Warranty extension

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qviri · #1 Post by **qviri** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:47 pm

I'm in a very mild panic mode. Warranty on my T60p is expiring July 8th (is that at beginning or end of day?) and led by recommendations on the forum, I purchased an extension (five year, 41C9180) from Affinity last night. From what I read, warranty purchasers who don't go through Lenovo directly receive an email with instructions to register their extension. I didn't get one (yet?); what is the typical delay before that happens?

I notice that the page says the product is "on backorder"... I don't fully understand how a non-physical item can be on backorder, but in any case, I didn't expect problems as I don't care when the paperwork gets shipped as long as the registration gets in. Was I too optimistic?

Am I right in assuming that the date of the order will be the determining factor, or will Lenovo disregard anything that is not registered by the 8th? Should I upgrade my concern level?

qviri · #2 Post by **qviri** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 11:28 am

Okay, can someone give me a simple confirmation all I need to extend the warranty is the email and it will come within six hours of placing an order, and the subsequently mailed paperwork is helpful but not necessary? Affinity still shows as "on order" and they haven't replied to my email, I am considering jumping over to costcentral.

dr_st · #3 Post by **dr_st** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 12:20 pm

A few months ago I researched the option of buying this extension. Never got any reply from Affinity. Costcentral replied promptly and answered all my questions in a clear and courteous manner. They explained the process (you fill the form, send to them, and they deal with Lenovo), and said that if for whatever reason Lenovo refuses to accept the order and extend the warranty, they will cancel the charge on your credit card, no questions asked.

In the end I decided to wait (no reason to rush, my laptop is still under warranty until July 2010), but I am almost convinced that I will do it through Costcentral eventually.

qviri · #4 Post by **qviri** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 12:22 pm

Thanks. Is the form online, or through snail mail?

dr_st · #5 Post by **dr_st** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 12:27 pm

I understood that it is through email, although it was never explicitly stated to me. It is definitely sent to you through email. I imagine that either you email it back to them, or if for some reason they want a hard copy, you'll end up faxing it to them. There should be no need for snail mail.

dr_st · #6 Post by **dr_st** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:25 am

Bump. Any luck with Affinity?

qviri · #7 Post by **qviri** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 11:08 am

Affinity still shows as out of stock; I emailed them on Wednesday telling them I am cancelling my order, and at the very least they haven't charged my card. Hoping for the best. Currently dealing with Costcentral, who at the very least do reply to emails.

dr_st · #8 Post by **dr_st** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:21 pm

Cool. Let us know how it all works out in the end. I am curious in particular because I might want to go the same route later.

smidgley · #9 Post by **smidgley** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:08 pm

On June 24, I placed an order for a warranty upgrade through PC Superstore, which is a subsidiary of Erie Computers, as is Cost Central. After not receiving anything by email or snail mail for 10 days, I contacted them for order status.

This was their reply:

Licenses have a general turn around time of 7-10 business days after the order is placed; this is because the warranty comes directly from the manufacturer themselves. I believe Lenovo sends their warranty information physically and not electronically.

In other words, they're not quite certain how it works.

It's now about 2 1/2 weeks and still nothing. I believe next time I will just spend the extra few bucks and go through Lenovo directly.

mpcook · #10 Post by **mpcook** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:41 pm

smidgley wrote: It's now about 2 1/2 weeks and still nothing. I believe next time I will just spend the extra few bucks and go through Lenovo directly.

I ended up going through Lenovo. I never got any reply from Affinity in response to several queries. At that, Lenovo is still confused about my warranty, I have had 3 or 4 warranty calls since my extended warranty went into effect, and they have to check in multiple systems each time to confirm against my invoice number.

Mike

qviri · #11 Post by **qviri** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:43 pm

dr_st wrote:Cool. Let us know how it all works out in the end. I am curious in particular because I might want to go the same route later.

An update:

I never heard anything back from Affinity. Their page still lists the extension as "On Order" and my particular order as "Open". I sent them two emails, neither received a reply. After a delay, both were bounced by what seems to be a failed attempt to use forwarding to a AT&T email-to-SMS gateway to the phone number given on Affinity's web site. I can only hope that was not the only destination for the emails. I will continue to monitor my account to make sure my card isn't charged, but I'm not too worried. Nevertheless, I would not recommend.

My experience with Cost Central wasn't quite flawless, but it was much better. My two specific emails were responded to within an hour, and they were willing to work around a slight snag while billing. I had problems activating the extension with Lenovo, and when I emailed Cost Central, they suggested I email Lenovo directly. I thought that was a bit unusual, but an email to Lenovo's thinkpls_us account with issue specifics and Cost Central's contact information did result in desired outcome within a business day.

I got the 41C9180 BTW, not the 45K6025 uncovered in the other thread.

For those wondering, the extension procedure as I can understand from my experience is: place order with CC; CC processes payment; after payment has cleared, CC places order with Lenovo; CC receives email from Lenovo, forwards it to you, quite possibly manually; you click link in email, fill in info, info is then vetted by Lenovo and if successful, your warranty extension goes into effect; update to website takes a bit of time but not too long in my experience. I understand the paperwork will arrive by mail, but I'm not sure how important it'll be; emails from Lenovo include confirmation numbers. The deciding date for extension validity is the date of CC's order with Lenovo, though I was able to get a two-day discrepancy resulting from billing issues overlooked.

Overall, satisfied!

dr_st · #12 Post by **dr_st** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:40 am

Thank you for sharing the useful information!

I will not be afraid to use CostCentral once I hopefully get to ordering the extension, if the Lenovo phone reps do not offer a similarly competitive price.

#13 Post by **Harryc** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:52 am

You do realize that a 5 year extension in effect gets you another (2) years over a (3) year warranty that was originally purchased. Lenovo never offered more than (5) years total warranty on a Thinkpad.

qviri · #14 Post by **qviri** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:20 am

Harryc wrote:You do realize that a 5 year extension in effect gets you another (2) years over a (3) year warranty that was originally purchased. Lenovo never offered more than (5) years total warranty on a Thinkpad.

Yes, of course. My warranty was ending this month and now, as expected, is valid until July 2011. Did you mean to post in another thread?

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