Just a year ago I purchased a Lenovo Thinkpad 530E, a popular model I believe. Because, as a teacher, I depend on my laptop every day, I purchased it with a 2-year next day, on-site warranty.

On Monday June 10th my Lenovo laptop failed. Online I checked that my warranty was valid and called the support centre. Within 10 minutes the fault was diagnosed, the availability of the part was confirmed and an order placed. I was told that on late Tuesday or early Wednesday a technician would call me to arrange the onsite replacement. I was vocal in my praise at the efficiency of Lenovo.

On Wednesday morning about 11a.m., because that call hadn't come, I again checked with the support line. Long pause. I was told there had been a Lenovo system failure, sorry, it sometimes happens. For some reason the man on the end of the line asked for my current working address so the part could be delivered directly to me. I asked for further information within the hour.

About later I received a call from another service representative to say that a new order had been created because the original address given on Monday was wrong. The new order number was given to me. I replied that there had never been an address error - which is true, but I had been asked to supply another one. I asked to hear back from somebody who could tell when the repair would actually be done.

That evening, driving home, a notice was posted on my cell phone at 5:07p.m., repeating the statement that an incorrect address had been given, a new order made, but that “they do have a technician coming out there tomorrow”. (I have a recording of this call).

Next morning on Thursday 13th, at about 10a.m. I again called the support centre to check on progress. I asked all the obvious questions such as how, if the part was available on Monday was it not deliverable, from where was it coming, where was it now, who could I contact locally, why was I told there was an incorrect address when this was untrue. Because the representative could not answer these questions, she promised to contact me back within the hour and received the following reply:

This is C____  and I was just providing the follow-up information from our call.

I was looking and doing some additional research when i noticed that the location that your part is being shipped from is being flown from Sydney, Australia to a pickup point near Auckland,New Zealand. The location in New Zealand is where the Field Service Technician will pick up the part and contact you to set up an Estimated Time of Arrival for the repair of your machine.

Once again, I can not promise that you will be serviced today, I can only promise that I will do my best to get you service as soon as possible.

Thank You for all of your Cooperation!

Lenovo Think Team

Next day, Friday 14th, not having heard anything from anybody I called yet again and talked again at length with yet another representative. She confirmed there had not been an address problem but it was a system error which, she said, sometimes happens. She said there was no sign that the part was on its way or had been ordered. She promised to call me back with further information. Late afternoon I received a call from her to say that the part had now been located and would be delivered on Wednesday (that is today, the 19th June, one week late).

I didn't think it appropriate to call on Monday 17th or Tuesday 18th. After all a definite answer had been given.

However today, I called again to be told that no part was on its way but the order was on backlog with no ETA. I was told that maybe they had run out of parts and more had to be manufactured. !!!! For a popular model?

Do I give up? Maybe I should just wait a few days or will it be a few weeks? I don’t think I can submit to the torture by service centre again.

Anyway the issue is what a one-day on-site Lenovo warranty really means. Also, how is it possible for a Support Centre for a leading computer manufacturer to get it wrong so often, to be unable to answer the most basic of questions, to be unable to keep accurate records and, most of all, not to be able to contact a customer immediately a problem occurred or to keep them informed of progress e.g. by email – like most other companies do. (They were in possession of 2 phone numbers as well as my email.)

Is a Lenovo warranty more like a lottery ticket - only useful if you’re lucky?

Finally, maybe I am naïve, but I would also have thought that a company of the position of Lenovo in the marketplace would have a fall-back position in the case of inability to honour a warranty. What about a loan computer into which my hard drive could be put, for example?

Thanks for reading my story. It seems I need to purchase another laptop, urgently.

Jim Brook

Massey High School