Lenovo has received two reports of the battery packs overheating, resulting in damage to the computer, battery pack and nearby property. No injuries have been reported.
Given the ubiquity of social media today, I find it odd that whoever made these "two reports" didn't publicise them much. This is probably a very isolated and minor incident, so Lenovo are just trying to avoid a PR backlash.
Consumers can continue to use their ThinkPad notebook without the battery pack by plugging in the AC adapter and power cord.
If Apple tried to recall batteries for its computers these days, it would be quite a different story...
You're right if you live somewhere without a retail outlet, but if you live in a city with an Apple store it's a wonderful experience.
I took my laptop in at 6:30pm on a Friday night, the day before flying out to China when "service battery" started showing. I had my laptop back, with a new battery installed at 6:50pm same day.
Two things: (1) Lenovo does provide a manual web interface, https://lenovobattery2014.orderz.com/, to verify whether this affects any equipment you own...their default tool involves the end user downloading and installing a Microsoft Windows executable, which does not work if you have an alternate operating system installed; and (2) even though I have a Lenovo X201 laptop with a "42T4695" in the battery pack bar code, since Lenovo manufactured it in July 2010--outside the range of October 2010-April 2011--I am not eligible for replacement (a bit disappointing, but it seems reasonable, to me).
Given the ubiquity of social media today, I find it odd that whoever made these "two reports" didn't publicise them much. This is probably a very isolated and minor incident, so Lenovo are just trying to avoid a PR backlash.
Consumers can continue to use their ThinkPad notebook without the battery pack by plugging in the AC adapter and power cord.
If Apple tried to recall batteries for its computers these days, it would be quite a different story...