Inspiron 1520 Received! - DOA

Oh man, I don't know if I should laugh or cry. I finally received my laptop today--had to go down to DHL myself to get it, since I'm not home before 3:00pm which is when their next day delivery is guaranteed to arrive by.

Anyway, an extra 20 minutes out of my way on the trip home is fine. New computer is finally here, right? Well, I unpack and hook it up after dinner only to get... NOTHING. Just a blue power light LED. Screen doesn't even warm up.

I wait a bit, thinking maybe the battery needs to charge. I try all sorts of crazy things, but nothing works. Dell phone tech support is apparently not available at this time, so I hop on my wife's laptop (also a Dell, but I guess from their glory years when they actually had good customer service) and hit up support.dell.com. Fortunately, after seven weeks of waiting and talking to outsourced CSRs, I finally get someone who isn't copy and pasting lines out of their script. I guess actually having a service tag does wonders.

Long story short: the motherboard and/or modem (conflicting messages from the diagnostics he had me run) are shot. They need to replace one or both. But since it's a new system, they're going to "do a quick system exchange." I've been assured it's not going to take another eight weeks to get a replacement, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Even if I get the replacement this week (supposed to take 1-3 business days, but there was something about "based on parts availability" in the spiel), I still won't be pleased with their support. Sure, this guy is being good to me now but I've had to put up with all of their crap and receive a broken computer to get it. When I finally get a working computer, it'll be out of date.

 

what a nightmare.....sorry man.

 

What a horror story. I think if I'd waited as long as you just to get a broken computer, I'd box it, ship it back and be done with Dell.

 

WOW!!! Unreal.... That sucks.

 

Well, I waited this long. There's no guarantee other than this guy's word that it'll be at most 3-5 business days to get me a new system, but it's been a pretty wild ride. Not sure if it'll be worth it in the end, but I did get what I thought was a good price on the computer.

 

Well, if you are getting close to 21 days (return policy) and they still haven't given you a working computer you will most certainly be entitled to a full refund.

 

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully you'll receive a better screen with your replacement. I received mine today and it had an AUO.

 

hopefully dell bought insurance haha.

 

21 days from the receipt of the computer? Not yet - I just received it yesterday. But it's been well over 21 days since the original order. I guess I'll have to keep that in mind if it takes longer than they said to get me a replacement.

I may be a sucker, but I'm going to stick it out at this point. It's been seven weeks now, so I'm pretty much committed to this laptop. It was a good price, good specs, and I can wait a few more days if that's all it's going to be.

Regardless, I'm still probably going to have to send Dell a letter to express my disappointment with their service as a whole. It's not something I normally do and it may not mean much, but I'd still like to let them know.

 

no 21 days from the date invoiced.. not recieved...just fyi ive had 3 replacement systems now and all three arrived within 10 days total time shipping included

 

Hmm, interesting. I'm pretty sure they didn't actually bill me/invoice until it shipped though. Which would have been on September 2nd. Order date was back in mid-July, though.

 

yes you need to see when they invoiced you.. some people that ordered back in june said dell billed them (invoiced you) around 30 days after even if they didnt ship yet... tech this is not right imo but some on the board have stated this... if this is the case... TECH ..... you are already past the 21 days... hard to say check your paperwork

 

I'll have to look into that when I get home from work tonight. I did use Dell's financing for an extra little discount, though, so I'm not sure if they invoice that early in the process or only after shipping.

A refund would be nice, but only if I got to keep the working computer in the end. I really want/need a working laptop soon and I think I'm finally getting close to having one.

 

dell financing = BAD NEWS.... imo..... do an online search for dpa or cit bank (NOT CITI BANK) problems... OMG!!!!!!!!! i signed up for the dpa account as well but then read all the stuff online and from the bbb and i never used it i canceled before i ever placed the order on the dpa card

 

i cancelled my dell account because i forgot my security question and none of them can help me so my only option was to cancel the account online.

 

wow this is 2 doa systems on nbr in 2 days doesnt look good

 

I must have missed the other. Where is that thread?

 

in the reg dell section... ill see if i can find it... almost the same thing as yours

 

As an update, I followed up with another rep on Friday to verify that I was getting a system replacement and that it would take 3-5 business days. They confirmed.

Today (being business day 4), I sent an email asking for more information as the status was still unavailable. The response I got was that they were sorry for the miscommunication, but system replacements take 5-15 business days.

 

My rep stated that a replacement would take 10 business days. I had to get my 1520 replaced because I've had an onsite tech out to my house 3 separate times each of which they damaged something on the notebook. Replacing the whole system is much easier. Currently my dell works, but the power button is stuck...it takes about 8 jabs to that thing to get it to turn on, and I do not want an onsite tech destroying the laptop.

 

When I phoned in today I was told it takes 6-8 days and would only be 2-3 more days. Every rep tells you something different for every question. Of course, after waiting seven weeks for the broken laptop, I'm not holding my breath. I wonder if they're just jerking me along again. I would love to receive a working laptop in less than two months, but we'll see. They don't have much more time until I slip past the eight week mark.

Also, it looks like Dell doesn't offer our CPU anymore on the 1520 (the T7300). I wonder if we'll get some of the last T7300s or if we'll at least get a free upgrade there.

After dealing with CSRs from all the delays to dealing with tech support for a dead unit, I'm pretty sure there's no consensus on ANYTHING at Dell.

 

Crashcart, you'll get another T7300, I wondered the same thing. My service call # states the specs of my replacement. I suggest you check yours.

 

Yeah, that's what mine says as well. The specs are very limited, though. Doesn't list all of the components like my original order; just:

Code:

222-9008	1520, T7300(2.0GHZ) CORE 2 DUO
310-0173	AIRBORNE DOCUMENTATION, SYSTEM BOARD, FACT

And, of course, it has the completely useless status and shipping information that has been "not available" since the service call was initiated. I'm just worried that I'm gonna be stuck waiting for weeks again.

I haven't received the compensation/discount I was promised for the first three week delay, and nothing since then either. I guess I should write Dell and let them know just how disappointing every single bit of my experience with them as been.

 

We are in the exact same situation then Everything you described is exactly the same here. "not available" shipping information. A week ago (last thursday) was when I initiated the service call. Ohio State starts Monday so....I hoping it will ship tomorrow, because things come to my house the next day. At least my current laptop works, it just has issues.

 

New info, a Dell Rep told me because of Ramadan (which most of Malaysia celebrates) things might have been delayed.