Lenovo's International Warranty is a waste of time!

Hi folks,

Just wanted to let those who are thinking about purchasing - or trying to make a claim on - the Lenovo "International Warranty" what might be in store for them. Warning: lengthy saga of woe follows ...

I purchased a Thinkpad T61P less than a year ago in the USA &, as I knew I was going to be traveling, I purchased the additional extended 3 year "international warranty" plus ez-serv & indeed all available warranty protection that was offered.

Fast forward a few months & I'm in Rio de Janeiro & my laptop dies. No problem I think, good thing I paid for the global coverage. Yeah, right.

I spent two weeks on the phone trying to get someone to even *look* at the laptop. Despite being able to provide full serial number info. etc., personal identification & electronic receipt from Lenovo - they kept insisting that they couldn't be sure I hadn't stolen the laptop & smuggled it into the courntry (all this haggling conducted long distance & in Portuguese!). Eventually, I get so frustrated I take it down to the local authorized service center listed on the Lenovo website - only it doesn't exist! No-one in the building had ever heard of the company...

Another two days on the phone & I locate the authorized Lenovo repair center in the city - & take the laptop in to them. They seem unsurprised. This happens all the time. Being nice friendly brasileiros they accept my laptop & promise to try and get it fixed under the warranty. Except that they face exactly the same problem: Lenovo Brasil do not want to honor the international warranty I purchased in the USA. I call the USA. The folks there are pleasant but claim they can't do anything outside the USA. They refer me to Lenovo in Brazil. Here we go again...

My situation may be unique to Brazil, but somehow I doubt it. Buyer beware

 

Try contacting mark lenovo on these forums. I am not sure how much he can help for international issues, but worth a try.

 

That's amazing. Why should YOU have to prove you didn't smuggle the laptop into Brazil? I thought "innocent until proven otherwise" was a normal way of doing things, whether in the US or in Brazil.

That's just plain BS from Lenovo. If Mark can't help you and they continue to be uncooperative, I would ponder a lawsuit in the US legal system, as that is where you paid for the laptop and warranty.

 

Apparently proving you are not a thief & a smuggler is one of the "terms" of the international warranty! (At least in the case of Brazil)

 

Frankly, I'm amazed by this. Why on earth should one pay for international warranty if one is accused for such things? Sheesh!

 

The galling part is that I've established that I own the laptop - produced the original receipt & provided a copy of my passport etc., etc. - multiple times (they kept claiming they hadn't received it). Now they final concede that it is indeed my laptop & that it is covered by an international warranty.

Great, & it appears that they will replace the motherboard. But it seems that the system files have been corrupted in this process & it will require reloading system software & OS (in my case Vista Ultimate) in order for it to function. They refuse to do this, claiming that international warranty covers only hardware & that I have to get original preload software from Lenovo USA.

 

Claim to the lenovo US corporate customer relations and contact mark if you have not done so already.

 

Wow. I'd expect something like that from Apple Ewrope, but Lenovo? Just wow!

 

This is odd because typically ThinkPads either have or do not have IWS by machine type. I don't believe they allow you to add it later. CTO machines it is my understanding do not have IWS.

If you made the recovery discs, you already have it.

 

That seems unlikely. Did you remove recovery partition? Maybe it didn't get corrupted and you can recover from there. Otherwise someone in Brazil must own a Vista Ultimate dvd. Install it with your licencse and then use lenovo's support website to get all the drivers.

Did the files got corrupted in the process of replacing motherboard? (or when the machine went dead?). Quite unacceptable for them to repair a hardware problem and create a software one

 

Nope, I purchased a 3-year warranty with my CTO machine. I made a full PC back-up (not recovery disks) but apparently they can't my machine to boot far enough to restore it.

 

Unclear when exactly the system files were corrupted - as obviously it wasn't working before or after "repair". If I can't get any satisfaction by Monday, I'm going to take it back & try to fix it myself. So, I may be back here next week looking for advice!

 

What kind is it?

 

May I ask how much you paid Lenovo for this 3-year IAAS (Insults as a service), err.. warranty?

 

For what it's worth, my experience with IWS in Australia has been good for replaceable parts. I bought a t61p in US sometime last year. I've had to replace the HDD and RAM. Both times they sent a courier out with the new part in 1-2 business days.

Obviously this is a far step from a major system failure requiring servicing but I have been impressed so far.

 

guys, what is 'CTO'?

I'm concerned about the extended warranty/IWS as well... intends to order from Lenovo USA and deliver to Singapore. Wonder if Lenovo/Singapore will honour the warranty or not

 

Configure to order. It is my understand that you cannot get a international warranty on a CTO order.