Thinkpads Forum

Hello all,

Wondering if someone had advice:

I purchased a T420s + bay battery (the one that slides into the DVD) last year. The bay battery has been giving me headache since day one: connector breaks, doesn't sits right, it simply doesn't look like it fits (maybe it's meant for a T420 or T420? not the right edge, it sticks out of the machine).
Contacted Lenovo support and had it replaced 3x times in the course of last 6 months.
On the last iteration, the DVD would not go in the bay slot anymore, decided to ship everything back to support.

Now, my laptop is there but they call me back saying it's $ 950 + tax for the repair.
Unit is still under warranty ... so the dispute process is starting.

Where are these things usually going? I tried to argue the repair cost is pretty much the price of the laptop, and the unit is under warranty.
The person on the phone told me it's either you pay, or they ship the unit back as it is, but wont let you make a dispute.

Any advice please?

what kind of a warranty do you have? On site, depot, accidental ??

Are they saying by chance the repairs needed are because of accidental use? And that you don't have that coverage (which would make sense that they are charging you)?

And have you asked them that with your existing warranty, and with the needed repairs, what part of the "repair" is not covered under your warranty?

The machine was under basic 1Yr warranty that you get when you purchase it.
Before the dispute started, I was told: we'll send it back to you as it is right away (the machine still functional, it's just the bay port which I dont care so much about), or we'll escalate the case that will take 3-5 business day. They came back to me a bit later, I repeated my story, basically the bay battery for the T420s is ill designed, that cause the failure, not accidental use. They said they come back to me in 3-5 business day.
Eventually a rep from Lenovo called me and said they'd take care of the repair, which was nice to hear.
They replaced the motherboard on the unit. The 3 dead batteries were not repaired, which I don't mind because I'll never use these piece of junk again.
Overall I was grateful someone stuck his head out to consider my case. it took ~2 weeks turn around time, fair enough but it's not 3-5 days. I've owned 5 thinkpads through my jobs, can saddly only say the latest model are not that well thought as it used to be, it's not just IBM vs Lenovo - the X301 was the last great machine I had. I returned an X1 the moment it arrived, and now that T420s episode. Hope thinkpads will strive again, they seem to be a bit in a lapse right now.

wow, it's resolved - always good to hear !!