Call from Dell (6/27/2007)

Two days after sending my D820 off to Dell I get an automated call from Dell. It states that they have found that there is water damage to the mother board, and that it is not covered by my warranty, and I have to pay them $400+ to get it fixed. Would I like to talk to someone?

Hell yes I want to talk to someone! I sent in to have the display replaced under warranty, and now they are telling me that there is water damage and that I need to pay them to fix a problem I have had since I first received the computer from Dell?

I get connected to Ernie R. at Dell Out-of-Warranty. I tell him that I have never spilled any liquid on the laptop. My wife is the only other user of this computer and she has never spilled liquid on the laptop. Based on the fact that we have not spilled anything on the laptop, and that the display issues were existing from the time we originally purchased the product, any damage to the motherboard occurred before we received the notebook computer. Since the previous owner had complaints about the display, it is apparent that this was a pre-existing issue with the notebook computer Dell sold me.

Ernie tells me that he is taking ownership of this issue and that he will send it back to the technician and have it re-evaluated. They can even take pictures of the damage to show me. I tell Ernie that I don't care if there is any water damage, that since I didn't do it, I would not pay for any damage. Ernie tells me that it is "impossible" that Dell would have sent me a computer with water damage. (again see Aaron Clow's post)

Ernie says that sometimes the re-evaluation would show no damage and I would be fine. But that was all he could do for me. So, I said thanks for you help and waited (steaming mad) for a call from Dell the next day.