Horrible first experience

I recently ordered my first thinkpad and have so far had a horrible experience mostly with their phone support.

I'm having issues with the wifi on the laptop (Intel Ultimate-N 6300) it's very slow and unstable lots of packet loss and high latency.

I have other laptops with various other wifi cards and none of them are seeing these issues.

I've tried using 2 different versions of the driver including the newest also tried different routers, locations, power settings, etc.

I also took the keyboard off and verified the antennas were in their proper order and everything looked fine.

Support has been horrible it could not be any worse none of them know what they're talking about.

My warranty apparently wasn't even applied to my account so I can't use the 2 year onsite warranty that I paid for specifically.

At this point I'm ready to RMA the entire laptop and steer clear of lenovo completely as it has been a disaster so far.

Any advice appreciated.

 

Have you tried updating the drivers using the ones not from Lenovo, but from Intel's website?

Intel Wifi 6300 Drivers Link

P.S. Install the drivers --do not install the management utility. Windows can manage wireless connections just fine on its own.

 

Not sure how it works with warranty, but I remember it took some time (a week or so?) for the warranty on mine to be properly updated online. You did actually try to request the on-site service?

BTW, good luck with other companies, if you think their tech support will be any better.

 

I tried to have someone come out but they told me on the phone they only saw the 1 year depot warranty.

I talked with the warranty dept and was told it could take up to 3-4 weeks for my upgraded warranty to even show up anywhere.

Also, all other laptops I've had never experienced this issue just goes to show how lenovo doesn't test things properly since this is a very obvious issue from any location or router.

Already tried the latest directly from intel's site.

 

Tried fresh OS install?

 

I've tried the os that came on the hdd and I loaded my own os on an ssd I bought for the laptop both have the same issues.

 

I've had success doing a Win7 clean install on an SSD on two different thinkpads. an x61s and a T60. Did you install the Power Manager Driver and the PowerManager software?

After the OS install I installed the following in this order.
1. Power Manager Driver (aka ACPI Power Management)
2. Power Manager
3. Intel Chipset Drivers.
4. Hotkey Driver
5. Access Connections (this is not necessary, only if you want the functionality it has)

Power manager has different settings for how much the power the wifi card gets. The choices can be something like optimize for performance, balanced, low power. Maybe try a different setting.

Warranty
As for you warranty problems. If they're saying you only have 1yr warrantee and you paid for 2, I would think you could email them a copy of your receipt as proof.

 

Uh that sucks! I would probably return it for a full refund and got another one if they don't give you the warranty (your receipt should say what you bought). The customer and tech supports are pretty much outsourced in all major companies. I know, it sucks and it's very frustrating.

I would not send the brand new laptop for repair mainly because of my experience with Dell repairs (3x repaired M11x and 2x "repaired" XPS 1330). Each time laptop was returned with something like missing screws, scratched lid, and I believe now last one was returned also with broken motherboard (the laptop doesn't even turn on anymore). The funny part is almost every time laptop looked better and was more usable BEFORE I sent it!

You could try returning it, then ordering a new one over the phone and talking to sales rep and ask him how/when do they apply the warranty.

Look on the bright side - it could be worse. For example, you could have just dished out $2K on a brand new Alienware M17x and then as you start it, you realize that not only the touchpad isn't usable and impossible to use - its common to all laptops from that series. I mean you can use a mouse but still.... it took Dell I believe ~9 months or so to come up with a (get this) new BIOS that fixes it and makes the touchpad somewhat usable now.

 

So does anyone have any success stories with the 6300? I just ordered mine today. Hopefully this is not an issue with all 6300 cards...

 

Mine works fine.

 

I had a similar experience once upon a time ago. I bought a ThinkPad from a retail store then bought an extended warranty directly from Lenovo. I found out IBM was the company applying the warranty to my serial number but they failed to do so. Because they failed to do so, I returned the machine on the last day of the return period.

I'm interested in trying again on a T420s Optimus based machine, but I have yet to see a review and accurate information. I guess it's still too early.

 

Got everything packaged up ready to return.

Definitely worst purchasing experience ever... Absolutely zero support from lenovo.

 

If you have extended warranty it takes about 2-3 weeks to your account after purchase. You even see that from Thinkvantage "blue button" on thinkpad.

Just talk to them and see why it is not added & tell them I have proof of it. It should be taken care of.

 

I've talked to at least 10 different people today all of which were equally unhelpful and basically told me if my wifi is "working" that is good enough.

None of them can see my extended warranty and always direct me to the warranty dept who then says it will take 3-4 weeks for it to be activated.

Not wasting anymore time with this company they are in complete disarray nothing should take 3-4 weeks...

 

I agree. I gave them 20 days. They didn't accomplish applying my warranty in that period so on day 21 I returned the machine and got my refund on the warranty. I don't blame you one bit.

 

Sorry but the warranty type you had made no difference whatsoever regarding the card. All warranties can be purchased and a receipt given for purchase. If they misapplied it (which happens) then just fax them a copy of the receipt. Otherwise, it normally takes a little while to apply which is fine.

As for the issue itself, you never posted specific information about which Thinkpad model it was, what the actual issue was and what happened with customer support itself other than your warranty issue which could have just been a simple misapplied warranty (which happens due to mistakes) or just that Lenovo normally takes time to apply the warranty.

Latency issues regarding the wireless would need to be diagnosed by tech support. But it could be anything of the following:

Networking settings in Windows 7 or operating system used via Intel drivers/software or actual networking or firewall related settings and the like. Or configuration options in related connection devices like routers or problematic firmware in such devices related to PnP issues or other matters.

Incompatibility between Intel wireless 6300 and the device you are using (could be the drivers of the router or other device or of the Intel itself)

Inappropriately placed antenna wires or a malfunctioning wireless card.

Something else going on with the signals in your specific area and a local issue whereby the equipment is actually working perfectly and is operating to full specification.

Lenovo Thinkpad Technical support is quite good, second only to Apple support. You won't find better from any other Laptop vendor. Unless of course you wanted to go Apple.

Lenovo Thinkpad support goes back to the USA and the IBM team. Ideapad's go back to Lenovo China for support.

There are other avenues for support which are known for those who have purchased Lenovo Thinkpad's in the documentation.

But obviously because of the non specific nature of this poster, we can't help you further especially because we don't even know which Thinkpad model this is and what you are having problems connecting to specifically.

All I hear are complaints against Lenovo which won't help you get sympathy or get anywhere.

 

Even as a Thinkpad owner, I'd disagree with that. As a systems admin in a Dell house, I'd respectfully disagree with you, and argue that Dell business support beats Lenovo any day.

I've seen Lenovo support as inconsistent in the past few years. When it's good, it's good. Problem is, it isn't always good.

No laptop should arrive without having all of its warranty applied from time of purchase (assuming it was purchased at the same time as the laptop itself on the same invoice) and on record. I'd never have that problem with a Dell Latitude. Ever. Further, having a problem in the first 21 days means that without that onsite warranty being applied, the only consumer option to guarantee there won't be issues is to return the laptop, since it is unlikely the laptop would come back in time from depot service to return it if it didn't test out properly at that point.

 

If the warranty had been applied it would have made a difference since they would have dispatched a tech onsite to replace the card.

I have the thinkpad t520 model and explained what the issue is there is a lot of random packet loss and high latency hundreds of ms higher than it should be at times while the signal level is perfectly fine.

I have tested this with several completely different routers that are in completely different houses on completely different isps and they all show the same exact issue.

I have tried using the original os lenovo provided also tried using a separate drive with my own fresh install latest intel driver and it made no difference.

I have tried adjusting power settings, network settings etc but it still happens.

As for the antennas it's possible there's a problem I only took the keyboard off to check that they were in the right order and properly connected and they were.

You must be getting very different techs than I have because the ones I got were horrible worse than any company I've ever dealt with.

 

I find it strange that they did not applied your warranty, have you got hold of a supervisor or a manager? I am curious how did you get you upgraded warranty? Did you buy with the laptop on Lenovo.com when you configure it?

 

"I have tested this with several completely different routers that are in completely different houses on completely different isps and they all show the same exact issue."

Were all these routers based on supported specifications by the Intel 6300 in the same frequency and band range?

Call during regular business hours in the USA or your home country for the best technical support agents.

My comments were for USA based support. Each other country could have differing levels of technical support from Lenovo.

Lenovo Community - Lenovo Community is also a useful resource and you can post there where someone could also help you as well.

I am also curious as to how this warranty was purchased. If someone called up Lenovo after the fact to purchase it but did not use the internet, or typed in the wrong identifying information, mistakes can indeed happen.

If Lenovo said it was 3-4 weeks to apply before you purchased the warranty than that would be how their warranty policy is.

When you purchase a warranty they give you a pamphelet which has terms and conditions. Never trust what representatives tell you, always go by what the agreement is that you agreed to.

 

I already spoke with the warranty dept and they confirmed that I'm supposed to have the 2yr onsite next business day warranty but told me it wouldn't be applied to my account for 3-4 weeks.

The problem with this is that tech support can't verify that info at all and only sees the 1yr standard depot warranty and refuse to send anyone.

Normally I wouldn't care about waiting 3-4 weeks however I'm having issues right now and very strongly believe it's a problem with the actual laptop be it wifi card, antennas or something else.

Basically I'm stuck with almost unusable wifi on this barely 2 day old laptop and it could take 3-4 weeks just to have the ability to request an onsite tech? That doesn't seem right at all.

 

Just keep on asking for a manager on either department, this is how I usually handle the problem when facing with incompetent customer service representative. There is also an high level customer service representative name Mark on the Lenovo forum. Try PM him, he might help your with your grief with the warranty.

About Mark_Lenovo - Lenovo Community

 

The warranty was purchased with the laptop via their main website.

 

Maybe you missed my post. The same thing happened to me and I placed no less than six telephone calls over 20 days and could not get the people at Lenovo and IBM to do their job. They weren't mistakes. The process was too slow and I had no confidence they were going to resolve the matter. I purchased my warranty directly from Lenovo, too.

 

This is ridiculous, when you buy the warranty with the laptop, I expect them to applied the warranty as soon as the laptop is out the door.

I wonder did somebody mess up the configuration page and it's data when you order it. I hope it is, because if this is not the case, they charge you for service that they cannot provide you.

 

http://www.lenovo.com/services_warranty/us/en/ThinkPlus_Warranty_Services_agreement.pdf

There is the agreement document.

It mentions a 30 day waiting period on some warranties. Are you sure yours was a full warranty upgrade and not just an extension? But if Lenovo isn't honoring their end, you have the power since you can cancel the warranty and return the unit.

I realize it wasn't my unit, and if I was in your shoes I would return the unit only as a last resort and cancel the warranty if they weren't honoring their commitments.

People especially in corporate environments have nothing but good things to say about the Thinkpad and Lenovo support so its mind boggling as to why this occured.

 

Just playing the devils advocate, but I can kinda see their point. As someone who did a short stint of phone support, I can attest that the ratio of users who are confident that their network hardware is faulty to those whose network hardware is actually faulty is astonishingly high. I'm not saying that's what's happening here, but I can at least see why a complaint of high latency doesn't warrant an immediate hardware replacement.

 

For the systems that I've purchased, this is the case.

 

Component failures happen across the board but sometimes it is hard to isolate the fault/faults without going through appropriate diagnostic software.

Did you run the diagnostics on the Intel Wireless card?

 

OP first off I am very sorry that you are having trouble with your laptop it feels like just last week I was posting a similar post about my wifi card not working. Well I also was going to do an RMA but decided to send it to lenovo for repair ... Got the laptop back in 3 days good as new.

I did the repair route since I got a great deal on a refurb. In your case get the service request and send the sucker back and get a new one.

 

When I get my Lenovo E420s I am not getting the extended warranty with it because I'll double my warranty with my credit card. Ive found extended warranties in general to cost just as much as repair.

Did you find out what was causing the wireless issue? Lenovo usually offers a lot of wireless card options on these units.

 

unless you are doing the repair on yourself using scavenged parts, then maybe the case. Do you know how much it costs just to do a simple depot repair like LCD swap if you do it outside of warranty?

Since your credit card is giving you a free year of warranty, then that maybe all you need in terms of extended warranty.

 

Usually part replacements will come to less than warranties which generally aren't a good deal.

Depends on how much the Lenovo warranty was sold for.

 

It's a shame the OP didn't go to the Lenovo Community Forum and post there - usually Mark Lenovo or one of the other company people are there and eager to help. It took almost a month for my (lapsed, my bad) warranty renewal to show up in my Lenovo Toolbox Warranty Check, but it did get done. Warranty is slow to be credited - they must seperate Warranty from Sales and warrranty info must be forwarded - or some such. Not the best policy, but my past dealings with Lenovo Service/Support have been excellent. I recieved a brand new battery in the mail, without even knowing there was a recall, for instance. And I have ordered accessories and always talked to a sharp, US based Lenovo person who was just great. YMMV, indeed. TPF

 

Let's get this straight - internal warranty handling is not a customer's problem, period. If OP tells the truth then the shame is on Lenovo for such a handicapped customer/warranty service. Some manager who is responsible for warranty cash flow is not doing his/her job. Please, stop shaming customers for that.

 

Spot on, mate.

If I buy a laptop on Lenovo's website, and I extend the warranty at the same time as the purchase, that warranty better be part and parcel of the original contract. This is regardless of whether there is some credit to be applied to a sales rep or otherwise.

Doing it the way several people have described it here is a logistics screwup. By screwup, I also mean that if this is the way it normally happens, well, it shouldn't. If I buy a laptop from Dell Business and I add on to the warranty, that warranty is right there. From the moment I get the laptop, no waiting period. If I upgrade from mail-in to onsite service, it's right there.

I think the truth here is also that if Lenovo did it correctly, the OP would be just fine with getting onsite service and not sending the laptop back, which would save Lenovo money in the long run by reducing returns in a situation like this.

I think ThinkPads are well-designed, well-built laptops, and it's very possible I'll buy my third one in the next couple of years. However, there are so many aspects of the logistics end of things (purchasing, customer service, product support) that they could do so much better on. I always feel fortunate that I have had two very reliable ThinkPads and haven't had to deal with what some others have gone through.

 

When I bought my E6410 from Dell Outlet, it had a standard 3 year depot warranty apparently. However after looking at the Configuration page, outlet computers only come with a 1 year warranty and they tack on another 2 year warranty however my service tag only showed I had 1 year warranty. In the 2 weeks I had my E6410 the warranty information never got updated despite calling up Dell twice but eventually I just returned it being a lemon.

 

I've ordered a number of systems from the Dell Outlet, mainly for other people, though if an E6410 came up at the right price (it hasn't, and probably won't), I'd grab one. I've not had this experience --I'm not discounting yours, I can only say that it has never happened for me.

What was wrong with it?

 

Hrmm well for one the 1 screw for the bottom panel was badly stripped after the 1 upgrade I did on it (no I didn't strip it). Also changing SATA operation from default RAID to AHCI, Windows kept random BSOD with a fresh install. Also the warranty thing did not make me a happy camper.

Don't get me wrong, I love Dell business. The RMA took less than 5 minutes, and the return label came in 2 hours. I've just never had an issue with a Dell laptop...ever lol.

My E6410 was 459 after 15% off coupon with i3-380M, 1 GB DDR3, 160GB 5400 rpm HDD, 1280x800 screen, Intel HD graphics. If the bottom panel wasn't stripped honestly I would have kept the machine but I just had a feeling that all the initial problems I might have ended up with a dud down the road later.

 

....well depends on which part you are talking about. Also, standard 3 years thinkpad warranty are not that expensive.