Lenovo Yoga turns into an expensive paperweight after repeated repair failures

A $1,866 Lenovo Yoga overheated and lost battery life after multiple repair attempts. Here’s what a warranty should cover when fixes keep failing, and how the owner ultimately secured a refund.

Tracey Croisier expected a premium Lenovo laptop to handle life on the go, but the battery drained faster than a budget phone. After five repair attempts and some baffling guidance from tech support, she was left with a “portable” computer that only worked while plugged into the wall. Was Lenovo obligated to return her money?

Question

I paid $1,866 for a new Lenovo Yoga 9 a little over a year ago. I’m a writer and keynote speaker, so I need a device that works when I’m on the move. Less than a year after I bought it, the battery started failing. It would drop from 100 percent to 30 percent in just two hours.

Lenovo sent an in-home repair technician who replaced the battery and the motherboard, but the problem didn’t go away. Every time I call tech support, they run diagnostics, tell me they fixed it, and then the battery fails again a few weeks later. I have six different repair ticket numbers.

Lately, the laptop has become very hot to the touch. My own diagnostics showed a peak temperature of 134 degrees. When I told a Lenovo representative that the battery dies while I am driving 10 miles to my writing class, he actually suggested that I should consider turning the laptop off while I’m in the car.

I didn’t pay nearly $2,000 for a desktop computer. Lenovo’s specs claim a 15-hour battery life, and reviews say it should last even longer. I’ve done everything they asked, including mailing it back for more “diagnostics.” I want a full refund so I can buy a computer that doesn’t burn my hands or die in the middle of a presentation. Can you help me get my money back? — Tracey Croisier, Bellevue, Wash.

Answer

Lenovo should have replaced your laptop or refunded your money long ago. When you spend $1,866 on a laptop, you are paying for portability and a reasonable amount of battery life. If a computer can’t survive a 30-minute car ride without losing most of its charge, it’s defective.

Most manufacturers offer a one-year limited warranty that covers defects in materials and workmanship. When a company tries to fix the same hardware issue four or five times without success, it is considered a lemon. At that point, the repair cycle needs to end and a replacement or refund should begin.

I liked the way you kept a paper trail. You had a clear chronology of every repair attempt and every promise made by tech support. That’s exactly what you need when a case shorts out like yours. If you ever find yourself in a similar spot, you can also escalate your complaint to the executives at Lenovo. I list the names and email addresses for the company on my advocacy site, Elliott.org.

The suggestion to turn off your laptop during a 10-mile drive to save battery life is one for the Hall of Fame of bad tech support advice. It belongs right up there with “have you tried using it as a paperweight?”

Most troubling was the sudden temperature increase when you turned on the laptop. If you ever experience something like that again, shut down the computer until a qualified technician can take a look. This could have ended badly, and I’m glad it didn’t.

So how did it end? I contacted Lenovo on your behalf. I shared your history of failed repairs and the concerning temperature readings.

You received an email from a corporate representative offering you a choice between another repair or a full refund. You took the refund. It’s a shame I had to get involved for Lenovo to do the right thing, but at least you can now buy a laptop that really is portable.

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