Avoid Lenovo EZserv Depot repair like the plague!

Dear potential Lenovo customer,

Please think twice before you buy a Lenovo machine that has basic warranty that requires you as the customer to Carry-In or Mail-In your broken machine for repair/exchange at EZserv depot, a designated service center. Why? They 1) won't contact you for any issue that may delay the repair, 2) do not know what they are doing, and 3) may even send your machine back to you un-repaired, yet claiming (in writing) that there is nothing wrong with the machine and it passed all test.

This is what is happening to me now. I have an Ideapad S10e netbook that suffered a LCD screen inverter burnt-out at about 60 days after purchase. A LCD screen inverter burnt-out issue is when the back light of the LCD screen no longer lit up upon power on. If you turn on your machine in a completely dark room, you will see the POST and your operating system boot up in a very dim image on the LCD screen. The repair is a simple replacement of the inverter, and this repair process does not require the presence of a hard drive to effectively diagnose, repair, and validate the repair.

Upon calling the Lenovo customer service, I explained the issue to the tech and he concluded that it need to be sent in for repair. I asked him and got approval for shipping the S10e netbook without the hard drive or the secondary stick of memory module (there is still a built in 512MB memory module remaining inside the netbook). The reason I did not wanted to sent in the hard drive because 1) they do not need that part to effect a repair of the problem, and 2) I do not want to loose any data if they suddenly want to "reimage" the hard drive.

Two weeks after the initial call to report the problem, UPS tracking listed the netbook as received by the EZserv depot. I waited till the third week to call Lenovo customer support ask if everything is ok and what is the status of the repair. I was then told by Lenovo customer support that EZserv depot told them that the unit does not have the hard drive and the second memory module, and thus, they can not replace the burnt-out LCD inverter with out it. I explained to the Lenovo customer support staff that any tech worth their salt do not need those parts to perform a repair of a burnt-out LCD inverter issue. Since the EZserv depot insisted, the Lenovo customer support tech sent me a box with a FedEx return label to send in my hard drive and second memory module. Here is one question, you as potential Lenovo customer should ask yourself - why did the EZserv depot or Lenovo customer support not contact me to ask for the hard drive and second stick of memory moduels? They have my contact phone number and email address.

Upon receipt of and the mailing out of the box for the hard drive and second memory module, four weeks has passed. I waited until the fifth week before calling to ask for status. This time, Lenovo customer support said the case history listed the status as EZserv depot waiting for the hard drive and memory module. I provided the FedEx tracking number from their label. Turned out the package has arrived at the depot for more than a week, and no one has associated the package with my repair case. They said they will start working on it. Here is another question, you as a potential Lenovo customer should ask yourself - why do a customer has to call in constantly to get them to make progress on repair?

Another week has passed since EZserv depot is prodded into starting work on the repair. I called to ask what is going on. The fun part is, they now tell me the case listed the computer as a G530 laptop. I provided the serial number, and ask them to verify. They insisted that it is still a G530 laptop. After I persist in denying my case history is for a G530, they finally was able to figure out that it was a S10e. The Lenovo customer service also said the case history now listed the status as repair. The Lenovo customer service representative said EZserv depot should be contacting me that day to let me know about shipping back the S10e netbook.

I waited a whole week for the call or email that never came. I called Lenovo customer service and what is going on? I ask to speak to a supervisor. I then explained to him that this long delay is uncalled for and demanded to know where is my S10e netbook? He said the case note listed the repair technician comment that there is nothing wrong with the S10e netbook. I explained to him that a burnt-out inverter does not automatically fixes itself. I also asked him to please verify that this netbook is repaired before shipping it back to me. This supervisor said he will personally look into it and get back to me within 48 hours.

72 hours passed without a call or an email from the supervisor. I called Lenovo customer support asking for that supervisor. Since I only received his first name as an identification, they were not able to locate him. Another supervisor took the call. Let's call him supervisor B. I explained to supervisor B that Lenovo can do one of two things - 1) locate the netbook in question and ship it back to me repaired, or 2) give me my money back. Supervisor B said he will find out where it is and let me know by the end of his day.

Supervisor B did called back to tell me that the unit has been located and it will be shipped back to me as soon as possible. The next day, he even called to let me know what the FedEx tracking number is. Why can't more Lenovo staffs are like this supervisor B, you should ask yourself.

Well, I got the netbook four business days later instead of two business days. I can not fault them for typing in the wrong street number on the shipping label. Maybe supervisor B was really leaning on his staff to get this out as soon as possible.

Upon opening up the box and turning on the netbook, I discovered the initial issue of burnt-out LCD inverter is still there!!! With disbelieve, I stared at the copy of the repair technician note included in the box. It said -- unit passed all tests. Unless that tech works in a totally dark room, there is no way they could have said this unit is fully functional. Unbelievable!!!

I am still in the mist of dealing with Lenovo on this. They want me to send the unit back in for repair again. They won't provide in writing what is the remedy if the unit comes back unrepair again. I am very sure that this will be the last Lenovo unit I will ever own.

Here are the take aways you should have --

1) Don't get any Lenovo warranty that will put you under the mercy of the EZserv depot.

2) Don't get any Lenovo warranty that does not have some form of contact for the repair process other than just you calling them. Why should you baby sit the process?

3) My best advice to you -- Don't get Lenovo, period.

Thanks,
a soon to be ex-Lenovo user.

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but one bad experience does not make a trend.

 

This is exactly why I got in-home, next day repair.
It sucks that your having problems with these guys....good luck.

 

This is not isolated. The Depot has gotten horrible. I'm going on 4 weeks, and now there's a parts hold. Oh joy. Pay the extra 30 bucks for he next day onsite service, and save yourself the trouble. It's well worth it. The Depot is paid accordingly to rejecting claims and pushing you to pay for repair. The onsite guy is paid to fix the laptop on the first visit.

Guess who is more motivated to fix it fast?

 

Hi ZaZ, mtbush, mikec,
Thank you for your input. I have to say I am agreeing with mtbush and mikec -- if you must get Lenovo, pay extra for better repair service like the next day onsite service mentioned by mikec.
Still, why call it basic warranty if Lenovo is going to provide that kind of service level? They should just put it in writing that there is no acceptable repair service that comes with the machine, and if a consumer wants any kind of warranty with acceptable service level, the consumer needs to pay for it.

 

Can't you upgrade your warranty to onsite service?

 

Thanks for posting your experience badLenovo. Though I really like Lenovo laptops(My experience lies with the Thinkpad line only), it is interesting to read things form different perspectives. Very sorry to hear about your horrible experience. I have bought 3 Thinkpads over the last 1.5 years and they have all been great and I have been, for the most part, very satisfied and proud to own them. But I have never dealt with their warranty service myself, so i can't comment on that personally, but I have read stories like yours.

All companies are cutting back on everything like crazy and this obviously includes service. They are getting into the pricing limbo and I think this is a losing game for all. I myself am done paying huge somes of money for laptops. I don't mind paying more for quality at all but laptops can be expensive or impossible/not cost effective to fix and most people can't do it themselves(almost forcing you to buy a really comprehensive warranty) and I believe the quality of workmanship and service has dropped(along with the price of course) from all manufacturers. I have no problem however dropping some change on a custom desktop I build myself. Parts are easy to replace and I can do it myself.

If I had a bad experience like yours I would probably feel the same, not want to buy from that company again, but I am not sure if you will get any better service with anyone else. I must say however that Dell is more forgiving and more flexible with returns than Lenovo. If you don't want to buy a warranty from Lenovo you might be better off buying a 3rd party warranty from someone like Square Trade. I don't know how good or bad they are but it might be worth a try.

But all in all I really feel, with the Thinkpad notebooks atleast, that they are a definite cut above the competition and am very happy with mine.

 

You have to understand that their technicians are going through repetitive processes and are under huge amounts of pressure by management to "rush the repairs". Management wants numbers, how many repairs can they get done per day etc. Basically, nobody cares about the quality of the service which includes the techs. The person who can rush the quickest repairs gets awards/bonuses etc.

 

I would be curious to see various OEM numbers for average amount of time management wants them to spend on repairs of a given nature.

I also wonder if that differs from lenovo consumer grade vs thinkpad. I would expect so but who knows...

 

I think only within the first 30 days of purchasing the laptop. Doublecheck on their site.

 

If you didn't upgrade once you can upgrade within 1 year I think.

 

Then the tech should quit if he/she doesn't want to do a quality job. If the mgmt sucks, then go somewhere else. 9 out of 10 people still have jobs, and getting a new job is not as hard as the media would make you believe - people are just not motivated to change because they are comfortable.

95% of repairs are very easy - there are only a few components to a laptop these days - motherboard, screen, case, keyboard, hard drive, optical drive. Repairs should be fast, esp. for the Thinkpads, which are business class laptops.

 

I am just curious if you have ever worked in any manufacturing or quality control...

Usually it always has to do with management wishes and vision for the company (obviously affected by shareholders).

Also as firesnake mentioned OEMs are pushing towards the bottom of the barrel. Margins are hard to come by for most of the consumer electronic industry. 9/10 out of people having jobs is not viewed as good thing despite how many toothpaste commercials you've seen.

The media blows up everything sure, but I hope you understand how the DOL is publishing unemployment statistics is actually to make it appear less severe. That being said the hiring freezes are starting to thaw a little bit...

 

I hear ya on spending a lot on a laptop.

These days, you are better off paying for a lessor laptop, rather than top of the line. $750 gets you a solid, decent T500; $1,300 gets you a maxed out T400. That's about the threshold for "business class" laptops.

Cheapo consumer brands can be had for $350, although most float in the $500-700 range. Everytime I look at a laptop at Best Buy, Staples, or Fry's, I always end up back at Lenovo.

Sure, if you are buying gaming laptop, you may pay $2K plus, or if you want a wafer thin laptop. But for general use, the average laptop works fine.

Then there's the whole netbook realm, which is definitely use-case dependent (i.e., it's too underpowered for me, but fine for someone who is just web browsing.)