Loyal customer is fed up with horrible customer service and warranty not being upheld

I have been a Dell customer for 10 years now. When my last laptop (Inspiron 1545) finally died I couldn't afford to buy a new one. So I waited, over a year, looking for the right deal. Finally in early February this year QVC was having a great deal on Dell laptop computers for the Inspiron M531R. So I jumped on it. It should have only taken a few days to arrive, it took almost a month. It was suppose to have a Terabyte of memory, it didn't even have 500GB. But when it finally arrived I pushed that aside, just excited by having a computer again. I was also too busy to try and complain about it since I was working, taking 2 online classes, taking care of not only my small child, but my sister's as well, volunteering, plus general life and house and yard work.

Well I only got to actually use my new laptop for about 3 months, it was pretty much only used for social media site surfing, my online classes, and occasionally Netflix. I was the only one using it and when not in use it was put up high out of reach for little ones or the dog to get to. Then one day in late June, I used it to check my email in the morning, by late afternoon when I went to use it again it worked fine for about 5 minutes and then died out. So I plugged my charger into it and turned it back on, again same issue turns on, loads then about 5 minutes later it died. On the third time when I turned it on it started booting, but then I got a black screen that stated that there was no bootable system found. Well I thought that was odd. So I called tech support, that was a 3 day venture of 15 calls, and at least 6 hours before I actually got to describe my problem to a tech. So he directed me through many steps to rule out any possibilities.  In the end it was determined that the Hard Drive and possibly the Motherboard was faulty. After almost 2 hours on the phone, I was informed that a prepaid empty box would be shipped to my house in the next 2-3 days along in a separate box a new Hard Drive to install.  The empty box was to be used to ship to the service center in Texas for further analysis in case there was anything else that was faulty and that the Motherboard could be checked out.

Almost 2 weeks later the empty box arrives. I wait about 5 more days for the new Hard Drive until I call customer service. I talked to 5 different people who spoke very little English before I got my point across that I hadn't shipped the laptop out because I was awaiting the new Hard Drive still. It was then that I was informed that sending out a new Hard Drive is not regular practice and I would not be receiving one despite the promise told by the tech. A little frustrated I asked if I sent my laptop in if a new Hard Drive would be replaced there. I was assured it would be and that my warranty covered it. Life was busy for the next few weeks and I had been unable to ship the computer in. I needed to take to a FedEx shop and the one closest to me had shut down. So I had to find another during a non inconvenient time to take it in to be shipped. All the while I am receiving multiple phone calls on my house and cell phone and several e-mails per day asking when I would be sending it in and if I didn't do it soon they would throw out my case file. I told them all the same information, that I am busy and haven't had a chance to make it to the FedEx location that is very out of my way yet. Finally on the fourth of July I was able to take it in to a 24 hour center and have it shipped off. The one guy running the place with 10 other customers told me that he would tape it up and have it sent out the following day. I went home thinking everything would be alright and I would have my computer back within a week or two.

It wasn't until August 1st that I got an e-mail saying that it had reached the repair center in Texas, I thought it was odd that it had taken that long, but figured it must have just been backlogged and they hadn't gotten around to the update. Then on the fourth of August I got another e-mail saying that the repairs for my laptop were on hold due to "accidental damage" and I needed to call the Out of Warranty department. So a day or two later when I had the chance, I called them and spoke with a rep. I was told that according to the repair center there was liquid damage on the inside of the laptop. Damaging the Motherboard and Hard Drive. The Hard Drive I had removed prior to shipping because I needed to get my personal photos and documents off, since I was informed that Dell would not be held responsible if any of it got deleted. While on the phone with the rep I was told that I had two options at this point 

1) Have my computer sent back to me without the repairs
2) Pay $285 (or about there) to have it repaired and then shipped back

Well I don't have the money to pay for those repairs and I am still paying off the laptop itself. So I asked for it to be sent back. However, after going back over the conversation in my head (I was slightly distracted at the time) I realized that the rep had told me that there was liquid damage. Wait. What?! Nothing liquid had EVER been near my laptop. I made sure of that since I didn't want it getting destroyed before even having it payed off. So after reading through a ton of forums and warranty information I called back the following day. I explained to the rep that before the laptop was sent in there was never any liquid damage on there prior to me sending it in. So I wanted them to fix it per the warranty information. When he started to become rude I asked to speak to the supervisor. I had to ask him 6 times to speak to the supervisor, all while I was asking to speak to the supervisor he kept over-talking me until I was shouting just to not be interrupted. After almost 30 minutes on hold, the supervisor answers. I tell him the issue and say I want it fixed without me paying for it, since it was still under the initial limited term warranty when I had first sent it in. He then explains to me that anything could have happened to get the  liquid damage when I wasn't around and that if I want it fixed I have to pay for it. We go back and forth like this for awhile. Me telling him that there was no way anything liquid could have ever gotten on to the laptop while in my possession prior to being shipped off. And him saying that the warranty clearly doesn't cover liquid damage and that anything could have happened while I had the laptop for it to have liquid damage  and that he was unwilling to budge on getting it repaired. So in the end I asked just to ship in back to me immediately. And I was told it would take at least 6-10 business days to get it back.

So now I am waiting for my computer to come back. I attempted to find a corporate complaint number but all that is listed on the website is  a number that leads you directly to sales in India. At this point I am so fed up I will NEVER buy anything from Dell again and I am going to tell everybody I know not to business with them, because they will ultimately you over just so that they can keep a few hundred dollars in their pocket. I will also be logging a major complaint against the company as a whole on not only their social media sites but with the as well.