is it unreasonable to request an exchange for a defective machine?

I just received a new Y730 and it was defective right out of the box (keyboard problems and the DVD drive doesn't work). I want to exchange the machine for a new one since it arrived that way. Of course, Lenovo wants me to send it in to have it fixed. So I'm just curious, do you think I'm making an unreasonable request to want to exchange it for a new one? What would you do - just send it in to be fixed or push to have it exchanged?

 

I would most definately push for an exchange! Say it's DOA (dead on arrival).
Say you are not confident that the same issues or different may appear after the fix.

Good luck

 

tell them you
- use the machine 12+ hours a day
- make money using the machine (like programmer)
- cannot tolerate downtime
- have people in the same office, doing similar work etc. that are looking into buying laptops before Christmas, etc. and this will affect their decision

Whaddya know? The above may all be true

 

Unfortunately, I've called multiple times already and they know my story. But I am a programmer and most of my friends do consult their geek friend (me) when buying computers. Lenovo's not doing themselves any favors here.

They've actually setup a pretty clever good cop/bad cop system between support (good cop) and sales (bad cop). The support people have been very friendly and have tried to be helpful but they aren't allowed to process returns so they transfer you to sales. The sales people are not so friendly and tell you that you can return it for a 15% restocking fee or call support back to get it repaired. And you go round in circles indefinitely until they finally break you down and you send in the machine for repair. I'm dizzy already.

I can understand their position from a business point of view but I'm a little surprised by their level of inflexibility. This thing came out of the box with 2 pretty major defective parts. So between not trusting the build quality of this machine and not trusting the repair department, I really would rather have a new one. I guess that's the drawback of ordering online. If you get this in a store and it doesn't work when you get home, you take it back and exchange it for a new one.

 

I agree with you 100% - any company that has any care for customers at all will stand behind their products, and give you a refund or a new machine to replace the DOA one. Offering to fix it is not professional at all. I'm really hoping the T400 I ordered is perfect, so that I don't have to deal with this kind of thing.

Even companies I used to like a lot, like Palm, have done similar things. I bought a Palm Tungsten T2 from them some years ago, and the touchscreen, - after about 6 months - was permanently miscalibrated and could not be calibrated correctly. Thousands of people had this happen to them, many called Palm about it, but Palm refused ever to admit they had a general faulty touchscreen problem; instead, they offered people refurbs of the same model, most of which had the same problem.

- Tim

 

if you purchased with a credit card, return it then dispute the 15% Restock fee with the CC company. If the product is not what you ordered (i.e., a working ocmputer), then I think the CC company will side with you.

 

Here's what Mark had to say about the exact steps to follow in these situations:

Mark's Advice About DOA Systems

 

my take on this is that the repair facility here in the US would do a better job than the manuf. fac. in China

hmm, how could you make sure you get a thorough system check before they ship it back after repairs, though, I wonder...

 

escalate the issue, ask to speak with a supervisor. Lenovo's customer service is so disappointing. I had similar customer service issues with Dell last year(they used to have really good CS about 4 years ago). I guess when they become the top gun of the industry. They become arrogant fools, don't give a **** about their customers anymore.

 

Yeah I had this same issue (must pay restocking fee, no exchange possible). I just needed a working computer so I sent it in for repair. I bought a 3 year warranty with this thing so I'll keep it for that amount of time but this is going to be the last lenovo I ever buy.

I did complain about this issue on the lenovo blog and mark emailed me. I thought I'd see if lenovo would be willing to put their best service foot forward so I didn't really push the issue with him; he was never really proactive about resolving this so I don't know how far he normally escalates these things, but give it a shot.

 

I wonder why they call it a "restocking fee".

What the hell are they going to restock, anyway? Sell a non-working, used machine to someone else??

- Tim

 

Yeah, exactly. Someone told me I should say that there should be no restocking fee because they can't restock a non-working computer, but I doubt that line would work since it's not on the decision tree that pops up on their screens.

 

Did you send Mark the info he requested, and do you know that he got it?

 

Yeah, I sent him the case #s and order # and stuff. I don't know if the email went through but I didn't get a bounce back or anything.

 

I ordered a T500 CTO notebook that arrived with display distortion on the ATI adapter. The issue persisted on external displays as well. Diagonal lines of pixel movement on grey99, lawngreen, and any off-white. You could really notice it if you tipped the screen forward away from you, but straight-on all it did was cause contrast issues for calibration. I've had better luck with the Eye One on cheap desktop TN panels (Envision, yuck) than the Lenovo to get the gamma and colors right. The Intel adapter was fine. After a half hour conversation with support I was informed that only "the gold team" is trained to diagnose the problem and I should call back the next day. The first gold team member I spoke with, insisted that I should send it in for depot service and that it would not affect my return in any way. I should have contacted sales, don't make the same mistake I did. There was miscommunication between support and Selectron, and that took an extra 3 days of playing phone tag with Lenovo to resolve. Selectron, was supposed to call me if they required any more information, but never did. Finally, after everyone was on the same page, it took 8 days for them to get my notebook back to me. Upon receiving my repaired T500, I booted it up to find the problem still existing. I looked at the repair sheet, and system board/planar was indeed checked. At first I thought Selectron just screwed me and didn't do anything to my notebook. But then I started to hear a high-pitched noise coming from the machine whenever the ATI adapter was in use, that was not there before. Needless to say, I contacted sales to try to return the item. It took multiple days of calling back and being persistent, threatening to return the product and just have my credit card company do a charge back on the 15%, but finally I had a supervisor send me an E-Mail with RMA information, and no restocking fee. The real trouble was I had the system over 21-days, despite what support told me about it not affecting my return policy (time period for return or otherwise)

Pretty much, buyer beware on Lenovo these days. But to recap, if you push them hard enough on a defective unit, as you'd expect, there is no restocking fee. I've since confirmed on a third T500 (a friend's brand new machine) that the display distortion persists. Originally I'd say I just got a bad sample, but three different system boards? Ouch. At least his doesn't have a high-pitched whine though. IBM was awesome, this Lenovo group, leaves a lot to be desired.

 

Sometimes it takes several days for Mark to get responses from others. Send him a PM - preferably on the Lenovo forum but he can be reached here at mark@lenovo. At any given time, he's juggling several hundred PMs and e-mails from the forum or the blog. And then there's his day job.

 

why can't everyone just be like mark? how do lenovo train their workers?

 

Well, Mark is a machine - I don't think he sleeps! ;-)

Actually, Mark is a project manager in Lenovo's Social Media area and a pretty driven guy.

 

Thanks for the link. I never thought about asking for a one time on-site repair. Depending on how it goes next time I talk to them I might propose that as a compromise. At least then I could ask the tech some questions and make sure it works right before s/he leaves.

 

How was your experience sending in your laptop for repair? Did everything go ok?

 

The sales guy I spoke with was actually trying to give me some sob story about how they can't sell the machine to another customer so they charge a restocking fee. I had to call him out on that. They'll fix it (maybe) and sell it as a refurb and take a small hit on the price. Well you know what? If you sell working equipment, they won't get sent back! Instead, they'd rather waste enough of both of our time that it will end up costing us both more and then even if I get it repaired, they'll still have to pay shipping and repair. Plus they've pissed off a customer that will not buy from them in the future or recommend them. Is it worth it in the end? I guess they've decided it is. It will catch up to them sooner or later.

 

I wholeheartedly agree.
However, harping at the sales guys seldom helps (not that anybody said they did).
Speaking politely, firmly, and with prior knowledge of the issue got me the farthest so far.

But heck, yea, ***? They figured they could sell these things just because they are black or something, I suppose...

 

Yes and no...

Yes, they changed the motherboard so it would boot up. No because when I got it back, the left side of the keyboard was bulging up and the lower right side of the LCD bezel was bulging as well.

Man, I might just call and try to get a full refund tomorrow. I think settling for this makes me a total sucker.