Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[coolenm]

I purchased the Lenovo B575 on 8/13/11 and on 10/17/11 it won't even turn on.  No lights, no noise, no life.  I spoke with Lenovo on the phone and went through the procedure of removing the battery, unplugging it and holding the power button down for 30 seconds.  This did not resolve the problem. 

Lenovo then told me that  I have to return the laptop to them, in Texas, and  at my expense for shipping (I'm in Boston) so that they can fix this faulty machine.  They also told me that I needed to remove all my person information from the laptop as they would not be responsible for losing any of it.  I asked how I was supposed to do that when it won't even turn on?  I was told again that they were not responsible for any lost data and if I understood that.  I do understand, but I don''t really have a choice here do I?  This was aggravating, but even more aggravating  was sitting through Lenovo's sales pitch on how I should spend $199 to cover my laptop against accidental damage.  When I politely declined I was told it was strongly recommended.  After explaining that I didn't even have enough time to accidentally damage it before it broke on it's own, I was told that I could still think about getting the service.   

Best Buy only has a 14 day return policy which I find extremely inconvenient and anti-customer.  My Lenovo clearly has something wrong with it and I need to ship it across the country to have it evaluated?  I should be able to bring this back to the place of purchase and have it evaluated with out having to spend a dime.  I should be able to return it for a new one after it's evaluated at the place of purchase.  I've only had this machine for 2 months.  Now I have no laptop and will have to wait 2-4 weeks to hear back IF I ship it to Texas.  What should I do for a laptop in between?  I am very frustrated with this whole thing. 

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Good afternoon coolenm -

SarahT, from our Social Media team, will be reaching out to you regarding your concern. Thank you for your continued patience!

[CrystalWoW Community Veteran]

You can bring it to Best Buy to have it evaluated and sent off for service through geek squad without any cost to you....

[SarahT-BBY Community Connector]

Hi coolenm,

Thank you for making us aware of this issue. I can certainly understand your frustration with having a 2 month old laptop that is already having some sort of issue. Without knowing what the source of the problem is, Lenovo (and most other manufacturer’s for that matter) has a one year manufacturer’s warranty in case any defect arises for situations such as yours. Furthermore, Crystal, from the above reply, is correct that you can bring the laptop into one of our stores and have it serviced under the manufacturer’s warranty at no cost to you.

I am documenting the experience you’re describing, including your feelings regarding our 14 day return and exchange time frame for laptops. I will say, however, that if you were still within the 14 days to return the item, we would still need to perform some type of service or evaluation to determine why the laptop is not turning on.

Please let me know if you need any further assistance or if you have any further questions. I would recommend that you take the laptop into one of our stores so that the Geek Squad can take a look and if needed send it for service at no cost to you.

Sincerely,

[coolenm · Accepted solution]

Thank you SarahT.  I will bring it into BB for the Geek Squad to look at.  I am very relieved that I at least have this option.  I wasn't aware of it until now. 

[SarahT-BBY Community Connector]

Hi again coolenm,

I'm glad you'll be taking it in to be looked at! Please let me know simply by replying here if you need any further assistance.

Thank you,

[coolenm]

Geek Squad sent out my computer and had it back in less than two weeks working great. I wanted to follow up on this. It is now 1/16/12, a little late, but Kudos.

[kstengle]

I have the same issue. Need the cpu for work so can't send it away anywhere... So disappointing that I can spend money on a CPU and then have it totally stop working in a matter of months.

[deusexmachina Valued Contributor]

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kstengle wrote:

I have the same issue. Need the cpu for work so can't send it away anywhere... So disappointing that I can spend money on a CPU and then have it totally stop working in a matter of months.

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That is the unfortunate cost of wanting the cheapest price on products... mass production. Stuff, especially electronics, break all the time...you can either have Geek Squad send it to their service center if you're still under the MFG warranty or if you purchased a service plan. Otherwise, you can call Lenovo and send it to them directly for repairs.

(I don't mean YOU directly, just the general public)

[kstengle]

I agree the problem is I just needed something to use as a gateway to my virtual which is very high powered. I only needed a laptop that could run a VPN and remote desktop so it didn't make sense to pay for all the bells and whistles when they wouldn't be used. Also the service plans make no sense since I can't be without a CPU for 10 days since it is used for work. Really all this laptop needed was to turn itself on and run a limited amount of programs and it couldn't even do that correctly. I will contact Lenovo and see if they can help me out on this but in the mean time I have purchased a new laptop from a different brand