Thread: Dell Inspiron 1720 problem

Hi all,

Bought a dell inspiron 1720 from pcworld 14th august this year and have had 3 problems with it already.

After 3 weeks, whenever i started it up i got 7 beeps and was then sent to the boot page to chose which os i wanted to boot uo with, i only have vista on it!.... a friend fixed this this, but i rang dell to make them aware of the issue, they told me they would not do anything about it seeing as i had the problem fixed.

Then this week, about 7 weeks after buying it, i am now getting either 8 beeps or 10 beep when i power it up and then being sent to the boot page to chose which os to start with.

The laoptop also has problems responding to me using the left mouse button which has only started yesterday, it seems to be one thing after another with it now!

I find these problems hard ot take with a brand new laptop, and will be taking it back to pcworld this week as i need a working pc so i can study for my masters at university.... what would be a realistic outcome from this?

I bought it on a debit card and still have the receipt, can i request a refund so i can buy a laptop from a different company? or shall i allow them to repair the problems first? Tbh i am not sure i have much faith in the company and would like a refund.. can i request this on a laptop thats not even 2 months old that has problemns such as this?

Thanks in advance

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Cheers for the reply,

Wish i had taken it back when the first error occured as it was within the 28 days.

I take it from what you say that the best tnig is to take it back to get repaired? But if i have an ami bios would it be best to argue that errors are likely to keep reoccurring until the laptop dies?
I really need a trouble free laptop as i start a new degree on wednesday, could i argue for a replacement if they won't do a refund, or will i have to give them chance to repair it first?

Well I think given that it is under warranty (minimum 1 year) it will be honoured with a repair or replacement
I dont know their in-store warranty procedures and on the website, I can only see the online proc.

Knowing PCW I dont think they would refund you but rather replace if they couldnt repair. I know with experience, they just replace if its not been too long (but beyond their returns policy)
In that replacement, you could generally ask for a credit note to spend in-store which I have done a few times especially if I did not want the same item again.

I'm sure someone will have a proper answer though!

As for brand, I work with repairs on a regular basis (hobby) and I find Dell's one of the more reliable brands. Bearing in mind I get 20-30+ laptops a month for repair.

Again with experience, 7 beeps is almost always a motherboard fault with Dells. If this is the case, PCW might just bite the bullet and call it a beyond economical repair giving you the chance to get something else.

Originally Posted by slick132

Hi Tinks,

If it is showing these faults so soon after purchase, you should return it and demand a full refund or an new machine. You have protection under the SOGA.

I would not tell them you had a friend fix the machine as they could try and wriggle out of their responsibilites. Say you fixed the problem and it was ok for a while but is now showing more faults

I am no expert on the SOGA but surely you are offering duff advise there.

The customer should have returned it as soon as the fault became apparent and if they had done then they would have been entilted to the a full refund or if the choose an exchange but the customer waited and now the period that PCW specify for a refund has expired so the customer is entitled to a repair of the machine. Now i know the SOGA states that your entilted to your money back with in a reasonable time but that time is different for all item and the time you have gone to court to argue the point over time you could have your laptop back and working fine for quite a few months.

Now again under the SOGA you could argue that the machine was not not of satisfactory standard or had an inherentl fault but again by the time you have argued this out with PC world you could have had the machine repaired.

So i ask what is the point of going to the store and demanding your money back when they will just say no and to book it in for repair and if you choose to fight it, it will take that long to get a result you would be out a laptop for a lot longer that the week it would take to fix.

Originally Posted by slick132

Hi Curofone,

I agree that the faulty machine should have been returned when it first showed faults but not everyone is aware of their rights, or of PCW's refunds policy.

PCW's policy is not law and the consumer has rights under SOGA and CPUTR 2008.

If Tinks is not happy with a remedy suggested by PCW, Tinks has every right to challenge their policy and to have a machine which doesn't have faults referred to by Sharpman in post #8 above.

I know that pcw policy is not the law nor did i suggest it was but all pcw will tell him to do is ring the call centre and tell him to get the machine booked in or repair.

If he was to challenge pcw policy on this he would have to take them to take them to small claims court which could take months and be quite costly and therefore as Tinks said that he needs the machine for his masters i am assuming he does not have the time or money to do this and therefore as i said before surely your advice on this issue is duff

Originally Posted by curofone

The customer should have returned it as soon as t
So i ask what is the point of going to the store and demanding your money back when they will just say no and to book it in for repair and if you choose to fight it, it will take that long to get a result you would be out a laptop for a lot longer that the week it would take to fix.

Well i would just like to point out that nowhere on here has it been implied that i would be going to the store and demanding a refund, what i did however say was that i start a masters degree this week and NEED a fully working laptop.... i asked if i would be able to get a refund, that was all.

Thankyou everyone who has given me advice on this matter, i am going to the store tomorrow to see if i can get a refund or a new laptop.

I made dell & pcw aware of the first fault which occured within 3 weeks of purchase, but as i was not in the uk at the time to be able to get the fault fixed, i got a friend who owes me a favour to fix it, he fixes laptops for a living so it was not some amatuer doing the repair.

All of this will be explained, and if offered a repair then i will decline and ask for a replacement, as these laptops are known to have problems with the graphics card amongst others!

Once again thankyou everyone for your replies, it has helped greatly.

Hi I posted this on another forum within this site. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Hi All,
I bought my son a Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop in January 2008. Cost- £350. In December they sent a new ac power charger under the 1 year warranty. l Have just had to purchase a new charger for him as the laptop would not power up, my son has spoken to their technical support team and they have said it is the 'motherboard' which needs replacing. Quoted £300 and eventually dropped it to £204. I have spoken to Dell tonight and they have offered to repair the laptop for a charge of £130 which is the cost of me purchasing a 3year warranty -"under exceptional circumstances".
I have said that Under the Sale of Goods Act that I consider 17months not to be a reasonable length of time for a £350 laptop to work, hence their attitude went cold and said that someone from 'their legal team' will ring me on Monday.

I'm desperately seeking some advice on what to say to them, am I being unreasonable insisiting that I shouldn't have to pay for goods that although out of the period of warranty (1yr warranty - expired Jan '09) or is it something that I'm just not going to win?

Thanks in anticipation.
PL