From: Bill Morrow (penzance_at_icanect.net)
Date: Sun Aug 29 1999 - 03:17:06 EDT
Gentlemen,
EZ Serve was, at one time, the absolute best service center available for
thinkpads..
this is when it was owned by IBM.. parts were pleantiful and service was
lightening fast..
send in a machine that had been run over by a taxicab, and they would return a
new machine..
i had it happen to me..
(okok, so it had NOT been run over, but it sure looked that way)
then, IBM sold EZ serve off to some old insider IBM exec's who, i think, retired
and decided to buy this service center and contract with IBM for serviceing
thinkpads and other machines..
the result is, i think, from experience and comments by others, a vastly
diminished service experience..
suddenly, a missing trackpoint cap is "User abuse" and thus will cost $1000 to
repair..
anyone care to guess WHO gets to keep the $1k??
while my bet is that each thinkpad NOT abUSED by the customer, gets fixed at a
flat rate.. one that allows for very little margin..
thus the tendency to huinger after the expensive repair jobs and see user abuse
where none exists..
personally, i think this is about the worst thing IBM could have done..
give a profit motive to declare the repair to be user abuse when, in fact, it is
either bad workmanship (as in the case of bubbling paint) or sudden infant death
syndrome (in the case of a new machine dying suddenly due to component failure)
or poor design (in the case of some flex PWB wearing out or a door falling
off)..
SO, if some hereabouts complain, they do so, most likely, because they recall
those days of yesteryear, when ez-serve would ride to the aid of a thinkpad
owner and rescue his machine from the clutches of that devil of all electronic
devices, sudden failure..! :-)
"Chuck S." wrote:
> It's curious that TP owners either praise EZ-Serve or deplore it. I've got
> to think that these extremes have less to do with EZ-Serve an more to do
> with owners expectations of their warranty. With all due respect to A
> Kumar, I find it hard to believe that one TP could have 15 problems due to
> normal ware and tare or manufacture's defects. IBM makes a durable product,
> that if treated carefully, should not need $1,000 of service during its
> lifetime, even if it is used daily.
>
> Transmonde, who also made quality laptops, just went out of business due to
> shrinking profit margins. TP's will probably be around for awhile, but IBM
> cannot afford to give away services either.
>
> Chuck
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: A Kumar <kumara2_at_rpi.edu>
> To: <tp750_at_cs.utk.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, August 26, 1999 11:41 PM
> Subject: RE: Good Service from IBM...
>
> |
> | The 600 have a 3 year warranty.
> |
> | I have to agree with Randal EZ-Serve is horrible. I just sent back my 600
> | with about 15 different problems. I use my ThinkPad on a daily bases and
> it
> | is impossible for me to send it back every time the paint chips or one of
> | the doors come off. So when I finally do send it back I get a call from
> | EZ-serve saying that I would have to pay $1000 for user damage. Issues
> like
> | a battery that refused to keep its charge(How in the world I could have
> done
> | that is beyond me). Anyway I refused to pay it got escalated and some lady
> | told me she would give me a deal I would only have to pay $500! I kindly
> | said no and again it was escalated this time I just called them every two
> | hours directly and through IBM Tec support till they got so annoyed they
> | agreed to 'cover the charge' even though all the problem were caused by
> me.
> | Later I found out that the reason everything was considered user damage
> was
> | because the clip on my CDROM broke. They assumed I broke it and therefore
> | they reasoned I also broke everything else! Well I can assure you IBM is
> | going to be hearing from me. And if my ThinkPad comes back half fixed
> again
> | they will be sorry(Grr has come back half fixed from them twice)! I can
> be
> | quite persistent when I want to be ;)
> |
> | -----Original Message-----
> | From: Randal Whittle [mailto:rwhittle_at_usa.net]
> | Sent: Thursday, August 26, 1999 12:18 PM
> | To: David W. Taylor; TP List
> | Subject: Re: Good Service from IBM...
> |
> | > 15 months? Wasn't this well past its warranty date? You got >>>lucky!
> | :-)
> | >
> | > I agree with you though--to an extent. Something like this enables IBM
> to
> | > show why its "worth it" to pay a premium for their neat little machines.
> | >
> | > But heaven help you if you have to send it in to EZ Serve, since they
> | > contract that out to some other cheapskate company. First they'll
> accuse
> | > you of beating it up, then they'll send you an immense bill just for
> | >looking at it, then they'll insist it will cost $1000 to replace a >door
> | hinge.
> | >
> | > It wasn't like that 5 years ago. EZ Serve has really changed...
> | >
> | >- Randy Whittle
> |
> |
-- Live Long and Prosper, Happy trails...** Bill Morrow ** :-) WEB page http://thinkpads.com Thinkpad User Community: http://thinkpads.com/enter.html Compuserve Thinkpad(c) Forum Sysop e-mail: bill_at_thinkpads.com, penzance_at_icanect.net 770Z-8AU, 760ED, 760CD, (5)701C, 560E, 755CE, 750C et al...
Including, but not limited to, Subject to prior sale, Your mileage will vary, Done on a closed road with a professional driver AND Do not try this at home..
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