T40 ..REPLACED...Laptop ARRIVED 02/20/2006! 2378-R4U

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#31 Post by **underclocker** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 4:26 pm

Ouch!

I am sorry. You deserve a nice new T43p with 3 year on-site protection, free.

Good luck and keep us posted.

underclocker

#32 Post by **draco2527** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 5:57 pm

OK!

According to IBM! The request shows "closed" and "shipped" as of this afternoon (13:51pm) BECAUSE a "Lost Laptop Process" was initiated. The will keep the same case number open on their end, and the call gets bumped to a "recovery" team!

I should have more information tonight, as I will get a hold of the person that mentioned a new laptop if the third time went down the drain.

DIGITALgimpus · #33 Post by **DIGITALgimpus** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 6:09 pm

Quite a few people have had bad experiences (my self included). This story is by no means unheard of of. Some people get good service. Some get outright rotten treatment from Solectron.

I really wish you could upgrade and get IBM themselves to repair. Would be well worth the cash.

andy71600 · #34 Post by **andy71600** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 8:37 pm

wow that's terrible... I just called last night for a replacement keyboard, and it was at my dor this morning no more than 12 hours later. Sorry to hear you had such bad luck.

#35 Post by **draco2527** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:02 pm

Same here!

I had a bad spacebar on another thinkpad and I placed the request on Tuesday, wednesday the keyboard was here.

The only time a CRU took more then a day, it was due to the parts not being in stock; so they "upgraded" me to the next one up. It was here two days later.

Overall the experience so far has been excellent from the customer service side; I do not have to wait HOURS on the phone to talk to someone and they seem UPFRONT about their mistakes. So for that I give them an A++. I think if they KICK some sense into Solectron, they will have EXCELLENT service reviews.

Just on a side note, I have not "lost" my faith in IBM/Lenovo; BUT I will never ship a laptop to Solectron again. I know a local repair shop (IBM Authorized Service etc.), and I know the people there...I HAVE NEVER TAKEN MY PERSONAL LAPTOPS THERE, because I believe it to be a "conflict of interest", BUT based on this experience, from now on IT IS going there!

I am not mad with IBM/Lenovo, I am upset that they are not doing a better job of keeping track of what goes on in there.

I still believe they make a superb product and you get what you pay for! Most of the time

. Until their customer service AND more importantly their quality goes to sh*t I will continue to "support" their product.

OK, IBM/Lenovo.. as you can see, I did my part; were is the new ThinkPad? J/K!

In all truthfullnes I have delt with IBM, Compaq (back in the day), Dell, HP, Toshiba (FYI: Toshiba is good...as of before the purchase Toshibas were fixed in the same building as TP's...solectron has/had a contract with them as well!!!) and many others that are now, no more... If I were to put anyone on top, it would be IBM! Trust me, they have messed up more then once, but they always (except this time) had a good/fast solution! But then again, we don't pay a premium for nothing!

I hope IBM steps up to the plate, and finds a quick and honest resolution to all this!

With that said, I am awaitting a call back from them........

ajsimeon · #36 Post by **ajsimeon** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:42 am

well found something wrong with my system board they replaced...they seemed to have replaced my old system board that had mobility radeon 7500 32mb with a mobility radeon 16mb!

how much of a difference is this? should i go ahead and report it? maybe i could ask them to get me a system board with a Mobility™ FireGL 9000 Series like the t40p has.

think it's worth a try or should i just leave it be.

#37 Post by **draco2527** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 9:06 pm

And that is not the end of it.....

I am starting to think, maybe luck is not on my side!!! No black cats or ladders lately.....I wonder?....

OK...So solectron lost the laptop for two days; a "lost laptop process" was initiated (they generate an "ID" number which is numeric in form); wednesday they found it and shipped it out, got it about 30 minutes ago...THEY DID NOT FIX ANYTHING...and managaged to make it worse ( I did not think they could FK up any worse), plus they replaced the MOBO a second time ( I ran diags on it for 12HRS and everything passed) anyways.....

What could be worse......I HAVE NO HD!!! They forgot to put my fricking HD back in the machine!!! Plus it was missing a few screws for the keyboard (irrelevant at this point, with all the other crap they FK'd up).

So tomorrow IBM/Lenovo is calling solectron to try to get my HD back...in the mean time, the process has been initiated to get a new laptop!

I am supposed to get a new laptop by sometime next week (they still have to call me and "verify" a few things) but the case number for replacement has/is being generated as we/I speak/type. (Not holding my breath on this one!..till is in my hands, new and shiny...)

So will see what happens......IF they get me a new T42p, I'll be in heaven...till then; I'll keep you all posted on the HD situation....

DIGITALgimpus · #38 Post by **DIGITALgimpus** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:36 am

ajsimeon wrote:well found something wrong with my system board they replaced...they seemed to have replaced my old system board that had mobility radeon 7500 32mb with a mobility radeon 16mb!

how much of a difference is this? should i go ahead and report it? maybe i could ask them to get me a system board with a Mobility™ FireGL 9000 Series like the t40p has.

think it's worth a try or should i just leave it be.

It's a big diff. I'd definately complain.

christopher_wolf · #39 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 2:14 am

draco2527 wrote:

And that is not the end of it.....

I am starting to think, maybe luck is not on my side!!! No black cats or ladders lately.....I wonder?....

OK...So solectron lost the laptop for two days; a "lost laptop process" was initiated (they generate an "ID" number which is numeric in form); wednesday they found it and shipped it out, got it about 30 minutes ago...THEY DID NOT FIX ANYTHING...and managaged to make it worse ( I did not think they could FK up any worse), plus they replaced the MOBO a second time ( I ran diags on it for 12HRS and everything passed) anyways.....

What could be worse......I HAVE NO HD!!! They forgot to put my fricking HD back in the machine!!! Plus it was missing a few screws for the keyboard (irrelevant at this point, with all the other crap they FK'd up).

So tomorrow IBM/Lenovo is calling solectron to try to get my HD back...in the mean time, the process has been initiated to get a new laptop!

I am supposed to get a new laptop by sometime next week (they still have to call me and "verify" a few things) but the case number for replacement has/is being generated as we/I speak/type. (Not holding my breath on this one!..till is in my hands, new and shiny...)

So will see what happens......IF they get me a new T42p, I'll be in heaven...till then; I'll keep you all posted on the HD situation....

I feel for you Draco; but how on earth could they screw up so bad so many times?

#40 Post by **draco2527** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:27 am

I spoke with someone about the issue....what is going on?

There are things in the works that will make all of our worries go away, it is a long process; but it is being addressed.

I can not comment more then that on it....but I was glad to hear what I was told about the relationship between Solectron and IBM/Lenovo.

#41 Post by **draco2527** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 7:38 pm

OK!

Here is were we stand. T40 purchased from QVC almost 3 years ago, system is still under warranty. QVC ONLY keeps their records for 18 months! Contacted IBM, got the invoice that they charged QVC $1,843.00 for my laptop.

They will not exchange the laptop without the POP....FK!

Got it from QVC, QVC can't supply POP.....over 18 months old "call manufacturer"

Bunch of BS!

I should mention that QVC has a "warranty" return policy of 30 days...after that you are on your own......

Website · #42 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:28 pm

If you purchased from QVC, did you pay with a credit card? Your credit card company might have record of the purchase.

#43 Post by **draco2527** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:31 pm

No help there either! I am not even sure what credit card either....

PLUS...I am 99.9% sure the order confirmation, etc, is in that HD that Solectron lost....( As I get new hardware, I tend to move old files from old pc to new)

As of today, they have not located the HD.

Mr. Nice guy no more....Angie is getting a mouthfull from me tomorrow!!!

#44 Post by **draco2527** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 1:56 pm

OK..we are on track, I will get a "build date" later today or tomorrow morning.

THEY ARE SENDING ME A REPLACEMENT, according to them it is a T42; at this point I do not have the specs. ( I should have it in about 14 days)

I will keep you all posted.....Tony

#45 Post by **draco2527** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 6:19 pm

It seems the factory can not make up their mind on a build date for a T42..so I am still waiting......

#46 Post by **draco2527** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 6:50 pm

OK!

I am getting a 2378-RSU, they are keeping the warranty the same as the T40 plus adding 30 days. In this case, not much warranty left.....

I will be selling it as soon as I get it! I will not even open the box (maybe for making sure there is something "usable" in the box)

Tony

I got a call at 11AM today, the HD is LOST for good; it seems it has gone to "refurbishing".

DataAve · #47 Post by **DataAve** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 10:18 pm

Sorry to hear of your troubles, draco.

#48 Post by **draco2527** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 11:14 pm

The model listed above according to lenovo.com:

Original description: Customer configured(RAM, HDD, Ultrabay, Battery): P M 735, 15 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, 32MB ATI Radeon 7500, Wireless upgradeable(MPCI), Modem(CDC), 1Gb Ethernet(LOM), UltraNav, Secure Chip, Fingerprint Reader, WinXP Pro

As far as what they are tossing in there for the "customer configured" I have no idea. I left them a voicemail, since I DO NOT WANT THE 15" display; I like the 14.1, to me is the perfect size (SXGA would be even better)

FYI: P M 735 = 1.7

At this point I think I will go with the flow.....

#49 Post by **draco2527** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 2:36 pm

OK! So the POP was needed to get the "price" paid and applied to the new one....$1,900 based on the ONLY POP I could get from the reseller (should have been around $2,500)

So now I am getting a 2378-R4U, which goes for $1,200?

I called them and gave them hell, now they are saying it is not based on price; and it is based on specs!!! So I told them to change the price in the release from $1900.00 to $1200.00; they will not do that...

Furthermore I told them that it is unfair and they are full of it (the full part I am BS, but I wanted to say it!). SO I told them that I want a 14.1SXGA screen.....

They will get back to me, but I do not think they are going to do it...

Tony

Herr Yunta · #50 Post by **Herr Yunta** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 2:39 pm

If they are replacing the machine with a new one, there is no reason you could not push them for a 14" T43p with three year on-site warranty. You have been out of a computer and spent too much time on this not to get the model you want.

#51 Post by **draco2527** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 5:28 pm

It is official, I will be getting the model listed above! Paperwork has been signed and sent.

The problem, is that you deal with a mediator; the person you "work" with has no bearing on yea or nay! They forward the information to the one calling the shots, so you have NO WAY of dealing with that person directly.

The replacement is NOT meant to be a "substitute" for the FK'ing up; instead it is meant as another laptop, similar to what you had; since you do not want to put up with Solectron.

At this point, it is better (processor) in one way then what I had; plus it will be a new machine. So for what is worth, it is OK.

They lost my HD, but when you break the seal on your TP; you agree to the terms and conditions listed in the "book".

That book states, that you should not find IBM liable IN ANY WAY for them FK'ing up your files! etc.

In short I have gotten something out of a hopeless situation. I have seen the same process for other companies, while the other companies will give you a TRUE new machine (full warranty); the process takes 6 months instead of 6 weeks! EDIT: and a few years off your life....

Again, all things considered; I am "ok" with it. I will ask $1000.00 for the lappy or BO; then I will apply some $$ towards a T42p.

End of story.

#52 Post by **draco2527** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 5:32 pm

I have seen in other instances were the FULL warranty applied to machines that only have 30 days, etc.

The reason I am thinking they gave me the 2378; is due to the fact that if they "miss" that step; I will get 1 year instead of 3!!!

MO.

DataAve · #53 Post by **DataAve** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 5:54 pm

Have you tried to file a complaint with bbbonline.org/office of consumer affairs? This would make me very angry. I'd be writting letters left and right to all that would listen...even the President of Lenovo/IBM. Hope it all works out for you, bud.

DIGITALgimpus · #54 Post by **DIGITALgimpus** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:31 pm

You typically get your warranty as is, + 30 days during a replacement.

Should note the website might not reflect your true warranty for a week or two.

That was the case for me a few months ago.

#55 Post by **draco2527** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 2:22 am

Today I received the paperwork to send the T40 back, I will be doing so after the new machine arrives.

It seems the T40 is getting shipped to their research center! I guess I should include a little note with it.

On a side note on the POP:

Originaly they told me, they needed it to make sure that I got "credited" the correct amount towards a new system, without the POP they could not establish an amount to get me a new machine.

After they gave me the $1,200~$1,300 T42 I complained that why did they have me go into all the trouble of getting a POP, since they needed it to apply the $ paid towards a new machine; and AFTER I got the POP, I am getting a machine that is worth much less then what I paid for the T40. Then they changed their toon and the POP is used to get a "similar" model.

Either way, they shaft you.....

Now they are saying 15 days (my original post of 14 days was based on their 10 day "quote' to get the machine). Since I was aware that they were talking 10 business days; I put it as two weeks.

I contacted them this week, and now they are saying 15 days ( this time I had them clarify) and I am out..... still, two weeks.

The PROBLEM, on top of everything else; is that I get no tracking number, no nothing...the machine will "show up" at my door...one day!

So the wait continues......I AM MAKING ONE MORE COMPLAINT TONIGHT (IBM/Lenovo...not sure what good is going to do), regarding the irregularities and missed steps in the process of receiving a replacement......

Maybe I'll create a site.... shaftedbylenovo_ibm.com!!!

My $.02....I just hope they get their act together, so nobody else has to deal with this!!!!

Either way...yuo loose....

DIGITALgimpus · #56 Post by **DIGITALgimpus** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:30 pm

I had the same problem with my replacement....

just keep calling, and asking for updates... when mine shipped, they were able to get a tracking number for me (the next day I had to call back).

There's definately a supply issue. Mine was originally 10-14 days... and it turned into being a month to order.

#57 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 9:12 pm

After reading this, I've learned not to take my aging and old laptops for granted ever again and I now appreciate the fact that my laptops are old enough that when they break I can fix them myself for pretty cheap.

Well, anyways, back to the topic at hand, if I were you I'd just be happy with the T42. The T40 might have been worth more when it was new than that T42 is now but if we were to play by that note, my 760E was worth more in 1996 than a T43p is today, maybe IBM should let me trade. The argument I'd give for getting a nicer computer than what they sent you is that they put you through all this trouble to get a computer that has less features than your old one or something on those lines. Because in all reality, I do believe you should get the niceswt computer they have availible to send out but for a different reason than what you stated. Still, in seriousness, I'd be happy with the new T42 as there seems to be a trend of things getting worse with each time. This might be as good as it gets.

#58 Post by **K. Eng** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 5:51 pm

Wow... Solectron's behavior was pretty terrible. I am thankful that I have not had bad experiences with them so far.

Having suffered two system board failures on my T40, I am afraid that it may suffer a system board failure after the warranty period is out -- and I've only got 1 month left!

I did some checking on eBay and froogle - system boards for a T4x go for around $300 apiece or more. I might as well buy a whole new machine. For the next few months there's no way that I can afford a new ThinkPad T series. I might be forced to go with a consumer grade compaq from OfficeMax if my ThinkPad breaks

AlphaKilo470 wrote:After reading this, I've learned not to take my aging and old laptops for granted ever again and I now appreciate the fact that my laptops are old enough that when they break I can fix them myself for pretty cheap.
...

#59 Post by **draco2527** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:45 pm

LAPTOP ARRIVED 02/20/2006!

Shipped NEXT DAY AIR from H.K!

I have not opened the box, yet.......

T40 ..REPLACED...Laptop ARRIVED 02/20/2006! 2378-R4U

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