Lenovo refusing warranty repair on battery charger port due to damage

[nick1111]

My Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon stopped charging a few weeks ago, so I shipped it to Lenovo for repair under the 1 year limited warranty. I called today to check in on the status, and was surprised to hear that Lenovo is considering this a "billable repair" due to damage to the port from force insert. This seems unfair--wouldn't forced insert on a charging port indiciate a problem with the port in the first place? Has anyone had this experience before? If so, I would appreciate any advice on how to convince Lenovo that they really should do the right thing and repair my faulty hardware. This seems like a convenient "out" for Lenovo to not have to do repairs they should really have to do.

Thanks for the help.

Nick

[richk]

It depends on the kind of damage, and I have a hard time commenting without seeing it.  In my experience, the most common reasons a port gets damaged are that someone tripped over the cord or that someone tried to plug in something inappropriate.  Both of those would be billable.

[nick1111]

Thanks for the response, Rich! Are you at all familiar with how much this kind of repair (typically) costs, or is it super variable?

[richk]

It is certainly variable, and I cannot speak for Lenovo.  (I'm a customer like you.)  I assume that this is a gen 6 or gen 7 carbon, so I looked at the repair manual for both.  It looks to me like the charging port is part of the motherboard.   Repair facilities do not un-solder and replace ports and chips, so it would require a motherboard replacement, so it would likely be expensive.  Sorry.