More on my girlfriend's Dell notebook...

Imakeholesinu · Post by **Imakeholesinu** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 5:14 pm

So there was an accident lets say and the screen is now cracked on it. Not to the point of leaking fluid but the images are definitely distorted and have rendered the laptop pretty much useless. Now she called Dell in Japan and apparently it's going to cost her $429 US (50,000 Yen) to fix plus the cost of sending the thing overseas ($60-$80). I think this is a bit outrageous since the entire laptop itself is worth about $1600 US. Is Dell Japan bending us over and sticking it in us? Should I call Dell US and see if I can get them to fix it?

SAMSAMHA · Post by **SAMSAMHA** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:58 pm

do try to call dell. I have heard a lot of bad thing about dell customer service but it never hurts to try.

T-Shirt · Post by **T-Shirt** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 2:02 am

definately call dell,
it's the same part no matter where it is fixed.
unless it is a free/reduced rate to have it fixed in japan (I doubt it) the shipping would be a waste of money and time.
You MIGHT save a little by having it repair by a third party if it is no longer under waranty.
I'm not suprised at the repair cost , the LCD plus the labor is easily 1/3 of the value of a laptop.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 5:54 am

The most expensive part of a notebook is usually the LCD monitor. While $400 may seem high I've heard other people paying that much for a screen replacement. Thats the repair price correct? It does take some work getting the screen out of a notebook!

T-Shirt · Post by **T-Shirt** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 9:26 am

Apoptosis wrote:The most expensive part of a notebook is usually the LCD monitor. While $400 may seem high I've heard other people paying that much for a screen replacement. Thats the repair price correct? It does take some work getting the screen out of a notebook!

The notebooks I've seen repaired (including dells) they basically take it apart at the hinge and replace the entire LCD top lid as a unit, the old one is scraped.
the connector is usually one of those thin , flat ribbon cables, connected inside the keyboard area
It probably a 15 minute repair for an experinced tech, plus some testing time, plus a 24 hour burn in (the last 2 require very little tech time in a assembely line type repair depot.
If you had the right tools, and good Mr. fixit" skills, and just ordered the part(s) it would probably take somewhere from 1/2 hour to forever (if you make a mistake

).
Dell support used to have detail schematics on their site but you need the model/service tag# to get them.
http://support.dell.com/support/index.aspx

might be easest just to have it done.
One of the reasons laptop are so expensive to own is the frequentcy that they are damaged, and the proprietary parts supply.

Dell used to cover accidental damage under their "one care" (?) warranty, but too many people treated it as "I don't care" (want a new laptop? just drop it) and that cost dell too much. it now covers a very limited repair schedule and costs more

Imakeholesinu · Post by **Imakeholesinu** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 1:16 pm

You would think that since she's only had the laptop for 2 months that it would be covered though.

Regardless, I've been fighting with Dell tech support for the better part of a day now just trying to get someone to talk to me. There has been a glimmer of hope as to getting the thing transfered in my name to get it serviced over here. If this is a possibility that'd be great. My next effort would be to see if I can get an RMA on the LCD and just send back the old one. I do have the users manual and can take the laptop apart (instructions are in japanese though) so if need be I can just RMA the LCD to them and wait for a new one to arrive.

Pesto · Post by **Pesto** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 4:54 pm

if you had complete care it would be covered.. this is a form thats used to transfer ownership, but im not sure how it works with overseas stuff...

Dell Support - Transfer of Ownership form

Edit: i found the international exchange of ownership

Imakeholesinu · Post by **Imakeholesinu** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 12:46 pm

What they did for me was set up a dummy tag for the laptop and sent a service technican out to service the laptop yesterday. Got a brand new LCD for it and it works like new.