No Service Tag??

My friend recently purchased a laptop via eBay - a Latitude.

The laptop arrived in new condition as promised, and is all fully working etc. So he's happy with the purchase. However, he rang me the other day enquiring about the Service Tag and warrenty, so I popped over to his place to double check what he was saying was correct since I didnt think it was possible!!

Basically, he was promised a 1 year Dell warrenty. Now every time I have rung Dell, I have to supply my Service Tag, since thats how Dell know which system it is, the components, and how much warrenty is remaining etc...

His system seems to have no service tag!
Ive checked under the laptop - no sticker with service tag.
I therefore went into the BIOs, and rather then a service tag, it simply has XXXXXXX. Thats it. No actual numbers/letters, just these crosses.

What does this mean??? Is there any other way in which we can find the service tag, since Im assuming without the tag Dell cant verify the system or its warrenty etc? If we ring Dell, will Dell just refuse to deal with us??

In the meantime Ive asked him to get in touch with the seller, but thought Id ask here also......

Any comments welcome, thanks.

 

I would contact the Ebay seller and ask for some sort of refund, or demand return.

I hope he used creditcard via paypal.

 

Other than the sticker and the BIOS, there is no other way to fetch the tag. I'd give the seller a call and start asking questions. It is kind of likely that it is stolen if all that info is missing.

 

Can't you do a scan via Dell's Support site and it'll tell you what your service tag is?

But if that's linked to the one listed in your BIOS....

 

Thats exactly what we were scared of!
I do hope the seller replies, for my mates sake!
Although the notebook is working etc fine and he's otherwise happy with it, if theres a possibility of it being stolen he's not gonna want to keep it!

I'll have to break the news to him I guess!
So theres no-where else where the Service Tag could be??? I personally dont know of anywhere else but thought it may be hidden somewhere.....

 

The service tag is also in the bios. However, that can be cleared with the dell software (that normal people are not supposed to have). If you can not see it in the bios and there is no sticker under the laptop I would demand a refund as it is likely stolen.

 

All evidence seems to point to the fact that this system was stolen. I would contact the seller and demand refund, and if he doesn't respond, contact Ebay/Paypal Fraud Control.

 

Yeah....most likely a laptop from unsound source(s)...stolen maybe?

How's the seller's reputation on eBay? If it is indeed unverifiable, it is HIGHLY recommended that you ask for a refund.

PS. There's a specific dented area under the laptop for the service tag sticker, so are there any signs of rippage, or leftover glues? If so, then it is assumable that the PC is stolen with the sticker torn off. Did the laptop come in with the original/untampered packaging?

 

The fact is that without that number, you CANNOT use the warranty! That alone is grounds to force a refund.

 

Well just because the sticker is rubbed off or missing off the bottom doesnt mean its foul play...MINE is rubbed off (it is just blank looking now). If, however, it is missing from the bios (ie blank) then foul play was done.

 

Man ifti - That is very odd that in the bios it would just be xxxxxx, that tells me that the seller might have modified the bios and deleted the number, the question then is why would he or anyone do this???, sounds kinda fishy to me. Because other than the bios the sticker is the only other place I know the service tag number could be located at. Good luck to your friend on this very odd dilemma.

 

when you replace the motherboard though, you do have to re-enter the service tag... so you never know. might have been a mobo replacement?

 

Call dell, tell them that you purchased this computer and the computer itself doesnt have a service tag, they will try to retrieve the service tag asking you the original name, company name, phone number, shipping address, if you have that information call them and tell them to give you the service tag, from there you will have to do a Ownership Transfer so you can use the warranty of your system.

Try going to this link: http://support.dell.com/support/top...er/tag_transfer?~ck=ln&c=us&l=en&lnki=1&s=gen
try to retrieve your service tag, from the option that says, find my service tag, try this with IE only, it wont work with firefox. I hope this helps.

 

Exactly, thats why I went round to take a look myself! Ive worked with many Dells, and havenet ever come across this before.

True, but in that case wouldnt the service tag field just be blank??
I have a feeling someone has purposfully tampered with the BIOs to reset it to the X's TBH...

I'll get him to try that link, although I have a feeling it would just search the BIOs for the service tag.
I advised him to first contact the seller directly, since he hasnt got the warrenty he was promised with the system, even though the rest of the system was fine, and completely packaged etc.

This is why I never buy expensive items through eBay!!!!

 

It should show up in the DELL folder in the Menu. It will tell you about warranty information.

 

Download Dell support cetre. This will reveal your service tag. I am actually using this software and this is from the M1530 download page and I am not sure if will work on your system. Worth trying.
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R180808&SystemID=XPS_M1530&servicetag=&os=WLH&osl=en&deviceid=13213&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=3&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=25&fileid=247543

 

If it is missing from the BIOS then someone removed it. There is a program that will put it back on. Dell technicians use it. But without knowing it to begin with then I would say it was HOT. Did you get a refund?

 

The Dell support centre cant do anything. It just says there was an error in finding the service tag, since it looks in the BIOs for it.

The seller states that there has been a mainboard change for the laptop previously, and if its sent back to him he can get the correct service tag put in, or offer a full refund. I guess my mate was lucky this time!!