About three weeks after receiving my ThinkPad T410 I attempted to install the USB video port replicator shipped with it. Following the instructions shipped with the prot replicator, I plugged it into the computer. A message came up that a couple of drivers were missing, so, again following the very brief instrutions accompanying the port replicator, I attempted to install the drivers from the enclosed disc, which was dated 2-23-2010. It blue-screened the computer. To be fair, I should point out that the disc had printed on it that it was for XP and Vista, so maybe I should have known better than to put it into a computer with Widnows 7. However, it was the disc sent with the system, and I did use it in accordance with the instructions provided.

I called IBM technical support and was told they could not help me because my warranty was not registered. Keep in miind that this was three weeks after delivery. As this was on a Sunday afternoon, they were not able to connect me with Lenovo to confirm the warrantly. After I somewhat emphatically suggested that I would return the $2,700 system, which I bought directly from Lenovo, if they wouldn’t help me restore the system, the tech finally walked me through it. Thankfully, I had made a complete backup of the system a couple of hours before the incident and was able to restore the system with no loss of data. The tech also suggested I call back the next day and they could put me through to the warranty department, which I did.

Other than this apparent lack of communication between Lenovo sales and IBM tech support, my experience with Lenovo technical support has been excellent. Once I got past the issue of the warranty status, the tech was very competent and helpful, as was a second tech who directed me to the latest drivers for port replicator on the IBM Web site. Unfortunately those drivers, dated 2-25-2010, also do not support the video output or ethernet functions of the port replicator on my system, so as of today I am returning it for a refund. This also went smoothly with Lenovo sales issuing a return label without hesitation after I explained my attempts at resolving the problem with tech support.

Also today, when I received a message that my Windows 7 OS was not authentic, I got right through to technical support, and they were able to direct me to Microsoft to fix the problem. By the way, this issue also appears to be related to a communication problem between Lenovo and Microsoft, who, I was told by the tech, have two different and incompatible systems for issuing licensing keys.

I also got right through when I had some issues relating to software incompatibilities, and the tech was very helpful.

Overall, I would rate the technical support as excellent. I have had no trouble getting through on weekends or during business hours, and the techs are very well trained compared with most I have dealt with from other companies.

Where the support is falling down is in the internal systems. I can think of no reason why it would take more than three weeks to activate a warranty. Also, the three-yeaer extension I bought still is not showing up on the waranty status page in the ThinkVantage tools, despite that fact that I have raised this issue twice with Lenovo sales. I hope this will not cause problems down the road.

The other system problem that bothers me is: why in the world would Lenovo send out a disc with software for one of their own peripherals that would bring down one of their own machines? I know that Lenovo/IBM are aware of this because I found several references to it on Lenovo chat pages after I had the problem. It is only because I had the luck to have made a complete system backup earlier that day that this did not turn into a real problem for me.

One more comment on the distinction drawn above between customers and activists: I suspect everyone starts out as a customer; it’s when you run into roadblocks like Lenovo not communicating with IBM or Microsoft, and just plain idiotic moves like a vendor sending you software with your system that basically destroys it that start transforming you into an activist. It’s almost necessary at that point. These problems go well beyond anything that a customer can address through your tech support function. They are deep process flaws that only can be corrected by senior management intervention.

Overall, I like the system very well and its performance is everything I hoped for. It boots from zero in 40 seconds (!) The tech support for the most part has been great. But these kinds of systemic issues are a real problem for your customers that need to be addressed.

Thanks for listening.

My experience with Lenovo has been disasterous. i have never experienced worse customer support. What has happened so far is as follows

I bought a Lenovo computer in March last year, shortly before we moved house. We installed in in June. Since early August I have been unable to use it because it has crashed every few minutes (intermittently). I first rang the Lenovo support number to report the problem on 20 August. I spent the next 2 months trying a series of diagnostic test on the softward: on each occasion I needed to take a day off work so that I could call Lenovo during office hours. Eventually I was sent a set of back up disks and did a full factory restore (I had done one earlier on line which took most of a day). I had repeatedly pointed out that I wasn’t sure it was a software problem because the error messages varied. Sure enough the full factory restore failed to resolve the problem. I rang Lenovo again and was asked to begin the same diagnostic test, and again try and update the Bios, despite earlier conversations with customer support in which they had assured me this wasn’t the problem. I twice asked for my complaints to be escalated (the first time this was ignored, the secons I was simply assigned a new call number).

Eventually the computer was picked up (I had to pay for packaging materials) and taken to the Lenovo workshop, where the motherboard was replaced on 28 November and the computer returned to me. The same problems persisted, so I rang Lenovo again on 29 December, and spoke to Andrew. He advised me to start again with the same diagnostic tests which had been tried before. I refused. He suggested sending an enginner. The engineer did not come on 31 December as had been arranged, but when I rang on 31 December I was told he could only come on 2 January. So I took another day off work. The engineer arrived with instructions to replace the mother board. I suggested this was unlikely to be the cause of the problem since th motherboard had already been replaced and rang Lenovo and spoke to Catalin. He was dismissive of my concerns explaining “if my colleague decided it was the mother board, it was the mother board”. So the engineer duly replaced the motherboard – having seen for himself the way the system crashed. The engineer left (I explained to him and to Catalin that I didn’t consider the problem resolved) and sure enough 20 minutes later the system crashed again in exactly the same way. I rang Lenovo again, and spoke to Florin, who told me that an enginner’s visit had been arranged for Monday 5 January. I told him I was at work that day, and didn’t understand how a further engineer’s visit had been arranged without discussion with me. I asked for the computer to be taken away, and said that I wanted a replacement. Florin told me no replacement was not possible – that wasn’t policy. I asked him if he thought my situation was acceptable. He said it didn’t happen often! I arranged with him for a courir to come. I asked for it to come today (otherwise it will mean yet another day off work). I said I did not wish to have it returned broken again, and pointed out that having replaced two motherboards in a futile (and the second time mindless) attempt to resolve the problem it would surely be better to provide a replacement.

So the situation is as follows. My computer has been reported broken since 20 August. It is still broken. My efforts to get it fixed have forced me to take a total of seven days off work. I would like it replaced. I don’t want to have to spend more time and money getting something fixed which I had reasonable expectations would work properly as I bought it new.

I consider the level of service I have received to be appalling and offensive. I was told repeatedly until today that there was no way I could complain using email or correspondence.

“There is a problem retrieving the document MIGR-69671″

As on 25th Oct’08

I keep reading about free battery replacement but it seems, replying to blogs by creating “ad hoc” teams is not going to help.
My Lenovo is 3000 N100,0768. I bought the laptop by sixth of 2007(I have the papers).
1.The batteries went dead after Three or Four months.
2.The Sound completely went dead after Six months.

To be honest, I thought over the problem (probably more than the scientists in the R&D at Lenovo) and came to the conclusion that the batteries were manufacturing defect but the audio problem is beyond lenovo’s grasping capacity. At this point of time If lenovo let’s me know if my conclusion was right, I would be happy.

Another point. David, you should be very careful with your answers as you might be getting a good pay for managing the ad hoc team but I see Lenovo being sued in the near future involving this weblog department.

Expecting no help from Lenovo,
Vash

Lenovo 3000 N100 battery P/N 92P1185 (FRU 92P1186) will not charge or discharge. The power meter in control panel, power options may reflect anywhere from 0% to 99% charged but the battery will not charge any higher and may not function at all when the AC adapter is removed. This symptom does not pose a safety hazard.
Affected Configurations

Any of the following Lenovo 3000 N100 systems:

* 0689
* 0768

Solution

Lenovo will replace eligible batteries (FRU 92P1186) with this failure symptom for an additional 6-months (total of 18-months) based on the system warranty start date. To be eligible for this replacement all of the following must be true:

1. The system must be a Lenovo 3000 N100 (0689 or 0768).
2. The system must be within 18 months of the system warranty start date. (If the battery was purchased as an Option, then it must be within 18 months of purchase date and proof of purchase will be required for validation).
3. The battery must be P/N 92P1185 (FRU 92P1186).
4. The battery does not charge when connected to the system with the AC adapter. The system will only function with the AC adapter attached. The system will not function on battery alone.

Please contact your local support center to validate eligibility for battery replacement.

I want to start by stating that I have never truly written in on one of these blogs ever, but after seeing similar complaints for the issue I am facing I feel that maybe some insight may be offered to me.

Fairly recently, my family bought a Lenovo 3000 N100 with a pentium dual-core and windows vista. The laptop worked flawlessly for, oh say, the first month or two. However, shortly after the battery life dropped from being fully charged and only lasting a few minutes, to now lasting almost less than one before powering down. I couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong considering I had been charging it for over day almost every time and the system told me I had 100% power remaining. Finally, I decided to do some research into the problem when it shutdown when I needed it the most to print out a project. Frustrated, I wanted to see what was going on.

After reading of similar problems facing other consumers, I was hoping that everything could be cleared up. Is it really a motherboard connection issue? Or could something else be wrong with the laptop. So far I have not contacted any Technical Service of any sort, but I would love a quick and easy fix if there was one. Overall, aside from slow network connection at some points, which may be a result of either my own network or the laptop itself, I have been greatly satisfied with Lenovo and the laptop.