My Terrible Exp. w/ Lenovo Laptop

I would not recommend getting a Lenovo laptop! I purchased one and used it for over a year without incident. Then it suddenly crapped out on me without warning or with any particular reason whatsoever (I use it only for writing and routine internet surfing.) It was suddenly impossible to start the operating system. I had purchased the 3 year warranty (luckily or I would have completely out of the laptop in less than 2 years!) so I had to call in and after waiting, was told that I could send the computer in and they would repair it. But all my data was lost - unless I wanted to recover it at my own expense within 30 days (because if I didn't send them the old hard drive in 30 days, they were going to charge me for it. They also didn't even notify me of this time limit until I asked how I could my data back!)
So they sent me a box, and I had to pack the computer in the box and ship it back out (paid for them.)
I received it back in a timely manner and started it up. It worked, and then I discovered that the wireless card was missing from the computer. I had to call back and start up a whole new service order even though this was clearly part of the same problem. Once again, they said I would have to send it back in to be repaired. So I waited again for another box, repacked it, sent it back.
I received the computer back again, and restarted the computer. It works, the wireless card is there, but then a week or so later, I find that the whole Microsoft Suite of Word, Excel, Access, etc. is gone. So I have to call again! The 1st person I talk to apologizes, and promises it will be fixed, and another person will contact me. After a few days, this other person contacts me and says the opposite - that he is not going to do anything about it, that it is my problem.
So, now I have to purchase Microsoft Word again because in the process of repairing my harddrive Lenovo is incapable of keeping the rest of the programs intact.
In sum, if I had not bought the 3 yr warranty, I would have been out of the Laptop 100% in under 2 yrs (without any misuse or abuse of the computer by me), and even with the warranty, I lost all my data and Microsoft suite (both to be put back only at my expense.) Keep in mind too that I only use the computer for Word and the Internt so I don't even know if they also removed other things that I just don't use.
So I would NOT recommend buying a Lenovo laptop! (and I have had one for 7 years and will never buy one again)

 

I'm sorry to hear about your loss, but I highly advise you to purchase an external hdd to use to back up files regularly. As for MS Office, if you purchased it shouldn't you have a disk to reinstall it? Or if you got it through Microsoft Online you should be able to give them a call and they will have the records of the transaction.

Also, did you buy an Ideapad or a Thinkpad? I found it odd that you had to pay to have the system shipped to the repair depot. Lenovo (my experiences are with Thinkpads) usually sends a box overnight with a shipping label to send it back (i.e. no expense to you).

As for the wireless card not being there that too is unfortunate. Probably sloppy work when they put the system back together but Lenovo did rectify the problem.

To me, it seems like Lenovo held up their end of the warranty deal. Your computer is working again,, and after you get MS Office back on there it should be back to the way it was before whatever problem you had.

 

Seconded. Sorry to hear about your experience, but no manufacturer is responsible for your failing to perform regular backups.

 

While this is unfortunate for you, this is not really a direct issue of lenovo. If the hard drive failed there are way too many variables to say it is X manufacturers fault. You are free to judge lenovo on your warranty experience though. But hard drives do die.

 

Sorry for the problems you are going through. From your post its not clear if the problem was with the harddrive? If it wasn't I thought you didn't have to send in the harddrive when the machine is serviced?

 

I have to agree with the others here. Your experience with the computer and its hard drive is all too common, and occurs among all manufacturers. Now that you are getting back on track, buy an external drive and make regular backups to save yourself frustration in the future. If you bought MS Office you have a right to a copy, follow up with whomever it was purchased from. Check your materials, manuals and etc. as the disk may be among them.

 

I also think you should buy an external drive and make regular backups of your data. Because a hard disk is a mechanical device, the question is "when will it fail?". Some will fail sooner than others, although manufacturers aim for a 3-5 year constant on 24/7 lifespan.

 

It is my understanding that most notebook manufacturers contract out their repairs--and many to the same contractor (I won't mention the name). You can switch notebook companies but may find the repair service identical regardless.

As to what is on your hard drive (both programs and data), all computer companies consider this the customer's responsibility. Really.

 

Your data = your responsibility. This is EVERY vendor's policy.

Lenovo didn't make the hard drive that went into your computer. It was probably made by Fujitsu, Seagate, or Hitachi. No matter which vendor makes the drive, all drives have a chance of failing down the line --they have moving parts. For that reason, you should always back up any important data. Blaming Lenovo for the loss of your data is like blaming a refrigerator manufacturer because when the power went out last weekend, your ice cream got all melty.

Secondly --where did you get your copy of Microsoft Office? Usually when you purchase a copy, you get reinstall media for it.

The wifi card not being installed is definitely the fault of the servicer who fixed your laptop --however, it is a contractor for Lenovo, and mistakes do occasionally happen. If the second repair got you your wifi card back and the hardware works fine, then you're doing well. An inconvenience to be sure, but something made right. Note also that you probably had the chance to purchase onsite service as part of your warranty, and if you did not, then shipping your system in is standard operating procedure.

 

1. So you can't start the OS. Well, have you even tried backing up your data in the first place by unplugging your HDD and placing it in an external HDD enclosure so you can extract your data files from it to another HDD?

2. Vendor repairs to HDD certainly does NOT include installation of software other than those that originally came with the machine. Ask yourself: didn't you have to install your application software AFTER you purchased the machine. So YOU have to install your own Office or any other applications from YOUR Office DVD/CD, just like what you did when you received your new laptop.

 

Agreed to the above poster, you should've investigated prior to sending the machine if your data could be salvageable, over the years of using mechanical hard drives I've had only one Hitachi start failing but all the data was retrievable and then I proceed to make the warranty for a replacement drive.
It's unclear what happened in your situation, whether the HDD totally crashed and was unaccesible (mostly a power on error that would not power up the drive, in this case yes, you're at loss of all your data), but if simply when you stated "It was suddenly impossible to start the operating system." means the OS was not able to load properly with some kind of corruption or missing system files then the error would've been easily recoverable simply using recovery media or the OS repair console (XP/VISTA have those available).

Sometimes there's a learning curve, and Lenovo should not be the one to blame if you lost all your data. In the first place, you should've diagnosed whether the HDD was dead (no powering up on external device or hearing it spinning inside your Thinkpad) or just a corruption of the OS system files. Generally Lenovo only ask you to ship your Thinkpad with your HDD on it if this is the defective piece of hardware that needs to be replaced, if the HDD was operational, but Windows unable to restart because of corruption (In can happen for example when there's sudden loss of power and you have no battery pack the HDD becomes unaccesible but it can be recovered using the CHKDSK function plugging the HDD in another drive).

So my advice would be to inform you well on how hardware works and also to get an external SATA to USB case just in case your OS 'fails' so you can determine if the HDD is really dead or not.

 

I agree that if it was just a HDD issue it would have been better if Lenovo sent a new harddrive. But if it wasn't, that's what's warranties are for.

Also agree that any data is the user's responsibility.

Also I also agree that if it had a legit copy of Office on it the user should have been able to install Office again and not purchase a new one.

But, the sloppy repair work and leaving out the WiFi card is inexcusable. I hope the OP did not need to pay for shipping on that one. It is good that Lenovo owned up to the mistake and fixed it without issues but still it should never happen. Ever. No excuse. It doesn't matter if repairs are contracted out. It is still Lenovo's responsibility. If someone hired me to do a job and I contracted it out to someone who did poor work it would still be my responsibility. I would be very mad about that and feel that any company that cares about their customer would do something additional to make up for the mistake. The mistake alone would be enough to tell people not to buy from Lenovo. I guess it happens so often with so many companies these days that we have become accustomed to poor service.

Anyway, I'm the same way with Toshiba products. I've had a Toshiba laptop, TV and DVD player and all of them just stopped working one day soon after their warranties expired. It's probably not the norm, but I no longer touch Toshiba and always tell people not to buy Toshiba.