Lenovo/IBM Warranty Techs

Hi everyone,
So on Thursday I get a call telling me that since the laptop seems to be tampered with. Since the motherboard (which is under warranty) was the main problem it will be covered by the warranty. However, the Atheros card and wiring inside of the laptop are faulty and seemed to be tampered with.
Fixing this issue would set me back $350.
I told the gentleman that I can't justify a WiFi card costing me $350.
That I would just buy a USB one or a PMCIE card.
F*ing Rip Off.
Asides from that, they had my laptop for 3 weeks while they waited for the system board to get to them.
ARGHHHH!

 

Did you tamper with it?

 

I did tamper with the laptop. I opened it and put it back together. However, I sent it in because of a mobo issue, not a Wi-Fi issue. The Wi-Fi was/is working perfectly.
Not to mention that IBM locks in their Wi-Fi and WWAN cards so you have to upgrade from them directly.
they place a BIOS lock on these type of items that do not let you boot to Windows.
ERROR 1802.
ARGHHH!!!
I still love my lappie. But those little things are heavily making me reconsider my recommendations.
I had a m1210 for 2 yrs and never had an issue with it. I managed to replace everything in that laptop.
I get the IBM laptop and the SD slot jams with certain types of card.
The Mobo locked when setting up the Security.
You can't upgrade the Wi-Fi because they have a bios lock.

 

Can you tell them to just do warranty repair and leave the rest of it alone?

 

I wonder if they even tested the wifi, or if they just noticed it was tampered with. Maybe it still works?

 

I did. I told them that I only wanted them to replace the Mobo, and I would have bought a USB Wi-FI card. But just the fact that they wanted to charge me $350 for replacing the antenna and Wireless card is outstanding. Not to mention that it works perfectly.

 

Hmmmm...but I wonder if faulty wiring on a card plugged into the MB could bring the MB down. Now that they have documented it - probably no more MB replacements if it does. If you are going to use another adapter anyway, at least make sure they leave the Atheros card out (not installed). I also wonder if you could get the Atheros card fixed by an Intel tech, since it was functional to begin with.

 

I had to get my systems board replaced too and I had to wait several weeks because it was backordered from China. (Not that it fixed the problem.) Wonder if Lenovo is really bad with Just in Time stock/management or there's been an unexpected surge in the need to replace systems board/motherboards.

 

wait I don't get it, shouldn't you be happy that your mobo was under warranty? I would thought inserting your own wireless card would expire your warranty...

 

I didn't leave the WiFi card that didn't work in there. What's the point of leaving it there if it doesn't work?
I replaced it with the 3945. I wanted to replace it with the 4965.
So it was as if no one touched it.
Still upset at the fact that they wanted to replace something that works for $350.
That to me is poor service.
I could rewire the whole thing and buy a Wifi card for $80 or just buy a USB card for $40.