DELL - Out of warranty.. what can I do?

Kashinoda

Right really p**sed off today!

Laptop was working perfectly fine last night, I simply reboot it and it's dead. After trolling through Dell's site for ages and going through their online repair diagnostic it looks like it could be a serious motherboard fault.

My Warranty is about 5 months over, so I know they aren't going to want to repair it or charge me mega bucks to do so.

Is there any way I can kick up a fuss about this? It's only 17 months old it shouldn't just die, I use a laptop cooler and keep it in good condition.

Any help welcome

posted_2

completely dead, removed the battery?

sale of goods act covers you

Little_John

You have nothing to loose phoneing dell to see what they would charge I have in the past and received free repair on desktops on kit that has been out of warrenty. they usually get you to try a few things out then diagnose the problem then decide it is dead.

See if you can find other people on the net to see if the problem occurs more than it should on your model of laptop.

Kashinoda

posted wrote: »

completely dead, removed the battery?

sale of goods act covers you

Ye It's dead, it lights up but the screen is blank and nothing is spinning. I expect it to be a motherboard because I've tested everything else I possibly could.

Would the sale of goods act apply to Dell? I thought it was only for retailers?

Little_John wrote: »

You have nothing to loose phoneing dell to see what they would charge I have in the past and received free repair on desktops on kit that has been out of warrenty. they usually get you to try a few things out then diagnose the problem then decide it is dead.

See if you can find other people on the net to see if the problem occurs more than it should on your model of laptop.

Ye the problem doesn't seem the of cropped up elseware and the Flashhing LED code (which is used to diagnosed problems) is not listed on the Dell website

Ye I will ring them regardless, shame they arent open weekends I'm busy working all week.

posted_2

Dell is a retailer (assuming you bought direct), same law applies. Did you power up with battery removed?

flashy

what model laptop is it?

I'm dell certified, its easy to change your own motherboard, you can buy them from ebay too and they come with instructions on fitting them. Usually if its some sort of power issue, its the motherboard.

Faulty charging sockets are usually at fault on the Dell laptops, and its somrthing that they don't cover under warranty either, unless its a gesture of goodwill.

If you post the model, i may be able to link you to a replacement board.

prowla

I think that there was a principle established of a reasonable expectation for the life of a product, and based on that, you would expect a laptop to last for more than 17 months.
In the past I have dealt with Dell, and have found them to be reasonable. If you do speak to them be polite, and if the assistant you first speak to can't (or isn't authorised to) help then ask to speak to a supervisor.

Kashinoda

flashy wrote: »

what model laptop is it?

I'm dell certified, its easy to change your own motherboard, you can buy them from ebay too and they come with instructions on fitting them. Usually if its some sort of power issue, its the motherboard.

Faulty charging sockets are usually at fault on the Dell laptops, and its somrthing that they don't cover under warranty either, unless its a gesture of goodwill.

If you post the model, i may be able to link you to a replacement board.

Its a Vostro 1500, do a bit of repair work on desktops so ye it wouldn't be difficult to replace. Took it apart last night for any clues if something was wrong.

How are Dell able to prove how it was broken? I dont understand it to be honest I have it in the same place all the time.. it was working fine then I just reset the laptop (Windows Restart option) and it died.

posted wrote: »

Dell is a retailer (assuming you bought direct), same law applies. Did you power up with battery removed?

Yeah of course I tried, yes I bought direct so I guess I might try that route.

prowla wrote: »

I think that there was a principle established of a reasonable expectation for the life of a product, and based on that, you would expect a laptop to last for more than 17 months.
In the past I have dealt with Dell, and have found them to be reasonable. If you do speak to them be polite, and if the assistant you first speak to can't (or isn't authorised to) help then ask to speak to a supervisor.

Yeah I've found them reasonable thus far with several problems I had whilst under warranty. Any tips on what I should say to them?

Thanks all

S0litaire

When you power it up do the fans turn on?
In my experience with Dell laptops
Fans on usually means it's a dud component card (video card, Hard drive or converter)
If the fans don't start then it's the motherboard.

Kashinoda

S0litaire wrote: »

When you power it up do the fans turn on?
In my experience with Dell laptops
Fans on usually means it's a dud component card (video card, Hard drive or converter)
If the fans don't start then it's the motherboard.

Yes no fan mate, looks like motherboard then.

flashy

have you tried the obvious, removing memory and hdd and trying a boot? if youve got a dud memory stick, it may stop it posting?