Did I buy a fake laptop?

Angry-Confused

I would be grateful for some advice please. I bought a laptop via Ebay advertised as a refurb Dell Latitude e4300. I returned the first one I purchased from the company as it was faulty and it came to my attention that there were many issues with the replacement. I emailed the company as follows:


"I collected my replacement Dell e4300 a couple of weeks ago and I have found the laptop is not what I had expected.

Reviews of this model state that the touchpad can scroll vertically and horizontally but on this machine, it does not happen.

Secondly, reviews also state that the keyboard is backlit, but this one isn't. These two features were what led me to choose this model over others and it is very disappointing that these features are not present.

Thirdly, the tap to click feature of the touchpad is very temperamental; sometimes I need to tap several times before it works. The touchpad looks quite worn and may have lost some of its sensitivity.

A fourth issue is the lack of a pound sign key! Perhaps this laptop is not intended for the UK market?

The final issue is that the keyboard symbols for " and @ have been transposed; if I want a @ sign I need to press the " key: very confusing!"

The company were slow to reply but emailed me yesterday to say:

"Hi there, With ebay, you buy what is listed in the auction and you are able to send us messages and ask what is included. The E4300 you have is 100% genuine, but all of the laptops are different. Some have backlit keyboards, some not. Some have webcams and some not. We aren't able to accept the return now as it is over 14 days, however, we can run you through how to change the keyboard layout to the US as this sounds like what you have received. In the listing, it does state that it will be either a US or UK Keyboard. You are welcome to send it back to us to swap it for a different machine but this would need to be done in the next 5 days."

I saw nothing in the listing referring to the possibility that it might not be a UK machine. Also, I note the company do not address the issue of the temperamental touchpad.

Is there anything I can do, other than swap it for another duff machine?
Thank you

GunJack

either:-
1. sort out the keyboard and touchpad settings yourself, or
2. ask for a refund

keyboard settings and touchpad settings are found within the control panel. Note you may have to install extra drivers to enable all features of the touchpad. The keyboard backlight may be there but disabled in BIOS - pop in there and check.

If you have no joy and are still not happy, ask for a refund/replacement within the timescales advised....

Esqui

Sounds like it was a US machine, if there's no £ and the "/@ are inverted. But the seller is correct in saying that there are different versions of the E4300. What matters is how the laptop you bought initially was described by the seller - if it was sold as having a feature the replacement doesn't have, then you have a right to return it. Reviews may be of various other spec E4300s, so you shouldn't rely on those.

enfield_freddy

the OP sent the one they bought back as faulty , they have substituted it with another , that might have been described differently (US keyboard / not backlit) , if the op feels that the one supplied as a replacement is of lesser value , he should ask for one like the original to be sent of a refund to cover the k/board conversion.


as this is the second failure , I wonder if there pre sales checks are good enough , and would simply return it for a refund (goods not as described)

Fightsback

Hard to advise on that unless I could see the original offer for sale on Ebay and see exactly what it says.

Is it this seller by any chance ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WINDOWS-7-Dell-Latitude-E4300-Laptop-Core-2-Duo-2-26GHz-4GB-Ram-Warranty-CHEAP-/370832912342

If so they do say right at the bottom of their page:

Will the laptop I receive have a UK Keyboard? In most cases, laptop keyboards will be UK layout unless otherwise stated. In very rare cases, we do sometimes send US keyboards or keyboards with UK overlays to cover non-UK keys

As for backlighting you may have read a review in which that particular model of e4300 was backlit but not all of them are, did you assume that without checking with the vendor ?

As for the touchpad, check that the proper driver is installed for it.

You do realise the e4300 is a very old model, reviewed here in 2008-12- 5 and it makes no mention of a backlit keyboard:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-Latitude-E4300-Laptop.13236.0.html