the technical support line this time instead of the repair status line), the person I reached told me that if the machine was defective right out of the box (and he agreed that failing after two hours of use met that criterion), I could have asked for a new machine if I knew I had the option. But unfortunately the first tech-support person I spoke to didn't inform me of that option, and by failing to exercise it I lost it.

Another form of good service would be to apologize for failing to deliver a working product, and offering some kind of compensation, such as a discount on accessories, to make up for my inconvenience.

Good service is not saying "Your machine is awaiting parts, but I can't tell you what parts or give you any clue how long it will be before they arrive."

Alright, a lot better info than in Your first post.

In my opinion You still have the opportunity to exchange for new item, especially when the tech receiving Your initial complaint didn't inform You out of this option (alltho I personally think it should be self-explanatory to all customers & tech's).

All I can say is to keep my thumbs up that in the end all goes well and You'll get Your machine back swiftly and working in good order.

I agree with You on some point's, yes, Lenovo/Thinkpad's are "business-class working machine's" where service should be done "business-like" rather than "consumer-like". Also, when someone with Thinkpad want's technical info it should be given to him/her, wihtout questions.

In my opinion, their biggest mistake is to not tell You about the option to change it right away. 2 hours used machine is "a new, right outta box"-machine.

(By the way, what machine did You buy? What screen?)

Hmmm, a lot of questions. Let's see if I can answer them all.

I asked about exchanging the machine for a new one. Answer: Once I have sent it to repair, that is no longer a possibility. I suppose in principle that if I asked for it back unrepaired, I could now call Lenovo sales and try to get them to agree that it should be exchanged (In the USA, IBM handles repairs but not sales), but just because the IBM person said I had that option doesn't mean the Lenovo person would agree.

What machine did I buy? T60p widescreen with the Radeon video controller, 15.4-inch display, SXGA+ resolution, 2GB memory, 160 GB disk, dual-core T7600 processor.

I know that some people seem to dislike the widescreen version. I want it because I write books, and I can put two book pages side by side and see what the book will look like when open. I also want to use it for real-time music synthesis, hence the processor, memory, and disk.

I don't dislike widescreen, I'm typing this on a T60 15" WSXGA+ screen, and I love it

Well, god luck, I really hope all ends well!

I'm sure it will end well eventually; I'm just frustrated.

I'm giving a lecture a week from Thursday, and I was really hoping to be able to use the new machine to show slides instead of my creaky old T20. Now that looks unlikely.

On the other hand, I now have a laptop that is powerful enough to run Garritan Personal Orchestra. And I've also bought one of these for it.

Ark, I can't offer anything but to let you know that we all feel your pain, every time I get a new inthebox machine from IBM/Lenovo it's like Christmas and when you set it up that is part of the fun. Sounds like that went south on you and now your stuck in a precarious situation. Be sure to keep on top of tech support, there are some threads that give advice on escalating these issues.

Ark, ok if you don't have the option (exchange for new system) is a possibility after you send it let it go for repair after then return it and order another one if you don't want the sameone anymore!

remember it takes time but you still have the right to return it no matter what with in the first 30 days.

my opinion is to wait for it back and return it because i don't like to have it repair after use it for the first hours after opened the box like you said in your first post!

i think is the best solution!!!

Interesting thought, but if I can get it fixed I intend to keep it.

If I were to return it after getting it fixed, I would be exchanging a machine that works for one that is not known to work. If I can't trust the repair service, then I have problems that returning it and buying another similar one won't solve.

ark wrote:Interesting thought, but if I can get it fixed I intend to keep it.

If I were to return it after getting it fixed, I would be exchanging a machine that works for one that is not known to work. If I can't trust the repair service, then I have problems that returning it and buying another similar one won't solve.

I think you are right ! but there some people that sometimes prefer to exchange the whole product instead send it for repairs
because they think the same part or something else on the product going to break again after a while but is like you said "the system that you know works"

Well this case is a personal descition no??

I don’t want to be too negative, but I had T23 returned for a LCD. Every time I called to check the status, I was told it was “on parts hold”. After 7 days, I was told I could “escalate” the repair. My response was “we can escalate it all the way to the president of Lenovo, but if the part is not in, it can’t be repaired.” Over the course of three weeks, I was told quite a few stories about the part: “it is due in today”; “it is at the dock being tested” (found out later this was not true, they do not test parts at the dock); etc.

I finally asked to speak to a supervisor, or manager, or someone that can give me some information. I was transfered to the “on hold for parts” department or something like that and spoke to someone who actually told me the truth. She called me back a few hours later and told me my machine was being repaired that very day. It arrived the next day. BTW, I have her name and phone number is you need it.

On a previous problem, DHL picked up my computer on a Tuesday afternoon; the depot received it, fixes it and gives it back to DHL on Wednesday. I received it on Thursday. Man was I impressed. This was pre-Lenovo.

I may be ahead of you on this -- after a couple of days with no information, I contacted IBM through their website and someone from Lenovo got back to me. He said that the part is scheduled to arrive tomorrow and I should have the maching back on Friday 4/20. We shall see.

I'm not making excuses for anyone but this is part of the way the repair business is. They may not yet have a good inventory of repair parts for brand new systems, depending on which part you need. There are a few different screens available for T60 series Thinkpads. The IPS ones are getting harder to find.
On the other hand they probably don't have a large inventory of parts left for the T2X series laptops since very few of them are still in warranty. Why stock parts you probably won't sell?

I sent in an R51 a couple of weeks ago for a bad screen and I had it back in three days. Sent it in on a tuesday and had it back friday.

ark wrote:I may be ahead of you on this -- after a couple of days with no information, I contacted IBM through their website and someone from Lenovo got back to me. He said that the part is scheduled to arrive tomorrow and I should have the maching back on Friday 4/20. We shall see.

any update on this matter..?

thinkpad back and working properly..?
not back..?

Last Friday, they claimed that it had been repaired, but they finished working on it too late to make Thursday's shipment, so it went out Friday evening. I should get it back today; after which we shall see what shape it's in...

First the good news: The machine arrived today and appears to be working just fine so far. Although it took two weeks to repair, they did get the parts in when they said they would.

The bad news: The display was covered with fingerprints. One would think that the last thing they would do before sending back a machine would be to clean it. Moreover, the screw that holds the disk in place, which I carefully put back in its threaded socket after removing the disk, fell out on the table when I put the machine there. Fortunately the cats didn't get it.

But the worst piece of bad news was from DHL, who delivered the package with the laptop inside. Because they simply left it on the side porch. We were home at the time, so we know that they did not ring the bell or even knock. We live in a very low-crime area, and people leave packages all the time. But one would think that they would at least have let us know!

So the news so far is mixed, but Lenovo is not responsible for the worst of it. And at least the machine seems to be working again. I'll keep you all posted.

Glad it seems to be working out for you!

Great its working. I had the same error, though it is a T60 2007 instead of a T60p. But my error was fixed with a update, can't remember if it was a GFX driver update or BIOS.
I wouldn't be surprised if the repair service just switched the motherboard with a new updated version. Typically IBM/Lenovo, if you take the repair solution into account, they make the most poluting laptops.

They claimed they replaced the LCD diplay, and the reason it took two weeks was that they were out of them.