Lenovo HelpCenter's 60 second policy

[roumancesoireee]

I'm not sure if this has been addressed in other posts, if it has I apologize, but I feel this is important.

I just found out that Lenovo's HelpCenter has a 60 second policy where the agent has the right to hang up on you, if they have told you twice that you are out of warranty.

Before i get badgered for even calling them when I was out of warranty ... I was ignorant about needing to pay $45 for the Recovery CDs and for some reason I thought I could get it for free. My agent took down my information and mid way through the conversation informed me that the CDs were $45. I contested the notion and literally about 60 seconds later I was hung up on.

I confirmed the policy with Lenovo's Customer Care ( a separate department). I know I am out of warranty, but just because I protested (I was not rude to the agent while protesting) it didn't mean that I didn't want to buy the CDs. Also the agent even disclose that there is such a policy.

I, personally, am very disappointed with Lenovo's policy because to me it says: You bought our stuff 2 years ago, therefore you are SOL, peace!

My entire household has Lenovo laptops because of me. Now, I am not sure I want to continue purchasing this company's product. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Also are all laptop companies like this?

[dr_st]

Interesting policy. Thanks for sharing, I agree it is important.

BTW, As far as I know, the $45 fee for recovery CDs has existed in the US for quite some time, even if you are still in warranty (although in some cases it was known to be waived).

I have not had a similar experience, but I recently had a very long and bad experience with the sales and service departments. The thread is still close to the top of this forum, you can look (beware, it's a long read).

Add the bizarre things people report here and on the Lenovo forums, and you will quickly get a picture of customer service going down the drain.

Some of these weird policies do have rational roots, but the problem (the way I see it, based on the numerous calls I've had with sales and support) is that the phone reps are trained to think and behave like robots, and can't go out of the box even for a second to solve a less trivial case.

The whole picture, now backed up by my own negative experience makes me seriously question whether I ever want to buy a Lenovo product again. I find myself in a difficult situation, because they still make some good products, and the repair service, at least in some regions, is still excellent. But experience shows that cost-cutting that starts in one area eventually spreads to others, so I am not sure how long the good is going to last.

At the same time, I am not sure the alternatives are better either. The sad trend of replacing good service with low costs seems to be a global epidemic.