Laptop smoke.

Lukehandypants

I bought a laptop from Dell just over two years ago not acheap laptop a high end gaming laptop.
Then the otherday i was just about to play some battlefield 4 when I noticed that burning smell and then there was smoke comin out the back so I immediately turned off the power and plugged it out. I had to think what may have happened if I had not been there to plug it out and turn it off, it could have got out of hand.

So I brought it over to an engineer friend of mine and we opened it up and found that two little power regulators On the motherboard were burnt out. I then rang dell and asked them what they could do for me, they said the laptop wasn't under warranty which I knew, but when I spend 2500 euro on a high end piece of equipment the last thing I expect it the thing to become a potential fire hazard in my home. They said the only thing they could do is do a diagnostic on it for, €144 euros and then fix the part which I know to be the motherboard at a cost ofaabout €300. Personally I would have thought that they should fix it for free cause the thing went on fire which is not what u would expect.
I then rang the Irish consumer right group and asked them what they thought and they said I'm perfectly within my rights too look for it to be fixed for free and they were gonna open a file on this particular type of laptop.
I then rang dell back and again asked what can they do for me also mentioning that I was talkin to the consumer rights group. The guy talked to his supervisors and basically they offered the same thing diagnostic and a new mother board. So I asked to speak to his supervisors he said that they would any the same thing but he did give me an email of his supervisor, so I emailed them the issue.
So I'm kinda annoyed by this it was a great machine for the two years it worked perfectly well played game real well. But I do not expect a piece of expensive equipmentto become a fire hazard and have the potential to bburn down my home and I would expect a free repair or replacement at the least.
Sorry it's a long story
Love to hear anyone else's thoughts and particularly anyone dealing with Dell.
Many thanks.

GarIT

I have had to sue Dell on two different occasions for the same motherboard problem on two different laptops just to get them to comply with their legal obligations. All I can say is have fun.

Lukehandypants

GarIT wrote: »

I have had to sue Dell on two different occasions for the same motherboard problem on two different laptops just to get them to comply with their legal obligations. All I can say is have fun.

Yeah im already getting that vibe off them.

CrinkElite

Small claims court should sort that out for you.
Best of luck.

Lukehandypants

When people have taken dell to the small claims court, how has it turned out for them?

dilallio

Dell kept wanting to transfer me to their out of warranty team after my XPS overheated and died for the umpteenth time.
I firmly but politely asked their agent for their legal Irish address so that I could raise a small claims case.
I was told to hold the line and a supervisor then told me that I was really lucky and he would send out an engineer to fix the issue.
It's on its 4th motherboard now.

Lukehandypants

dilallio wrote: »

Dell kept wanting to transfer me to their out of warranty team after my XPS overheated and died for the umpteenth time.
I firmly but politely asked their agent for their legal Irish address so that I could raise a small claims case.
I was told to hold the line and a supervisor then told me that I was really lucky and he would send out an engineer to fix the issue.
It's on its 4th motherboard now.

So it seems if u keep annoying them they will eventually cave in cause they know they don't have a leg to stand on?

Bepolite

Dell / Alienware are the cheapest of the cheap. You might not think, you might pay over the odds but their stuff is crap. They're grand for business machines that get replaced every so often but for longterm use avoid them.

Save yourself the phone bill and just take them to small claims court if they're not going to resolve the issue.

Also do you see the way I'm leaving a line between the collections of sentences that make up the point I'm trying to make? This is paragraphing, it makes posts much easier to read. If your posts are easy to ready more people will give you advice on how to go about resolving your issue.

foggy_lad

OP your first step is to write an old fashioned letter to dell outlining in as much detail as you can the issue and then outline what you expect dell to do for you(repair or replacement as per your statutory rights)

You are entitled to a repair or replacement or refund for goods that are faulty through poor quality parts or workmanship.

Give dell a reasonable time(about 14 working days) to respond and remedy the situation and if their response is not to your liking and not reasonable then you should get forms for the small claims court. fill out the forms and send them in with the €25 fee and wait for the case to get started.

Dell will most likely not contest any claims or may not even respond to the court and if so then you will win and dell will be ordered to sort things out for you.

RangeR

foggy_lad wrote: »

OP your first step is to write an old fashioned letter to dell outlining in as much detail as you can the issue and then outline what you expect dell to do for you(repair or replacement as per your statutory rights)

You are entitled to a repair or replacement or refund for goods that are faulty through poor quality parts or workmanship.

Give dell a reasonable time(about 14 working days) to respond and remedy the situation and if their response is not to your liking and not reasonable then you should get forms for the small claims court. fill out the forms and send them in with the €25 fee and wait for the case to get started.

Dell will most likely not contest any claims or may not even respond to the court and if so then you will win and dell will be ordered to sort things out for you.

^^ This. You can't go straight to SCC. You have to follow dispute resolution process.

However...

engineer friend of mine and we opened it up and found that two little power regulators On the motherboard were burnt out

...this may go against you. By opening up the unit, you have voided any warranty.

Lukehandypants

RangeR wrote: »

^^ This. You can't go straight to SCC. You have to follow dispute resolution process.

However...



...this may go against you. By opening up the unit, you have voided any warranty.

Well it was already out of warranty, also on a notebook forum where alienware tech support post, one of the techs says it's ok to open up the computer and will not void my warranty.

Bepolite

RangeR wrote: »

^^ This. You can't go straight to SCC. You have to follow dispute resolution process.

Dell already told him that they wanted a fee to look at the laptop. Although he is obviously best to get this in writing, having said that what will Dell do, turn round and say, "Oh no of course we'll fix it for free!" Thats a win for the OP.

RangeR wrote: »

...this may go against you. By opening up the unit, you have voided any warranty.

It might void the warranty, but assuming no damage it should not effect is consumer rights. It may complicate things to the degree of an explanation.

Lukehandypants

Bepolite wrote: »

Dell already told him that they wanted a fee to look at the laptop. Although he is obviously best to get this in writing, having said that what will Dell do, turn round and say, "Oh no of course we'll fix it for free!" Thats a win for the OP.



It might void the warranty, but assuming no damage it should not effect is consumer rights. It may complicate things to the degree of an explanation.

I opened it up too see what had happened and it was pretty obvious what had happened because there was two burnt out power regulator components.

RangeR

Bepolite wrote: »

Dell already told him that they wanted a fee to look at the laptop. Although he is obviously best to get this in writing, having said that what will Dell do, turn round and say, "Oh no of course we'll fix it for free!" Thats a win for the OP.

It's not just best, it's a requirement of the SCC process to go through the retailers complaints process. At the bare minimum, this involves writing and posting [not email] a formal letter of complaint.

Bepolite

Thanks for the correction. However I'm struggling to find that in the Court Rules or on Courts.ie - could you link it to me please?

foggy_lad

Lukehandypants wrote: »

Well it was already out of warranty, also on a notebook forum where alienware tech support post, one of the techs says it's ok to open up the computer and will not void my warranty.

Despite any external warranty provided by dell or paid for insurance etc you as a consumer still have statutory rights which usually give more protection than any warranty or insurance.

Your statutory rights are provided by the Sale of Goods Act which lays down conditions for goods sold to a consumer in the course of a business. Goods must be reasonably durable taking into account the proposed use and the price paid.

The sale of goods act provides protection for up to 6 years.

Lukehandypants

foggy_lad wrote: »

Despite any external warranty provided by dell or paid for insurance etc you as a consumer still have statutory rights which usually give more protection than any warranty or insurance.

Your statutory rights are provided by the Sale of Goods Act which lays down conditions for goods sold to a consumer in the course of a business. Goods must be reasonably durable taking into account the proposed use and the price paid.

The sale of goods act provides protection for up to 6 years.

Yup that's what the Irish consumer agency told me. A two year life span on a part that would fail and potentially cause a fire isn't great in my opinion. Even if it's out of warranty.

Lukehandypants

So I got an email back from Dell and they are still keeping the same line as before :

"In this case we are not able to repair your system for free. If you would like to proceed with paid diagnostic in our repair center, please reply to my email and I will arrange a call back for you from one of our technical agents."


Hmmmm.....
The guy is waiting for my response....

foggy_lad

foggy_lad wrote: »

OP your first step is to write an old fashioned letter to dell outlining in as much detail as you can the issue and then outline what you expect dell to do for you(repair or replacement as per your statutory rights)

You are entitled to a repair or replacement or refund for goods that are faulty through poor quality parts or workmanship.

Give dell a reasonable time(about 14 working days) to respond and remedy the situation and if their response is not to your liking and not reasonable then you should get forms for the small claims court. fill out the forms and send them in with the €25 fee and wait for the case to get started.

Dell will most likely not contest any claims or may not even respond to the court and if so then you will win and dell will be ordered to sort things out for you.

Lukehandypants wrote: »

So I got an email back from Dell and they are still keeping the same line as before :

"In this case we are not able to repair your system for free. If you would like to proceed with paid diagnostic in our repair center, please reply to my email and I will arrange a call back for you from one of our technical agents."


Hmmmm.....
The guy is waiting for my response....

Stop wasting your time emailing or phoning dell's Indian call centres, they are not going to help you and they know less about Irish consumer law than most Irish people! There is good advice posted on this thread.

Lukehandypants

foggy_lad wrote: »

Stop wasting your time emailing or phoning dell's Indian call centres, they are not going to help you and they know less about Irish consumer law than most Irish people! There is good advice posted on this thread.

Its called giving them a chance to redeem themselves. I am well aware of the good advice on this thread thank you.

dudara

To play devil's advocate here for a minute, you have to consider if this failure was down to faulty parts or if it was due to some other reason, i.e. poor maintenance or a power surge. In such cases, Dell wouldn't be liable for the failure.

In either case, if you do decide to go the Small Claims route, it is advisable to do the registered letter routine first. This will demonstrate that you have tried to engage with Dell.