Lenovo – The Day The Dock Died
This is the tale of my first interaction with Lenovo on a matter of warranty support. As you may know I’ve owned a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
Since a change in career path in April 2013 I’m not the road warrior that I was for so many years. In fact, I’m largely home office-bound. That puts the X1C in a diminished role, secondary to my desktop. Even so, I’ve augmented the little X1C, adapting it to have greater connectivity.
On it’s own the X1C has rather limited connections;
- (1) USB 2.0
- (1) USB 3.0
- (1) Mini DisplayPort
- (1) Headset (3.5mmm TRRS)
To add some additional ports I bought the Lenovo ThinkPad USB 3.0 Docking Station.
The dock connects to the X1C via a single USB 3.0, thereafter the X1C presents;
- (1) USB 2.0
- (5) USB 3.0
- (1) DVI-D
- (1) DVI-A
- (1) Mini DisplayPort
- (2) Headset (3.5mmm TRRS)
- (1) 10/100/1000 Ethernet
The extra ports are a godsend, most especially the DVI outputs and wired network. While in my office it’s great to have dual-displays and the reliability of wired Ethernet for things like Hangouts or Jitsi Video Bridge. You can imagine my dismay when I found that the little port replicator was deceased. It was no more.
Its loss was inconvenient, but not a show stopper, so I set it aside for a few weeks. I eventually called Lenovo support to inquire about a warranty replacement. The dock was then about 15 months old, but reportedly covered by a 3 year warranty.
When I reached the appropriate support team they took down my notes about the failed device and opened a trouble case. The staffer handling the call had some initial trouble getting specifics on the device. I would guess that they have mandated procedures to be followed before they can issue warranty replacement for more costly or sophisticated items. It took him some time to glean that there was no such procedure for the dock.
In less than an hour he advised that they would ship a replacement unit under warranty, and I should return the defective device asap. I was more than a little surprised to find the replacement unit at my door the next afternoon. On this basis my first experience with Lenovo support has been pretty good indeed.
With the dock replaced I can once again use my X1 Carbon with two monitors, a USB connected cordless mouse, an external portable hard drive, an external webcam and a wired network connection. All is once again right in this little corner of my world