Not pleased with on-site service visit

[hobbes]

I had a service tech at my house today to fix the screen on my T42 (red tint problem). It was covered under the 3-year on-site warranty. He wound up replacing the screen, inverter and cable assembly. He seemed to have some troubles re-assembling the computer, but I chalked it up to the fidgety nature of trying to get all the cables routed properly and work on the free-floating parts that hang all over the place when disassembled.

It took him 2 hours to make the repairs, and he indicated that he was expecting it to be a 1-hour job. I powered it up while he was here and the new screen looks great and there is no problem anymore, at least with the screen. It was almost 5:00 so he quickly high-tailed it out of there.

However, in looking more closely after he left, I see that he did a poor job putting the thing back together. The plastic frame around the screen has all sorts of bulges and gaps where it doesn't seem to be seated properly. There is also a nasty scratch on the plastic where it looks like a screwdriver slipped. And there is a (minor) mark on the brand new screen like he might have hit it with something.

Finally, the laptop will not latch closed. The latch is stuck in the open position, and it looks like it doesn't line up properly either.

Obviously I will be back on the phone tomorrow with Lenovo Support to express my disatisfaction and schedule another tech to come out. But this is pretty shoddy work if you ask me.

[Kyocera]

I'd call and tell them the whole story, then when the next guy comes out give him the laptop and go have some coffee and don't stand there and watch. I'm a service tech and it always makes me way more nervous if someone is standing there watching me and/or trying to make distracting small talk, asking questions, basically anything that is a distraction while trying to concentrate very hard. I work with other service techs now and have been for many years and it is the same for them.

[cmarti]

I am sorry about your experience, Take pictures of everything and when you talk to the customer service representative ask him if he want to see the pictures.

Call them inmediately so you can get it fixed soon.

And of course request another tech not the same one they send the first time.

Good luck this time.

[hobbes]

I'd call and tell them the whole story, then when the next guy comes out give him the laptop and go have some coffee and don't stand there and watch. I'm a service tech and it always makes me way more nervous if someone is standing there watching me and/or trying to make distracting small talk, asking questions, basically anything that is a distraction while trying to concentrate very hard. I work with other service techs now and have been for many years and it is the same for them.

I agree, which is why I got him started then left him alone. I asked him a few questions in the beginning and then let him be. I checked in a couple of times to see how things were going, and to offer him a drink, but mostly I was in the next room. I didn't want him to feel I was looking over his shoulder.

[Kyocera]

I agree, which is why I got him started then left him alone. I asked him a few questions in the beginning and then let him be. I checked in a couple of times to see how things were going, and to offer him a drink, but mostly I was in the next room. I didn't want him to feel I was looking over his shoulder.

Sounds like you're a great customer then There are some techs who get the education to do these types of jobs but are just not real mechanically inclined, i.e. all thumbs. Possibly he is new or a transplant from some other part of the company. Hopefully you'll get someone a little more careful tomorrow. Good luck!

[underclocker]

Sorry to hear about this.

Unfortunately, this is getting to be typical, whether on-site or depot. The first issue is that so many parts are changed without diagnosing the problem. Only one was possibly neeeded for a fix.

Anyway, call IBM, be nice, but persistent. It will get fixed. It will be an additional waste of time.

Note to everyone, keep an eye on the tech.'s as they repair. Most, would be doing something else, if they didn't have ten thumbs.

[Kyocera]

underclocker wrote:

Note to everyone, keep an eye on the tech.'s as they repair. Most, would be doing something else, if they didn't have ten thumbs.

If you are paranoid about a service tech or have bad karma with that person then you should keep an eye. But most of us have good morals and no desire to lose a good paying job and security for our family by stealing from a customer, that is a broad sweeping unfair statement. I think on site service was originally set up for businesses and someone decided to carry it over to peoples homes, which to me is generally a bad idea but a huge money generator i'm sure. I hate going to peoples homes to work on stuff, it feels somewhat intrusive to be in their personal space but sometimes I have to, I deal with the kids running around, dogs, birds, cats, places you can barely walk in let alone work on a computer or printer. And yes I do run into some people that I want to keep an eye on for fear of being robbed myself. We carry no cash.

[underclocker]

You may have misinterpreted what I was saying.

I never mentioned whether a repair person's job is good/safe/fun/enjoyable or otherwise. I never mentioned they were dishonest or mean.

What I am saying, is that the last several tech.'s that I have had experience with, and some of those that have been written about in this forum, do not have the skills (or do not exhibit them, anyway) to be worthy of quality laptop repairs.

So they should be watched closely to protect yourself from sloppy work or mistakes.

[Kyocera]

underclocker, I agree %100, like I said in my post to hobbes some guys have the training/education but really lack that little extra thing called intuitive mechanical knowledge, and have a hard time disassembling and reassembling things. And on top of that most of the techs I have worked with throughout my ten years in this type of field can't effectively use a multimeter for anything other than a continuity check.

But from my experience standing and watching someone who lacks skills does not make them perform better, it seriously exacerbates an already nervous situation. I recommend if you see someone seriously screwing something up, or about to, tell them "my (place name here) just called and I have to go pick them up from the hospital, take them to the hospital, some emergency" you get the drift, have the person stop there assess the situation when they are gone and then call the service dept talk to a MANAGER and express your concern in a concerened and concise and above all polite manner, that way he/she can send someone else out and hopefully correct the technician who started the job so they can be better prepared in the future. This will also help the tech keep some dignity and maybe assess their future job opportunities.

[hobbes]

I contacted Lenovo Support today and they will be sending out another tech to fix the first guy's errors. I requested that they send a different tech, although I wasn't confident that they have a good mechanism for ensuring I get a different guy. Hopefully they don't send the same guy out to fix his own problem. That would be awkward, plus I'm not convinced he could do it properly.

[hobbes]

New tech came out today and his competence was immediately evident. He was obviously disgusted when he saw what the previous guy had done. He said he had no idea what the first guy was doing and that he shouldn't be allowed to work on laptops anymore.

He was quick & thorough and had to redo everything the first guy did. He replace the scratched frame around the screen and put everything back together as best he could. The first guy had damaged one of the contact points at the lower left-hand side of the screen assembly, so it is not a tight fit at that location. Everything else looks great and the latch mechanism works again. I was very pleased with the guy who showed up today.

It's not perfect due to that one "damaged' spot but he said to fix that would require replacement parts for the entire top half of the computer. He didn't have all those parts with him anyway. He said it shouldn't effect the operation of the laptop though.

I'm pretty disappointed with the first guy. I just hate having something that isn't in perfect condition when it was before he showed up.

[underclocker]

Glad to hear it worked out OK in the end.

It's also good to hear that IBM does respond to problems - bad to hear they have so many.

[ZoneMan]

Sorry to hear of your problems with the service techs. Sounds to me like the first time you got a new tech. They do move really quick when its time to go dont they....lol

Your second tech was not that great either, he may have known how to put the machine together but basically blew you off.

That tech should have orderd as many parts as needed and re-scheduled with you to come back out and replace everythin that was defective or damaged in the last visit. This is not just customer service it is listed in the field techs procedure and training.

Just because it does not effect the functionality of the machine does not mean you should not worry about it.

Basically that tech closed out your ticket stating that he resolved all your issues and you were happy.
I would call them back and have them repair it the way it should have been done in the first place.

Not blaming you but this is one reason some of these techs get away with things like this...We accept things and lower expectations. That is just my opinion.

I hold thier feet to the fire when I have an issue.


Zone

[hobbes]

Sorry to hear of your problems with the service techs. Sounds to me like the first time you got a new tech. They do move really quick when its time to go dont they....lol

Actually, the first tech was a grey-haired gentleman who claimed he had been with the company since they had still been the service arm of Wang computers. Don't know why he wasn't competent.

Your second tech was not that great either, he may have known how to put the machine together but basically blew you off.

That tech should have orderd as many parts as needed and re-scheduled with you to come back out and replace everythin that was defective or damaged in the last visit. This is not just customer service it is listed in the field techs procedure and training.

Just because it does not effect the functionality of the machine does not mean you should not worry about it.

Basically that tech closed out your ticket stating that he resolved all your issues and you were happy.
I would call them back and have them repair it the way it should have been done in the first place.

Not blaming you but this is one reason some of these techs get away with things like this...We accept things and lower expectations. That is just my opinion.

I hold thier feet to the fire when I have an issue.

I didn't realize that the tech would be the one to schedule any follow-ups. I just assumed that I would need to contact Lenovo if I wanted to get another service visit.

I have been thinking I will schedule another visit for a couple of reasons. One, I just don't like having that gap at the side of the machine, it just seems like my ThinkPad is still damaged. Two, my new screen has an odd smear of lighter color on it right in the middle. It is subtle and I thought I would get used to it, but I notice it every day and am constantly distracted by it. I was initially hesitant to get the screen replaced again and chance getting dead pixels, since at least the current screen doesn't have any.

Time for another call to Lenovo I think.

[Kyocera]

zone, sounds like you have been working in this field too You are correct, he closed out the call. It is probably industry wide for techs to dismiss something that does not effect the functionality of the device or that is not visibly evident to a reasonable person. Some would not care so much about that type of problem, as long as they finally got their machine up and running to at least 95%.

Hobbes, if it does bother you make them order the parts. Something to say if/when the next guy comes out is "so you are going to order those parts for the johnson rod, right?" (ex). Or "how long do you think it will take to get these parts? Just be honest (I know sometimes you want to facilitate a tech) and say look if I ever want to sell this it needs to be %100

Bottom line here is YOU HAVE A SERVICE CONTRACT, they have to honor that or get you a new machine.

Call backs and parts calls to have to go back are sometimes avoided by techs. Sometimes (and I have no idea how ezserv/lenovo/ibm) analysis a techs performance) call backs are a biggie, and some companies frown upon techs who have to replace a lot of parts.....it's the facts in today's world....service budgets for managers is a huge bonus/no bonus issue....get fired issue, didn't use to be though.

Anyway, good luck in your plight, sounds like you are almost there.