Hey

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with getting Lenovo support for their Thinkpad in China? I have worldwide support but the China hotline only speaks Chinese and my Chinese isn't really sufficient to consult technical support over the phone.

In fact, I need to send the computer in because something's wrong with the graphics card inside the computer. Do you think any of the Lenovo stores around here are authorised dealerships that can fix my computer without voiding warranty?

S

I bought a new Lenovo Thinkpad last month from an authorized dealer in 佰腾数码广场。 At the time, I asked about local support, since I did not want to jump through hoops on the telephone and ship it off to Beijing or Shanghai for repairs. The owner of the store assured me there was a local factory repair station 厂家维修部 that was approved by Lenovo and I could just take it there if the need arose.

Well, I would love to tell you the address and phone number, but like a dummy I have misplaced the paperwork and can't put my hands on it just now.

But I'm sure you can get the information you need from a local authorized Lenovo dealer. There are lots of them in addition to the one I found at Bai Teng Shu Ma. 佰腾数码广场。 A large cluster of computer related shops is located on Yi Er Yi Da Jie (一二一大街), Yuan Xi Lu (园西路), Yuan Tong Bei Lu (圆通北路) and Gu Lou Lu (鼓楼路)。

There was not much English spoken, so you might want to take a Chinese friend along.

When I manage to locate the warranty repair information, I will come back and post it, but it may be a couple days because I'm not at home just now.

I have used the Lenovo service centres in other cities but not in Kunming.

The service was excellent, but you must be able to speak Chinese.
We needed a new keyboard for a 4 year old model. They had one in stock and fitted as we waited. Cost 300rmb.

Don't be put off by the exterior. The ones we went to were grubby little workshops with no big branding decor. But they did the job and were cheap. I think my wife got the address from the phone book. I guess a Web search should also bring up approved dealers.

I found the paperwork. (See my earlier post above.)

Here is the name and phone number of the authorized dealer from whom I bought my computer (in Bai Teng Shu Ma 佰腾数码广场)

王森 (wáng sēn)
13529240054

Here is the phone number of the official Kunming Lenovo service center:

0871-5163703 or 159096608038. The first one is a land line with the Kunming dialing prefix (0871) and the second number is a mobile phone. The service center is located near the store, at 86 圆通北路 Yuantong Beilu.

Don't expect English at either the store or the service center.

I've found a Thinkpad service centre that will replace my display for free in Xiao Cai Yuan Lu 249 (just north of Gu Lou Lu, on the east bank of the Pan Long Jiang).

Unfortunately, my computer had not been registered for global support or something like it (even though the Lenovo toolbox says: this product has a Global Model Plus special bid three year limited warranty). So they told me to call 8008103315 (Beijing) and register there, then come back. Now I hope this registration is for free. And otherwise it probably still beats the price of fitting a new display.

Funny fact: first, I went to a Lenovo store on Yuan Tong Bei Lu. There they asked and called around and then brought me to the building across the road, where only two elevators need to swallow hundreds of people going to each one of the 20 floors. We had to go to floor 18. After 10 minutes of waiting, an elevator finally arrives and since the button for floor 18 doesn't work, we're off to floor 19 and we then take the emergency stairs, dodging trash and leaking fluid, to the 18th. There no one answers the door so we try floor 17 (the elevator apparently reports the wrong floor, too). A bunch of Chinese people sit there repairing computers in flickering tubelight. They eventually tell me to go to the service centre since my computer is still under warranty.

At least the computer engineers were honest enough to tell you.

The guy from the Lenovo store however?

It was not a store, but a ThinkCentre service point. They told me they would change the screen for free and within two days if I had registered my product.

The guys in the repair place told me to go there as soon as I mentioned that I still had about a year's worth of warranty left.

thanks for all the help.

for the record, the engineer at the thinkcentre can be reached on 0871-5157999

Glad you got it worked out.