Lenovo laptop purchased from Comet has too-short warranty - help

[MizZan]

Hi - we bought a Lenovo g560 laptop from Comet a few weeks ago. The store did not have one in stock, and the manager said one had just been returned a few weeks earlier due to software faults, and he wouldn't sell us that one, and that the other was the display model, which he would sell us at a discount "but they'd had problems with Lenovo honoring warranties for their full length in that situation" before - so we opted to ask them to get in a new one from another store. This they duly did, and we picked it up and brought it home.

Opened the box (which appears new, and was sealed with a sticker, but raised a question to me as there was no physical warranty in the box) - took computer out, set it up, a few hitches with the software but the big surprise was when I went to lenovo.com to register I checked on the warranty period (using the serial number of the laptop which it asked me to input), and it said that the warranty runs out in Feb 2012.

Now, I bought the computer in May 2012 - supposedly brand new. It is supposed to have a one-year warranty from the manufacturer, this was stated all over the Lenovo website. Is there any possible explanation for this and more importantly, is there anything I can do? I called Comet to ask and they said "oh, it must just be a software error or another machine with the same serial number" and then said that in their view I would be covered anyway by the 1-year warranty from them - however I have nothing in writing about a 1-year warranty from them at all - just a purchase receipt.

What to do? Suggestions welcome. thanks in advance.

Take it into store. Speak to the manager. If you need to, go onto the website in store and demonstrate the issue. Take your receipt. Get everything agreed in writing on Company Headed Paper and signed by the manager. If they don't want to do that, be suspicious that they are just trying to fob you off.

You could also contact Lenovo via www.lenovo.com/contact/uk/en/ and get a response from them. You may have been fobbed off with a reconditioned machine.

Don't be fobbed off with "oh, it's a software glitch, etc." - there are serial numbers against warranties - it's that simple.

Comet are well known for selling recons off as new.

Hiya. I'm not sure what sort of warranty you were expecting in the box. I've personally never seen any certificate.

Your contract is actually with Comet rather than Lenovo. So if anything goes wrong within the year, it's down to Comet to sort it out, not Lenovo. Many sellers will try to palm you off and tell you to go direct to the manufacturer. Sometimes this will actually be the quickest thing to do. but legally, you can insist they sort it. Now if they have to then pay Lenovo, that's their problem, not yours.

In short, as long as you are happy with the laptop and it was new rather than a recon then you are protected.

thanks for all the responses. I bought the computer in may 2011 not may 2012 obviously :-)

Re the last response from niceguy2, the computer appears to have some software weirdness as well. but more to the point I still can't see why we should accept that a product that's supposed to be new with a oneyear manufacturer's warranty but actually only has a 9 month manufacturer's warranty. seems very fishy to me. we will try to take it back.

ugh. regretting the day we ever bought from comet. any suggestions on reliable sellers of lenovo laptops?

Well if you think about it, stores will have a certain amount of stock. And it will take time for stores to sell this stock. The time which the computer leaves Lenovo for Comet is recorded and there's no real way for them to know if Comet will sell that particular computer in one month or 6.

My point is that legally you are protected, there's really no issue here and your contract is with Comet. It really doesn't matter what the Lenovo system says.

Hang on niceguy - some firms (perhaps including Lenovo, part of IBM, I think) may record the date based on someone completing details about the serial number and when they bought the machine, simply because as you say the stock can be on the shelf for month before purchase, so Lenovo trusts the buyer to put the correct date (the receipt from the store will be easy enough proof, and if that is lost, with fewer and fewer cash purchases, there should be a bank debit card, or a credit card, to provide a purchase date).

So while I agree it matters relatively little whether the computer was bought at Comet, or wherever, the warranty date does hint at the machine having been registered early as if by someone else who bought and returned the machine, for whatever reasons.

If it is a very recent purchase, as it seems to be, I would kick up merry hell at the store where it was bought and demand a brand new machine. (A) because of the software 'glitch' (though not sure how much that is giving problems, as not described) and (B) because you were buying a BRAND NEW MACHINE but they appear to have sold one which has already been registered for some months, and OP can rightfully be unhappy.

If the manager at Comet does not get apologetic and replace with a brand new boxed machine, take it higher. Ask the manager for the address of his regional manager or the chief executive, so s/he knows you are not going to stop until you have dropped the manager in some smelly stuff and will be requesting the replacement from a few positions up the chain if that's what it takes.

If you get no joy, threaten them with David Vine on Radio 2. "You and Yours" on Radio 4, and BBC1 "Watchdog" - all consumer shows, and all likely to make it nasty in damaging the brand "Comet" in the eyes of consumers, when no business wants that stigma of being called a cheat and not treating customers fairly!

Be blunt, tell them you feel you have been treated unfairly and they are selling shoddy used goods as if they are brand new.

Also tell the store you will be complaining direct to Lenovo and their parent company (IBM) so they appreciate you are willing to go much further than just 'have a little moan in the shop' (and be fobbed off with platitudes).