Canadian lawsuit pegs Dell for knowingly selling defective laptops

I had the same problems w/ my 5150!! After a year it just started overheating so badly that i couldnt use it anymore. I blew 1500 on a laptop that i barely got a chance to use. its been collecting dust for awhile now.....

Anyone else want to start up a US class action suit??

I bought my wife one an 1100 a few years ago. I've had the motherboard and fan replaced on what Dell called "suspect" because they could not determine what was wrong with it. It frequently turns itself off due to overheating and continues to do so. Its essentailly useless because doing anything that pegs the processor for a short period of time will result in it getting to hot and powering off.

I wonder if I can get involved with this; I'm in Ontario.

I've seen a few of these that the heatsinks gums up with dust and pretty much fails to work. You can clean the dust out and bring it back to life, but ya, its a poor design.

I have the same problem with my Inpiron 5100 2 to 3 years ago after my Warranty expired. My motherboard died on me and its $300 to replaced. I never replace it but I still have the laptop.

I hope I get something out of this.

When I was still in high school we used Dell Desktops that always had mother boards that just mysteriously stopped working...int interesting that this is now coming to light. Then again that's what you get when you buy something from the bargain bin of the computer world. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Dells suck.

Quick! Get one of those models now! You might get something out of it :O

But then again I still wouldn't get a Dell even with that incentive :$

I would be very interested in a US based class-action lawsuit. I have a 5100 that had tons of problems. I eventually had to get a new laptop, but Dell did nothing to help despite a dozen phone calls.
If anyone has any information regarding a US suit, please post it.

I had the 5100 that I got for Christmas in 2004. Was giving me problems in summer 2005 with the cd drive not working, then occasional crashing, then not being able to run from the battery. It was terrible, and they wanted $450 to fix it. I just bought another, but I'm hoping for something good out of this.

P.S. My uncle's office bought four of the basic (I guess that's 1100) models and all of them died. Wow

Greg

I have the same problem , Inspiron 5100 , CDRW/DVD wont longer record CD's

Much like the claimants and previous posters, I've had trouble with Dell Laptops as well. My 600m (not included in the suit) mysteriously cooked its motherboard approximately 1 month after the warranty expired. I was forced to invest in a new Toshiba just hours before an exam.

At the time, I was a second year law student, and shortly after my laptop died, I looked around the classroom of about 120 colleagues, and noticed that while most of us bought 600m's our first year (on the order of 85%) due to their solid specs and very low prices (undercutting the Toshiba, at the time, by several hundred dollars) almost no one in the class had the same laptop (on the order of 15% by the end of my second year). About a quarter of them replaced their 600m's with new Dells, but most had replaced them with Toshibas, Sonys, and a couple of HPs, all of which seem to be working acceptably.

I'm interested to see what happens with this lawsuit. I expect no money resulting of any settlements or judgments against Dell, but if Dell knew they had defective products (and on my experience I believe they did), something must be done to prevent this from becoming a common business practice.

Moral of the story: Avoid Dell laptops like the plague, even if it means spending extra money.

Damn that Dell! I knew it wasn't my fault when a surge went through my power line a year after I bought it! Shenanigans!

Darn tootin' they were defectively designed.

I had a 5100. Hottest thing ever made. Slap a desktop pentium 4 into a tiny, poorly fanned chassis and it's inevitable. It got so hot it ended up melting through the rubber on the power cord.

The hard drive died twice. Then the motherboard died out of warranty. The thing wouldn't even turn on, no lights, no bios, nothing. Probably the processor fried after overheating. If it's not a conspiracy then it's stupidity on the part of Dell.

Same thing happened to me. I had to pay for it to get fixed after a year and a couple months of use. Then in on year and a couple months it broke again.

I know of two laptops that have done the same. It was mine and my friend's. I have a inspiron 600m that went out after the one year warranty. It was a graduation present and now it's semifunctional. My friend's Inspiron 700m also had the same scenario but her's had 2 year warranty so she had a technician come in to replace. I checked out her laptop for her but I found that she still had some video card problems that would cause the screen to freeze or blur to some other colors. Unless it's true, I think Dell replaces laptop parts with broken parts. =/

I have a 5100 and I've had all sorts of problems with it. Two months after I got it, it started getting so hot that it was uncomfortable to rest my hand on top of the keyboard for too long. I endured it for a few months until the heat problem got so bad that it melted the glue that holds the rubber on to the laptop and they fell off. Then the random reboots started so I sent it in fro repair under warranty. The "replaced the motherboard" and sent it back. Just after the warranty ran out, the heat issue started again. Then the plastic case just below the problem are audibly cracked while I was using it. Then the heat coming out of the PCMCIA slot, which is where the hard drive is stored, was so intense that it bubbled and peeled the paint off of the plastic. then the rear vent cracked. Then the plastic in the lid that holds the anchors for the hinge screws on the heat issue side failed and the metal hinge had also cracked in two. I would often leave my laptop closed and running to watch movies on my TV...coincidence? I never mistreated my laptop and never so much as jarred it. It barely left my house in the years that I've had it.

Also, I forgot to include that when it died, it would boot up until it got to the desktop, then it would crash immediately. Guaranteed there was no virus there. I even installed linux on it, no problems with crashing, but every other thing continued to happen except for the battery.
Also, I don't think this has anything to do with the mobo, but I started to notice small cracks on the front of the case. Poor design and I am careful with my stuff.

why I don't buy dells.

The Inspiron 5150s have a known problem with the motherboard. It seems that the motherboard is mounted such that pressing on the case to the right of the touchpad with a small amount of pressure pushes the motherboard up against a ridge in the case. After 3-12 months, this usually rubs through the traces in that area, causing a massive failure.
My wife had a 5150 that Dell replaced the motherboard on 5 times in the year and a half that she had it. She had a 2 year replacement plan, so they basically tried to talk her into repeatedly sending it in for service to run out the waranty, but after the 5th time we pushed them into sending her a different model.
There's a class-action suit for the 5150s in California that recently was settled. Under the settlement, anybody with a 5150 can have any already charged service fees refunded, as well as a motherboard replacement.

Unfortunately, not news to me that Dell makes products that fail shortly after the warranty expires. See http://www.dellverticalline.com to learn how they sold thousands of people multi-thousand dollar laptops with 17" widescreen displays that develop "stuck pixels" in full vertical columns from top to bottom of the display approximately 15 months after purchase and then refuse to do anything about it, despite hundreds with the same complaint. Call tech support and they'll say they've never heard of the problem.

"willfully," not "willingly," as in "willful disobedience."

keep up the good work!

I have come to hate Dell. I bought a brand new Core Duo Inspiron 6400, in October. By late november, the screen started to darken in one corner. As the screen grew worse, and the blotch spread, i ended up plugging in to an old VGA monitor. After a while, the darkened area lightened, but more problems appeared. The computer would keep running, but the LCD would automatically shut off. I sent it back for repairs, and it seems to be working nicely, now. I will no longer support Dell. They are very irresponsible. Toshiba, Acer, or HP will be my choice of the future. Are there any particular brands that have really good reps?

I am a former Qualxserv employee, who performeda lot of Dell Next Business Day Warranty Repairs, and people would be suprised at the Dell's negligence. Everything from sending faulty replacement parts, to one company buying 300 Optiplex SX280's and having over 200 hundred go bad from swollen capacitors.

Here are a few things I learned while working for Dell / Qualxserv.

Seven Things to Consider When Buying a Dell.

1. Dell doe not have a lemon policy.
This means that they will continue to send you replacement parts and technicians than send you a new computer, if your computer is not repaired. I personally serviced a computer that required four seperate visits. Each time they either sent the wrong part, or another faulty part. Here are a couple more situations to illustrate my point.

2. Your average wait time for technical support is roughly an hour...
on a good day, most people wait up to two hours for support, and I have heard of issues where customers troubleshooted with technicians for up to eight hours. Althoughthe representative you talked to when purchasing your computer was American, the rep you speak to when your computer is not working is going to be from another country. Many customers complain about the language barriers, as well as rudeness from the technicians.

3. Dell always toot about their next business day services, however these people are subcontractors that usually have little to know experience fixing computer hardware. Their only training is taking 5 - 10 open book tests within 4 - 7 days.

4. Dell and their OEM providers does not thoroughly test they parts.
Dell is able to keep their prices low by buying huge quantities of parts, which are often from companies that does not adequately test their parts for reliability. Power supplies on desktops is a hugh problem for Dell computers. It is also apparent that does does not perform thorough quality check either. I had one instance where the power button could not reach into the case to turn the system on. You would think someone would turn the computer on before shipping it off?

5. Dell has restocking fees for computers you decide to return. Even if you return it because of computer problems. The good news is, if you make your demands strong enough you can be escalated to an agent that has more flexibility. Do not ask for a supervisor if your technical support agent is trying to be a brick wall, ask to speak to someone from the Dell Escalation Team. BTW if you don't make your demands clear, you could end up paying a restocking fee and return shipping on your computer.

6. Do not bother calling dell for software support
Their support is limited, and can become costly. Make sure to protect your computer because Dell charges about $50 for virus and spyware removal. Plus you have to deal with the language barrier and rudeness in the process.

7. Buy Dell Computers Online
Not only can you snag better deal online, but their sells agents are notorious for confusing customers and selling them more computer than they actually need. I know someone who was persuaded to upgrade to windows media center, but didn't receive a tv tuner. She was also charged for Office Professional and received Office Student Edition. She was also upgraded to a top of the line ATI graphics card because she said she play games (meaning solitare and minesweeper).

I am not telling people to not buy Dell. I am trying to make people aware of what can come along with the package. I have been buying and repairing Dell's for years and have not had a problem, however I deal with customers under warranty all of the time and I would not wish Dell Technical Support on my worst enemy.

Part of my business is contacting and repairing Dell equipment on behalf of the end user, so I know what I am talking about, and Dell is not planning to change its policies anytime soon.

I have the Inspiron 6000 and it gets so hot sometimes it is actually uncomfortable to rest on my lap with while wearing pants, but if I'm wearing shorts and it touches my skin It's almost unbearable.

I got this email from Dell on 3/1/07:
On February 15, 2007, all Inspiron 5160s had their warranties extended
for 1
year for the following repairs.

Repairs to resolve messaging code M1004, which is a message that the
5160 is
programmed to display if it shuts down to prevent system
damage;


Heat sink replacements;

AC adapter replacements necessary to resolve "insufficient power" and
"cannot identify power source" messages; and

Motherboard replacements that are necessary to resolve "no power" or
"shutdown" situations.
If you have an Inspiron 5160 with any of these problems, please contact
Technical Support.

If you have contacted Technical Support and have been informed that your
system is not under warranty, please contact Technical Support with your
Service Tag number.
I will be collecting these Service Tag numbers so that we can get the
warranty extension added to your system.

My 5100 just died last week from a faulty motherboard due to overheating. It costs me over $100 to get it back from the computer repair shop in the same shape I gave it to them. I emailed Dell and told them about my problem. I had purchased this unit in 2003 as well as an 1100. Last night I received a reply from Dell that stated they would indeed replace the motherboard and heatsink free of charge because the warranty had been extended and instructed me to email them the original shipping address. I emailed it back to them and this morning I received another email from Dell that now states they won't fix it because the warranty has expired. (NOTE: This email was from a different technician) So now I am very confused. My next move will be to mail copies of all the emails to Michael S. Dell, CEO of Dell Corporation. However, I am sure that will still be with no end result that I would be happy with.