bill bolton wrote:
That's just additional insurance cover for a wider range of risks, not anything to do with service levels per se.
If you want professional level service, you need to pay professional level prices for it... but you seem to expect to get the service levels that were offered when Thinkpads were priced at professional levels (i.e. MUCH, MUCH more than they cost today) while paying today's commodity prices
I see what you mean.
So, now that I'm Stuck on Planet Thinkpad for the next Five Years or so, what does one do?
I'm in love with the keyboard, the Trackpoint, the Matte Finish, the UltraBay, The Wireless performance, the general utilitarian aesthetic and the 'otherness' of the machine in a sea of shiny plastic and sometimes milled aluminum. It connects to me like my knives do when I'm working, a deeply personal bond one forges with his tools.
But to say that because the unit is 'commodity priced' and therefore is undeserving of the kind of service that Thinkpads used to get in the $2000+ days is in my opinion, an oversimplification. I think with the lowering of costs, there will be corners cut naturally in some places or the other. When you're selling machines at several thousand dollars a pop, you can afford to absorb a few losses here and there. But this is not the Nineties anymore, and there is no budget surplus to be had. Everybody, without exception, is cost-conscious to a level far above the boom times.
Here's the Disconnect-we've become used to paying higher prices and getting premier services, but as prices have crashed, our expectations have not. I have learned this lesson the hard way with this machine. It is no longer feasible for corporations to be as liberal as they were, simply because we are not as liberal with our cash as we used to be!
So for us to expect the velvet gloves is a fallacy, especially when we've been lulled into believing that one has to pay a lot more money to be accommodated in the 'A-list' of service. There isn't an A-list, even if you end up paying a lot more. All the Calls are answered by the same people at the same call center.
The only way to get your due is to be vocal about it. The world around us has changed so much, There was no YouTube for me to post a video of a flexing Keyboard back in 1997, but now there is. We can't just lay back and expect things to roll our way anymore because the dynamics of the market are far leaner than they used to be. If the Manufacturer is going to be taut on Services, we have to be equally resilient in ensuring that this does not devolve into a catharsis where customers are left high and dry. We can't be Lazy. After all, I don't think there has ever been a time like this where the voice of a few Customers can reverse trends, and the level of Rights and Protection a Customer gets these days is amazing. We have the tools. It's no longer about paying the money and kicking back, because that's not what the manufacturer is doing. He's looking for ways to cull expenses, and if we are going to be passive about problem products, we'll be slashed and burnt.
This redoubtable forum has been instrumental in helping me get my due, and I simply cannot express how grateful I am for being a part of this intelligent community.
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and the plastics seem to be well-bolted to the chassis. A Thinkpad Protection Plan seems to have been shipped along with the unit, but my Thinkvantage Software informs me that i still have Depot Service. Emailed the Sales rep from Lenovo about this, and he will be reverting to me on this.
Lenovo was the one who introduced rollcages for the screen, in the T61 series, and they did away with them in Tx10 series.
