Customer Support
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Originally Posted by basejumper
On a final note i had a question........i know lenovo has been handling the personal computing dept of IBM for some while and that the recent sale just made it official.......it has been rumored that now since lenovo has taken over we will see a dramatic drop in the quality we expect from IBM...... both in product and in customer service.
how much of this is BS and how much is actually true
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In July of 2004 I purchased a T42P Laptop with 1.8ghz Centrino, 512mb of RAM, 80gb 5400rpm HD, 15" UXGA Screen, and a 128 MB graphics card from PC COnnection for $3099. Luckily I purchased this machine with a three year warranty. I purchased this machine for reliability and performance. I wanted a desktop replacement that was still highly portable. This was to be my major machine for school and work. Unfortunately, it has been a huge hassle.
6 months into ownership, the hard drive failed. They sent me a replacement hard drive, but only after I spent several days on the phone with technical support. 3 months later, the CPU fan failed. This caused the CPU to fail. After 5 days, they replaced both and I had my machine back. 2 months later, my hard drive failed AGAIN. When I called technical support, they told me it was a software problem and that I needed to update my BIOS. I told them I knew it was a hard drive problem and that would not solve the problem. The technical representative rudely told me they wouldn't talk to me until I had updated all of the software on my machine.
The hard drive was so damaged, that it comletely prevented all of the software updates from integrating in to the machine successfuly. This screwed up my mouse, LCD screen, and Windows functionality. At this point I was furious and demanded that I speak with a manager. They forwarded me to Lenovo's Escalation department. I spoke with a gentleman who took my machine to engineers who had built the machine. After several days, they determined that the hard drive had in fact failed and offered to replace it. Before I let them replace it, I asked him to discuss with the engineers what was causing this machine to have so many problems. The engineer had no possible explanation for the problems the machine had. Lenovo opted to replace the machine like for like, but said that it would be two weeks before the machine arrived. To their credit, it did arrive 1 week later.
Three days ago, the replacement machine began shutting off for no reason. The computer freezes, and the screen goes blank. Sometimes it restarts, other times it just sits there. But everytime my files and data are lost. I immediately called Lenovo support, who told me to run a 45 minute diagnostic test. 40 minutes into the test, the computer once again died. As if my experiences with Lenovo were not bad enough, when I called them back they told me they were unable to help me at that time. They were have technical issues in their facility, and asked me to call back. I have never before been told by any customer service representative, that they cannot help me and I should call back. At the very least, they should have taken down my number and called me back when they resolved their issues.
I wholeheartedly regret purchasing this machine. I have asked Lenovo to purchase the machine from me, but they are only willing to repair it at this time. Their customer service generally sucks, and their machines do not appear to be reliable. I rarely move the machine, because I don't trust it. It has a very easy life. But at this time, I would not recommend a Lenovo. Think long and hard about purchasing a Lenovo Thinkpad. No matter what they tell you they are not the same. I have a very old IBM desktop that was built like a steel vault. This machine is nothing like it. Save your money and purchase any other machine with a warranty. You'll be $1000 richer.
