Mini 9 Battery

I signed up for the Vodafone/Dell Mini 9 package on Monday 19th this week.  The Dell was free if I signed up for 24 months call charge.  Since I was already paying for mobile broadband with a USB stick I thought this was a good deal.  I took the Dell Mini 9 home and tried to charge the battery.  It would not charge.  There then began a game of telephone tag over three days trying to get sense out of either Vodafone or Dell.  Vodafone referred me to Dell because this deal has a no refund condition in UK.  I finally got through to Dell Service in India and, with the greatest of difficulty, finally managed to describe the problem.  I was told to try another battery.  I said I did not have one.  I was told to try another charger and said I didn't have one.  I was then astounded to be told that it "Doesn't matter what charger you use".  Er? Warranty void if wrong charger used?

I ignored this and reluctantly accepted a Call and Return "repair".  NB.  How can you repair something that hasn't yet worked?

I was given a service number which cannot be found on the Dell "Trace your service call" site.  I called in to the Vodafone store and "as a gesture of goodwill" they checked to see if my battery would charge with their charger.  It would not so we concluded that the power supply link to the battery was at fault, not the battery.

Always supposing that the agent calls to collect the laptop on Monday, (doubtful), is there anything I can try before then to save having to send away a machine that hasn't yet done what I signed up for?

Also, since this will take anything up to two weeks to get back to me, who do I seek a refund from for the Vodafone call charge I am paying?  I bet anything they both say it is the responsibility of the other!!!