Lenovo and Quality Issues

[liveman2]

So I was asked by my partner to select her a laptop, she had been debating what to get and her budget was 1k. I decided to recommend the Lenovo Yoga Pro 3 from John Lewis. It was light, had a really nice display and seemed to fit the bill perfectly, most importantly it was slightly under budget.

 

2 months passed without any issues. She had been lightly using it, it has not left the house. She had used it maybe 20 times in those two months for job applications, word processing etc.

 

Then two nights ago we were looking for a holiday this weekend and the laptop switches off mid-browsing. No warning, plugged in, no noise. Nothing!!! I charged it all night thinking it may be a battery issue, still nothing!

 

So we take it back to John Lewis who direct us to the computer repair dept. We wait and see a chap who says that the laptop will have to go away for repair (he diagnoses a motherboard issue). The problem is she needs the laptop now, but they won't replace it on the spot so I ask to speak to a department manager (they have more power). We speak to the manager and he again starts stating policy, apparently the law changed late last year, ultimately John Lewis will send the laptop away for repair but they will not refund it unless you return it within 28 days or it has been away for repair 2 times to the manufacturer.

 

What happens next is they start the process. My partner is very upset so while they are prepping the laptop for return I ask someone in a different department for the store manager. After about an hour, they agree to refund the purchase.

 

I have always been a fan of John Lewis and Lenovo but ultimately she will now buy a Mac from the Apple Store. The last place I worked had an order for 500 Lenovo’s most of which had motherboard issues. I still recommended the brand as this is likely to have been a one-off, but now I wonder. Maybe we were just unlucky but I think maybe Lenovo have lost it! One thing is for sure, I won’t be recommending them anymore.

[rich_tech]

Lenovo have never majorly impressed me in build quality of their gear, I wouldn't opt for them over HP or Dell looking back at my time in education, I saw a fair few issues with Lenovo RAM, their laptops weren't super either apart from the Chromebooks, those bad boys tended to be built out of girders and clear aluminium in terms of sturdiness.

 

I am glad they returned your money though, it is a bit ridiculous that these places want to send everything off for repair these days rather than refund something like that which is faulty within the first 12 months.

[liveman2]

I agree that Dell has better build quality. I have had experience with both and will recommend Dell to people in the future. I really like the newer XPS line but it's slightly more expensive.

 

I left her alone to look at all the other computers without my influence, when I came back she was standing at the Macbook Air lineup. She has seen me using mine which has travelled well (now 2 years old) and never had an issue. I guess theres so little in it now between what they can do, pricing etc (for the mid-range).

[rich_tech]

Dell are decent on the Latitude range and beyond I think, I use a Latitude in work for my machine with a docking station, I was never that impressed with the home offerings though, Inspirons suffer bad with issues from my experiences with them, it was one thing I always advised people when looking to purchase Dells to take out the max warranties they could.

[liveman2]

The place where I worked used 6320's and 30's and they were pretty decent. All were covered under extended warranties and Dell support were really quick. I always thought this advert was kind of funny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRqAk_0JuEQ I once has an Inspiron and it was ok, just ok though. It was bulky but did what it needed.

[LytchettNM]

We have moved to Lenovo from HP 900 devices across the network and last summer the servers, server had a few issues with BIOS when we first got the but to be fair it was to do with the options cards we went with and the servers being a newish model but been rock solid and very quick since.

We have not had any more issue with Lenovo desktops than you would get expect when having that many devices, and when we have connected support then normally respect us with first line diagnostic and then send an engineer to site following day.

The only issue we have come cross is the plastic part in the USB ports on our older laptop sometime brake then the pins can touch the metal socket which then stops the laptops from booting, but the could just be wear and tear.

All in all we would give Lenovo the thumbs up [emoji106].

[Lonix]

Not gone through the responses but, I wonder why you purchased that just for "Word processing" and why John Lewis - they are not exactly well known for low costs. No surprise in their repair dept though.

 

I find nothing wrong with Lenovo, depending on what you get.

 

We've got Netbooks, Laptops and a few PCs. One set of laptops are shockingly bad but they were cheap as chips. The good Laptops we have are brilliant, reliable and other then being smashed by two teachers we have had zero issues for 2 Years on that set. The PCs are 3-4 Years old at least and are still running better than most Dells that age. In fact those PCs we have not had back in the office at all.

 

Their Warranty procedure can be a nightmare at times but frankly who is easy these days unless you have paid for the "extra" packages of warranty...

 

Now though, I tend to stick to non brand - buy what you need - kind of way. I don't see the point in spending a lot of money on something that is word processing, office and internet browsing. In 5 years time it's most likely going to be as reliable as something that cost another £300 more.

 

As techforyou said - they get a thumbs up for me.

[witch]

We have 72 Yogas that have been fine for one year so far.

The computers and monitors however - a different story. Has taken months to find a resolution and now all monitors are being replaced due to an "incompatibility" between them and the computers. TBF it does seem to sort the issue but has taken 9 months so far and not finished yet.

 

You do get the odd duff product with all companies though and I think in your case had John Lewis handled it differently you might have not been so upset.