My experience with IBM/LENOVO CANADA tech support/service

[IR0NMAN]

First of all, the specs of my laptop:
T42P-GVU (bought from Bill)
1.8 Centrino
1GB RAM
14" 1400x1050


#1 Last year, I popped a key from my keyboard and the little plastic thing underneat was broken so I called IBM and I received a replacement keyboard the day after at 11hAM. 5 / 5!

#2 My AC Adapter was defective so I couldn't charge my battery. Same thing as #1, I received a replacement AC adapter the day after at 11hAM. 5 / 5!

#3 Last week, i suddenly had a fan control error on startup. I called tech support and I knew it was a problem with the fan (duh) but the indian guy explained to me it could also be a motherboard problem so I had to send in my laptop. My laptop is my primary and only workstation, as well as my work tool, so I asked them if there was a way to bypass this fan error at startup because it would shut down a few seconde after. I needed to do a backup of a few important files but the guy on the phone told me that there was no way to bypass that error. I asked him if I could talk to tech support and he said no (????).

Anyway, I searched this forum and found out I only needed to press ESC. So I called tech support on a Friday afternoon and received the shipping box on Monday morning, and shipped it back with the laptop the same day. 2 days later (Wednesday), I decided to give them a call to have an update on the ETA. The guy told me that the part needed (fan + motherboard) was back-ordered and that I might have it Monday the week after.

I don't know why, but I was expecting a faster turnaround from them. So i wait and the next Monday I give them a call, the guy then say they are expecting to receive the part on Wednesday and that I should have my laptop on Friday. [censored], that's like 2 weeks from the moment I called them.

To my big suprise, I received the laptop on Wednesday (today). They cleaned the mat finish on top, so I was happy with that because it's a pain to clean. I noticed they also cleaned the LCD, so that's cool but after a few minutes of using the computer, the screen doesn't look the same. Well, it seems like they replaced it with a new one, with much better viewing angle. Wow, now that's nice from them, I think they noticed the pink-ish color when the LCD isn't warmed up so they replaced it for a better LCD. THANKS IBM TECH SUPPORT GUY IF YOU READ THIS!

Overall, i'm satisfied with the service, it could have been a bit faster but they make it up for the LCD replacement. 4.5 / 5!

Now, my question is: did IBM, before they were bought out by Lenovo, kept 2-3 years old model parts in stock or has Lenovo decreased the stock parts availibility? In other words, was 9 business day from the first call to actually receiving the fixed laptop the usual delay back when it was still IBM?

Thanks for reading

[christopher_wolf]

THANKS IBM TECH SUPPORT GUY IF YOU READ THIS!

I am sure they will appreciate that.

It varies depending on how many parts they have on hand at the center where your Thinkpad was. The T4X Series parts are pretty interchangeable across systems unless it gets down to stuff like the CPU and certain memory sticks.

9 days is within range of the turnaround time I was experiencing with the rare systems, that weren't serviced on-site or done by me to save time and money, that got sent off to IBM. I don't think anybody has really intentionally decreased the availability for parts, but they may have slowed overall production of those parts.