Vostro 3700: botched repair, swap offered - downgrades & advice!

Hi everyone

I have(had) a Vostro 3700 with (what I thought was) a fairly basic specification, but it's a specification I spent a long time deciding on at the time:
Core i5 520
4GB RAM
320GB HD
Nvidia 330M 1GB
Dell Wireless 1520 (a/b/g/n dual-band 2.4+5Ghz)
17" 1600x900 Screen

I purchased a 3 year prosupport upgrade, and I'm very glad I did. I've had the same problem occur twice in the last 18 months or so. Dell tried to repair it again in early May and botched it, and now don't have the part needed. So they offered a swap, which I was told would meet or exceed the specification of my current laptop. I was told that it would take 5-10 working days in total to have a new laptop agreed and delivered, it's now 3 weeks later (despite lots of chasing on my part!!) and they've come up with two options, neither of which I'm keen on:

Changing to a Vostro 3750, but the CPU (Core i5 2450) and wireless card (Intel 1030) options mean that I will lose out on Intel vPRO, virtualisation tech (VT-d) and 5Ghz Wireless 'N' support (things I actually need and use!). They say they can't offer an Intel i5 25xx series CPU (i.e. equivalent to my 5xx 1st-gen i5) nor a wireless card with 5Ghz support with the Vostro 3750.

They then suggested a Latitude E6520, which has a smaller screen (15") but same resolution. It also only has a NVIDIA NVS 4200M 512MB, which I appreciate is a "professional grade" card, but seems to be slower than my 330M and only has half the video RAM.

My third option is to accept a refund, but I've been told that as I've had the laptop for over a year, it'll be a percentage of the original purchase price. I can see the logic behind this, but equally, my reason for purchasing a 3 year prosupport package was so that I had a working laptop for 3 years - and while I've yet to be given the amount I'd get, I imagine it won't cover an equivalent new laptop!!

I'm therefore looking for advice! What would people do in my situation? Is there another option I'm not considering or something I should push them on?

 

I address the refund first - IMO you should get a full refund not a percentage. Escelate this if you go this route.

As far as any replacement goes - you can and should fight to make sure every aspect of the replacement is equal or better than your original.

you could always swap wireless cards if your origial is better, or just buy a better one and install it yourself.

Key in this case is persistance, be polite but firm.

 

Thankls for your thought - I think the problem is that I've already had to escalate it up a few levels, after the 3 week period just to get me some specifications of alternatives! I'm not sure I can go much higher

How easy is that to do, in terms of the antenna? I know my Vostro 3700 had a slot access it, but is it fairly straightforward to swap them out?

 

See if they have the part back in stock again. If not, I would take the E6520. I don't think you'll notice a significant difference with the graphics card, as neither is designed for gaming.

I wouldn't worry about the wireless card, if they can't get you one with 5GHz support, you can get one yourself and those aren't too expensive.

Why do you feel entitled to a full refund? There's no money-back guarantee, much less one that is valid for two years.

 

A full refund is deserved because Dell has done so in the past with others in simular cases, and since Dell can not or does not want to make the replacement equal or better, they should offer a full refund.

It's Dell's responsibility to live up to the terms of the extended warranty

 

Give this thread a read

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell/622833-getting-your-money-back-dell-heres-how.html

 

Precedence is very dangerous, because if they make an exception once and word gets out, people expect it to be standard procedure. Full refunds are only given within the first 30 days of purchase, and anything else would be an exception. Living up to the terms of the warranty only requires that they dispatch parts and technicians to repair the system, or optionally replace the system if many service attempts have failed.

Too many consumers have been taking advantage of manufacturers and retailers to get the most out of their money. You may not think an unreasonable demand every once in a while is going to make a difference, but if enough people do it, these actions will come back and affect you (and everybody else) in the form of reduced grace periods for legitimate concerns, more restrictions, higher prices, and less service.