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August 5th, 2009 18:00

Battery Dead 2 weeks after warranty! POOR Quality and Bad customer service

I purchased the XPS 1330 notebook in June last year; after 8 months of meticulous usage the battery started acting unstable, always between chargeable and un-chargeable. Just after 2 weeks out of the warranty the battery was COMPLETELY dead! I found online and realized a lot of people with XPS 1330 got the SAME problem - battery died a week after warranty, or even shorter 2 days after the warranty.  On the website people complained about it, a sincere Dell-Bill helped them to do a replacement for customer satisfaction.

we called in for a replacement as it's not an abnormal case to XPS M1330 and users got their replacement as compensation. When we were on the phone we kept being transferred to 5 different departments and finally when we got to the XPS department, this guy Kerome kept telling us there's nothing he could do and emphasized the laptop battery should last for a year. The explanation and service are unacceptable!

We understand in some cases the battery died after a year, BUT 1) we charge the battery ONLY when it's down to 10% or less every time, 2) this is a VERY COMMON CASE to people who are using XPS M1330. Who can expect a high-end XPS laptop last only for a year? My brother is a tech guy, he's been testing different kinds of gaming machines. I've been using the same laptop  We all know a batter shoud last MORE than a year. He's going to contact PC Mag and AnAnTech regarding to this. How sad we've referred our family and friends XPS but got bad customer service at the end. Dell today is disappointing.

 

5.2K Posts

August 5th, 2009 19:00

If you run on battery most of the time and allow discharge to 10% or less, then the battery will have a short life. Current Lithium ion batteries will do 200-300 full discharge/charge cycles. That's a fact of life for laptops. Many use on AC unless away from a socket. If you need battery useage every day, you will need a battery replacement often. My wife's E1705 is going on 3 years with the original battery, but she doesn't use it on battery too often.

If you discharge too low, you shorten the life of the battery. If you discharge to 0-5% and leave the battery uncharged, it may go too low in charge, and the on-board charge circuity may not allow a recharge. This is a safety feature, as a highly discharged battery can explode upon recharge

You need to understand that this is what you live with using battery operation. This is true for ALL Lithium-ion batteries.

 

3 Posts

August 5th, 2009 20:00

KirkD: I don't use my battery everyday and not often enough to kill it by discharging it down to 10%. I use it once a week in average. I said I'm using a laptop at work (it's a gaming notebook too) the battery is still in very good conditions after 2 years. As I said I do understand in some cases the batteries can last for more than a year or even longer, even cell phone battery last more than a year. This didn't just happen to one or two customers but a large group of customers out there. What more ridiculous is that all of their batteries died within a month after the warranty!

5.2K Posts

August 5th, 2009 21:00

What you get depends on the usage profile. There has been a lot of chatter for yesrs that these batteries are programmed to die just after the one year's warranty is up. This just isn't true. They are warranted for a single year, because that's how long they live under worst case conditions - lots of discharges/charges. They could be made more durable, but the cost would be too high. How do you think electric car buyers are going to feel when their $5000+ worth of lithium batteries die in a year!!!!!

In some cases, the problem is the charger and not the battery. Both should always be tested by using in another machine.

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