Lenovo refuses warranty repair - what are my options?

Lenovo refuses warranty repair - what are my options?

I'm sure this is nothing new and many other commentards have been through this. That is why I'm hoping for some suggestions as to how I can move this forward.

I have a Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E130 laptop which I've bought in Nov 2013. About two months ago the screws underneath towards the back (in the vicinity and under the lid hinges) have fallen off. When I tried to screw them back in, they wouldn't hold and kept on falling off. Because of this, the bottom and top of the case started to open up. Separately, the keyboard has been leaving scratch marks on the screen because - I'm assuming - it is rubbing against it when the lid is closed. I've noticed this within two weeks of buying the machine - and started to use a soft, thin silicone keyboard cover - which has slowed but not stopped the process.

Just over a month ago I contacted Lenovo support about the two issues above and they asked for photos. On receiving the photos, they immediately declared that it is customer induced damage (CID). Upon my repeated persistence, they accepted to have a look at the machine - and I shipped it at my own cost to their repair centre. Their 12 months warranty is "Carry in" - so they don't cover the shipping cost!

Since then, there have been many emails backwards and forwards trying to convince them that this is not customer induced damage - and it is either a faulty design or manufacturing defect or both. They wouldn't even acknowledge the screen scratches for a while - and then they say that they've cleaned them up! But they refuse to provide photo evidence. Eventually they accepted to open up the machine and have a look inside - and now they say I've caused the threads of the screws to be faulty by pushing the lid too far!

This is my own machine and I have been careful in using it - so I know it is non-sense. They are continuing to refuse to send photographic evidence in support of their nonsense claims. The alternative is that they repair the machine for £212.00 Labour + Price of Parts + VAT - which is completely ridiculous.

I have contacted Lenovo switchboard in UK - and asked for their Customer Services Department or their Complaints Department - but they don't seem to have such a thing! They gave me the email address of the assistant to the executive director - but I think even that is nonsense as she just forwarded the case back to the same technical support department - and ignored my further emails. Her email signature doesn't even have a title or further details - which is another suspicious sign.

Today they emailed and confirmed the machine is on its way back to me - as I haven't accepted any of their options.

What is the experience of Reg readers in these matters? Any useful suggestions as to how to move this forward? UK Trading Standards? Does Lenovo really not have any proper complaint resolution procedure? To add to the confusion, some phone numbers and email addresses are marked as IBM departments and some as Lenovo. After all this time the two companies seem to be still intertwined in a mesh of branding and department roles.

Any suggestions are welcome.