Dell has decided that Saundra’s warranty, which ends in 2008, ends in 2007, and won’t repair her motherboard for free. Saundra has informed them of the error and sent them the relevant documents, to which Dell has shrugged. Saundra has now decided to sue Dell in small claims court. Which mall kiosk which she deliver the court papers to? Who knows, there’s got to be thousands of them around the nation… Her story follows.

Sep 6 2007

I bought a Dell laptop in 2004, and in 2006 was told my warranty was going to expire. I responded to the notice, which said that for $248 my new warranty expiration date would be June of 2008. I paid the amount and have the credit card statement proving this.

Unfortunately, no one at Dell seems aware of this agreement, and it seems Dell has arbitrarily decided that my warranty ended in June of 2007. This comes into play now because it appears I need a new motherboard (again). I placed calls to the warranty department, then to customer service. I faxed them copies of the relevant documents (the notice, the credit card statement) and have been dealing with this for a month, but to no avail.

I was told my case was forwarded to the appropriate department. That was over a week ago, and I’ve yet to hear anything back. I sent another complaint e-mail to the manager I was dealing with, but have yet to hear back.

For Dell’s part, the 2008 may have been a typo, but that doesn’t change the fact that 2008 is the agreement.

So I’m thinking small claims court, but first, I was wondering if you might be able to help me find out executive customer services numbers that might be more expedient, or if you happen to know of a better route I might take.

Saundra Sorenson

Sep 18

Hi Ben,

just wanted to give you an update on my Dell issue. I finally heard from Dell’s customer service department today, telling me that they’ve decided my warranty is expired. (I’ve attached the invoice I mentioned, which promised me that if I paid $229, the warranty would expire in 2008).

When I brought up this invoice (which I had faxed to Dell twice) nobody had a good answer for me, and said simply that my case had been “escalated” and that my warranty was expired. I called the corporate line to get some contact info for the legal department and dropped the term “small claims court’ several times. They gave me an address and fax number for the offices in Round Rock, Texas, but I think I may do as it was recommended on your site– deliver small claims papers to the Dell kiosk at my local mall.

Any advice on further steps to take before I go the small claims route? Any advice about taking a corporation to small claims?

Thanks,
Saundra

Oct 3

Did you fax them the relevant documents? I would do that before taking the small claims route. This post, ““How To Take Your Case To Small Claims Court,” is also a good primer for how to go about going to small claims court:

Ben,

I did — and then I e-mailed them to another representative. And then I asked the representative who told me my warranty had expired if they had received these documents, and the rep said yes. So I told them to make a note in my case file that I was unhappy with this decision, was not satisfied, and would be pursuing a legal route (in small claims).

Any advice about small claims or another next step?

Thanks!
Saundra

Nope, sounds like you’re all set. Read that article, and go for it!

Dell can avoid losing their ass in small clams court by emailing tips@consumerist.com and we will be happy to put someone with a working brain cell in touch with Saundra.

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