International warranty questions

I have some questions about international warranty.

1: I live in the Czech republic (EU) and there are only about T400 models sold here. If I understand the IWS correctly, then only those 2 models are elegible for warranty here.

2: So if I buy a different model from the US, then I'll have to send it back to the US to have it repaired, right?

3: I'd like to buy the notebook on Ebay, will I then be able to buy extended warranty for it? And will this extended warranty apply in the Czech republic?


4: Is the above the same for refurbished machines as well?

Thanks a lot.

 

If you buy a ThinkPad with IWS here, it should be eligible for service in Czechoslovakia. There's a link in the sticky to see which machine offer IWS and where they're covered. It's my understanding the CTO machines do not have it. You also cannot add it later, but if you were to extend the warranty, the extended warranty should be covered overseas. As always, read the fine print.

 

Ok, I'd like to buy this machine form ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/THINKPAD-T400-14-1-Laptop-WXGA-2-5G-320GB-3GB-Vista-XP_W0QQitemZ190307344210QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLaptops_Nov05?hash=item2c4f339f52&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72:1234|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

When I looked up the warranty, this is what I got: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/warrantyLookup.do?type=2764&serial=L3A1068&country=897&iws=off&sitestyle=lenovo

Will I be able to extend this warranty and will it apply in Europe as well?

 

That machine/type is not supported in Europe...
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/warrantyLookup.do?type=2764&iws=on&sitestyle=lenovo

 

i have a T400 7417. It mean that i can ask a warranty service in fowllowing country http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/warrantyLookup.do?type=7417&iws=on&sitestyle=lenovo , right?

 

Well, that is how its supposed to work. But there are some problems. For example if you go to the Lenovo UK website you can customize and buy a model 7417 T400 but according to the IWS website, that model is not eligible for warranty service in the UK!!! So, I would say contact lenovo in the country you live and ask them to provide model numbers which they are able to provide warranty serivce(preferrably ask for it in written format).

 

Basically, as others have already said, you have to look for machine types, which are eligible for International Warranty Service in the Czech Republic. This can be checked here.

I ordered mine last autumn directly from Lenovo using this link, which allowed me to customize a T400 with machine type 2767. It's covered by a three year international warranty valid in Europe. Unfortunately, the custom configuration seems to be misconfigured and no longer working for some time now, showing incorrect prices and options.

I can recommend you to look:

[1] elsewhere in Europe. Lenovo offers a significantly broader range of models in Germany for instance. If you buy your ThinkPad from within Europe, not only you won't have to worry about warranty, but you won't have to deal with customs as well (don't forget that when you have your notebook delivered from outside EU, you have to pay VAT (19% DPH in CR) on import.

[2] for TopSeller preconfigured models in the US online shops (these usually come with worldwide IWS).

[3] around eBay. Some seller do offer machines with IWS valid in Europe.

As far as the warranty extension is concerned, from what I understand:

• there's no way to extend IWS to be valid in a country, which is not listed in IWS lookup page for a particular machine type.
• warranty extensions are only valid in the country, where the service contract is purchased and registered! This means that when you purchase a warranty extension (i.e. on-site warranty, ThinkPad Protection) in the US, even for a machine covered by IWS in the Czech Republic, you'll be entitled to receive these additional services only in the US. Conversely, you may however purchase a warranty extension locally, in the Czech Republic, but only for machines, which are eligible to receive IWS here (!).

The above is based on my experience, not official statements from Lenovo. You may try your luck to get an official word about this from Lenovo. I must say that I was pretty unsuccessful in being able to get in touch with anyone from Lenovo Czech Republic (they wouldn't respond to emails and phone calls).

 

Thanks for a very informative post.

So what I need to do is, get a machine, which is elegible for IWS in CR and then I'll be able to extend the warranty here, no matter where's the machine originaly from.

BTW: How were you able to configure your machine online? Does Lenovo ship internationaly?

 

There was a discussion also about ThinkPad warranty some time ago: basically, if you buy the ThinkPad in Europe it comes with 3 years warranty already, you don't need to expand it or buy additional warranty.

I would have looked up that thread for you, but for some reason searching seems to be disabled (is it for everyone or just me?).

 

Yes, I believe it works this way... at least it's what I did after I received my T400 (machine type: 2767) from the USA. It came with a standard 3-year carry-in warranty. I bought a ServicePac (P/N: 41K0422) here in the Czech Republic, extending the base warranty to an on-site service with a ThinkPad Protection. Registration went through without a hitch. The warranty status for my machine has been promptly updated as well (see attached picture).

No, Lenovo US does not ship internationally. I used a mail forwarding agent to get a delivery address in the US and then had the laptop resent to the Czech Republic. In case you were interested, I had mine delivered through Zasilkova sluzba and could wholeheartedly recommend their services.