Thinkvantage toolbox lies about warranty!!!

[liblit]

I sent this email to Lenovo on April 13th and have received no reply. If someone knows some method of getting a decent response, I would appreciate help. This is not how you treat your loyal customers:
I'm on my fourth Thinkpad that I've bought with my own money.
I praise Thinkpads to the sky. I've even tried to convert Apple users-it's hopeless but I try.
I bought a T410 a year ago that I love. It came with a one-year warranty and my intention was always to upgrade to three years before the first expired.
The machine came with ThinkVantage toolbox, which conveniently tells me on its splash page how many days I have left on my warranty.
I got a message from it today telling me my warranty will be up in 59 days and I should renew.
Unfortunately, that message is wrong. My warranty expired in March. I tried to renew it at that time and was told I was ten days late and the $100 extension was now $259--in this day and age, a lot of money to pay. I'm a commissioned salesman who writes on the side. Money's tight.
And the thing that annoys me is that you guys included this software with the computer. I didn't install it myself. If you want a screenshot of my desktop showing the 59 days it still says I have, I'll send it to you. If you've got some sort of remote desktop software, I'll give you permission to use it and see for yourself--just let me know you're going to do it.
I wasn't trying to scam anybody-I could certainly have gone for the extension ten days earlier if I'd known. If Toolbox wasn't on the machine, I would have made a note on my calendar-it wasn't necessary, I thought, because the software on the computer is keeping track for me. Now that software is costing me an additional $159 that I can't afford and shouldn't have to pay.
I also have a hard time believing I'm the first person who's had this problem. If there's a problem with the software, you should own up to it and take some responsibility for it. Otherwise, it feels like a scam to squeeze a more expensive warranty extension out of your customers.
I'm quite willing to pay the $100 for the extension. I want to feel good about Lenovo, as I have up to now.
My next step, if I don't receive some satisfaction from you, would be to contact PC World, PC Magazine, CNET, Tom's Hardware and other sites and have one or more of them contact you. I don't really want to do this.
I hope you will find some way to correct this issue to our mutual satisfaction.

[erik]

i highly recommend posting this on the official lenovo forum (http://forum.lenovo.com/) where a lenovo rep can see and investigate your issue.   thinkpads.com is completely independent of lenovo and does not act in any official manner for or on behalf of lenovo.

also, please update your location per forum rules.   we request this as it helps other forum members help you due to certain advice being country- or locale-specific.   thanks!

[liblit]

Sorry--I'm in the US.
I've posted the same message on the Lenovo forum. I so far have not received any response there either, except that they moved it to the Thinkvantage utilities forum, where it won't be seen as often. Why am I not surprised?
I really love the machine. I'm really frustrated at the lack of response. I don't think I'm being unreasonable here, I'd just like a little give and take.

[erik]

i see the message now.

the moderator who moved it likely did so because the issue primarily pertains to the LTT software.

regarding lenovo responding, it's saturday and no one works on the weekend.   i wouldn't expect a response that quickly on any company's forum.   but, that's just me.

[JaneL]

regarding lenovo responding, it's saturday and no one works on the weekend.   i wouldn't expect a response that quickly on any company's forum.   but, that's just me.

Particularly a holiday weekend - like everyone else, they're out hiding Easter eggs with their kids and putting burgers on the grill (at least that's what is happening where I am right now).

[nikki605]

After reading your post, I checked the Toolbox on my T410 and it shows the correct number of days remaining, to the day - 83 days (04/23/2011 + 83 = 07/15/2011). I also logged into MyAccount on the lenovo website and checked the 1-yr warranty end date. It was also correct - 07/15/2011. So I can't explain why you are having this problem.

While on the lenovo website, I checked the warranty upgrades available for my unit. The way I read it, the 3-yr extension starts from the original ship date not the end date of the original warranty. Here is the paragraph from the lenovo website:

ThinkPlus Maintenance Services offer you a variety of service level upgrades for your home or business systems. Use our convenient services to enhance or extend your hardware service coverage beyond its systems standard warranty term. Note that these upgrades do start, retroactively, to the purchase date of your system. Consult your Lenovo Sales Representative for Post Warranty offerings to extend beyond the current term of your base warranty.

The net of this is 2 additional years of warranty, not 3 years.

Here are the options for my T410:


1Yr Onsite Warranty Next Business Day $29.00

2Yr Basic Warranty Extension $59.00

3Yr Basic Warranty Extension $99.00

2Yr Onsite Warranty Next Business Day $109.00

3Yr Priority Support Onsite Warranty $279.00