My Broken Dell XPS M1330 Repaired

The engineer came as arranged to replace the motherboard. I did not know disassembling a notebook can be so easy. And I also did not know that Dell replaces faulty parts under warranty with refurbished ones. I am not happy with this. I paid for a new laptop but barely four days later I get a refurbished replacement for a faulty part.

That aside, Dell’s service is excellent. They also have a Total Satisfaction Policy where purchasers may return the merchandise within 14 days from the date of invoice for replacement or a refund or credit of the product purchase price. I have not decided if I want to keep this notebook especially when a major hardware problem have cropped up so early after purchase. This episode has shaken my confidence in Dell’s products.

Author: Peter Tan

Peter Gabriel Tan. Penangite residing in the Klang Valley. Blissfully married to Wuan. A LaSallian through and through. Slave to three cats. Wheelchair user since 1984. End-stage renal disease since 2017. Principal Facilitator at Peter Tan Training specialising in Disability Equality Training. Former columnist of Breaking Barriers with The Borneo Post. This blog chronicles my life, thoughts and opinions. Connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

10 thoughts on “My Broken Dell XPS M1330 Repaired”

  1. Ask for an exchange or refund. Then buy another Dell XPS or another brand. HP Pavilion pretty good.

    Peter:
    Contemplating on that. I want something below 2kg with 2ghz.

  2. Total Satisfaction Policy:
    return the lappy (provided they do not charge anything for returning).
    order again after getting the refund (provided there’s no better choice).

    But then there’s no guarantee you wont get back the same one you returned…akaka
    But then again, maybe this lousy one you have is returned by someone earlier…akaka X 2

    customer is king, says who?

    Peter:
    Did you happen to return a Dell XPS recently?

  3. Hi, Peter,

    I am the Dell Community Liaison for laptops. I wanted to weigh in regarding refurbished parts. I would be taken aback, to say the least, if I was given what I thought were used major components to replace defective ones in my brand new laptop.
    We do not replace motherboards on m1330’s with refurbished parts. In fact we do not refurbish motherboards at all. The reason our replacement parts go out with a refurbished sticker attached when they are new is due to packaging laws. We do not manufacture motherboards, but in fact purchase them from a number of manufacturers. When we stock our shelves with replacement motherboards that we purchase from the manufacturer, we are required to place a “Refurbished” sticker on it.
    I hope this explanation helps ease your mind about your motherboard, and that you are able to enjoy the m1330.

    Peter:
    Thank you for clearing that up. From a customer’s point of view, it would be better to use another term in place of “Refurbished” to avoid misunderstandings.

  4. Ya man. I agreed with you. I urge you to get your money back.
    Dell product is quality? I never think so.

    3 frens of mine, they’ve the problem.
    one of my fren who is having Inspiron 640M, had 2-3 dead pixels on screen after using for the first month. Under industry standard, it needed 4-6 dead pixels only eligible for replacement for warranty. So, unlucky.

    Antoher fren, who owe a latitude series laptop, after one year, vertical and horizontal line appearred on the screen (affected in US also, ppl lauched website protest, Dell then only gave them replacement – The article is posted in http://www.computerworld.com last year I think)

    Still got another fren, owe a 9000 Inspiron. have the same case as my second who just bought not more than a month. but soon after the line recovered back to normal automatically, not sure why.

    I owe Inspiron 6400, has my screen replaced because there was a tiny hair inside the screen after few month(if not mistaken).

    Getting a dell laptop is by luck. Quality? Don’t think so…

  5. Dell XPS is a very good series. My fren bought it for one month. Seem no problem at the moment.

    If you wan go for another brand, you can shop for Acer. The price around 4K-5K. My fren recently bought it. He said very good overall in term of specification. nice sound, well designed apperance, and good spec. More importantly, the price is cheaper compare to other brand.

    I’m not sure how about the quality and workmanship la.. You got to check out yourself.;)

  6. I am an Acer stalwart.Never had any problems with this brand.Having said that, occasionally things do fail and as you’ve been a lightning rod for all things crappy of late!! it probably had to happen to you!!
    Time to shake off the hex dude!Just don’t mail it to me!! God bless Pete

    Peter:
    I would not want to pass the bad luck to my friends. If you have an enemy whom you want to jinx, let me know.

  7. Peter, get a MacBook! You (and Wuan) will love how iPhoto lets you easily catalogue all your pics, how really easy it is to use the Mac OS interface…

    I own both Wintel and Apple notebooks, and I’ve recently found I turn to my MacBook even for “business” applications…

    Peter:
    I had actually considered a MacBook but decided on a Dell for its lighter weight.

  8. 4 days old only, I think should at least replace with a new Unit. I don’t see any excuse by ‘replacing’ a faulty part with a refurbished part, summore dunno what happened to the ‘Refurbished Replacement Part. Go ask for a new one ~

    Or line Michael Chan says, come join the Mac Gang ~ kekeke

    Peter:
    I was very tempted to get a Mac but it was a little heavy to my liking. And nice to meet you finally. I have been reading so much about you in some of the blogs.

  9. I agree with you on the term “refurbished.” We have a site for ideas and suggestions called IdeaStorm, where customers can post and comment on ideas. http://www.ideastorm.com/
    We have the same type of site internally called EmployeeStorm, and there is an idea with a lot of votes posted to change that term or do away with the big red sticker altogether. Not sure if it’s on IdeaStorm, but if anyone’s interested in posting it…
    Any suggestions on a better term?

Comments are closed.