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Please reply before 4:00ish on Friday the 31st. It seems IBM is tightening down on their liberal repair policies. This past week I sent my TP701C in for service for the following: Present upon return from previous repair 2 months ago: - Hairline crack on upper lid - Loose battery Caused a few weeks ago by my own stupidity: - Cracks on bottom of case - Keyboard detached in front right corner (still functions) I got a call today saying the top two were indistinguishable in cause from the bottom two. Since I hadn't reported the top two problems immediately after service, none of it would be covered under warranty. I explained I hadn't called because the computer was otherwise perfectly functional and I'd needed it for some field research I was doing at the time. I'd hoped my honesty about the keyboard and cracks would lend some credence to my insistence that the first two problems were present from the previous repair. No go. They say I now have two options: - get it all fixed for $600+, or partly fixed (about $150 ea) - don't get it fixed and get charged $170 for shipping and appraisal They gave me until Monday (5 days from when they received it) to decide what to do with it before they automatically ship it back. So what do you folks think I should do? I've seen used 701's selling on the net for ~$1200. There's also a chance I wrote about the crack and battery problem on the service satisfaction survey they send out after each repair, but I don't remember exactly what I wrote and didn't make a copy. Please reply by Friday since I don't want to risk them saying "5 days from Tuesday is Saturday" and getting socked for shipping twice. If you have any problems with your machine, don't try to save IBM money by not calling until you're ready to arrange service - report it first chance you get. Apparently having a report in their database is evidence enough (although I don't see what sort of protection this gives IBM - I could have called to say the case, battery, and keyboard came to me broken from repair but I needed to use the computer, then called again a week later saying I'd dropped it causing the cracks). The real kicker is I wasn't using my 701 Portfolio case, which might have prevented any damage from the second incident: I wanted to velcro it to the lid, but hadn't done it yet because the lid was going to be replaced when I sent it in to fix the crack... *sigh* -- John H. Kim There are only two industries that call their jokim@mit.edu customers 'users,' and one of them is illegal.