RE: [Thinkpad] TP-41 : Poor repair service from IBM?

For what it's worth IBM service here in Australia is extremely good. Mine
has been in twice- once for weird sounds emenating from the speakers
(motherboard replacement) and just last week because the connector to the
LCD bumped loose. Both times the technician working on the machine called
me up directly to clarify any problems. Courier pickup was standard with
the warranty and turnaround time was less than a week.

Regards,

Jeff

PS: Could it be a UK thing? I was living there until recently and customer
service problems seemed quite endemic!

-----Original Message-----
From: thinkpad-bounces@stderr.org [mailto:thinkpad-bounces@stderr.org]On
Behalf Of Simon Watson
Sent: Wednesday, 18 August 2004 10:56 PM
To: thinkpad@stderr.org
Cc: Jeremy Hughes
Subject: [Thinkpad] TP-41 : Poor repair service from IBM?

Hi Everyone

My boss recently made the jump from Macintosh to PC and bought a ThinkPad
T41. He was very happy with his new laptop until it broke last month.

His T41 suffered a complete power failure on Friday 30th July 2004. It was
only a few months old and bought in the UK with an IBM warranty. He called
IBM support directly and after a few diagnostics was told to deliver the
laptop to a courier's depot the following Monday. He's had little
spontaneous feedback (a couple of indecipherable messages left on his home)
so today he called for a progress report. IBM said they were unable to
trace the part (new systemboard & modem) that had (allegedly) been
dispatched to repair his laptop. At this point he registered a verbally
complaint. So 3 1/2 weeks after calling IBM, a new part has been ordered
but lost in the IBM system and he has no date for the return of his
computer.

I'm onto my second ThinkPad and my boss bought his largely on the basis of
my good experience with them. I've never had to use IBM for a repair but I
got the impression they offered a pretty good warranty. This was one reason
why I have paid the comparably higher price for a ThinkPad.

Is this story typical of IBM's repair service or just a isolated bad
incident? How do IBM compare to their competitors in terms of speed &
efficiency of under-warrant repairs? I'm interested in the experience of
both UK users and those abroad, especially in the USA where service
standards generally seem to be high.

Best wishes

Simon Watson

Edinburgh, UK
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Received on Thu Aug 19 21:23:30 2004