Lenovo Repair under warranty - who pays postage?

big_boss

I bought a Lenovo ThinkPad from Lenovo UK (direct from manufacturer) in December 2013. It has develop a fault within 4 months (the screen does not come on). I spoke to Lenovo who asked me to send it to their repair centre in Colchester. When I asked them about postage, they informed me that as it's a carry-in warranty, I am responsible for postage (there was no option of warranty upgrade at the time as it was a brand new product line and they had not fully developed the product page to include warranty upgrade options).

I was reading through the warranty terms. At the time of purchase of the laptop, the warranty was clearly stated as 1-year Depot or Carry-in. This can be seen even today when placing an order from their website.

Looking at the warranty terms, this is what it states on page 4:

3. Courier or Depot Service
Under Courier or Depot Service, your product will be repaired or exchanged at a designated service center, with shipping at the expense of the Service Provider. You are responsible for disconnecting the product and packing it in a shipping container provided to you to return your product to a designated service center. A courier will pick up your product and deliver it to the designated service center. The service center will return the product to you at its expense.

http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/thinkcentre_pdf/l505-0010-02_en.pdf

When I called them to challenge this, they said that Depot warranties are applicable only if the service centre is not located in your country. In other words, if the service centre is located in another country, you don't have to pay for postage, but you pay for it if it's in the same country. This is not mentioned in their warranty terms at all.

The cost of sending it to them including insurance is £57. I think it's unfair for me to pay for this for a laptop that has broken down within 4 months.

What do you think? Any suggestions?

shaun_from_Africa

It's perfectly acceptable and legal for the terms of a warranty to state that postage is the responsibility of the consumer. This is because a warranty is something that a company does not have to provide and if they do offer one, they can state terms and conditions that wouldn't be legal if you were relying on your statutory rights under the Sale of goods act.

What you should do is to contact Lenovo again and tell them that you don't wish to claim under the waranty, but you are invoking your sale of goods act rights.
As the laptop is under 6 months old, any fault is deemed to be due to a manufacturing defect (unless the retailer can prove otherwise), and that retailer is legally obliged to provide a remedy. (repair, replacement or refund, which can be a partial refund to cover the time you have had the goods).

They are also responsible for costs incurred in providing this remedy, costs such as postage.

Hintza

But if they do collect it and deem it not a manufacturing fault (unlikely unless dropped etc) then they will ask you to pay the return and repair etc.

big_boss

Thanks. I've never dropped the laptop, and it's quite sparingly used. It's definitely a manufacturing fault. I think it'll be quite difficult for them to prove it's my fault.

I spoke to them earlier today, and they will get back to me over the next day or so, to see if they can accept my case as an exception.

agrinnall

Well, it's probably best to see what they say, but your case is not an exception, you are exercising your rights under SOGA and they have no leg to stand on if they try to argue.

mattyprice4004

£57? Are you having it flown by private jet?

Try collect plus or parcels 2 go.

cattie

Make sure who ever you send it via that the insurance fully covers it as many couriers exclude electrical items.

big_boss

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

£57? Are you having it flown by private jet?

Try collect plus or parcels 2 go.

That's what I've tried. It's less than £10 if you're not bothered about insuring it (they insure up to £20-50 only). I'm not willing to take the risk of sending without insurance for a manufacturing defect.

Royal Mail Special Delivery is quoting £27.60 for postage + insurance up to £1000. That's the cheapest I've just found.

Good point about electrical items. I'll ask Royal Mail (after getting a response from Lenovo).

bod1467

Lenovo are responsible for the returns costs. Tell them they need to advise the returns method to be used (at their cost).

Esqui

I'm guessing it's a business machine with a return-to-base warranty. Did you buy it as a business or consumer?

Fosterdog

Whenever I deal with Lenovo consumer warranty work they send DPD with a padded laptop container and they cover the full cost of the courier. I only know them to charge for business purchases.

If you didn't buy as a business maybe you just spoke to the wrong department when booking the repair and it has been booked as a business repair instead if consumer