t61p: warranty extension problem

[crg]

Hello:

This is for my friend's laptop.

The warranty on his t61p was expiring Jan 3, 2011. Here is the timeline.

Dec 18, 2010: Purchased 45K6025 from Cost Central: extends warranty from 3 years to 5 years.

Dec 21, 2010: Provides info on laptop (t61p, 6459-CTO, serial) in response to email from Cost Central.

Jan 3, 2011: warranty expires.

Jan 6, 2011: Receives email from Cost Central: "The warranty you are attempting to order is unfortunately the incorrect version for your hardware. Being that you’ve already had 3 years of coverage, there are only 1 and 2 year agreements available. Please let me know if you would like this order canceled or replaced with an option below." Provides choice of post-warranty coverage--more expensive and less coverage.

and when he protested,

"Even at the date in December we were unable to process a 5 year warranty. Due to the 3 years already in place on the order the only option we had was for an additional 1 or 2 years. This information was given to us by Lenovo, I do apologize it took so long for them to get back to us. The options below are the only ones they are able to process for your serial #. If you have any other questions let me know. I would be glad to assist."

This is unfair. Will someone from Lenovo step in and help?

Thanks

[goretsky]

Hello,

Like your friend, the warranty on my own ThinkPad T61p (Machine Type: 6459-CTO) expired recently (28-DEC-2010).  When I went to renew it, the only option was for a one or a two year warranty service extension.

As I understand it, the T61 series was released four years ago in 2007 and replaced the following year by the T400 series in 2008, shortly after which Lenovo stopped selling them.  Given that Lenovo no longer offer the T61 series, I suppose it is expected that they will not offer warranty service beyond 2013 for consumers.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[crg]

He had a 3 year warranty and wanted to extend it to 5 years. So it was a two year extension of the current warranty.

Problem is Lenovo messed up (according to Cost Central) and now wants my friend to buy the post-warranty extension.

[crg]

More from Lenovo--makes no sense to me.

"Ok here is the deal. Even if we would have gotten the order on 12/15 we would not be able to help. This already has an extended warranty on the unit. It says so in the graphic below.  You can not add another extended warranty on top; it has to be a POST warranty, no exceptions. When the customer ordered the computer, if they had the option of a 5 yr they should have chosen it. After 30 days of the original purchase, they can not change the warranty."

[Mark_Lenovo]

crg,

This can be confusing... let me try to explain.   Lenovo systems have a base warranty and the possibility of having 1 extended warranty applied.  A base warranty could be 1 year or 3 years on T61 systems.

There are many different combinations of warranty term (length) and type (depot or onsite service) and combinations of additional services like ThinkPad Protection (TPP).   Extended warranty types containing TPP have some additional time restrictions, but generally an extended warranty can be purchased at any time the base warranty is still in effect.

One cannot add a second extended warranty, and you cannot "stack" them.

Extended warranties run concurrently with the base warranty.  For example, in your friend's case, the particular ThinkPad had a 1 year base warranty and an extended 3 year warranty.  This made the total period from Jan 3, 2008 to Jan 2, 2011 in terms of coverage.  

An extended warranty should not have been sold in this case.   You CAN purchase a post warranty maintenance agreement once a system's warranty expires.   Yes, these tend to be higher priced.

I would advise your friend to get a refund for the 5 year warranty he purchased. 

He could then consider a maintenance agreement. 

Sorry about this!

Mark

[crg]

Thanks Mark. Two questions and one suggestion.

Question 1: When was this restriction on warranties implemented?

Question 2: The 3 to 5 year extension is 41C9280. Is there any any difference in coverage due to it being post-warranty?

Suggestion: I assisted in the purchase of t61p--when choosing between warranties, there is no information available on the constraint you pointed out. I checked a few minutes ago and again there is nothing on the popup (clicking "Help you decide") that points this out. May I suggest adding a prominent note informing customers that they have only one month from the date of purchase to buy an extended warranty?