Lenovo - Slow Warranty Repair

[nivrip]

Wanting something a bit more compact I opted for an All-in-One PC with no tower and built in speakers. I looked through Which magazine and the Lenovo C50 with 23 inch monitor had a really good write up so I went for it.


It had a super picture and seemed ideal but after 11 months and 1 week a thin, yellow, vertical line appeared just off centre so I contacted Lenovo and they accepted full responsibility, being within the 12 month guarantee period. They even sent me a prepaid label to stick on the box that I used to send it. Picked up by UPS and off it went to Germany with emails about getting it returned within 8-10 days.


After 2 weeks I checked on “Track Your Repair” on their website and I found that the part that needed replacement WAS NOT AVAILABLE. That, from a multinational company like Lenovo!! I then checked on their Ts &Cs and was astounded to see that "replacement parts may not be new" and they are only covered by warranty until the warranty on the PC itself expires! The warranty on my PC was about to expire, whilst Lenovo had my machine, so if the replacement failed the day after I got it back then it would be out of warranty. I then went onto the Lenovo forums and found that at least half of all the posts were about appalling customer service, particularly the time taken for repairs and lack of communication. Another week later I added to the list of complaints on the forums.


Four weeks passed and on the tracking there was a note saying “machine repaired, awaiting shipping.” Two weeks more and nothing, so I attacked the forums with several stinging posts, both my own and adding to other people's posts too, and eventually got a reply from an Andy Lenovo in the US. He claimed that my PC had been sent out but UPS didn’t have my full address so it was sent back to the Repair Centre. He would arrange for it to be sent on to me. Very strange as UPS had my address when they first picked it up.


Another 2 weeks and nothing so I got onto a chat line at Lenovo and at last a very helpful guy took charge and got the thing delivered to me about 10 days later. When it arrived it was very badly and loosely packed and guess what? The stand was broken !!! Lenovo suggested I send it back to the Repair Centre for repair !!! No way was I sending it back after all this carry on. I asked them to send me a new stand so that I can fix it myself and this has just arrived.


Eight and a half weeks in total and it seemed that things only happened when I made a move and pushed them into doing something. Many of the complainants used their computers for work or study and were without them for similar or even longer periods. You can imagine their comments on the forums.


In conclusion, after this extensive rant, I will never, ever touch Lenovo again even with the very longest of bargepoles. The whole thing was an absolute disgrace.

 

[bootneck02]

Sorry to hear your problems with Lenovo I hope you are up and running now. Personally I apart from my first PC which a HP I have built my own that way I can put the parts and the quality I can afford also have a choice of what OS I put on. I am no technician and at the end of the day you can build a better quality PC for the same price than if you purchase on line or direct from a store and the satisfaction of making one is great. Oh and it only takes a couple of hours to put the thing together.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to have a article and instructions of how to build a PC from scratch on the site so that it may encourage other members to build their own PC's to the specification they require.

 

[Ian]

That's a long, long time to wait for a repair like that - especially from a company like Lenovo who should be pretty adept at this sort of thing. There's particularly no excuse for bad packaging.

Have you made a formal complaint to them, as that is pretty bad service and complaints via the chat app won't often go anywhere. You could try posting them a letter and see what they say - as I suspect head office won't be pleased to hear what has happened:

Lenovo Technology UK LTD
18 Bartley Wood Business Park
Bartley Way
Hook
RG27 9XA

I've had a few of experiences of repairs for computer / tech equipment, and it's generally only taken less than a couple of weeks to get things returned (or in one occasional, just replaced). I don't think there's any excuse for something to take 2 months and then get returned damaged .

 

[nivrip]

Thanks for that, Ian. I will do just that.

 

[Ian]

I hope you get a positive result from it - please do let us know what they say .

 

[nivrip]

Finally got a reply from Lenovo telling me that they will look into all the problems and "to turn things around for me" they have offered a six month extension to the warranty. They promise to get back to me when their enquiries are completed.

I don't think that a six month extension covers my anger and frustration, plus the fact that I repaired the broken stand myself.

 

[Ian]

I'd tell them your not happy with that, once they've gotten back with their enquiries. It took almost 2 months to get things (badly) sorted, so six months warranty extension isn't really much in the way of compensation.

 

[bootneck02]

I would have a conversation with your local Trading Standards Department they may be able to help you, because Lenovo have broken their contract and acted with disregard with you.

 

[nivrip]

A final word about Lenovo.

They did not give any explanation as to why they took so long over the repair but simply apologised several times. They said that their usual policy is to extend the warranty by the time taken to fix the machine, in this case two months but as a special offer to me they would extend it by an extra four months making it six months in all. Plus a voucher for a 10% discount on any Lenovo products which I might want to buy. This, of course, will never be used as I vowed to never buy another Lenovo product as long as I live.

I had several communications with them, suggesting a longer extension but they just will not budge. As usual with this sort of thing it becomes more and more tiresome and eventually it's just a relief to get it over and done with.

 

[Ian]

I'm sorry to hear that it wasn't resolved to your satisfaction . That voucher is a bit of a kick in the teeth!

Like you say, sometimes it's worth moving on and not having to deal with it any more.