Questions about terms of Dell warranty

Just a couple of things which bother me about the due discretion of Dell technicians when it comes to addressing issues as of when they eventually arise.

The following exclusions are documented:

For argument's sake, consider the hypothetical example of an GPU failing within 1-2 years.. Surely it could be argued that the GPU failed due to the amount of usage, and that this could be deemed as meeting the criteria of "normal wear and tear" (what exactly is normal?) or "excessive use" (what is unreasonable or excessive?).

It seems to me that with gaming laptops/high spec machines in particular, virtually all of the expected issues over time could be declared as not being covered by the warranty as a result of these vague and potentially all-encompassing exclusions.

Any thoughts? Am I being overly-cautious? Has anyone ever experienced an issue where the technician claimed that either of these two exclusion were applicable?

 

As far as I can tell, everyone in Dell support is target driven, such that some support staff tell outright fibs. Some can be really manipulative too. See for yourself by calling a few times and at the beginning of the call asking for their employee ID.

For example, some will tell you that changing HD will void systems warranty, even if this was okayed by tgeir colleagues. Dell Social Media Team, please advise us what follow up steps have been taken (after I reported this)?

 

Notebook graphics should last more than a computer's lifetime. We're talking 5+ years easily under daily intensive use. It's also very hard (read: improbable != impossible) to damage properly constructed notebook graphics. In most cases, a hardware failsafe should protect against damage by preventing operation outside of certain parameters; the computer simply won't start or crashes regularly whenever you might damage the component. You have to be fairly tenacious to break a card.

Any notebook graphics card is defective when it fails before that point. The M1530 was the last notebook series that had serious graphics card problems, but Dell provided warranty extensions after many failures and complaints.

@ Turbot. Dell service can be frustrating, inept and contradictory but is never evil and is likely quite helpful for most people with simple problems. I think most of the points in your thread can be perceived as malicious, but you're just misunderstanding how their service bureaucracy works (or doesn't work for some customers) based on a few anecdotal stories of hardware failure.

Any customer service has to filter extraneous requests through multiple service tiers. A very large number of problems can be fixed with basic steps like a restart, a software update, or a simple hardware swap. And while many of their service problems could be solved by more quickly escalating cases to a single point of contact, you'd also get a higher "false positive" rate for it.

To be frank, your original post was extremely hateful, and I should have devoted more time to debunking it rather than giving you the fuel of my personal experience. But I think your scare tactics are somewhat over the top. It only takes a single bad experience to sour most people from a company when it's far more likely that you just got an extraordinarily defective product by some fluke of chance.

 

@Exaltare - My intentions are in no way hateful *but* I am highly aware and observant *and* I perceive a lot of Dell's actions as unethical at many levels.

The only thing anyone rebutted in my post "What Dell Doesn't Want You To Know" is the failure rate I cited from this forum. Take a look at the customer services thread and you'll see many accounts of frustrated people.

And, perhaps you have never read this?
Dell lawsuit: Pattern of deceit | ZDNet

It is fundamentally uncaring of Dell to ship computers that are riddled with problems and leave users to fend for themselves and fob them off in the process. They say "the power to do more" and "dell cares".

The cost of frustration, interruption, lost productivity, time spent trying to resolve computer issues for me in my recent experience, is exhorbinant. Most users are not IT experts. Most do not have the wherewithal or time to follow up adequately. I *really believe* there are decision makers in Dell who exploit this to maximise profit.

For example, my father purchased a Dell Studio 1558 Laptop, with an i7 processor, so he could do video editing. It struggles to play AVCHD video at all and behaves erratically. This has been a source of frustration for him for a year and a half. He says it has driven him mad.

So it turns out Dell shipped a computer that had major throttling issues, meaning the processor doesn't run at full speed. See: https://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&q=dell+1558+throttle+&=

Why am I, unpaid, analysing whats going on and asking why Dell have dealt with the above issue REACTIVELY instead of PROACTIVELY?

For example, Dell could have contacted all the laptop owners and said - hey - run this utility to see if your computer throttles, and if it does, here is how to resolve it. This could have saved my dad months of frustration and dismay that he can't leverage his creativity because HIS COMPUTER WASN'T WORKING PROPERLY.

*But* Dell didn't do this.

Instead of contacting all laptop owners and pointing out an issue they knew about, informing them as soon as possible on how to resolve it, Dell decided only respond to people who raised it as an issue.

Dell *should* have tested their computer better so this never happened, but failing that, they *definitely should* have notified Studio 1558 owners as soon as possible to minimise their frustration. If my dad paid for an i7 processor, it should work as an i7 processor.

Why didn't Dell do this? Well, in my opinion, in seems obvious it is to minimise their costs, but in the process they are misselling and their resultant effect is literally cruel and disrespects the whole life experience of people who've purchased their product with a purpose in mind.

So - please Exaltare - if you think I'm hateful - why do I care enough about the other dads out there don't have son's who know about IT and just give up, such that I'm publically asking Dell to be accountable?

 

I suggest you talk to technical support through their chat option. That way you have a log of all conversations, as well as their employee ID.

 

Hi,

Hi,
My name is Rajesh and I am one of the representative for Dell Social Media Forum. Well I just like to tell you that all the Dell system comes with 1 year of warranty by default unless and until there is warranty extension on that computer been taken at the time of purchase or may have extended during the usage. It is limited hardware warranty which limits to hardware functionality of the system. One can also get the details of the service contract mentioned on Welcome to Dell Technical Support. On this website you need to put your service tag information and you will come to know about your warranty status as well, along with necessary information of the product that you are using. There is another warranty that comes is called the accidental warranty which is add on warranty to cover unintentional physical damages on the system. You can get detailed information of all the warranties on Dell website. Also Terms and Condition are also mentioned in details on the website.

Thanks,
Dell-Rajesh K
Social Media Representative