Liquid Damage & Compressed Air

Recently on my T60P I got the fan error, so I used a can of compressed air, on the fan. This did nothing to help fix the problem so I sent the unit in to be repaired. I get a call today telling me that the computer has liquid damage. I know that a little liquid came out of the can when I sprayed it into the fan, but I did not know that this would actually cause liquid damage to the computer.

Anyone have any ideas of what to do at this point?


Beware of compressed air cans!

 

It probably didn't. There have been some notable cases of Solectron (Lenovo warranty provider) claiming liquid damage when none has occurred.

Be polite, but firm that no liquid has been spilled on the unit, and that you expect the warranty to be honored. Get your warranty service, and contact Mark@Lenovo if you experience further problems along the way.

 

Yeah, the warranty company has a bit of a reputation for using "liquid damage" to wash its hands of a repair (pun intended . I suspect that in some cases what they might be referring to is the effect of condensation -- humidity plus components that heat up and cool rapidly when powered down can sometimes cause small drops of condenstation to form in various places.

Personally I think Solectron should provide photos of the alleged liquid damage if they refuse a warranty claim. I bet in nearly all cases any expert will tell you there is no damage.

 

horrible they said they would send me pictures I have not received anything...I guess its time to contact Mark and file a BBB report. This is the only way to get a response from this company. Obviously it is beyond Lenovo/IBM to do what they promise and hope that they can wear down the customer so that they give in. I have been an IBM customer for the past 15 years, I won't be purchasing another one ever again. Its a shame that customer service in this country fails to exist. I guess its a sign of the times.

 

You've went from I didn't know compressed air could damage my notebook to now Lenovo is now horrible and you're ready to chuck them after 15 years?

 

The particular repair company mentioned above is used by more than a few OEMs.

 

I am waiting for some proof that shows liquid damage occured on this computer, the tech promised to send them out but did not.....It seems like Lenovo tries to wear down the customer so that they just end up paying regardless of if proof is furnished or not. I do not have time to chase around elusive tech support reps. IBM has changed for the worse under Lenovo, I guess the customer service industry (in general) has changed. Why buy another IBM/LENOVO when the one competitive advantage they had is now lost?

 

I wouldn't go so fast to blame the OP so quickly. The repair center really should provide the evidence of the liquid damage. Seems like they could be trying to get out of doing the work.

 

Oh, I agree.

I was trying to make the point that it is the repair company mentioned above that decided there was "liquid damage".

And that switching from Lenovo to another brand on the OP's next purchase may still result in him dealing with the same repair center.

 

A little bit of an update, this ended up going to a seperate mitigation department where they look at the components and determine if there was indeed any liquid damage. The inspector determined that there was not any liquid damage, and they ended up repairing the computer....WHAT A HASSLE! I have been without this computer for over a month, I doubt Lenovo will extend my warranty for an additonal month because of this horrific experience. Not to use this as a springboard for another vendor, but recently I purchased a Dell E6400 from Dell Outlet, and the process seems much more streamlined. You are assigned a single individual who makes sure everything runs smoothly through the means of email and phone calls. The wait times are much less. I was very impressed with Dell. I hope Lenovo/IBM take a page out of Dells book and learn how to streamline their processes, as right now its super inefficient and leads to customer frustration.

 

5 years ago I worked for Solectron before they were acquired by Flextronics. For being a multi-billion dollar company, their infrastructure/accounting/systems were way behind the times. Way too many manual processes. I doubt they have significantly improved/fixed their internal systems in the past 5 years.

I purchased the home/onsite warranty for my Lenovo laptop, so fortunately all repairs will be done at my home.

 

I have read a few stories like yours on this site and other laptop sites. Most people are caught off guard with the whole "liquid damage" thing. I don't know what Lenovo is using to check for this kind of damage, but they need to find something more accurate. At least they fixed yours for free. I have read others stories where Lenovo says its liquid damage and the owner has regular(non accident) coverage. Therefore Lenovo says that they are not going to fix the machine for free and the owner needs to pay some ridiculous amount of money(~$700) to get the machine fixed. Happy to hear that your machine is ok now.

 

We all know that people will do these type of things no matter how much you paid for the warranty. They place strips that react and change color i think or give some visual sign that significant water reached that area. I think simple humidity can do it. I know this is what they use in iPods to check for water damage.