Dell Vostro 1400 very fragile ???

i have a 2 month old Dell Vostro 1400.

Yesterday, the DVD writer on it stopped working.

So i called Dell support and immediately after about 4 hours, there was a technician at my place and he resolved the problem. Apparantly there was a loose connection.

But after he left, when i tried opening the screen, i heard a cracking sound. On further inspection, i found that the bottom base was cracked big time, near the VGA port I'm cent percent sure that the laptop was not subjected to any physical manhandling. It neither fell nor was it subjected to any such event that cld cause such damage.
Now the problem is i dont have complete cover and Dell is asking me to cough up the charges to get the bottom base replaced.
The laptop is working fine but the crack seems to be a deterrant.

I'm beginning to suspect the build quality of the Vostro. Is it very fragile ?

Please comment on this. Thanks in advance.
Any advice will be appreciated


pardon the poor quality of the pics

 

Since this crack is near the recently serviced dvd-rom, I suggest you tell em that it was the technician who messed up your machine on his recent appointment. It's sort of a big coincidence that someone worked on your machine in a certain area, and then right after you notice a big crack in that area.

 

Yep, looks like the tech did not close the enclosure the way he should.

 

thanks for the advice

i was wondering if any of the other Vostro owners had a similar experience ?

 

I love the way techs leave your house in a hurry hoping you wouldn't notice the damage they caused. So lame!!

 

What I would do at least is not let the guy leave before inspecting the work he did and make sure that nothing was damaged in the process. Also document the state of the machine before he arrives, and before he starts working on it point out the fact that the machine is in good shape.

Then before he leaves, you inspect the machine to see that everything is the same way as before, and if not you don't let the kid leave until he documents that damage was caused by him.

Obviously none of this is relevant to you, as it already happened and he left. But I still think you have a case that the tech damaged your notebook, seeing as how as soon as he he left you noticed damage.

 

In my case it did not take a tech to crack my 1420 lid.. Dell shipped it like that. Hope dell does the right thing. Obviously, you would have noticed that crack before. And the tech also knew for sure what he did and did not take any responsibility for his actions. As for the 1400/1420 being fragile.. I would say not any worse then a normal lappie. I don't buy for a second its more durable then my HP 6500t just because it has some magnesium alloy in it. Don't expect anything special unless you buy something like a thinkpad with built in roll cages on the lid and other vitals. The dells do have some magnesium but they also have plastics in high stress areas around the lid and hinge areas. I don't think they are any stronger then laptops using plastic composites.

 

the technician angle never struck me.

i was always thinking that the Vostro's build was suspicious. Even when i spoke to Dell today in the morning, i didnt bother about the technician thing.
I guess i need to call them again and tell them about this too.

But my case might be diluted

 

Well this is a good lesson for us all to document our systems before any repairs. Let us know what dell tells you next. There is no doubt from what you have said that the tech cracked your lappie. Its not your fault that you did not quickly make the connection.. But it will be too bad if Dell takes advantage of your oversight.

 

The dell rep i spoke to today, agreed to replace the bottom base free of cost this time. it took me 4 calls and an infinity of waiting to finally get him to do this though

thanks guys for opening me up to the engineer angle. never for a second did i think, the engineer could make such a mess.
Hopefully by tomorrow i'll have a new base

p.s. cld someone post a checklist of things to keep in mind prior to an engineer's visit. I'm sure it'll be helpful for a lot of people and they prolly wont have to suffer the same as i did

 

yay!!
Dell replaced the base for free.
The engineer said the palm rest is also showing signs of damage and he'll file a complaint to ensure that it too is changed by day after tomorrow max.

Nice to know that Dell stands by its customers and doesnt desert them like they could easily have done in my case.

3 cheers to Dell and all those who helped me here. Thank you