XPS 15 9550 Battery Swollen and Trackpad lifted!!! Just when I need to rush my thesis! Dell pls help!

I just want to add my name to the list as well. I also have this problem right after 1 year of use of the laptop and my warranty ended. :( My track pad is severely lifted for half a year now and I also fear the battery can explode. I saw online that people have bought the battery model 6GTPY which is 97wh from the 9560 model and said it worked. Unfortunately I chatted with a dell rep and they said it is out of stock. My last resort is buy from 3rd party or ebay.  

There is another thread somewhere on Dell Community Forums that I saw that a Dell rep recommended to remove the battery and use the laptop without it to be safe.

So I spoke to the UK technical support just a couple of hours ago. They mentioned that the battery replacement is out of stock and there are already 30 or so affected users who have placed order for the new part which is expected to take about 2 months to be available. That is too long for me and I ended up using the laptop battery-less for the time being while I do my work.

Interestingly, I also specifically mentioned that the current problem seems widespread and asked if the manufacturer (Simplo) has got anything to do with this problem.Apparently, Simplo batteries swelling has been reported in many different laptop makes and models (just search "simplo battery swelling"). The tech support rep said he wasn't aware but when asked, affirmed that the new replacement battery coming soon will not be from the same manufacturer and that this manufacturer had stopped supplying batteries (for this laptop or Dell). I have no way to verify this fact but to take it at face value since it's from Dell's own tech support.

Hopefully that is the case, and there is an improved part coming soon. Else this laptop of mine is going to be severely handicapped for its use, which would be utterly disappointing considering that I had spent good money on it and only had it for a year. This is my first Dell laptop, I hope it won't end up being my last.

They replaced mine with a LGC-LGC3.67 (DELL T453X74). This is a LION instead of a LIPO battery. Hopefully it will not have the same issue that the SIMPLO battery had.

JohnD

I just discovered the same issue this morning.  Unfortunately my Dell warranty expired 3 months ago so I had to submit it through my Squaretrade warranty.  My wife has the same laptop, I hope I dont have a problem with hers as well.  Dell really needs to deal with this and issue a recall.

RoadRashTex, you can check to see if your wife's laptop is using the Simplo battery. If it is, I would think the same problem occurring in due time is a given. Sorry to say that.

RoadRashTex,

 You can run this command in a Command Prompt window using "Run as admin" to determine what battery you have.

powercfg /batteryreport /output %USERPROFILE%\Downloads\BatteryRpt.html

This will create an .HTML file in your downloads folder which you can open with a browser.

JohnD

Hi tong82,

Thanks for posting.

Apologies for your computer not working as expected.  As was explained before, please contact Dell Tech Support for further troubleshooting and assistance.  If the part is out of stock, at this time, then it should be available soon. The computer can still be used without the battery and plugged into the AC power supply.

Please contact Tech Support in your country for troubleshooting and assistance regarding a bulging battery. Thank You.

Hi Robert P,

Thank you for your reply. However, judging from the growing number of cases reported in Dell Community Forums, reddit etc, and looking at past cases happening with the same battery manufacturer for other devices from Microsoft etc, I think for Dell customers to have to replace the battery out of their own pocket 1 year after owning the laptop when there were clearly indications of defective manufacturing already exposed previously is very disappointing. The coincidence of the battery failing right at the same time the warranty expires leaves me with pondering thoughts of whether it is simply poor engineering, or intentionally designed as such to more out of customers who are already committed to the laptop model. Furthermore, the significant number of reports popping up across the internet in recent months does not reflect typical failure rates in electronics. While customers have accepted the short 1-year battery warranty offered by Dell when they purchase the laptops, to stick strictly to the warranty terms when the failure of the part is unusually widespread does not reflect well on 1) Dell's QA on its products, 2) Dell's goodwill when a product failure is questionably a responsibility of Dell and it's suppliers. I certainly would have expected that Dell would offer a 1-1 replacement for parts identified to have been part of defective manufacturing.

On en.community.dell.com/.../20019110 they are replacing the battery even when out of warranty, apparently. Seems inconsistent at best.

My battery has also started pushing up the touchpad too. Seems widespread manufacturing fault, which means not of merchantable quality, so actionable under the Sale of Goods Act, if anyone would be so bold as to take this to court. I am 2 months out of warranty and last week it lifted 2-3mm on the front edge of the touchpad. Someone is going to get some serious earache and legalese.

Bump! Me too.

*callout charge

I called Dell UK. They looked up the parts in my service tag and found this was a defective battery. They offered me free parts and labour replacement at either £94 for next working day or a 15 working day return-to-base service. I opted for the fallout charge as timing was important. Replacement by the engineer took 10 minutes.

Okay so £94 sounds like a lot for a Dell parts fault but it was a small price to pay for the alternive which was 3-4 weeks without my work PC.

Note that I was outside of my 1y warranty.

Same issue here. Can you give contact details for UK and/or Lithuania?