5 Years Later and the same problem persist. Class Action anyone?

FIve years ago, I purchased a Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop. It worked well for two years and developed a problem where the AC Adapter jack on the motherboard went bad and the laptop was essentially dead (Since a repair would have cost more than the laptop initially did). A year later, I started working retail in a fairly large computer store and handled at least 2 or three customers a day who were looking for new ac adapters. Not counting the few who wanted a spare or a replacement for a lost charger, the entire group had Dell Insipirons (and sometimes Latitudes) that suffered the same fate as mine. Pretty much all of them would be returned because the problem was with the laptop and not the charger.

All of these issues occurred roughly 18 - 24 months of ownership, enough time to get the laptop out of warranty. I quite buying Dells, but my sister bought an Insipiron 1505 in July of 06.

You can guess where the story goes from there, recently it suffered the same fateful heart attack that all of those other laptops had.

So, here we are, FIVE YEARS since I had this issue (and who knows how many years this issue has gone on) and Dell STILL has an issue with the Charger Jack on the laptops. Tell me how that isn't Class Action Lawsuit material?

PS. A quick Google search brings up a ton of listings of others still having this issue today.

 

If you can get someone with a 36 month complete care warranty to get in on this class action, I may consider

 

I have never had this issue with any of my laptops......

 

Go rot in a pile of horse manure. No one likes a troll.

 

^Huh? I don't follow...

 

People come in here all the time trying to start up a class action lawsuit for one reason or another.

Heres the deal. Get a warranty, or dont buy the companies products.

 

Thanks for the helpful advice. So I take everyone in this forum has to love and cherish their Dell (which I did when it was working ) to post on here?

 

class action ?

 

Well, considering your the one attempting to start up a class action lawsuit based upon maybe a few hundred people with the issue..........it would certainly seem that he would be correct.

 

I think the dude has a legitimate post - he's experienced the same issue twice, if he can round up others to join his crusade, then by all means, go ahead.

In life, you can either fight the system and hope for the best or be smart and learn. Get a complete care warranty and after 2 years get yourself a new system - you win.

 

i have 4 dell laptops. 700m, I6000, E1705, and the M1530.
My first 3 that i listed, together i have probally gotten the AC adapter replaced 12 times, so i have had 15 total, and the mobo on the I6000 was replaced once.

Good thing i got the warrenty for my computers

 

Can't comment on the frequency of folk looking for a lawsuit. But I can say that I've had to repair laptop power sockets for 3 machines owned by 2 friends in the last 3 years.

The guy has been here 3 months, and made ~100 posts. Why class him as a troll for making enquiries about what he perceives to be a poor design?

Or should we all just agree that 24-36 months is about all one should expect from a piece of electrical equipment costing several hundred, or even thousands, of pounds/dollars?

 

Wait, are you saying the problem is the powerbrick or the computer itself?

 

The manure comment was a bit extreme... All I can say is if you purchased a car with a 3 year warranty and it died shortly after wouln't you feel a bit slighted. I mean to spend that much on a computer or a car you'd expect it to last at least 4 to 5 years.. So you got the complete care the way I always get the total package for warranty and accidental damage protection but what happens when I pay 300 to 400 bucks for the warranty and nothing goes wrong shouldn't I get a credit or something for it not being damaged. The entire warranty/insurance thing is the biggest racket going these days for cars for homes for computers... its like they say a gamble and if you don't cash in the big boys get all your cash and you got nothing ot show for it. So maybe the guy who made the comment about horse manure should go and sit at the table and have a nice heaping spoon of warm horse turds. Maybe he will feel the way alot fo us burnt customers feel...... Not trying to hurl insults just making a point

 

I had seen the same issue on an inspiron 8500. Honestly though, most of these problems occur because of a loose power connector. There are many repair shops that can readily fix this and usually costs only 15-30 dollars. Heck, there are even a bunch of ebay listings for this service that range from 8 dollars upwards to fix the power connector. Yes it may be an issue with the Inspiron or latitude line of notebooks, but if its out of warranty and only costs 15-30 bucks, why not just fix it? The only real winners of a class action lawsuit are the lawyers. In the end, the consumer will not see that big of a benefit for the years of time and money invested.

 

This "poor design" exists in all brands of laptops. I've seen it frequently in HP's and Toshiba's as well as Dell's.

In order to sue, you'd have to prove that this was abnormal, as in it happens in much greater frequency than the industry average. The last time I checked laptop failure rates, it was 10-15% first year, and 40% fourth year, so good luck with that.

 

My friend was just complaining about how his 3rd psu for his macbook is dead. Yeah it sucks, but it doesn't mean you sue.

Look. Parts die and or break. They just do. If you are worried about this dell offers up to a 4 year warranty. If you choose not to get it, it is your fault when a part breaks and you have to pay for it.

If you don't like it, try a different brand. Suing will get you no where.

 

That's not true. It'll get you a $5 coupon, higher prices, and a rich lawyer or two.

 

Yes...I completely agree.

 

Me too... I've had 4 Dells now. No problems.

Occasionally Cars break, TV's break, Computers break, Relationships breaks...

So quit your whining.

 

And another blanket-statement which simply is not true.

"It is your fault when a part breaks and you have to pay for it."

What?!? You're working on the basis that the user has done something abnormal. Is it abnormal to unplug the power connector? Is it abnormal to plug it in?

Is it my fault if my fridge fails when 2.5 years old, because opening the door has caused a problem?

8 years old, then certainly. The product has worked for what anyone could consider a useful life, and has been proven to be fit for purpose. But for power sockets to routinely fail year after year does not fall into the category of 8-years-old or fit-for-purpose.

Yes, parts die. Yes, it is the end-user, or consumer, who ends up having to pay for what is often a 'random' failure. Many of the 'random' failures can be attributed to the particular methods of usage and storage by the user. Routine failures are not the same. If a product is routinely failing through what could be perceived as normal, or regular, use, then it has not been designed to withstand the job for which it has been specified.

It has been a noticeable problem for years. The problem is generally because the sockets are soldered on to the PCB, which in turn means the PCB solder joints have pressure applied with each connection, and flex away from the board when disconnecting. Over time, it'll either break the solder, or break the traces on the PCB.

A screw would sort the problem. In quantities, manufacturers would expect to pay $0.01 for 100 of them.

Not fixing, or acknowledging, the problem possibly means a customer looks to upgrade(replace) their laptop a year early. What incentive is there for the manufacturer to spend $0.0001 to make you hold on to what'll become their money, for another year?

Because we, stupidly, accept it as "wear and tear". Who on here has accepted the need to replace their vehicles ignition barrel every two years, because it's "fair wear and tear"?

 

You're equating laptops to refrigerators and cars. The lifespan of a laptop is 3-5 years on average. If you wish to have a laptop that won't have a good chance of malfunctioning within 5 years, you can purchase a more reliable one, say a business class notebook instead.

What incentive does Dell have to fix this problem? Are you going to buy another Dell if your first one breaks in a blaze of glory? Didn't think so.

 

People who want to initiate class action lawsuits are invariable retarded lawyers. See, lawyers bring these up all the time, where they sue companies "on your behalf." Most of the time, you don't even know you're a part of the lawsuit until you get a letter in the mail saying "YOU WON!! START MASTURBATING!!" What do you win? Usually something like $50, and you have to write in to claim it. Not bad, for doing nothing, right? Yeah, and the lawyers take their 30% cut, which is around, uh, $50 million. And then the only thing that happens is that the company has to jack up prices to cover.

Lawyers: if you could shoot them dead, why wouldn't you?

 

Actually this is a design flaw. It could be fixed by placing the power insert deeper into the laptop so that half of the plastic tip actually fits into the laptop that way if it is hit, snagged or jolted the power supply won't wiggle and hence you won't get the break. In other words by having that fat part of the tip in the notebook will remove the wiggle room and viola, not broken power problems. I guess it isn't fixed because it does happen frequently and ALL of the companies profit from it. Unplug it if you want to move it around and it might help. I do think that it is possible to sue, however, it is just as simple to unplug it or to get the extra warranty.

Toodles

 

Because they would sue you.

 

Yeah, that's all they know how to do. Lawyers are retards who contribute no productive behavior to society. All they do is sit around telling everyone else how to do their job and then stick out their hands like beggars. In a civilized world people should be ashamed to be lawyers because it's like you're a parasite.

 

Well put my friend. Well put. It's only in this country where I was sitting in traffic because of a major accident, and I see emergency vehicles speed off in the service lane, followed by three or four civilian cars racing behind them. The civilian cars turn out to be lawyers to lend a "helping hand".

 

You miss the point. I'm comparing the power socket - which is a frequently used part of a laptop, to the door of a refrigerator or the ignition barrel of a car.

All three are hugely-used parts of a machine used on a daily basis.

Dude, it's a problem across all manufacturers. Grief with Dell? Go to IBM. 3 years later, head for HP. Customers will eventually go full circle.

If it wasn't an issue on Dell laptops, then there would always be folk who would stick with them until the day they die. People love quality - hence why IBM laptops were twice the price of the competition 15 years ago. Folk would part with more money to have a solid machine, and they did in droves.

But that shouldn't be the reason for addressing the shortcoming. It should be addressed and resolved because it's a piss-poor show. A $0.03 part lasts throughout the entire life of a machine in 80% of cases. The other 20%, it could fail once, it could fail a dozen times.

A $0.031 part would last throughout the entire life of a machine in over 90% of cases.

That is the reason why Dell should sort it. The slightest of modifications and the part would last a great deal longer for a good number of users. The minimal cost per unit would help avoid a thread like this - where someone has lost faith in the manufacturer, and is looking for people in a similar situation who have had enough of living with a flawed design.

The flaw may not rear its head for you, or the next 50 people. But it is a real problem that does affect a sizeable minority, on a year-in year-out, model-in model-out basis.

I struggle to grasp exactly why you're trying to defend the use of lower quality parts, when a quality component and enhanced design offering a much longer life for a good proportion of customers can be had for 3% more than that components price - we're talking tenths of a cent here.

Are you really so complacent as to be happy for others to put up with recurring faults, or were you just looking for reasons to shout the OP down?

 

You really think it's that simple? I guess that Dell, HP, Asus, Quanta, and Compal hire retarded monkeys as engineers then...

1. A lawsuit won't do crap. Dell settles and admits no wrongdoing, you ge a $5 coupon, your next computer is $50 more expensive.

2. You won't win the lawsuit anyway. Like I said, you have to be able to prove that, first, it's an easy fix, and second, that Dell's laptops have an abnormally high failure rate due to this problem. You won't be able to do either.

 

I'm not trying to do either, I don't live in the US.

It is a very simple problem to solve satisfactorily. In the years I worked on laptops, you'd see the problem on less than 5 machines per thousand on good models, but more than 5 per hundred on the crappy ones. Bear in mind that these were all warranty returns, typically within the first 3 months of ownership. I couldn't give you real-world data over the lifespan of the machine.

I've nowt to gain from this, I've never owned a laptop which developed the fault. But for some people it is a very real problem - depending on the machine and battery, they can easily make and break the power connection a half-dozen times a day. It takes very little reasoning to see why the sockets held in place by just solder are far more stressed than those with a screw on the opposing side.

If the chap manages to find a few more voices and actually makes some progress, it's a good thing for them and a good thing for everyone else.

$5 coupons, lawsuits, and $50 loaded on the next models price - wouldn't it make more sense to change the component, for fractions of a penny?

Heck, I'd gladly pay an extra penny to have a screwed-down power jack. They can use the leftovers to enhance the rigidity of the other commonly-used sockets too, if they'd benefit from it.

 

I'd just like to add that no, I don't believe this is the case at all. There are some brilliant engineers out there, and they come up with some marvellous achievements and designs.

But, these marvellous achievements will end up being built to a price, and this is where the penny-pinchers work their magic. Hence we end up with awesomely designed products, let down by components undergoing stress each day, costing fractions of a penny.

Squeeze the fractions of a penny from the wrong component, and the end-user is left with a bitter aftertaste because something feels wrong. The case isn't quite flush, a key pops off from time to time... minor niggles.

A cheap part coming away under stress, pulling the traces from the motherboard whilst doing so - that's not a minor niggle. It's an expensive repair, depending on the severity of it...

Anyone want to mail me a book about how to master the art of being concise? I always end up elaborating, and then a bit more, and then some more... I may be able to solder component leads by hand when fractions of a millimetre wide, but I can't keep my posts short and to the point.

 

Hey, here's an idea, Einstein: why don't you create a company that sells laptops, since you're the one talking about how easy it is and how you know how to do everything perfectly? Then some guy will suggest suing you because of something that affects roughly nobody and talk about how easy it would have been to prevent that completely irrelevant thing. A few days later you'll kill yourself, but it's OK because some lawyer will still get paid.

 

And this is where you, as a consumer, use your money, not BS lawsuits, to voice your wants.

 

A AC adapter breaking over time is common, just like how any electronic component can break down. However, as u mentioned the AC jack screwing up? that i have never heard of. Thats just bull

 

I like how laptop companies make laptops that are essentially the equivalent of desktops, look great, have Bluetooth and WiFi, and can run basically any program and yet there are a small percentage of extremely retarded people who act like there's this grand conspiracy where laptop manufacturers are trying to "get" consumers. It's the same losers who are like "Dell makes a lot of profits, so I KNOW they're screwing us all!!"

 

So, you knew there was a 'problem' with the power socket/adapter.....yet bought the laptop?

You also didn't get the extended warranty/complete care package.

Then, you start moaning about it and want to sue?

Man, people that sue suck more b*lls than someone at Mardi Gras.

I suppose once you sue, you'll then complain because the price of your new laptop has gone up.....due to a bunch of idiots bringing a class action lawsuit....

If you are soooo keen to bring a class action on something.....i have a hot tip for you......there are these things called clouds.......normally they float around and do nothing....but sometimes they'll dump their load on you! i know many people that have had the same experience as me too......maybe you could contact these people and get a class action going against the clouds too?

 

You guys are American, right?

 

Yeah. And?

 

Was just checking.

I've just noticed a certain pattern of behavior across many forums on the net, but no political discussion is allowed here, sorry.

Apologies for the OT post.

Carry on.

 

If you want to call me out, you can PM me. If you're implying something about my tone of voice and linking that to me being an American, have fun. I don't know what they think in Australia, but I have a low tolerance for a lot of the things that people say on these forums with regards to "how can I get free money from a corporation because I'm entitled to it and they have too much money anyways" or things along that line. I'm quite firm in saying that Dell should put out a quality product, but I'm equally firm in saying that people should either be realistic or else get their own pieces of silicone and get to work. It's easy to sit around and talk about how YOU'D do things perfectly, go ahead and show us, is my point.

 

Evidently yours is a common attitude. Fair enough.

If you want to PM, can you explain what motivates you to jump on people that complain about big business?

 

No, I am not American.

 

Fooled me. I apologize.

 

and so you should. but putting 'fooled me' in there makes it a half-hearted apology....

anyway...

Has anyone asked these people about the way in which they used/treated their laptop while using it before this 'problem' occurred?

I'm sure some of the problems are down to man-handling of the laptop.

Also, I reckon that for any laptop by any manufacturer, you could pick any component and find a group of people that have had issues with that component. That's just the way things go sometimes.

Laptops really should be bought with an extended warranty.

 

I didn't mean it sarcastically or cynically. I meant it literally, I was fooled, tricked into accusing you of something false. Sorry again.

Laptops should be sold with an extended warranty.

Who are we kidding. They are made to a standard that the companies think will make them the most profit. It costs the same to make an item last 5 years as 2. No, in fact it actually costs more to make it last 2, some very careful calculations are made to give the item an average life that will lead to the greatest profit.

That's business!

 

Too bad, you should have told him you were an American. He has hilarious thoughts on how companies can make lightbulbs that never need replacing and tires that can run forever, but won't. Also, he says that Americans always defend businesses. Yay!

Like I told him, because he's obviously ignorant, conspiracy theorists explain "why businesses don't make the car that lasts forever" by saying, "oh, well, then nobody would ever have to buy another car again." Yeah ...and yet everyone would STILL have to buy at least one car, so even if five companies had to split those profits, they'd still make out like bandits. And of course, we know that the world population has stayed static since the beginning of time. These guys are geniuses. No wonder they have to work for corporations that they hate.

 

Apologies are clearly not your forte...

Also, someone's race has nothing at all to do with this discussion, so I don't know why you brought it up.

This is a Dell forum.

 

Guys, when Dell makes your laptop, there's a guy at the end of the assembly line who opens up the case and just beats the hell out of it. That ensures that it won't last as long. Then they ship it to you. Let's all sue Dell!

 

While we're making PM's public:

If I could do what, why don't I what?

If you mean why don't I make things to last as little as possible and still be acceptable to the consumer, and hence make myself the most profit from future business, well, I do. I'm in manufacturing...

No ones screwing anyone, it's just sensible business.

As for the rest, yes, I have noticed that Americans tend to defend their country, government and corporations more fiercely than other nationalities.

I'm not judging that as good or bad, just find it interesting. You especially seem to get very aggressive and I am genuinely curious about why that is?

This just in:

I wouldn't make products that last longer than necessary because it is less profitable than making things that last as long as minimally required... Who wants a notebook for 10 years anyway?

 

You're right, I know I come across as insincere. Sorry (again).

I wasn't talking about race as much as nationality, which I believe does have a lot to do about the discussion. Not the discussion about Dell, but the discussion that started with:

And moved onto:

Etc, etc.

No offense meant anywhere, just doing research. Obviously I was too blunt in my first post in this thread, and for that I'm sorry.

I certainly don't mean to sound offensive.