My Dell laptop from 2020 has a battery issue

Kye77

Hi,
I was just wondering if there is any legal route I could take as my relatively new Dell laptop has an issue of as soon as I unplug the laptop from the charger it turns off immediately. I have tried to troubleshoot the issue myself as I know a little bit about computers and did everything I could possibly think of. I believe the issue is to do with the battery itself. I think it needs to be replaced. Dell has this software to automatically detect issues and suggest specific parts for the model it has identified, however, nothing shows for parts and accessories in terms of the specific battery I need. 

Now regarding the consumer rights act, I could argue that my laptop is relatively new and say that the battery has not lasted a reasonable amount of time, however, after a quick google search of how long should a laptop battery last it says it should last around 2-4 years of typical use. Saying this, it has been 3 years now since I bought the laptop and Dell themselves do not sell the battery or at least don't show the battery under the compatible parts for my specific model. So I'm wondering if there is anything I could do, I haven't contacted them yet but I essentially need a new battery as I need to take the laptop to work and I don't always sit near a socket.

Flight3287462

The real question is how many charging cycles your laptop has undergone.  It sounds as if it gets fairly heavy use on a daily basis.  In that case 3 years may be acceptable especially when the usage is a lot higher than an average consumers.

Alderbank

When batteries wear out the symptom is usually (not always) that the machine continues to run on battery but for progressively shorter periods. You say your stops immediately the power plug is pulled. That could be a component failure somewhere in the power management system.
In your place I would take it to a local repair shop who will investigate. You would need a report from them in any case if you decide to pursue your consumer rights against whoever you actually bought the laptop from.

In the short term, you could consider buying an external power supply. An obvious choice would be the Dell Power Companion
 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dell-Power-Companion-PW7015L-18000/dp/B00XPUEE4K/ref=sr_1_1?crid=21FVOS90405T2&keywords=PW7015L&qid=1679489168&s=computers&sprefix=pw7015l%2Ccomputers%2C111&sr=1-1 
which was designed by Dell to keep their laptops running with a flat battery, but lots of cheaper generic models are available.

Jumblebumble

Kye77 said:

Hi,
I was just wondering if there is any legal route I could take as my relatively new Dell laptop has an issue of as soon as I unplug the laptop from the charger it turns off immediately. I have tried to troubleshoot the issue myself as I know a little bit about computers and did everything I could possibly think of. I believe the issue is to do with the battery itself. I think it needs to be replaced. Dell has this software to automatically detect issues and suggest specific parts for the model it has identified, however, nothing shows for parts and accessories in terms of the specific battery I need. 

Now regarding the consumer rights act, I could argue that my laptop is relatively new and say that the battery has not lasted a reasonable amount of time, however, after a quick google search of how long should a laptop battery last it says it should last around 2-4 years of typical use. Saying this, it has been 3 years now since I bought the laptop and Dell themselves do not sell the battery or at least don't show the battery under the compatible parts for my specific model. So I'm wondering if there is anything I could do, I haven't contacted them yet but I essentially need a new battery as I need to take the laptop to work and I don't always sit near a socket.

I would contact Dell out of warranty repair dept
They have access to different stock ( and sometimes lower prices) than the spares dept.

tightauldgit

Kye77 said:

Hi,
I was just wondering if there is any legal route I could take as my relatively new Dell laptop has an issue of as soon as I unplug the laptop from the charger it turns off immediately. I have tried to troubleshoot the issue myself as I know a little bit about computers and did everything I could possibly think of. I believe the issue is to do with the battery itself. I think it needs to be replaced. Dell has this software to automatically detect issues and suggest specific parts for the model it has identified, however, nothing shows for parts and accessories in terms of the specific battery I need. 

Now regarding the consumer rights act, I could argue that my laptop is relatively new and say that the battery has not lasted a reasonable amount of time, however, after a quick google search of how long should a laptop battery last it says it should last around 2-4 years of typical use. Saying this, it has been 3 years now since I bought the laptop and Dell themselves do not sell the battery or at least don't show the battery under the compatible parts for my specific model. So I'm wondering if there is anything I could do, I haven't contacted them yet but I essentially need a new battery as I need to take the laptop to work and I don't always sit near a socket.

Is the issue that you want Dell to fix it free of charge or just that you can't get the part for it? 

You can quite often track down compatible batteries on places like ebay or as mentioned a local repair shop might be able to help you. 

Personally I think if you've had 3 years of regular use from a laptop then that's probably about what's to be expected so I'm not sure you have much hope of a claim against Dell. 

Jumblebumble

tightauldgit said:

Kye77 said:

Hi,
I was just wondering if there is any legal route I could take as my relatively new Dell laptop has an issue of as soon as I unplug the laptop from the charger it turns off immediately. I have tried to troubleshoot the issue myself as I know a little bit about computers and did everything I could possibly think of. I believe the issue is to do with the battery itself. I think it needs to be replaced. Dell has this software to automatically detect issues and suggest specific parts for the model it has identified, however, nothing shows for parts and accessories in terms of the specific battery I need. 

Now regarding the consumer rights act, I could argue that my laptop is relatively new and say that the battery has not lasted a reasonable amount of time, however, after a quick google search of how long should a laptop battery last it says it should last around 2-4 years of typical use. Saying this, it has been 3 years now since I bought the laptop and Dell themselves do not sell the battery or at least don't show the battery under the compatible parts for my specific model. So I'm wondering if there is anything I could do, I haven't contacted them yet but I essentially need a new battery as I need to take the laptop to work and I don't always sit near a socket.

Is the issue that you want Dell to fix it free of charge or just that you can't get the part for it? 

You can quite often track down compatible batteries on places like ebay or as mentioned a local repair shop might be able to help you. 

Personally I think if you've had 3 years of regular use from a laptop then that's probably about what's to be expected so I'm not sure you have much hope of a claim against Dell. 

I agree that You are correct in your view that Dell will not do anything free of charge

pinkshoes

Kye77 said:

Hi,
I was just wondering if there is any legal route I could take as my relatively new Dell laptop has an issue of as soon as I unplug the laptop from the charger it turns off immediately. I have tried to troubleshoot the issue myself as I know a little bit about computers and did everything I could possibly think of. I believe the issue is to do with the battery itself. I think it needs to be replaced. Dell has this software to automatically detect issues and suggest specific parts for the model it has identified, however, nothing shows for parts and accessories in terms of the specific battery I need. 

Now regarding the consumer rights act, I could argue that my laptop is relatively new and say that the battery has not lasted a reasonable amount of time, however, after a quick google search of how long should a laptop battery last it says it should last around 2-4 years of typical use. Saying this, it has been 3 years now since I bought the laptop and Dell themselves do not sell the battery or at least don't show the battery under the compatible parts for my specific model. So I'm wondering if there is anything I could do, I haven't contacted them yet but I essentially need a new battery as I need to take the laptop to work and I don't always sit near a socket.

2020 is NOT relatively new for a laptop!

We have just had a similar issue with our similar age Dell laptop (which I do not consider to be new!). What had happened was the fan had got fluff in it and was turning too slowly which caused the battery to swell and stop holding charge. We paid about £120 to a local tech store to clean it up and replace the Dell battery. It took about 3 weeks to get a replacement battery though.

Batteries are consumables so if it is the battery you need to pay for the fix yourself.

DullGreyGuy

Kye77 said:
after a quick google search of how long should a laptop battery last it says it should last around 2-4 years of typical use. 

Whole laptops are typically 3-5 years of life expectancy with only some premium ranges going beyond that. So rather than "relatively new" its more nearing the end at 3 years old, especially if its from one of their more budget ranges. 

It would be unusual for a battery to totally die instantly, its normally a prolonged death as it gets every poorer at storing power. Did this happen suddenly or did it start lasting only an hour, then 30 minutes, then 10 minutes and now 0?

I assume there must be an app for Windows machines that will say how many powercycles the battery has been through and probably what its health is? Our soon to be 10 year old MacBook Pro only lasts about 10 minutes on its battery now but its been warning for years of the need to change the battery

Bradden

DullGreyGuy said:

Kye77 said:
after a quick google search of how long should a laptop battery last it says it should last around 2-4 years of typical use. 

I assume there must be an app for Windows machines that will say how many powercycles the battery has been through and probably what its health is? Our soon to be 10 year old MacBook Pro only lasts about 10 minutes on its battery now but its been warning for years of the need to change the battery

No app neded... built in report available

Select Search on the taskbar, type Command prompt, press and hold (or right-click) Command prompt, and then select Run as administrator > Yes. At the command prompt, type powercfg /batteryreport, then press Enter. The battery report will be an HTML file that's stored in a folder on your PC.

Flight3287462

Another OP who signed on once and has been back since he posted.

Money_Grabber13579

This is very interesting, just run on my computer. Unfortunately, it has no data populated for the cycle count but does show my battery has having deteriorated rapidly, then significantly recovered before going on a downward trend again.