Spilled beer on my X300 | Mein teil [ Edited ]

[AbsintheSyringe]

This is also my story with X300.

I have 4 notebooks at the moment, two are Toshiba other two are Thinkpads. I dreamed about X300, it just amazed me, and after I got it, paid loads of cash for it (I paid in cash) ~2400 euros, after I rejected the fact that I'll get Windows with it, since I'm basically "pushing" towards Debian development, otherwise the "original" cost would be ~2500 euros.

I order it via Genelec (Tuzla, Bosnia | www.genelec.ba | official dealer), wait for it for less than 2 weeks, got it, paid full price in cash.

Now I get my X300, I'm amazed and all, first I notice one weird thing, battery is not as it "noted" everywhere else, every week it's losing 5 minutes of its battery life, in the end I get with something as 2:45-40, please do take the fact that I compile my own kernel and that I optimize it to the maximum, but ... that's the story.

Tried many methods, "blank it" out to ... whatever it didn't help, but I had idea of getting a new battery and in the meantime 128GB SSD came out, so it was in my future plans, some day. Anyways, pretty much everything was great and I was actually considering of switching to Thinkpad for good.

Also please note, that I also read on many occasions that X300 is pretty much "un-soakable",  I took this information pretty seriously cuz I'm bit clumsy and I tend to spill stuff on my notebooks, every single one I had in my life eventually had the same faith. Ways of faith eh?

Nevertheless, I did the "standard" procedure when you spill something on your machine (got some experience on this issue, from previous accidents) so after it got all dry I saw that my keyboard just won't cooperate. I took it to the dealer I get it from (Genelec) they sent it to Lenovo in Sarajevo. (I'm currently residing in Tuzla) I even talked to one of the guy from Lenovo, told about everything that happened, he said they'll need to order new keyboard, I said I want English layout keyboard (instead of Bosnian/Croatian one, I previously had) he told me it'll be ~150+ euros, since things like this one (spilling stuff) isn't covered by my warranty, and it's that expensive since they'll have to order it from London and X300 is "special" series.

Sure, I said no problem, just get it fixed, also to check my battery, cuz I believe there's something wrong with it. Weeks later I got information that they have ordered keyboard, and that it has arrived, but that they'll have my notebook ready till they also get a new battery, in the end it was faulty battery or something and that battery will be covered by warranty.

I had the same problem with this laptop I'm typing this from (Toshiba L100-121) I had same problem while I was on DebConf7 in Edinburgh, except it was juice. So it was not my "native location", but all I did is I contacted nearest Toshiba Centre, they only asked for serial number, problems were greater, they had my both display and keyboard fixed all under warranty, as I remember I had only to pay some symbolic ~50 euros, and we do know how much displays cost; and it was fixed within days.

Now, I'm at point where I can't (I really don't have any energy left regarding this issue) to either contact Genelec service, people I know from Genelec, or Lenovo Sarajevo, this is really my last resort, going public. I handed this notebook on 12th November last year, you can check it yourself on the receipt, now the only question I got for Lenovo is, is this how you treat your customers? In just a couple of days it'll be 2 months, and you couldn't change the keyboard in ~60 days? To be quite frank with you, I find that fascinating.

http://foolcontrol.org/img/x300%20receipt.JPG

My second question is, what is the time period in which I can request my full money back fee, 3 months, 6 months? Ever? Please don't mind my bitter tone in this post, but frustration would be a lite word how I feel right now.

Regards,

Adnan

Message Edited by AbsintheSyringe on 01-05-2009 02:43 PM

Message Edited by AbsintheSyringe on 01-05-2009 02:48 PM

Message Edited by AbsintheSyringe on 01-05-2009 03:59 PM

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

i don't think spilling stuff is covered under normal warranty.... Apart from Toughbooks and Dell's imitation of Toughbooks, laptops usually can't stand much liquid being poured on them.......... if you are prone to spilling stuffs and such, you should get the accidental protection cover, which covers these sort of mishaps........

But anyway, liquid and electronics usually are a bad mix....  each company have their own specific warranty terms and costs for repairs, don't think it is comparable......

[AbsintheSyringe]

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lead_org wrote:

i don't think spilling stuff is covered under normal warranty.... Apart from Toughbooks and Dell's imitation of Toughbooks, laptops usually can't stand much liquid being poured on them.......... if you are prone to spilling stuffs and such, you should get the accidental protection cover, which covers these sort of mishaps........

But anyway, liquid and electronics usually are a bad mix....  each company have their own specific warranty terms and costs for repairs, don't think it is comparable......

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It isn't covered, I'm fine with that, I noticed that in my post, it's all fine. ~150 euros? Here just give me back my notebook, but 2 months and still haven't got my notebook? That's something I can't catch up with.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

regarding the slow repair process that is something for the Lenovo people to sort out, nothing that the forum member can do much about other than to show our sympathy...

[AbsintheSyringe]

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lead_org wrote:
regarding the slow repair process that is something for the Lenovo people to sort out, nothing that the forum member can do much about other than to show our sympathy...

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Thank you for your sympathy, but I'm really not here for sympathy of any sort, I'm here for at least some kind of apparent solution to my problem. 

I thought, at least some of the Lenovo employees hung around here, but I guess I was wrong. I just called Lenovo Sarajevo, and as I understood I talked to some manager or something, and guy who worked on my x300 should call me tomorrow, he finished his working hours for today when I called. 

And in case some of the Lenovo employees does read this, your machines are working beyond great, but once it gets to human factor, this is where you miserably fail. Try working on this factor.