How bad does a batter have to be before Dell will replace it?

And how do they determine it? My word? Tests?

My M1530 will hit one year old at the end of the month. My battery life is just sort of crappy. As a test I charged it up to 100% then unplugged it. I dimmed the screen to about 50%, turned off Wifi, then just let it sit idle. Nothing running. The battery lasted about 90 minutes.

Clearly not great, but does that sort of performance warrant a replacement? Any tips on approaching Dell with this?

 

Simply you have to lie to them to get a battery replaced. Call and say your battery is getting about 30 mins then shuts down. Say windows is not reporting the right %. Thats really the only way to get it replaced. They ship you a new battery and then you return yours so theyll never know

 

You can check the condition of your battery by holding the LED button on the battery for approx. 5 seconds.

here is the link on DELL and their batteries:
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/.../en/batteries_faq?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs#faq15

I'm not sure how it is in the states but DELL EU/Denmark refuses to exchange batteries older than 6 months and i don't know how additional warranties apply here.

 

download the free version of BatteryBar.... it'll actually give you a percentage for your wear level

i believe that dell will replace your battery within it's 1 year warranty if it wears away more than 20% during that time frame

 

Dell is supposed to warranty that battery for the full 12 months.

My 9 cell for my 1530 went bad nearly 2 weeks after the 1 year was up.

I called spoke with Tech support, stated I had ran tests already, that it would not hold a charge, the batt' status bar was failing at *1*, told them how much I loved my 1530 ....And, they said that in *good faith* ~ They would send me a new 9 cell battery, and warranty it for another year.

If you call..tell them what is going on with your batt' that it won't hold a charge, it's running low/wearing down..and you would simply appreciate if they would honor the warranty and send you a replacment per warranty terms.

Hope that helps.

Cin

 

After 12 month they probably will not replace a battery.
Mine 6-cell went bad after 14 month. Not lasted more than 45 minutes.
They refused to replace it and I had to purchase replasement (not from DELL obviously - they have ridiculous prices on batteries)

 

Just go ahead and tell Dell that its past what it should be. I was 3 months past my 1-year warranty date, but I pulled up records of a Dell Chat from the last fall where I had mentioned my 9-cell battery was weak and they didn't do anything. As soon as I mentioned the old chat they sent out a new 9-cell.

My recommendation is do what it takes to get it replaced, because Dell WILL NOT replace it after a year, but they'd be more than happy to as long as you are within the year!

 

OK, I went into chat and just stated my case. I only exaggerated a little, really. I'm not trying to rip Dell off or anything, I just think that the battery isn't all it should be after 11 months of decent care on my part, and at this rate it'll be useless within a few months. I was exceedingly polite, and they're sending me a replacement. I was sort of hoping that they wouldn't make me send the old one back, but they want it. Oh well, I can't complain about that.

Kudos to Dell for taking care of me.

 

dell does take care of their customers on hardware parts. its their lack of software support makes dell brand so unpopular among consumers.

 

They usually do take care of you when theres a problem unless you get an idiot rep

 

Hey that's great news! We know your not trying to rip Dell off..your just tryig to get your replacement battery which you are entitled to w/out any hassle!

So, I am assuming that you will have it by the EOW, then!

Yeah, they won't let you keep it...they will want it back..Just pack up the defective one and send it back in the packing they sent your replacement in..and you should be good to go!

Cin

 

Reminds me when a relative called Dell to figure out how to boot to Windows (I dual/tri boot with Linux) from GRUB and the representative gave instructions on how to reformat the computer (luckily I came back before this occured XD). I don't really blame Dell as I'm guessing most representatives don't deal with Linux dual boots too often (and I don't believe they support them) but I would have been quite annoyed if they had gone through with that . Though Dell may not be the best for support on software (or hardware at times), they do provide great warranties.

 

Except in the case your rep is an idiot lol