Thinkpads Forum

I miss IBM.

whfrat wrote:I was briefly a happy new owner of a X230. I am out of the country with TPP and ATS. Supposed to be the best warranty and support. So I get Carlos on the line and as soon as he finds out I'm not in the US he says I must call support in the country I'm in. I say really? I have you on the phone and your not going to help me because I'm in another country?

Yes. And the very same thing would've happened in the days while IBM owned the brand.

This sadly is Lenovo. Boy do I miss IBM.

Why exactly?

Well that may have been the case for you but it has not been the case for me. I know it has been a while but I always had great support from IBM. So folks, I would suggest a very low expectation should you choose to pay for Lenovo support. Had I been aware of how I would be treated I would have made a different decision.

whfrat wrote:Well that may have been the case for you but it has not been the case for me. I know it has been a while but I always had great support from IBM. So folks, I would suggest a very low expectation should you choose to pay for Lenovo support. Had I been aware of how I would be treated I would have made a different decision.

You must be new to the game if you really think that manufacturers give a d*** about support. Race to the bottom means cutting support.

whfrat wrote:I was briefly a happy new owner of a X230. I am out of the country with TPP and ATS. Supposed to be the best warranty and support. So I get Carlos on the line and as soon as he finds out I'm not in the US he says I must call support in the country I'm in. I say really? I have you on the phone and your not going to help me because I'm in another country?

I also got a blue screen within 1 hour of use. Lenovo support reply? TS your out of the country, we won't help you. These folks belong at an insurance company denying medial care for children.

While I understand your frustration, this information is available prior to purchase. Lenovo publishes a list of the contact numbers for each country, and they offer a tool to check whether a system is IWS elligible. I used to spend half of my time in the UK and half in the US, so I'm no stranger to international support. Before I bought my X61s, I checked with Lenovo to see if it was covered in the UK.

If you intend to use your laptop abroad, it would seem to me that it would be prudent to check coverage *before* you travel or (if you know in advance) before your purchase, and adjust your plans accordingly.

Lastly, I tried 2X to leave a review for the X230 on the X230 review page at Lenovo. Neither review has appeared. So I wonder at this point if Lenovo is screening some reviews. Not that the ones there are favorable.

I wouldn't be surprised if Lenovo screens reviews on their site. I haven't found a manufacturer that doesn't do that.

This is part of the reason why I'd recommend not taking vendor-supplied reviews of a product very seriously.

(Edit: toned down the phrasing in the first paragraph a bit. Upon re-reading it came off as far too snarky.)

I spend four months in China each year; with my T43 I had several needs for service while there and overall it was an OK experience.

I found out that I needed to register the computer with the China branch of Lenovo, something that was accomlshed va email and a scanned serial number. Once registered, the local service center was able to verify my waaranty status for themselves.

Service was not the ususal depot 96 hour or less turn around. I brought it to the center, sometimes they fixed it on the spot (installed a new fan for example) but sometimes they needed to get a part (by ths time the machine was 4 plus years old and yes, I did extend the waranty to the max). When the Southbirdge went south it took two weeks to make the repair, who knows where the got the new motherboad from?

Overall it was adequate, if sometimes a bit slower than the US-based service.