e6400 cracked bezel - warranty question?

Hi,

My girlfriend bought an e6400 just over a year ago. We've noticed a small crack on the screen bezel close to the left hand hinge.

The laptop isn't used a great deal and is rarely moved form the table where it sits. I'm positive that the crack is a result of a defect rather than any 'abuse' the system has had.

Naturally I wished to take advantage of the 3 year warranty the machine has, but have just been told on the phone that the screen bezel is not covered.

Apparently:
- I don't have a 'complete care' warranty.
- The regular warranty I have only covers 'parts' of the machine.
- The bezel isn't one of those parts.

The guy on the phone was unable to point me to where the conditions of my warranty are spelt out.

Can anyone advise me on where I stand?

Any help or advice on how to proceed would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Several people on this forum have had their bezel replaced under warranty. It seems to be relatively fragile although I've not had any problem (yet).

John

 

What "exact" warranty did that guy tell you? You may have just talked to one rep who just wasn't really in the helpful mood. I have the same model with 3 year Complete Care + Accidental Care, and have replaced my bezel numerous times and they have done it without issue.

 

Exactly. It's a lottery to get a rep who is actually helpful and customer oriented. Call again (many times if needed) and be persistent.

 

Try using the Tech Support via Chat instead of calling them! I've always had much better results using Chat- here's the LINK.

Before I enter the Service Tag and my contact info to start the Chat Support session, I take a few moments to go ahead and write an explanation of my problem. I also state how I think the situation should be resolved and any other information pertinent to the issue. I communicate much more effectively and get the results I want by writing this ahead of time rather than trying to answer their questions on the fly!

Be sure to say that the broken bezel is due to a faulty design/materials and, because it is covered by a 3-year hardware warranty, you expect a new bezel to be sent for you to install. Mention that you're a member of this site and you've spoken with multiple other E6400 owners who have also had cracked bezels.

If you lead in with that, it's very likely that you'll get exactly what you're asking for! It's a cheap part and would be easier to send you one than try to argue with you!

 

I haven't tried calling, just go for the chat first. In less than 10 minutes I had parts dispatched to my house, some of which could have been considered to be just cosmetic faults.

Greg

 

Agreed, I have gotten zero complaints from reps using chat. Phone is a whole other story.

 

A lot of people have had the cosmetic / scratching issues as well...makes it easier for us to make our case.

Apple replaces the palm rest on their old white macbooks because a lot of people had cracking issues.

 

...and those first gen MacBooks turn a muddy brown after a while too XD

 

Thanks for all the advice.

I tried using the chat and after sending them a photo of the damage they have agreed to replace the bezel. Someone is coming tomorrow to do the work.

As it happens, I did trawl through the terms of the warranty and the standard terms of sale. I saw this clause as an exclusion in the standard warranty (not complete care):

So I guess a cracked bezel could be excluded under that term, however presumably under UK consumer legislation I'd be entitled to a remedy irrespective of the warranty since the machine is only a year old.

Additionally, I'm of the opinion that a cracked bezel could quickly lead to problems that would impede product function, so probably cheaper to Dell to replace the bezel, rather than multiple parts down the line.

Thanks again to all.