x300 / crack in screen / no warranty ? [ Edited ]

[Tackelton]

Hey guys,

two weeks ago I discovered a tiny crack in the screen of my x300. I closed the lid the evening before and opened it the following morning and there were colored vertical stripes (by now the screen is just black or white).It's not broken physically, it's just below the surface of the screen. I couldn't help it. It didn't fall to the ground nor did I mishandle it.

Since the laptop is still in warranty I mailed it to Lenovo but they told me that I had to pay $760 (!) for them to repair it.

I bought the laptop back in Germany and the dealer didn't offer me any additional warranty services nor did he inform me that the 3Yr warrant I purchased with the notebook did not cover screen defects whatsoever.

Since I didn't do anything wrong I think this is unacceptable given that I paid 1400 Euros (~$2100) in November 2008.

Is this really not covered by warranty? I have the feeling they just wanted to make it look like it was my fault.

Thanks for any help.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

you could try to escalate the issue with the warranty support and see whether there is any leeway regarding the repair bill. 

[Tackelton]

Thanks for the reply.

I looked around on the internet and found www.sparepartswarehouse.com.

They sell the LCD for $225.00. It would take an additional $65.00 to replace the LCD at their place.

Do you think I could also replace it by myself?

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

you can do it yourself, but if you have never done it before, then it is advisable that you use aftermarket provider (they are probably no expert on this either, but you got warranty so if anything goes bad you can make them do it again, if you break something yourself during DIY no one is going to cover you).

[clupaw]

  You can't simply fix or put back together a cracked LCD. 

  The only option suggested to you it to completely replace the entire LCD.  Also I would not take it to Lenovo there very expensive and a rip off. They wanted $600 !!!!! dollars for my IdeaPad Y650 so I went to online screencountry.com computer store and got it for $70 bucks. 

[mlrtime]

Exact same thing happened to my x300. I bought a top of the line x300 for about $2,500 2 years ago with the 3 year warranty.  I sent it in and they said that the repair was not going to be fixed by warranty.

There are no physical marks of abuse anywhere on the laptop however the screen is distorted with vertical lines.

Thinkpads have gone down hill in quality ever since Lenovo bought them.  They are not worth the premium in cost over dell or hp.

I still prefer the thinkpads but don't fool yourself if you think they are the same from the IBM days.  The warranty service is as bad as any other manufacturer.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

Even IBM Thinkpads had cracked LCD, i mean this is not a problem that is exclusive to the Lenovo Thinkpads.

Obviously, it is not desirable to have a LCD that cracks under normal use. You can post a picture of the actual crack that you are mentioning?

[mlrtime]

I know what you mean, this is not a physical crack.  There are no signs of physical damage.  I'm sure something must have happened to get it into this state, but it was not neglagance by me.  Its a shame Lenovo won't fix this.  Whatever they are saving by not covering my warranty they have lost 10x by my discontinued recomendation of their products.  My extended family and friends have purchased 15 thinkpads in the last 7 years due to my recomendations.  I tell them to save money and go with dell now.

Thanks for listening.

Here is a (bad) pic of my x300's screen:

http://i53.tinypic.com/212blg.jpg

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

The physical dark spot on your LCD, is where the physical crack is and the dark staining is from the liquid crystal leaking out.... and the lines on the LCD indicates a physical damage has occurred around the dark staining...
------------

Regarding voiding the warranty on LCD damages, in many cases you can escalate the issue if you suspect the damage is from defect in manufacturing and/or assembly.

But in your case, it is hard to argue that your LCD damage is from either of those above reasons... it is more indicative of a large pressure been applied in that area.

I don't think Lenovo or HP/Dell for that matter would repair a LCD damage for free, just because customer thinks it is a good idea to do so for their future sales (but obviously if you are from a corporation that uses lot of laptops and hold a position of power, then that could change).

I don't think Dell can do much better in this regard.

[mlrtime]

Like I said, besides the LCD not working there are no physical signs of damage anywhere on the laptop, no cracks no pressure points, nothing.  I did NOT drop the laptop or drop something on it so I don't know how this happened.  I would say it is a manufacturing defect if the LCD of this unit can break so easily, but it is a lot easier for Lenovo and yourself to say it is negligence.  

Lenovo also told me that the mother board needed to be replaced because the NIC was damaged.  It currently works fine as I have the unit hooked up to a plasma.

My brother just called me yesterday asking for a recommendation on a laptop, he bought a dell.