Dell warranty rocks
When buying my Dell Inspiron 640m, I wanted to ensure I was getting a good warranty. It turns out, I finally had to use it, and all I can say is that its been a pretty great experience!
The left mouse button on my touchpad decided to give up the ghost, and just stayed depressed all the time. It worked fine, but not getting tactile feedback was annoying. So I submitted a problem report at 4.20am on the 23/01/2008. I got a phone call back at about 6pm, on the 23rd, asking me when would be a good time for Dell to come over. I stated Friday, and made a note that the LCD hinge on the right hand side felt loose, and maybe it deserved a replacement. They made a note of that.
On the 24th, I was called, to confirm that I’d be available on the 25th, and it would be great to choose a booking time. I chose 11am-2pm. On the 25th, at about 12.10pm, I get a call saying the technician will be around soon, and he’ll call when he’s about a half hour away. I say thats great, and head out for some lunch at Soda Rock.
Back by 1pm, the technician comes at 1.30pm, and starts working. He’s done by 2.15pm, having basically taken out my laptop to bits, and reassembling it. I got the palmrest changed, seeing that the entire thing had to be replaced to fix the mouse. The LCD hinge alone can’t be replaced, so the whole casing itself got replaced (save for the LCD, of course). This meant that all my stickers disappeared!
The laptop looks like new now. It even got a clean (all the dust inside, removed). Surprisingly, the keyboard hasn’t given up the ghost or anything, but the technician told me that it probably will give way in time, and they’ll be around to fix it ;)
How do I feel? Thrilled with Dell, I am. No regrets with their warranty service, and I probably will now only buy Dell hardware for machines that I care about.
Technorati Tags: dell, warranty, inspiron 640m
Colin- if you drop me an email with your address, I’d be happy to send you some Mozilla stickers :)
Bah… I’m a DELL user and while their warranty is Good, I’ve not had that great experience with their hardware.. (This coming from a user who had the motherboard changed min 6 times and 3x LCD hinge broken issue.
@Gen: Thanks
@lotso: Maybe there’s a spate of bad luck there? 6 motherboards, and 3 broken LCD hinges in 3 years? Wow, thats amazing. So far, knocking wood here, the hardware has been OK for all the Dell’s I’ve ordered. This spreads to even their projectors.
*Jaw drops*
Yea, my mum’s Dell has had it’s motherboard changed twice and that’s because they couldn’t figure out what the problem is.
The thing with my dad is…new notebook 2000 plus. Find a way to fix the screen a la Low Yat or just use the external monitor…cheaper. And I’m moving away to study early next year so I’m using that as an excuse to get a brand new notebook. This one was from his office.
The thing with their warranty is they give you refurbished parts and It’s a known fact I would say. But for the life of me, I’ve even had a MB that died like the day after it was replaced. it was Next Business Day Warranty for 3 years but it costs an arm and a leg!
The LCD hinge was basically, just not sturdy at all. I believe I have a picture of it somewhere on my flicr page.. but I’m just lazy to look for it.
The hinge is not too expensive… RM180 or such, but by the time I realised (2x) it was broken, by then the amount of opening/closing action has already broken the Bottom Rollcage where the LCD hinge sits.
Bad design and bad usage of parts for the hinge.
Dell Warranty….what a joke. I purchased an Inspiron 9400 and bought the express warranty. Trying to get a response from Dell is like pulling teeth from a chicken. 4 business days ago, I reported a pixel problem and was assured that the issue was dispatched. 2 days later, after not hearing from anyone, I reviewed the email more closely and realized they had my phone number entered incorrectly. I called back and was promised that a technician would contact me that day by 5:00 p.m. No one called. No one called the following day. I’ve waited, and waited and waited. It’s now Sunday evening and I’m still waiting for a supervisor to call me. I’ll never purchase an express warranty again….AND I’LL NEVER BUY A DELL COMPUTER AGAIN.
Bah… I'm a DELL user and while their warranty is Good, I've not had that great experience with their hardware.. (This coming from a user who had the motherboard changed min 6 times and 3x LCD hinge broken issue.