My Lenovo ThinkPad X200 experience -- not good

[dynamicnet]

Greetings

On September 11, 2008 I ordered a ThinkPad X200, and like many went through the online ordering system, as well as sales person who worked with me to confirm the order was ok, telling me it was going to ship in two weeks or less only to have it take closer to four.

When I got my original ThinkPad X200, the 1st thing I ran into was the built in Verizon would connect, then after five minutes or less disconnect requiring a reboot.

Lenovo support recommended exchanging the unit to fix the problem.

There are three issues with this process:

1. Even through I paid for three years onsite, they were only showing three years depot and would not even discuss the problem stating that the exchange would take care of it.

2. They recommended the exchange because if I sent the unit into depot (as they had no record of the onsite even though I paid extra for onsite), they would use refurbished parts; and the support tech (whom I agree with on this issue) didn’t think it would be wise to take a brand new machine less than a day old and fix it with refurbished parts.

For those of you who have onsite or depot service, please note they are most likely using refurbished parts rather than brand new parts to fix problems.

3. When you do the exchange, you have to place a brand new order paying for it. So rather than they shipping the exact same unit without any monetary transfer, you have to buy a new unit.

While they handled the shipping of the return unit, they will not credit your account until eight to ten days after they get the original machine back.

As a consumer my preference would be to send it back, and then not get the exchange until after they get the original back; I was not offered that option, and when I asked for it, they stated that’s not how they do things.

I got the new (replacement) unit in this past Saturday; and I shortly ran into the issue where the blue Thinkvantage button was taking me directly into BIOS upon boot p rather than being taken to the recovery software area.

I called technical support, and got Mark in Atlanta who created a ticket, but then was arguing with me that on certain ThinkPad X200 models they substituted the F11 key for the Thinkvantage button, and I could just use the F11 key.

Since the screen was stating to push the Tinkvantage button, the TV commercials mention the blue Thinkvantage button, I did not want substitutes. Especially when you consider the amount of money involved.

When I asked to return the unit, Mark stated I would be hit with a 15% restocking fee which I shared I would not accept because the unit is out of the box not working as it should.

He transferred me to returns; and I gave the return person the technical support case number. That gentlemen told me he had to transfer me back to technical support who had to conference the call back to returns (not transfer, but conference call).

That was done, and I got Blake in technical support who shared while the existing case number was in the system, the entire record was blank as if Mark created it, but put nothing in it. So I had to re-go over the entire problem with the Thinkvantage button not working.

Blake was professional and courteous throughout, and conferenced me into returns who was sticking with the 15% restocking fee policy.

Blake asked for a returns manager, and Paul got on the line also sticking to the 15% restocking fee plus I would have to pay for shipping.

(Editorial note… the entire phone call from start to finish was close to two hours.).

To make a long story short, if it was not for Blake sticking up for the issue being hardware and not having a guaranteed fix from technical support, I would be stuck paying a 15% restocking fee and paying for shipping.

But Blake got his manager involved on the support side, and together provided enough information for Paul on the return side to wave the 15% restocking fee as well as pay for shipping.

While I do understand there are many happy Lenovo / Thinkpad customers around, I did want to share an experience that now has me leaning towards any other vendor than Lenovo.

Blake and his manager saved the day from a point of view. As the second ThinkPad X200 that didn’t work (one after the other), I’m extremely leery of the ThinkPad product line let alone Lenovo.

Thank you.

[jketzetera]

Did I understand you correctly, you returned the second X200 because you did not want to push the F11-button instead of the ThinkVantage-button?

[midknightr]

Heck yeah! He should return it. Lenovo has a price premium, they dang well better deliver a premium product. I too have not been at all satisfied with 'service' from lenovo. I have loved my x60 tablet, aside from the fan error bull. But I'm with this guy, I don't think I'll be dealing with them in the future, they seem to be getting less and less reliable.

Thinkpad is supposed to equal quality, what is going on here?

Did I understand you correctly, you returned the second X200 because you did not want to push the F11-button instead of the ThinkVantage-button?

[jketzetera]

While I certainly agree that a disconnecting WWAN-card is a problem that needs to be rectified, my impression was that he was given a completely new X200 in exchange that fixed the problem.

The new X200 worked fine with the exception that he had to push the F11-button instead of the ThinkVantage-button ......

[syhead]

oh boy... I just lost 5 minutes reading this post.

[atlacatl]

Inaccurate title, man. You seem to have a bad experience with one thing and Lenovo tech support.

I agree you should get it exchanged or fixed, though.

[Hudson]

I think you are correct for returning it and getting the product configured how you ordered it. I am concearned about the part where you said they make you buy a new unit before you can ship the other one back.

I would have a problem putting two computers on a credit card or taking money out of my checking, its exspensive and I am sure there are Lenovo customers out there who can't afford that option.

I have a new X200 and I am glad I chose it over the many other computers I considered before buying it.

Good luck with the computer.