Lenovo won't honor warranty; options?

I had a defective Lenovo laptop and sent it in for depot repair. They called me and said the repairs were not covered (even though within warranty period; less than a year old), and I would have to pay almost the same amount as a new laptop to repair.

They claim is was "damaged" somehow, and needed a new system board, but it was in working fine went I sent it, except for the screen, which had a small defect.

Has anyone run into this with Lenovo repair? I've always had good service from them, and this shocks me.

I've escalated, but that is a long process, and I seem to be getting no resolution there.

I can only imagine that either UPS damaged the device on transit, or the techs are just trying to scam some extra revenue dollars.

So instead of not having my laptop for a week, this could gone on for weeks/months. Not looking forward to that.

I'm not sure what option to take, but I'm leaning toward disputing the entire credit card transaction for laptop, as the warranty was part of that, and they are not honoring it.

Any other suggestions?

 

I hate to say it, but UPS has a proud history of totally mutilating the items that they ship. I had a desktop sent out for repair from our IT center and when it arrived back (by UPS), the box and the desktop itself looked like it had gone through a hydraulic press.

UPS claimed that not enough packing material was used.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was damaged in shipping, at which point I would encourage you to check UPS's shipping policies and see if there is any sort of guarantee against that.

 

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/deal-discussion/314746

follow some of the stuff above, BBB at a minimum. At this point I would cease all phone contact with them as it eats too much time and you dont' have a record of things. Just do things by email with lenovo. Tell them you did not damge the laptop, and they are responsible under warranty. if they do not repair you will be contacting the BBB to start, and FTC.


this is probably just their policy to save money.

 

UPS and Fedex will do whatever they want with your package as long as it isn't insured. Even if it is insured they are really hard to deal with and must inspect the package for proper packaging. They usually say it isn't packed correctly.

 

When the box and packaging is designed to withstand 100 lbs of weight being dropped on it from 2 feet up, it should be sufficient.

 

Well, it was Lenovo's shipping box and they paid for the shipping, so it would be on them to pursue. I have found with shippers, only the person who paid for the shipping can make a claim, which Lenovo is unlikely to do.

 

Yea, I guess i could go this route. I find disputing a credit card charge is faster toward a resolution. BBB, FTC, etc, are sadly ignored by large companies.

 

I guess also ask how it is damaged because if they can't specify how do you know they aren't cheating you...

But you're right, your CC will likely be the easy protection to resolve this for you.

 

You may wish to contact [email protected]. He has an account here, but you're probably better off doing it on the Lenovo forums. I'd ask for proof of the alleged damage.

 

what exactly did they claim to be damaged??? Spill damage or physical damage??

 

These types of warranty denials seem to be overly frequent from Lenovo and others these days. This is one of the primary reasons why I just wont send in my T60 to get its dead pixels dealt with, since I dont know what is going to be said about the notebook or if it will return in worse condition.

I will PM one of my Lenovo contacts on this board and see if he can provide some assistance.

EDIT: Mark hasnt checked into the forums for a week or so, email might be best with the above address.

 

Depot warranty with Flexitronics/Solectrons/Infinet is driving me up the wall. Their laptop repairing skill is even worse then mine.

 

My machine has on-site, which tends to be better, but since I've swapped most parts in it, the warranty probably doesn't mean much. Except to get a CRU mailed to me.

 

90% of my laptop warranty is onsite, but the fact that i am working in a mine in a middle of nowhere and is security restricted, means that i have to send in the laptop to the depot.