How good is Lenovo Technical support and repair service?

Trying to decide between a Dell and a Lenovo, and am wondering how Lenovo Tech support compares to Dell's Tech support.

Does Lenovo have On-Site repair?

Are Lenovo's extended warranties expensive?

Any insight will be appreciated.

Thank you

 

The support is vastly different between ThinkPad and IdeaPad range.

All of my answers will presume that you're in the U.S. and considering a ThinkPad...

Yes.

Excellent service in my decade-long and numerous-ThinkPads-worth experience.

Depends on how one defines "expensive".

To me personally, any downtime is more expensive when compared to the cost of upgrading one's warranty to NBD on-site, but that's me.

You can haggle with a rep regarding warranty upgrade. Been there and done that more than once.

On-site service is performed - in most cases - by the same subcontractors for all of the "big three".

Your experience may vary depending on your specific area, but generally speaking, I had no real complaints over the past decade with service in two different states.

Obviously, YMMV.

 

Tip: use their online chat, you will get much service than whatever you would get on phone support, whether Thinkpad or Ideapad. However haggling is harder.

 

As ajkula66 stated, the difference between Think branded products and Idea branded products is completely different;

Everytime our old repair shop had to send out Think, it was under IBM (before Lenovo fully took over) and EZServ was GREAT. Very easy to setup and everything. Lenovo's service isn't that much worse for Think branded products. I had a x120e with a bad motherboard, it was shipped overnight to Lenovo, repaired in less than like 8 hours, and overnighted that same day.

Idea on the other hand in the US is sometimes hit or miss. Lenovo's phone support won't even let you just authorize an RMA until you follow a whole bunch of steps of troubleshooting. And for our shop, Idea products took MUCH longer to service than Think.

 

In the US I've never had a problem with Lenovo Thinkpad repairs. I currently have a 2-year on-site warranty that was only a $100 upgrade and have used it twice already. Previously I had a three-year "depot" warranty that I also used a few times over the years with no problem.

Try configuring a laptop and before finalizing the order you can choose warranty upgrade options to get an idea of price.

 

Oh and adunno if it's been brought up, you can only upgrade the warranty ONCE. So it's best to opt for the longest one you think you'll need.

 

Let me make it simple:
Lenovo's ThinkPad warranty can be a lot better than anything Apple offers.
Lenovo's IdeaPad warranty tends to be noticeable worse than anything Apple offers.

 

If you use the online chat, the tech support experience is the same ( i tend to avoid making phonecalls).

Delivery/RMA/shipping is another story, fortunately for me i have never had to deal with such things.

 

Obviously YMMV, but I have only had horrible experiences with Thinkpad depot repair. On site is much better and a must.

I have had repairs done on T400, T410, T430, W520, X220 and E6400, E6410, M4600.

My definition of Lenovo's entire support system (other than on site) is "please wait 3-5 business days". For example where is my return box? I need 3-5 days to send it out, you will receive in another 3-5 days. Where is my refund? I need 3-5 days to check the status. What is the status of my request to check the status of my refund? I need 3-5 days to check the status of your check on the refund. Has my laptop gotten to the depot yet? I need 3-5 days to check. It is complete hogwash.

Dell business for me has solid depot, return and on site. Returns done within 2 days of shipment arrival. On site just as solid as Lenovo. But for depot, you don't even have to waste 5 hours reinstalling windows to get the process going. Just say I have diagnosed a problem with this and this and they don't ask any more questions. You also dont have to include any hard drives, memory, or disk drives. Information is clear, people call you to update the status, and they tell you exactly what was done or replaced. I normally get the computer back in 2 weeks, much better than Lenovo's 4-5.

I would pick Dell support any day. Too bad none of their computers fit my needs as the M4800 QHD has no Optimus and M3800 only has 16GB RAM.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

I've never had to wait for the box for more than 2 business days...

You can track it online...on Lenovo's website...

And the very same applies for the Flextronics depot in Memphis where ThinkPads are sent of...to the last iota...

I've only had one instance where I had to wait more than a week for a ThinkPad to be returned to me from the depot. Out of hundreds that went that way over the past decade. Obviously, YMMV.

 

Sometimes the ThinkPad depot will take some time processing the paperwork, but it always comes in 1-2 business days. I've never had to use the Think repair but once, and it was fine.

 

You don't live where i live. Here, 1-2 days "express shipping" is 7 days minimum.

 

They do tech support online?

 

I live in the US, support is definitely better (IBM's touch I suppose). In general US support trumps most other countries, I've heard the horror stories of Dell/Lenovo in the EU/UK. I think PatchySan had a bad experience with his T420 getting it repaired under warranty.

That and I can definitely tell you that Idea is faaaaaaaaaaaaaar worse than Think support. Idea support is like your average consumer support, that's an unfortunate price one pays for buying consumer products.

 

Dell UK Support is good, I personally have no issues and find them at times far too generous! (Like when they upgraded my friends refurbished Latitude XT1 to a brand new Latitude XT2 with 3 yrs warranty free of charge due to some heating issues).

But yeah I had a disappointing experience with Lenovo UK Support on my ThinkPad T420, my hinges failed just 5 months into my 3 year warranty and they didn't really care unless I cough up. My case was escalated for over a month with the same answer coming back – “hinges are exempt from warranty repair, you want it replaced you have to pay”.

It took the intervention of Lead_Org who’s based in Australia and Katarina from Lenovo Slovakia to overturn the decision and allow my hinges to be replaced by Lenovo UK under warranty (Lenovo Thread Here). For such a minor item I couldn’t believe the hassle I had to go through, I was tempted to cave in and do it myself as it be quicker! But I probably think I was one of the luckier ones as I had a great bunch of people backing me all the way on my particular issue.

So yeah be warned if you're not based in the US, you may find a bit of reluctancy for repair if you're based in Europe or Middle East on certain issues. I'm not sure why though...

 

If you go to the Alienware forums, you'll see they have quite the opposite story of Dell support in the UK.

As to the OP, if you live in the states, you are lucky, if you don't well it's a hit or miss.

 

Apple makes consumer products and their warranty is pretty good compared to other consumer products.
Sometimes I recommend people to buy Apple laptops over IdeaPad laptops because of that.

 

Apple warranties do not include on-site as well as accidental damage coverage, a must in the business world. Apple's warranty is the better scale of consumer warranties but remember you also pay more for Apple products...

 

IdeaPads and other consumer laptops can be just as expensive as Apple products , which is one reason why I avoid buying consumer class laptops. It's amazing how much profit Apple can make and still maintain a very good consumer class warranty service. Of course it doesn't compete with business class offerings but it was never meant to. IMHO , IdeaPads give Lenovo a bad name when it comes to warranty service.

 

A number of Fortune 500's and even government depts have or are in process of switching to Apple.
Apple does in fact have on-site AppleCare service and goes as far as offering a 4hr turn around.

Times have changed.

 

That's quite interesting. If I buy an Apple laptop , how do I get that service? I just see regular AppleCare when I look under warranty extensions. After getting used to the ThinkPad NBD warranty service , I would rather buy laptops that offer the same or similar type of warranty.

 

Next time you're in Apple Store, speak to someone at the Business Counter and tell them you want to open an Apple Business Account.

You don't have to be a big company. Even self employed consultants can get a business account.

 

Yeah that's very limited. With on-site with any of the big 3 of business, you can get support anywhere, not a handful of cities. That and I can't think of any government agency or any Fortune 500 company that primarily uses Apple computers. (and I can assure you it's all real business computers here).

 

No worries, I was just correcting your earlier statement;

Give them some time. They just started on-site service last year and expanding quickly. It's a good step in the right direction.

I didn't say they were PRIMARILY using Apple, but both Fortune 500's and gov agencies are actively adding Macs as part of their procurement initiatives. iPads were already all over the board rooms, but now Airs, rMPBs and iMacs are multiplying quickly.

HP's taking the biggest hit. Dell is very slightly regaining some lost ground with their new line up. Lenovo is still banned within most US government agencies and aren't the build quality they used to be.

 

So , it seems like in the consumer world Apple wins.
In the business world , Lenovo , HP , and Dell seem to be the best three. Panasonic , Fujitsu , etc. are great as well but they aren't as big.

 

Government is not actively adding Macs, no IT department wants to support that. I have enough issues trying to deal with Windows/Exchange headaches, OS X is not something I want to deal with everyday. Also software licenses, etc, just no. Heck, the government still hasn't even fully switched over XP to 7.

And no WAY iPads are being introduced into the government, they are SO unsecure, it's not even funny. Everything is encrypted with some software, and there's no wireless, no flash drives allowed, how do you think a consumer sort of device is going to be accepted into the government? Show me an article where it shows executives all on iPads. Lenovo isn't banned, FDA had a huge contract with Lenovo, so that is DEAD wrong.

And it's not just the fact the Apple doesn't fully have on-site warranties, government contracts try to squeeze every penny out of the contract, so Apple who generally doesn't like that sort of nonsense, I can't even see a bid ever working out for Apple. Not to talk about introducing a server wide image for an Apple computer, hardware, docking stations, support, it's an impossible task. I can see maybe a director of an agency or department bringing in a personal Apple computer, but not government issued.

 

I'm sorry, you're out of touch with reality.
Pentagon has cleared iPhones and iPads running iOS 6 for use in the U.S. military, just over a week after the U.S. government cleared the software for federal use.
iOS 6.0 gets US federal government's security stamp of approval

Apple Store for Government
Apple Government Software Channel

Ok, how this?
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- "Of the 22 Fortune 100 companies we contacted, 20 companies specifically said their board members actively use iPads during their board meetings,"

Lenovo Joins Huawei & ZTE on the US Government’s Blacklist
US Government Drops Purchase of Lenovo PCs
Lenovo products banned by western governments over security concerns

 

Didn't realize that iphone is actually a computer. hum. Ipad may count, but iphone???

 

Dude did you even read the links you posted? Cleared for low security clearance, LOL. Aka outside of the lowest security clearance, it's useless. Go to your average government employee and ask what laptop they were issued at work. I more than likely guarantee it's one of 3 brands, HP Elitebook, Lenovo ThinkPad, Dell Latitude.

Again read, your link, 20/22 companies say they use iPads. Fortune 500 last I checked was more than 22 companies. Have you even looked at iOS from a security standpoint? There's no way to encrypt an iPad as it's completely locked down. Can you remotely wipe it in case it gets stolen?

Oh and the Lenovo stuff is crap, they had contracts all over govt. They alway rebid on contracts to get the cheapest price. In certain more sensitive parts of government, they all have different standards. I know DoD isn't running any Lenovo, more likely HP or Dell.

 

The screen hinges or the hinges for the base plate?