[Warranty Woes] Rep said my warranty was extended, actually wasn't

Back in January - March, I had an issue with a M14X R2 that warranted a replacement. There were several issues in getting that replacement, mostly over how one representative would say that I was not the owner of my machine. Then through several weeks of trouble and poorly coordinated and dropped calls from Costa Rica, I was informed that since I got so much trouble for what happened and that my warranty was ending, my warranty would automatically be extended for a year. I figured that it was all over and I was happy with it.

As early as July, I've had issues with the unit I received and it's getting more and more to the point that I am going to be unable to use the system. The service tag apparently says that the warranty is expired. Calling Dell has resulted in refusal of service because I apparently never owned my system, and I don't know what to do now.

Issues with unit now:
- Battery won't charge past 77-79%
- Port is loose
- Pixels are dying en masse

All of this I've deduced to just be a bad build. I don't use it extensively, I use it for office work and school for the most part, and I game for a few hours in a week. I take damn good care of my unit.

What should I do to get this resolved if different reps have led me to this confusion?

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help.

 

Hi, I've been through something similar... I hope I can provide you some good advice.

Did you one time attempt to sell your M14x R2? It seems like your system's ownership was changed through Dell's website (which is WAY too easy to do, for the record). You only need a few details about the original owner to do so, and the service tag. Someone attempted to do this to the system in my signature earlier this year. However, I stopped the process in time. Thankfully, I was notified via email before hand.

As for promises given to you by representatives: They cannot live up to these promises unless you have them in writing. If you were told over the phone, and the rep. did not do so then, you are out of luck in regards to acquiring the additional year of warranty. You should have checked the website! If warranty is added, it shows up within 48 hours on the website.

What should you do? Call and reclaim ownership of your laptop immediately! Afterwards, extend your warranty. Proof of purchase will likely be necessary. The original order slip (on the box) or order confirmation email should suffice. But you cannot extend your warranty or receive any form of technical support without warranty & ownership of the device.

 

I did that before! Then for some reason it went back to being owned by the seller again and I think it's because the information in Costa Rica wasn't up to date?

 

For OP's plight, I was in a similar situation. Long story short I had many problems with warranty including warranty extensions due to country jumping a lot.

My first recommendation would be to immediately grab some proof of purchase. That will enable you to say the laptop is/was yours.

If you can't, then your best bet is to call Costa Rican dell and ask them if you can get them to dig out the customer phone logs. Here in Dell UK, I ask the rep name and nationality every time in case the call log needs to be looked up for proof of something the rep says, because they keep them.

I just very recently renewed my warranty, but it took almost a month of waiting, and 2 weeks of chasing dell. The waiting part was because I wasn't aggressive enough in asking - sure enough, after calling four times Dell UK four times over 12 days, it finally showed up online in the product support section of the dell website.

If they offered to extend your warranty you should have received an email detailing an order or something messy with a lot of numbers in it. If you didn't, then the request wasn't even put in or reviewed or whatever it is that they have to do before pushing it through the system.

As J.Dre mentioned, it is also far too easy to transfer system ownership. I in fact contacted South American Dell for assistance and they put it through with only my name, email, and telephone number. You might be able to use this to your advantage though.

Sorry if I can't offer any more helpful advice.