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Dell's 75-day replacement is revealed after the battery ID is entered
Dell Inspiron 9100 and XPS models may take up to 75 days for a replacement battery

DailyTech previously reported Dell was recalling 4 million batteries due to fire risks. Dell Latitude, Inspiron, Precision and XPS models manufactured between April 2004 and July 18th, 2006 were affected. Luckily for those with affected models Dell would ship out a new battery and include a return shipping box free of charge.

Dell estimates a delivery time of up to 20 business days for a new battery for most models. Occasional DailyTech blogger and TweakTown Editor in Chief Cameron Wilmot just happened to be one of those unfortunate folks with a recalled battery.  However, Wilmot was lucky enough to not be part of a select group of Dell owners with battery part numbers M3006 or H3191.  Battery models M3006 and H3191 have extended lead times and take up to 75 business days for delivery, leaving users without a safe battery for nearly four months.

Dell models affected by this 75 day delivery time are the Inspiron 9100 and XPS series of heavyweight notebooks. Nevertheless, user with affected batteries can visit DellBatteryProgram.com regardless of a 20 or 75 day delivery time.

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75 days?
By underline21 on 8/16/2006 5:28:33 AM , Rating: 5
Where are they shipping them from, Mars?
Completely unacceptable shipping time when their product is causing such a big risk such as a fire...

75 days...Shame, shame, shame.




RE: 75 days?
By George Powell on 8/16/2006 6:11:31 AM , Rating: 3
I agree.

Having had the battery on my Macbook Pro recallled and the replacement arrived 2 days after I filled in the recall page it seems Dell have a long way to go.

Still it is nice that a company can admit to a problem.


RE: 75 days?
By chrisg22 on 8/16/2006 6:50:06 AM , Rating: 2
I highly doubt that Apple was recalling 4.1 million macbook pros...

Now those two batteries don't make up for that whole amount, but I'm sure they make up for a lot more than what Apple sells.


RE: 75 days?
By DigitalFreak on 8/16/2006 9:12:43 AM , Rating: 5
Has Apple even sold 4 million notebooks? :-)


RE: 75 days?
By sweetpants1536 on 8/16/2006 9:54:19 AM , Rating: 4
I would hardly call 6 out of 4.1 million a "big risk".

I agree it's an unacceptable shipping period, but I doubt that Sony has 4 million batteries just lying around to ship to Dell immidiately, probably hence the wait


RE: 75 days?
By Samus on 8/16/2006 12:38:47 PM , Rating: 2
I think Sanyo is the supplier this time around for many of the cells.


RE: 75 days?
By sweetpants1536 on 8/16/2006 1:24:42 PM , Rating: 2
No it should be Sony, they are fronting the costs (as I heard) for the recall.


Compensation
By CKDragon on 8/16/2006 6:18:48 AM , Rating: 2
Wow, will Dell have to compensate these people extra for being without portability for 4 months?

I know virtually nothing about the laws concerned with this, but it would seem quite ridiculous for them to take away the primary selling point of a laptop vs. a desktop for 75 business days and not have to give them anything back.

CK




RE: Compensation
By Hokum on 8/16/2006 6:31:54 AM , Rating: 2
You can hardly call the 9100 portable WITH a battery...


RE: Compensation
By ksherman on 8/16/2006 7:58:42 AM , Rating: 2
indeed... XPS to. Dont they only list like 45min with a full charge?


RE: Compensation
By poohbear on 8/16/2006 8:19:47 AM , Rating: 2
"dude, i aint getting a dell". sorry just had to.


RE: Compensation
By MercenaryForHire on 8/16/2006 9:17:06 AM , Rating: 1
Indeed. 4.1 million notebooks recalled, however many more don't get sold. I know I'm not the only one who has put Dell a lot lower on the "vendors to buy from" list from this.


RE: Compensation
By braytonak on 8/16/2006 11:04:36 PM , Rating: 2
Yes, I'm sure Dell product designers knew that the Sony batteries were going to fail, and likewise chose to use them in their machines.

Sony is the company to be blaming about this, as it's the Sony batteries that are going back. (Ironically, they're made in Japan, which I would expect to be of higher quality than something from China.)

One recall doesn't justify a snap decision to not buy from an entire company.


It's obvious
By Josh7289 on 8/16/2006 11:59:25 AM , Rating: 2
The long delivery time is simply because Sony has to manufacture 4 million batteries for all of these customers. That takes time.




RE: It's obvious
By TomZ on 8/16/2006 2:22:14 PM , Rating: 2
Even understanding the issue doesn't relive the inconvenience of having to be without your batteries for several months. Dell clearly, IMO, owes its customers some kind of compensation for their troubles.


RE: It's obvious
By mb on 8/16/2006 6:38:36 PM , Rating: 2
Why? If anyone should, it would have to be Sony.


RE: It's obvious
By TomZ on 8/16/2006 8:50:03 PM , Rating: 2
Well, what I meant is that Dell needs to take care of their customers. But you're right, Sony should probably pick up the cost of whatever compensation is offered. But Sony is a component OEM in this case, so it might be inappropriate for them to directly compensate Dell's customers.


RE: It's obvious
By thegrimreaper3 on 8/17/2006 8:48:18 PM , Rating: 2
I believe that the only way they are going to get compensated is if they actually complain in numbers or they file suite. Dell has horrible customer service and i highly doubt there going to shell out anything to make there customers happy. On the other hand they are dealing with the XPS owners who usually spend the big bucks so therefor it might be worth it to compensate them to keep them happy returning customers. I honestly don't know, its a tough call.


75 days or "nearly 4 months"?
By Netopia on 8/16/2006 8:56:15 AM , Rating: 2
Am I missing something? 75/30 = 2.5 Where does the four months come in?

Joe




RE: 75 days or "nearly 4 months"?
By The Cheeba on 8/16/2006 9:03:36 AM , Rating: 2
There's only 5 business days in a work week.


RE: 75 days or "nearly 4 months"?
By TomZ on 8/16/2006 1:37:57 PM , Rating: 2
Maybe in your work week. :o)


big management f.u.
By lemonadesoda on 8/16/2006 11:33:05 AM , Rating: 2
4 million recall is too big a number for any company or logistics department to manage.

They should have staged the recall, starting with the "most" "at risk" laptop versions, or serial numbers.

When they tell you to board the plane, they don't say "ok, 3.2.1. everyone board now", but they manage to organise the process "rows 54- please start boarding".

Complete PR f.u. by Dell. (again).




RE: big management f.u.
By TomZ on 8/16/2006 1:37:39 PM , Rating: 2
On the one hand, they stage the recall so that battery supply can keep up, but then the continue to expose themselves to liability in terms of possibly hurting people, damaging property, and further harming their reputation as more and more fail in the field.

On the other hand, they try to pull all the batteries in as soon as possible out of the field and provide replacements as soon they become available. This way, they have acted decisively to try to minimize damage, with the unfortunate problem that some folks will be without their batteries for a few months. It's a bad situation, but I think Dell did the right thing.


By Acanthus on 8/16/2006 10:23:05 AM , Rating: 2
The battery life would be too short to make it worthwhile.

Regardless, this is Sonys fault (has there been ANY good news for sony lately) and i believe they are footing the bill for the entire recall.




By interl0per on 8/16/2006 9:14:11 AM , Rating: 1
By sheer coincidence one of my clients ordered a new battery last week before all this went public. She ordered directly from the website. They took her money and sent her a replacement DVD drive instead of the damn battery.

No need to explain the immenent replacement procedure... just ship the wrong part, take the $$$ and tell her she clicked the wrong item.

Quality outfit.




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