Thinkpads Forum

Hi, im writing this, because im a bit puzzled by the lack of service from Lenovo/IBM regarding an extended warranty for a new bought T61P.

The case is that the motherboard is dead, the laptop is from november last year and ive bought an extended warranty so that if anything happened, I could be safe and sure that within next business day, they would come and fix the laptop.

Im in a job where its really sensible for me to have full and ongoing access to my data, and therefore I bought this extended warranty. It even covers if I loose or drop the laptop...

But regarding the now dead motherboard, they have now announced me that it can take 3-4 months before they have a new motherboard ready for them to carry with them. They say that there are general demands, and that Lenovo and IBM are having issues delivering the spare parts.???

I simply dont get this... indirectly they force me to buy a backup system, even though ive paid up fully for the extended warranty??

Do any of you have any good ideas how to solve this in a good manner?

Im just in question, wether they can give such a service and not make up for it somehow?

Thanks, looking forward hearing from others what to expect.

Regards

xblomx wrote:But regarding the now dead motherboard, they have now announced me that it can take 3-4 months before they have a new motherboard ready for them to carry with them. They say that there are general demands, and that Lenovo and IBM are having issues delivering the spare parts.???

Where are you located?

What country are you in? Please update your location in the user profile link at the top of this page. This is a site requirement.

Ok Denmark. So you've contacted Lenovo-Denmark and they say that they are out of system boards for your machine?

Yes, ive contacted the Danish Lenovo/IBM department taking care of warraties. They diagnosed the problem, and handed me a case number. This is the nordic or scandinavian service department, I think they are located in Ireland. But anyways, I soon after got a call from the danish tech, that handles the cases and they informed me that they couldnt come the next day, because they didnt have the spare parts available, and they couldnt tell when they would get them.

I asked for a manager to call me so I could get a better picture about the situation, and he told me that they had delivery problems and that they couldnt say when they would come and fix the laptop. He said, that there could go 3 or 4 months??

Im not stupid, but the kind of communication didnt exactly appeal for a bigger discussion, so therefore im asking you guys what suggestions you would come up with here.

Thanks

I've heard of sporatic parts shortages here and there, but nothing like 3 or 4 months. Hang in there (Welcome to the forum by the way), and someone will post if they are getting the same reply from Lenovo service anywhere. Meanwhile, you may want to consider escalating your problem to a higher ranking customer service representative. Good luck.

Thanks for the welcome ill see what others have to say? and ill try and escalate it.

Regards

We have onsite service on all our machines and it had degraded to the point what we keep a spare system also.

Read the warranty carefully, and see if they have a parts availability clause in it. If they do, then you are formally shafted. If not, then escalate and politely insist that they send you a loaner till the part comes in. This is done in the US, particularly with a business account. If they refuse, report to the Danish BBB, and consumer affairs for your government (this would constitute warranty fraud, which most government consumer protection offices take seriously. Make sure you tell them that Lenovo is selling a fraudulent warranty to the people of Denmark). and keep trying to escalate. Eventually you will get someone who is not in Denmark, and is afraid of the legal consequences.

Make sure you get your warranty extended for the time your computer is not working. If they do take 3-4 months to fix it then your warranty should be extended that long too.

One more question to xblomx ... it might be helpful to someone reading this thread if you could list your system board part number, found by removing the memory door and looking at the bottom of the system board. Can you post that please?

Hi, I have problems finding the corresponding warranty informations that related to my epac. The epac has the following info:

This product has a three year limited warranty which includes a ThinkPlus warranty upgrade. This product is entitled to parts and labor and is entitled to on-site service. This machine is also entitled to the Thinkpad Protection Service. Customers may call the PC HelpCenter for more information.Service is available Monday-Friday, except holidays, with a next business day response objective.

I cant find anything else regarding the warranty terms etc. so if anyone more experienced in this could help me that would be great.

Thanks

Hi, the memory door isnt located at the bottom of the thinkpas. The memory bank is located underneath of the palmrest... There is no ways underneath where i can remove a "door" to see the part number.

The model is a T61P 6460-6XG

Thanks

Yes, I momentarily had forgotten that fact. I am fairly certain your board part # is 42W7653.
Check for availability at IBM Denmark at the below link -

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-50319

It is available at IBM USA

So I guess it can't be that much of a shortage if they are selling it retail somewhere in the world eh?

I had an A31/p at the repair facility in Jalisco (where it was made!) for 6 months waiting for a motherboard. They sent a T43 for me to use after I complained. Strangely enough, when they returned the A31/p they didn't include shipping labels for the T43, I called. The labels arrived 8 months later!

I have found in my travels that parts availability can be very spotty outside the US.

When I ordered my T61/p nobody informed me that the international warranty didn't apply in Mexico. I hope and pray I don't need to use it in the future.

Hi Harryc

The part number your referring to is a PLANAR15.4, thats what its stated on the webpage. Allso, it doesnt show wether its available, only that i can order and pay for the order.

Thanks

Planar = motherboard

Sorry to hear about your warranty problems. That really sucks. If they can't fix it quickly, you should escalate and insist they provide a loaner machine.

Hi late news...

Well, Lenovo/IBM managed to come after 9 days and changed the motherboard. They had to come back once more after the motherboard change, and update the system UUID as well as mount the palmrest in the right way. Some screws were tightened to hard, so the palmrest were mounted wrong.

Allthough I love the Thinkpad series and I have several of them, spanning from T40-41-42-43-61p its the last time ill ever buy one. This is because of the fact that ive bought the warranty service n/b in case anything happened and I relied on this to work, but it didnt. Lenovo/IBM gave me a really bad experience and my professionel work cant survive with this kind of service.

Let this be a reminder to anyone thinking of buying a Thinkpad and the extended warranty.. reconsider its value...

Thanks

Well, 9 days beats the tar out of 3 to 4 months. I'm glad you got it fixed.

xblomx wrote:Hi late news...

Well, Lenovo/IBM managed to come after 9 days and changed the motherboard. They had to come back once more after the motherboard change, and update the system UUID as well as mount the palmrest in the right way. Some screws were tightened to hard, so the palmrest were mounted wrong.

Allthough I love the Thinkpad series and I have several of them, spanning from T40-41-42-43-61p its the last time ill ever buy one. This is because of the fact that ive bought the warranty service n/b in case anything happened and I relied on this to work, but it didnt. Lenovo/IBM gave me a really bad experience and my professionel work cant survive with this kind of service.

Let this be a reminder to anyone thinking of buying a Thinkpad and the extended warranty.. reconsider its value...

Thanks

Well, it did only take 9 days. I will let you in on something though. Dell (business side as well as consumer side), HP, Fujitsu, Sony, they all suck for service. I just crossed HP off my list due to ongoing problems with my wifes HP TX1000z that she bought last August. It has been in for service 4 times and this is the third wireless card it has eaten. I just bought her a T61 14" to replace it. One more trip to HP Service and it is getting resold on the secondary market. It still has the remainder o fthe 3 year warranty with ADP so it should fetch a good amount on resale. But, all of them suck. Service with HP wouldn't support a hardware issue until we put Vista back on the unit even though my wife CANNOT use Vista for her business. Her medical software will not run on Vista at all.

Sorry you are leaving the Thinkpad family.

Well, never say never again If i should be honest wich I am, then its not definite.. The day will come when another nice laptop will appear and it could easily be a Thinkpad.

Its just a way of expression in the heat of the moment, but seriously im really pis... about the lack of service.. but again it can exist everywhere.. so only time will tell if anything else comes up down that road

Thanks

I had an issue with my t60 coming out of hibernation. Customer service diagnosed a problem in the motherboard. Lenovo sent me a shipping box overnight and I sent it off to them and got it back in 3 days, however I'm in the US so it was pretty quick.
I have had all my issues handled promptly with customer service at Lenovo.
Be persistent and don't let them off the hook!

I have had the motherboard changed twice on my T60 and Lenovo/IBM's local tech contractor showed up both times the next day with part in hand.