Stay away from Levono!

C

CyberCecil

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 7, 2001
Messages
497
Last year I bought a Lenovo B570 laptop. It started freezing constantly and was determined by Lenovo to be a motherboard issue and it would need to be replaced.

I paid to send it in for service. It arrived on 6-21-12 to their service center. They then lost it for nearly a month. In the interim my warranty ran out on 7-6-12. I had to call the support line several times to find out what was going on. Each time I called the said they would get back to me and never did. Finally, after the third time I called and jumped through their hoops they lied to me and said they just now received the laptop on 7-17-12.

I got the laptop back today and all they did was reimage the system. It froze twice within one hour.

I now have to send it back in and hope they bother to do their job this time.

Avoid Lenovo like the plague.

Does anyone know what recourse I have if they don't fix the issue or try to screw me over because they ran out my warranty the first time?
 
.... and now for the completely opposite story!

I've owned six Lenovo laptops (and literally bought another one today)
I've had to have warranty repair on one for a serious issue and another for a very minor issue.

In both cases the work was fast and efficient.
I've had nothing but excellent luck dealing with Thinkpad support (which is based in the USA) and no hiccups in their automated pre-paid shipping boxed and next-day-air policy.

I recommend Thinkpads to just about everybody looking for a solid machine.
 
I'll try not to be a dick about this...but you bought a consumer grade laptop sold on the slimmest of margins and are "shocked" when it breaks and the warranty process is a pain in the ass?

This isn't anything new.
 
Zangmonkey said:
.... and now for the completely opposite story!

I've owned six Lenovo laptops (and literally bought another one today)
I've had to have warranty repair on one for a serious issue and another for a very minor issue.

In both cases the work was fast and efficient.
I've had nothing but excellent luck dealing with Thinkpad support (which is based in the USA) and no hiccups in their automated pre-paid shipping boxed and next-day-air policy.

I recommend Thinkpads to just about everybody looking for a solid machine.
Click to expand...

I guess it's my fault for not being able to afford a more expensive laptop. I guess Lenovo feels that I deserve to be shit upon for buying one of their budget laptops.
 
Trepidati0n said:
I'll try not to be a dick about this...but you bought a consumer grade laptop sold on the slimmest of margins and are "shocked" when it breaks and the warranty process is a pain in the ass?

This isn't anything new.
Click to expand...

I don't expect free in-house overnight warranty service, but I do expect to not to be lied to and and have my laptop returned without having anything fixed.

You can't judge a company by how they treat the top tier, expensive clients, but on how they treat the ones that "don't matter". Even though I couldn't really afford it, I understood that I had to pay to send it to them. I expected to be treated honestly and for them to simply do what they said they would do. If that is to much to ask from this company then I can't recommend anyone buy their products.
 
CyberCecil said:
I guess it's my fault for not being able to afford a more expensive laptop. I guess Lenovo feels that I deserve to be shit upon for buying one of their budget laptops.
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I'm betting you can do this without putting words in my mouth....


Obviously your experience was bad and sounds unacceptable.
So I supplemented your imperative to "Stay away from Lenovo!" with my own anecdote about the exemplary service I've received...


Perhaps the point to take from this is that your experience is not the only one?
 
Lenovo and thinkpads have gone down in quality a lot over the years. They're among the worst now, both in build quality and customer service.

Everyone always say "it's a thinkpad, they're amazing an have the best quality, you can do anything you want to them and they'll survive!" - OK, yet the palm wrest cracked for many x220 users. Along with but not limited to: poor ips panels with white blotches, top part of screen cover coming apart, sudden cracks in the case, very poor software compatibility causing a very common boot loop, and other stupid things like Lenovo shipping you used parts in a BTO.

Do some research and look deeper than the common recommendations - they are horrid wih all their practices now. So many x220 and other model complaints. Even the new ones.

Oh yeah, and Lenovo covers 1% of all of their bullshit quality control. Good luck buying a thinkpad, or any Lenovo. CyberCecil's story sounds like many I've heard, down to the customer service never calling back. Avoid.
 
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Zangmonkey said:
I'm betting you can do this without putting words in my mouth....


Obviously your experience was bad and sounds unacceptable.
So I supplemented your imperative to "Stay away from Lenovo!" with my own anecdote about the exemplary service I've received...


Perhaps the point to take from this is that your experience is not the only one?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I wasn't trying to put words in your mouth. I was directing that snark towards Lenovo not you.
 
My Lenovo is a fine machine, but the screen does have some light bleed and people complain about the digitizer not be accurate near the edges.

After I ordered mine, Lenovo dicked me around big time. I had to threaten to cancel the order before the decided to do the right thing, after telling me that the right thing was impossible.

They make ok machines, but be wary about using them for support.
 
Lenovo is am ok maker, my wifes cheap lenovo is ok, but we had the power management problem that was causing bsods and lenovo didn't help at all, it was a simple driver download that fixed it.

Something that they have yet to add to their laptops.
 
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I just bought a T430s recently and paid the $16 to get on-site service. At $16 for a $1200 investment, it was a no brainer.
 
^ a laptop is NEVER an investment (nor is any other computer for that matter).
 
bottom line is, no company can assure that %100 of their products works %100 of the time...

lenovo is now where near the quality that IBM was, period, that is def a fact.. 2 lenovo laptops at work.. one the keyboard stopped working, replaced it, still wouldnt work, lenovo said it was an OS problem even though i tried several OS's on it...keys didnt even work right in the bios!, 2nd system vid card died and screen had bad back lighting, both were $1500 laptops....

never again for our company!

People are brainwashed thinking that Lenovo is anything that IBM used to be...
 
MrGuvernment said:
bottom line is, no company can assure that %100 of their products works %100 of the time...

lenovo is now where near the quality that IBM was, period, that is def a fact.. 2 lenovo laptops at work.. one the keyboard stopped working, replaced it, still wouldnt work, lenovo said it was an OS problem even though i tried several OS's on it...keys didnt even work right in the bios!, 2nd system vid card died and screen had bad back lighting, both were $1500 laptops....

never again for our company!

People are brainwashed thinking that Lenovo is anything that IBM used to be...
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Yea I prefer HP/Dell for the workplace honestly, and really its mainly HP because I hate dealing with Dell CS.
 
I've also had excellent luck with every Lenovo that I've ever used -- but I've stuck to their Thinkpad line.

If you want a cheaper Lenovo then I'd suggest getting a used Edge or T series off the Outlet. Or an Edge if you want something new that won't break the bank.

Sorry for your bad luck.
 
Trepidati0n said:
I'll try not to be a dick about this...but you bought a consumer grade laptop sold on the slimmest of margins and are "shocked" when it breaks and the warranty process is a pain in the ass?

This isn't anything new.
Click to expand...

It doesnt matter I you buy the top end model or the bottom end. The company still has an obligation to fulfill it's warranty claims no matter what you buy. Your argument is a poor one at best, and it is nothing you should condone or allow as a consumer.
 
OrangeWolf said:
I've also had excellent luck with every Lenovo that I've ever used -- but I've stuck to their Thinkpad line.

If you want a cheaper Lenovo then I'd suggest getting a used Edge or T series off the Outlet. Or an Edge if you want something new that won't break the bank.

Sorry for your bad luck.
Click to expand...


Same here, we have about 100+ t420's at work, only had an issue with 1 of them. We used to use HP and had horrible luck with those. Most wouldn't last a year of use.
 
AQ_OC said:
My Lenovo is a fine machine, but the screen does have some light bleed and people complain about the digitizer not be accurate near the edges.
Click to expand...

This issue is addressed by a Lenovo user with some youtube videos. Basically you need to be accurate and keep the pen at the same angle to the face of the panel throughout your calibration session. Then it seems to work ok.
I don't own one, just repeating someone elses experience.
 
Andyk5 said:
This issue is addressed by a Lenovo user with some youtube videos. Basically you need to be accurate and keep the pen at the same angle to the face of the panel throughout your calibration session. Then it seems to work ok.
I don't own one, just repeating someone elses experience.
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Yes, I have seen this video. However, a lot of users don't think this is an acceptable solution. Personally, I have no problems with the screen because I rarely need to go near the edges. I'm not an artist...I only draw simple illustrations and write lots of equations, in addition to annotating powerpoint files. the x220t is near-perfect for my needs.
 
txsizzler said:
It doesnt matter I you buy the top end model or the bottom end. The company still has an obligation to fulfill it's warranty claims no matter what you buy. Your argument is a poor one at best, and it is nothing you should condone or allow as a consumer.
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That isn't my point. The point is the OP when the "Stay away from X!" title. I'm not condoning what Lenovo did but you need to realize that when you buy at the fringes your expectations have a strong chane of not being met. So the question is when it goes wrong do you make a post saying "X sucks and it should die a in a fire"? It does nothing to remedy the situation nor do a lot of people feel like trying to help because the people trying to help with be fighting an uphill battle since the OP will be nothing but pure negative.
 
Trepidati0n said:
That isn't my point. The point is the OP when the "Stay away from X!" title. I'm not condoning what Lenovo did but you need to realize that when you buy at the fringes your expectations have a strong chane of not being met. So the question is when it goes wrong do you make a post saying "X sucks and it should die a in a fire"? It does nothing to remedy the situation nor do a lot of people feel like trying to help because the people trying to help with be fighting an uphill battle since the OP will be nothing but pure negative.
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I agree that whining and moaning about it does nothing to help solve the immediate problem; but, whether I buy a "fringe" item or not, warranty expectations still must be lived up to. If Lenovo decided that "fringe" items should have lesser warranty, then it's up to them to make it so, but in the interim, they still must see to their warranty obligations, no matter what I buy from them.

OP, don't let up on them for lousy warranty service!
 
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Trimlock said:
Yea I prefer HP/Dell for the workplace honestly, and really its mainly HP because I hate dealing with Dell CS.
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We use HP for Servers and Dell for desktops, but we ONLY use T series Thinkpads for laptops. We have had horror experiences with laptop quality (or lack thereof) with both HP and Dell laptops (Their business lines, the consumer lappies from those two are even worse)
 
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hellosky said:
Dell Latitude/Precision + ProSupport = WIN

Nothing comes close
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Heck no, I hate the dells we have at work. They are pretty rugged, but honestly not that great overall. We have new and old.

I love my T and X series Lenovos. Awesome machines.
 
Well, I just sent my laptop back to Lenovo. We'll see if they actually bother to fix it this time.
 
I've used two thinkpads in the old days when they still have the IBM logo. I have to say the build quality was not as good as the stories I've heard. The keys just fell off without any abuse and the screen went red after a year of use. To me, the whole thinkpad brand is way over-rated. I recently saw a disassembly of the new W530, it looks awful inside.
 
sonicsallen said:
I've used two thinkpads in the old days when they still have the IBM logo. I have to say the build quality was not as good as the stories I've heard. The keys just fell off without any abuse and the screen went red after a year of use. To me, the whole thinkpad brand is way over-rated. I recently saw a disassembly of the new W530, it looks awful inside.
Click to expand...

The keys on mine are not falling off and the screen is not turning red. Geez.
 
Why are people comparing the business class notebooks at work along with their corporate support contracts? That has nothing to do with consumer machines.

What's relevant is which is the most reliable and well supported consumer laptop. Although for a lot of people, it would probably make sense to buy a refurb/outlet business laptop due to better build quality, if you can get the same price and live with older features.
 
AQ_OC said:
The keys on mine are not falling off and the screen is not turning red. Geez.
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You have no clue. This was a common problem because the keys were clipped on by fragile plastics at the bottom, and those clips broke easily. I'd be surprised if they haven't fixed that by now.
 
Well, I just received my laptop back again. I couldn't even finish setting up windows before it froze. The support people were as useless as always. I now get to send it back for a third time and this time they promise they will fix it.:rolleyes:
 
sonicsallen said:
You have no clue. This was a common problem because the keys were clipped on by fragile plastics at the bottom, and those clips broke easily. I'd be surprised if they haven't fixed that by now.
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You have no clue. Nobody is using the clunkers you mention. Why don't you pick up a modern thinkpad and get a clue.
 
sonicsallen said:
I've used two thinkpads in the old days when they still have the IBM logo. I have to say the build quality was not as good as the stories I've heard. The keys just fell off without any abuse and the screen went red after a year of use. To me, the whole thinkpad brand is way over-rated. I recently saw a disassembly of the new W530, it looks awful inside.
Click to expand...

A red hue in an LCD is a good sign of a failing backlight which happens to many LCDs both in laptops and standalone monitors. I see it at work all the time.
 
Adreneline said:
Oh yeah, and Lenovo covers 1% of all of their bullshit quality control. Good luck buying a thinkpad, or any Lenovo. CyberCecil's story sounds like many I've heard, down to the customer service never calling back. Avoid.
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If you're going to tell users out ther to "avoid" lenovo, what laptops would you recommend that are built like the IBM Thinkpads of old?
 
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