Dell actually came thru

I bought a refurbished M1330 with nvidia last February or January. At around the end of summer the GPU died. Between then and now, it died and was replaced 3 times. The second time, the tech did something and the palm rest wasn't attached properly at the right corner. While the 3rd tech was working on it, I showed him the palm rest and he said he'd take a look at it.

When he was done, he said he couldn't fix it as the previous tech had messed up the connectors. Also, that the last tech had stripped a couple of the screws, broken some of the plastic connectors on the button bar, and a few other things to the interior of the machine. He told me he was ordering the parts and would come back the next day to fix it.

I never heard back from him, and wanting my laptop fixed, I contacted Dell. They said they got the order, but couldn't ship the parts as this was outside of what an at home tech could do. That I would have to send it in to the depot to fix. I knew this was a bad option, having sent things away to be fixed before, they never do what they're supposed to. I fought it politely, and got them to escalate me to a manager.

The manager repeated the same thing. At which point I informed him that I'd been without the machine for a week each time it broke down, and that he was asking me to send it in for 7-14 days. I couldn't be with out my computer for so long again as I need it for both class and my company. I also told him that I didn't trust them to fix it. As this was the fourth attempt and that previous tech's had caused more trouble than there had been originally. I said I wanted a replacement. The manager insisted that I send in the laptop and give them one more chance to fix it. So I did.

I got the box, filled out the form in detail and sent it away. To their credit, it was a fast turn around. About 4 days not including the weekend. When it came back, much to my fear, they hadn't fixed any of the problems I sent it in for. On the check list it said they replaced the heat sink and MLB. Nothing about the palm rest or any other problems I wrote down and told them about. Since I had just one week before had the MB and heat sink replaced it was confusing as to why they did that again.

Worse still, there were scratches in places that there weren't previously. The LCD makes a noise when I open it, and a clank when I close it. The plastic thing around the headphone jacks is pealing off when it was perfect before. Plus a few other cosmetic things. It looks like some abused piece of junk rather than the perfect looking machine I use to have.

I called my contact at Dell to tell him of the status. He claimed he'd never heard of the depot not doing what they were told, and that they never mess up the machine. I told him of the problems I had discussed with him before, and one by one went through the issues again.

At this point, he actually agreed, and said he was sending me a new laptop of equal or better specs. I had already figured I'd have to send it in again for repair so I was a bit shocked and thought it worthy of posting here.

The only "bad" thing is that while it was at repair, I replaced it with a new spec white MacBook. I can't have a computer that breaks every other month, and that's what I had. I'd lost all trust in the machine. Plus, the warranty ends at the end of February, or three or so weeks from that day. I thought about just buying a new warranty, but figure I can't keep waiting for it to break and being without my main computer for so long each time.

So now I have the old busted, but working m1330, a new MacBook, and another m1330 in the mail. I have no need for so many laptops and don't know what to do with them. I guess I'll try to sell the Dells, but I tried to sell my Sisters laptop for her about a month ago to no success. All I got was scam attempts.

 

They are going to require you to send back the old M1330, otherwise they will charge you for the new one.

 

If they don't require you to send back the old M1330, I would love to have it so I can give it to my mother-in-law who has been with out a computer for over 4 years now because no one in my family can afford to purchase one at the moment.

 

Trust me they will have you send it back (the broken one) as hep! said.

If you dont need the xps1330 you can alway post it up on ebay or craigslist.

 

You have to return the broken one to Dell, period. You will get charged for it, if you don't (as 2 OP's already stated).

Plus, it's the *right* thing to do.

If you don't want the replacement 1330 ~ you have options of selling it yourself.


Cin.

 

I'll happily send it back if they want it, but the guy said nothing about sending it in and I didn't get a chance to ask. Will they send me a box or even tell me to send it in, or is it up to me to figure out that they wanted it sent back in? Communication with Dell is so frustrating some times.

I can put the one to use as a media server or something. Though I may end up selling it. It's just that two of the things is a bit much.

 

The box you get with the new one will have instructions and a paid return label.

 

Cool. That makes it easy. I didn't want to try and sell it due to it's condition and failure rate, and I didn't want to keep it.

I'm still just surprised that they actually replaced it. I really expected to have to deal with fixing it every few months.

Are the newer 1330's still failing and having problems? Do they still have CPU whine, this one will have the 8300 proc.?

 

The CPU whine was not an M1330 issue, it's a Core 2 Duo issue.
However, yes, a new M1330 with an 8400M GS will still have a faulty GPU, though if you ask Dell it's been fixed.

 

Aaah..I just saw Hep answered this question...but you return in the box your replacement came in, and theres a shipping label.

And, you will start getting e-mail reminders from Dell, if you haven't returned it..in what Dell's considerss *a timely manner*

Cin

 

What are the odds that they'll let me switch it to a non-nvidia based 1330 or the studio version? I really don't want to mess with failures anymore and have a hard time selling it off if it's going to fail.

 

Pretty much zero, unfortunately. If your warranty is a 3 year one, you might be able to get a whole new system in the second or third year - assuming their stocks on the M1330 are low.

 

I got the replacement. It looks beautiful, but there are some problems.

It will not sit flat on any surface and wobbles when I touch it. Pretty badly too. Plus, it has the finger print reader thing which I do not want.

What is with Dell? Why isn't dealing with them easier?

 

Search the forum. I believe a lot have had success bending it back into shape.

As for the finger print reader, that's a bonus for you. You don't have to use it if you don't want to. Just uninstall the fingerprint software if you really hate it.

 

I was just searching actually and saw about giving it a twist. I did, and it seems to have worked.

I don't count the ugly thing taking up space on the palmrest a bonus. I didn't order it on my first machine because I didn't want it, and I still don't. But, I can live with it given everything else is working and nice.

What's odd that I just noticed is that the power adapter is quite a bit larger and the plug that goes into the laptop is round instead of a octagon like the old one. The plug in the computer is still an octagon though. The new one is loose as well. It's funny because when I got my first 1330 a year ago, the power brick and the plug that plugs into it were wrong and did not fit together. I must be destined to get the wrong adapters from Dell.

 

Just keep your old M1330 adapter and send that one back.
That's a Dell universal adapter and will work with your laptop, though I agree - the one just for the M1330 is much nicer because of it's small size.

 

I guess I'm not in the clear yet. I just inserted a DVD into the drive and it won't read. Tried a handful more and none of them work. It just makes a repeating mechanical noise and takes forever to eject.

I guess it's back to the phone for me. I think I'm going to have to send them a bill for my time soon since it's always a 2 hour ordeal to call them and I keep having to.

ugh. I can't log into their chat support because it says this service tag is from another country. I can't use my old one because it's warranty just expired yesterday. So frustrating dealing with this company.