Bent X201T chassis - a question about warranty

[kvirtanen]

Oh, well that's strange. I asked him the same suggestion, but he just replied "I have no idea." I wonder if calling him is going to make any difference? The employee said that they don't deal with issues of 'physical damage'. He did say they could repair physical damage, but that would cost me if I contacted them directly, not via the seller.

Hmm, I guess I'll have to contact them again..

[kvirtanen]

I called them again (the number at http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product-service/iws.page?): I think I'm going to need help from Mark_Lenovo or somebody else working at Lenovo, I'm really confused now. The summary of the call:

If the issue was for example "a faulty motherboard", they would/could take the computer in, and replace the motherboard. But, in my case, they classify it as "physical damage", which - according to them - is not what they deal with. I have no idea what "a faulty motherboard" classifies as then if not physical.

I wonder if "beyond repair" is what they meant?

They insist that I must contact the reseller, who will "contact their supplier", and through that channel they will exchange my unit to a new one. Then he mentioned that if "the reseller has broken the laptop", he has to be the middleman in this transaction. I very much doubt that is the case. The computer just came out of the factory like this.

In short, I think they want me to send my laptop to another country and have the reseller send me a new laptop. "Someone has to pay for the repairs" and "they don't "deal with the logistics of that stuff".

I mean... How long will it take? What if they end up refusing to repair/exchange the laptop upon examining it? How long will it take for them to send the laptop back? What happens to my hard drive, filled with my customers' work files? A single telephone call has risen so many open questions.

Aren't there any alternatives to this? Could someone at Lenovo please help me out? 

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

Contact the reseller first, if you don't get help there, come back and post again.

[kvirtanen]

A quick update:

I contacted the retailer, gave them my serial number, model etc.. and they contacted Lenovo Finland. I received an e-mail from the reseller this morning. They said that Lenovo FI had told them that I should phone Lenovo NL (the same number I called twice already on Monday), and the repairs should be possible to handle via Lenovo NL.

As this is clearly not the case, I left the retailer a message asking them to investigate this further with Lenovo FI.

It seems warranty policies can be very confusing even for the professionals.

UPDATE: I told the situation to Lenovo Warranty Services BeNeLux and I'm now waiting for an answer.

[kvirtanen]

May I present:

Lenovo NL vs. Lenovo FI

A deathmatch of the century

LENOVO NL:

Dear customer,

Unfortunatly this is a physical issue on the machine and our front office department can not handle newly aquired products with this kind of damage. Please refer back to your point of purchase.

Vriendelijke groeten/Kind regards/Sinceres salutations

XXXXX

Lenovo Remote Technical Support BeNeLux

support_nl@uk.ibm.com

support_bd@uk.ibm.com

0031 20 513 39 39

0032 02 225 36 11

---

LENOVO FI:

Hei,

Suomen Lenovon kanta on, että kyllä tämä asia tulee hoitua Hollannin Lenovon kautta. Tässä linkki, jonka kautta saatte      suoraan yhteyden paikalliseen Lenovoon http://www.lenovo.com/contact/nl/en/

Terveisin / Kind Regards

IBM / Lenovo Technical Support

Voitte avata huoltokutsun myös sähköisesti osoitteessa: https://www-04.ibm.com/support/electronic/portal/uprtransition.wss?category=2&locale=fi_fi

(Translation: Hi, the view of Lenovo Finland is that this issue must be able to be taken care of through Lenovo Netherlands. Here's a link you can use to contact the local Lenovo branch: ... Kind regards ...You can also make an electronic service call at: ....)

'Nuff said? Should I make another service call, be told that the issue should be handled through the retailer, tell the retailer about it, be told by Lenovo Finland to handle the issue with the Dutch branch, and repeat ad infinitum? This is the definition of recursion.

[ColonelONeill]

I think my T400 looked like that... Maybe I'm remembering wrong.

[kvirtanen]

A quick update:

Last week I got a call from the Dutch Lenovo's regional manager. They wanted to arrange a local pickup for my machine to take it to repairs.

Today I got instructions on how to package the machine etc. What I didn't expect to read was:

If you do not agree with the quote for the repairs, you will be charged (198€ +BTW) for the investigation / transport of your machine.

At no point was this made clear to me. Like with other warranty repairs and part exchanges I expected this to be free during the warranty period. After all, I've alredy received a new battery and HDD by mail without having to pay a thing. There is no way I'm going to risk paying that kind of money if they suddenly decide they're not responsible of the damage. No way. I'm not the expert on assessing these faults. I don't know without any doubt what caused the problem, but I expect to have the warranty service to find that out for me without additional costs. I've treated the computer well, I do not believe I'm responsible for any damage there might be, but I refuse to gamble.

I provided them with pictures of the problem so that they could assess whether or not it would be eligible for repairs under the warranty. They themselves argued for long that I needed to contact the reseller to not have to pay for the repairs. And now they called me and arranged an expensive option directly through Lenovo NL instead???

I will make a formal complaint to the Finnish Consumer Agency and ask them for help on resolving this. Hopefully this will be the final issue I'll have to deal with with Lenovo.

Thanks for all who provided me with helpful advice.

[kvirtanen]

Sigh...

False alarm, it seems. After asking for clarification, they told me that the e-mail was "not about you in this case nor your machine", and apparently the repair will be free of cost.

I'm relieved, but can't help but giggle uncontrollably over this never-ending confusion

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

Good to hear that there is a positive resolution.

[kvirtanen]

Sure is, I hope the outcome of the repair will also turn that way : )