W500 screen repair follow-up. hmmm

I posted a thread a little less than a week ago regarding a defective display on my new W500 and a clanky flexy keyboard.
I received my laptop back this morning and here are my impressions:
Disturbingly good turnaround time: called costumer service 3 days ago at around 2PM, prepaid box arrived the morning after and was shipped out by me the same day, laptop came back a couple days later early in the morning. very impressive!
My display was replaced with a new Samsung one (42T0574) and is now flawless.
according to the service record I got with the laptop the keyboard was also replaced with a Chicony (42T4066) which feels smoother and less clanky but still suffers of some flex, especially at the left side of it.

I'm missing my favorite thinkpad pointer cap I had sent with my laptop and never got back lol (they had the default cap on with the newly replaced keyboard), I'll call Lenovo and I'm sure they'll send me a replacement one for free...

All could have been perfect if it wasn't for the following: there is a very minor scuff on the lid of the laptop damaging some of the rubberized finish.
I would have been fine with that but there are also several visible scratches on the faceplate of the laptop around the keyboard area.
the circle plastic seals used to reveal the screws of the display are deformed and warped from being taken out with a screwdriver (couldn't they just stick in new ones after repairing the screen?)
on a much more "anal" note, there are also a couple of juicy and oily fingerprint smudges on the screen.

I'm very protective of my equipment and my 2 year old X61 still looks brand new and indistinguishable from brand new.
Why Lenovo, why...
I'm not going to make a big deal out of this as I need this laptop up and running and could live with these blemishes.

Question, will I experience a significant improvement if I switch from the current Chicony keyboard to the NMB? what is the part number I should be looking for? the only issue I have with the current keyboard is just teh flex on the left side of the keyboard, will I not experience it with the NMB?

Thanks all

 

I think you will experience the same flex if you go to NMB as it is the result of the new weight saver(aka swiss cheese) keyboard backplate, not the brand/manufacturer. You can however replace the keyboard with a T61 keyboard and get the old solid feeling back, since the T61 keyboard uses the sold backplate.

As far as your service, well things in all industries are not as good as they used to be. Quality is disappearing with lower prices that are charged and companies cutting every corner they can to stay in business. Competing on price is a loosing game and all companies are playing it. I think over all you cam out well. I have heard some people have machines returned to them with screws missing and things rattling in the inside when the machine is shook. Can you say maraca-pad

Not acceptable and would make me upset too as I want my machines to be perfect also, but don't know what to say...

 

Thanks for your reply Snake!
I had a word with their repair reps today and gave them a piece of my mind. Lenovo is sending me the NMB 42T3143, I believe that it's the T61 one you're talking about (the non heavily perforated one).
The more I examine the laptop, the more blemishes I find on it, including an unalignment of the faceplate of the screen that I'm not even going to mess around with.
I told the rep over the phone that I'm not sending this laptop over there again as I really need it as a work tool (freelance industrial designer) and he told me I could look up a service center in my area and have it fixed locally. and faster on the spot. luckily there's one 20 minutes away from whre I live.
I'm going to go next week and have the outer lid (scratched with a possibility of a crack causing a misalignment), wristpad faceplate, speakers faceplate and display faceplate replaced.
Just thinking about that list makes me so upset, especially when I think of my year and half old X61 which hasn't got a single blemish on it at all.
Just took this this W500 out of the box less than a week ago, it has probably not even been on for more than 1 hour total...sheesh

Have had 4 Thinkpads I will always swear by, I had never had to take advantage of the warranty except for this time and it's a shame that the service I experienced is not on par with the Thinkpad quality standard I had learnt during the years...

 

Post updated with images, some scratches were hard to capture with the camera so I gave up on those.

At least they didn't scratch the screen... the greasy fingerprints were managed to be wiped off...

 

Hope you get it worked out. I really wish lenovo would have greater QC on their in house repairs. They provide pretty decent support for consumer replaceable parts and are generally wiling to help over the phone, just they need to have higher standards for the outsourced repair work :\.

 

That sucks man.
Hope Lenovo repair/replace your machine. Seriously I would've done a better job than a supposedly 'Lenovo certified technician'.

 

Thinkpads are cheaper in all senses than the IBM models of old, except possibly for their special s models.

 

I will make sure those bezels/faceplates will be replaced!
I asked them to send the parts over so I could do it myself but they said those were not user replaceable parts and I would have to either ship it back to them (hmm I think not) or just take it to one of their service centers which I will next week.

 

I can also tell the difference between the older IBM Thinkpads and the newer ones. But I still think that they are on a league of their own (at least for me) and no fancy sleek looking computer comes close to what I get from my Thinkpads.
The original Samsung screen was defective and had to be replaced, it happens. it's only the quality of service I have a major concern with.
This was the first time I had to put a Thinkpad warranty to use and I really hope there's not going to be another time (I would be personally going to the service center if I have to).

 

Most of here know that and acknowledge it. We still wish there was more focus given to the quality of repair services. I think that is something we'd be willing to pay a little more for. But all in all, business warranties are much better than consumer grade laptops so I am still usually happy.

 

Now that I think about it, I actually think that might be a reason for the type of service I received.
As Thinkpads are generally classified as business laptops, perhaps less attention to detail on the cosmetic level is put in their repair labs.
I'm sure mine isn't the first to come back from a repair with new scratches but perhaps the average thinkpad user doesn't notice those much and is mostly concerened about the functionality.

I can't see a Macbook coming back from a repair like mine did, all hell would break loose...
I wonder how many complaints like mine Lenovo actually gets.

 

Got the replacement keyboard today and even though I was promised the NMB kind (I verified the FRU on the part order number with the rep), I got another flimsy Chicony...
just ogt off the phone with them to find out that after placing the order one of their managers reverted it back to a Chicony for unknown reasons (couldn't get a straight answer).
The rep said a formal sorry and had put the NMB keyboard back on order for me.

When will they learn...