My disappointing experience with the Lenovo A1 Ideapad tablet

[Alan502]

As a student who lives on a scholarship I had saved for several months to buy a Lenovo ideapad A1 tablet. After having shipped it from the United States I felt satisfied with its Android system and several features it offered. I felt happy with it, until 3 months after buying it. I turned it on one morning expecting to read the daily news and I noticed 2 violet colored horizontal lines and a cyan colored horizontal line that were stuck in the display all the time. Logically, what I did is to call the Lenovo technical support given that I had bought it only very recently. To my surprise, I was told that the Lenovo A1 tablet does not come with any kind of warranty on the screen at all. And even more frustrating was to know that the replacement of such screen is $200-$300 ; that's even more expensive than buying another tablet! How is this possible when LCD screens are one of the products which have most problems at the manufacturing process?

[kaorisdad]

I would ask to speak to a supervisor, because my LCD screen was just replaced under warranty when my Home/Menu/Back touch buttons wouldn't work.

[magnus33]

Likewise.

Mines in the shop and they have replaced everything except maybe the case and that's probably next...lol

I am guessing the person you talked to had no clue.

[Alan502 · Accepted solution]

Thanks. I have sent my tablet to repair (it didn't even turn on a couple of days ago) so I am now waiting for them. I have had good experiences with lenovo's service center before, I hope they can fix it

[Helena]

Hello - I got an A1 as a gift  and with in 2 months of owning it , the exact same thing happened with mine. I woke up one day, went to check my calendar and it had those horizontal lines at the bottom and top of my LCD. 

I am very disappointed as I can only think that it is some sort of design flaw in all A1's .  People speak about having no warranty with their A1- What about the 1 year warranty that it comes with?  My other frustration is that I sent my A1 off to the Lenovo repair center. You are suppose to be able to check the status of standing orders on their web site. I have been trying to check the status of my repair for over a week and I just get a generic massage telling me the site is updated every 4 hours and to check back later.   I have no idea what the problem is.  It makes me think that both the repair center and the website are overwhelmed by unexpected use because a lot of Lenovo consumers are unhappy with their experience. I know I am.  I have sent emails to the depot - asking for a Rep. to email me with an update on what is taking so long with my order- nothing. 

I was totally excited to get  my A1 and had much higher hopes for its durability and performance stability. I had no idea it was built as a 1 off that if something goes wrong you are expected to throw it away and buy another.  Why else would most owner's be saying that they don't have any type of warranty?

[Helena]

have you been able to check the status of your repair on the Lenovo website using your order # ? I can't get through, they have had my A1 for a long time.

[Alan502]

Hey Helena. Thanks for posting that you had the same problem. Perhaps that way people will think about spending their money in a better way before buying the a1.

I sent my tablet to repair and it took them 4 working days until I could check on the website with the case number. However, it is now "on hold due to a service parts shortage." I will call tomorrow (exactly one week after it arrived the service centre) to know if they can give me an estimated time.

Cheers.

[magnus33]

So was mine for a month and a half.

Got to the point where there was no eta on it being fixed and they finally agreed to replace it with a new one.
Or if they no longer have it in stock which is quite possible the next model comparable to it.

[Helena]

I finally got mine back it turns out it was lost with in Fedx. I guess they use only Fedx and as you might know fedx does not mail to P.O. Boxes. Even though Lenovo had my physical address they for some unknown reason chose to use my po box , leading to serious problems with Fedx, they were about to put my computer in the unclaimed catagory. Again another mystery as to why customer service is so unorganized.

[Alan502]

Update: About two weeks and a half after sending my tablet to the repair center (and calling the center almost every other day) they sent my tablet back. They changed the motherboard and screen. Took a little bit long and some effort but I have it back finally!!