Dell won't replace FAILED M1330 battery

About a week ago, I had my motherboard replaced due to overheating.
Yesterday, before I had a chance to shut it down properly, I removed the AC power from the laptop and the laptop immediately powered off. I tried again, and the same thing happened.

I called Dell and asked for a warranty replacement and after determining that the battery had indeed failed, the XPS tech support rep told me that the battery is only covered for one year as it's a consumable and they offer a separate battery warranty, so she could not replace it.

So I explained to her that they did not offer that option when I purchased my system (as far as I recall) and I understand the cells wear out and don't hold a charge as they do when they are new, but, regardless, for the battery to completely fail is a defect and should be covered for the length of the system's limited warranty.

I asked her to check if she could get authorization to replace the battery for the reasons I described, so she put me on hold. After a good while, the call disconnected.

So, as I said, I understand the battery cells wear out and Dell won't replace them in that circumstance, but this one failed completely so I feel Dell has to replace it for me under warranty, since my system is within the comprehensive 3 year warranty I purchased.

Any thoughts? Does anyone know a better way to contact Dell about this?

 

Unfortunately it's up to the rep to decide whether or not they will replace it. I got a replacement for the same issue, however I was within my year. I would call up again and see if you can get one of the reps to 'forget' that it's not covered and replace it. However if they all tell you the same thing, unfortunately you're going to have to replace it and purchase the battery warranty =-/

 

dell has a separate battery warranty? i think she's meaning the battery's warranty is separate from the main warranty... 1 year...

how long's your m1330 been? if it's been 2 years, and you did wear it down, it's possible...

press + hold the battery .... if all lights show, it's a worn battery

 

After the one year warranty is up, it is really up to the Rep to decide on whether they want to send you a replacement battery w/out charge.

Normally, the battery is only covered for one year, not the life of the complete warranty on your lappy.

It happened to me on my 1530, nearly 2 weeks after the 1 year warranty was up..it failed to hold a charge. I called spoke with a XPS Tech Support Rep, and had to do a lot of *due diligence*, and *please, please, send me a replacement battery as a one time *customer good will gesture*.

They overnighted me one, and I sent the defective one back to them (otherwise I faced being fully charged for the replacement).

It's up to you, if you want to call back and talk in more depth with Tech Support, or explore other avenues regarding the battery problem.

Sometimes, its worth the extra fight..sometimes not.

Cin

 

Funny, mine failed (2 hours to 20 minutes) almost to the year. I got a replacement sent out via online chat, no questions asked.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

Yes, the lights were dead when you push the button on the battery, and, yes it was outside the one year battery warranty and inside the three year system warranty (year two).

I still think there should be a clear Dell policy that just as if any other component completely failed (as in the BIOS didn't even know it was there, nothing to do with holding a charge) the battery should also be covered for the full system warranty length if it fails completely (as opposed to if it simply won't hold a charge, which I understand that the batteries are engineered to wear out after a while).

By the way, I would speculate that the overheating/faulty motherboard caused this issue, as heat is a battery's enemy, as far as I understand.

 

I think a lot of us feel that way...

I hope that things work out for you. You can always ask for a Resolutions Specialist and see what happens!

Cin

 

The battery is a separate warranty and isn't included with the 3 year warranty. If you probably asked them nicely they would've sent you one instead of insisting/demanding one! XPS line of products are more catered to when something breaks.

 

I was very cordial and pleasant with the CSR and never demanded anything. I simply asked that they ask a supervisor to get permission to send me the battery due to the reasons I described. Her initial response was "No",which then became "Much as I'd love to, I can't", which then went to "Hold on while I check, but I'm not promising you I will be able to" at which point the line disconnected during that hold music. So the conversation was rather pleasant, from my perspective.

 

I tried chatting online and curiously lost connection to the server just as I had managed to fully explain that the battery had completely failed.

I did get the chat log emailed to me, though, and the Dell rep's last response (not shown in my chat window but in the email) was to update the BIOS and if it is, in fact, the battery, then they will not replace it.

What're my options for attempting to get Dell to replace this?

If they had offered the option for the battery warranty in the configurator at the time of purchase AND if the cells had simply worn out, I would not be so intent on pursuing this.

But this is why Dell offers an extended warranty, and why I spent a few hundred dollars extra on a premium, and premium-priced, $2,000+ dollar system to accept that offer: in part, to have Dell take care of the cost to repair or replace a component in the unlikely event that it fails; also, though irrelevant as to Dell's obligations, this is not a $300 netbook by any means where they might be losing money by honoring their warranty, so I'm a little baffled as to why they won't do the right thing here.

I purchased it on an Amex and I have no problem going to them, but I'd rather not do that to Dell nor to Amex.

I can try to get e-mails of higher-ups at Dell who, if they bother to read this, would probably send me the battery for good-will reasons.

But this is not, in my opinion, a case of good will; rather, it is a case of policy. A battery, like any other component of the laptop, must be electronically operable for the length of the warranty. There is also no rational reason for Dell to artificially limit the warranty on the battery itself (as opposed to the cells in that battery) to one year unless, for example, Dell's motherboards are overheating and frying the batteries and Dell is dishonestly "covering" themselves by blaming it on the battery.

The chat rep even asked my why this only happened after 1.5 years. So I said I didn't know, but maybe it had to do with the new motherboard replacement last week. Either way, it's Dell's responsibility, etc. as, bottom line, it should not completely fail. Period.

 

So another thing with the battery.
I know mine has started to die (would only hold a 1 hr charge, along with the computer saying it was nearing end of life).
However, about a month after that, the laptop won't even detect the battery. Is that how these batteries die, pretty suddenly?