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Getting onsite service without ownership transfer
Dell requires buyers of second-hand laptops to provide the "previous owner" details to transfer the ownership for warranty purposes; however, in many cases neither the buyer nor the seller know these details, which sets up a roadblock for getting warranty service. On the other hand, I've read (and heard personally) that some people were successful in getting onsite service for their Latitude laptop without the ownership transfer: example 1 and example 2.
I have also spoken to Tech Support today, and after much back-and-forth, they admitted that even without the transfer, "we can still provide warranty support, but it would likely be limited to onsite tech or ARC (mail-in) dispatches, no parts only dispatches. Or dispatches that require any type of account verification."
Can any of the Dell reps on this site please confirm if this information is correct: that buyers of second-hand Dell laptops (e.g. Latitude) can get onsite service even if they are unable to transfer the ownership because they don't know the previous owner details.
Looking for an honest non-evasive answer if possible. Please don't regurgitate official policies about having to do transfers, etc.
jphughan
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May 15th, 2019 20:00
Hopefully you can get a firm answer (and the actual service), but FYI the ownership transfer form is intended to be filled out by the PREVIOUS owner, since they of course know their own details and presumably know enough about the person they’re selling/giving their system to in order to fill in the new owner details. For any future second-hand purchases, you might want to consider telling the seller that your purchase is contingent on them submitting an ownership transfer as part of the sale, otherwise you’ll refuse delivery and/or submit a complaint. You’d be able to verify that they did this because there’s an option on the form to send the new owner an email when an ownership transfer is processed.
AlexRau
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May 16th, 2019 07:00
Thanks for your input. Just want to clarify that my post strictly concerns cases where the previous owner is unknown to both the buyer and seller, which is a very very common scenario. Speaking from personal experience, the vast majority of Ebay sellers of used Dell laptops (who are not selling their personal laptop) have no idea who the previous owner is. I use Ebay as an example because that is the biggest second-hand marketplace. I will await Dell reps to answer this definitively.
Dell-Alan D
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May 21st, 2019 03:00
@AlexRau
Ownership transfers are handled by the ownership transfer team, not tech support. Tech support have to manage the support requests on systems and depending on the nature of the service requested require certain data criteria to be validated before they can provide service.
All of the information that you require can be found in the following guide to Ownership Transfer - https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln143036/ownership-transfer-and-dell-product-registration-guides?lang=en
The last paragraph of the document should answer your query -Was the System purchased second hand, through an auction website or third party company?
If you are unable to provide previous owners details you may be asked to prove possession of the system by the ownership transfer team.
Alan
AlexRau
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May 21st, 2019 07:00
@Dell-Alan D
Thanks for the reply. I must say first that I'm already aware of the policies you listed (about second-hand..) and the fact that there is an internal department for ownership transfers. I contacted Tech Support to ask questions because there is no way to reach that department directly.
My inquiry goes beyond the stated policies, since it refers to the experience of others who received onsite service even though they didn't get an ownership transfer (because they didn't know the previous owner). How is this possible? Does it mean that Dell does not outright refuse service if the person requesting it is not the registered owner?
Also, you mentioned something that is not stated publicly by Dell (to my knowledge):
This could be the key to what I'm asking, because it suggests that there is a way forward even if previous owner details are unknown (but correct me if I'm wrong). What sort of information would an owner need to provide to prove possession?
Dell-Alan D
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May 22nd, 2019 07:00
Hi @AlexRau everything that I can publicly discuss has been outlined in the linked article. I cannot provide any further specific detail than what I have said above regarding service.
If you submit an ownership transfer there is a link to the contact them in the confirmation email. Any further requests for private information would be discussed privately with them.
Alan
SPARTANII
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August 22nd, 2022 12:00
I just went threw this for over a week and NOPE dell DO not help unless you either pay or provide the original purchase info
I had a old laptop dell e6430 it died with the original board found a refurbed one (low and behold it was an original unit sold by dell itself/warranty seller didn't use it and sold it on ebay!!) i purchased it installed it found the bios didn't have a service tag in it (so it was locked from booting until service tag entered) and i didn't have the old one from my dead board (no sticker and didn't write it down either or record it) so I went online got a dodgey one to test and make sure it worked as i was not interested in warranty on it etc.
then I found out the bios is locked (no BIOS Flash Update in F12) and no downgrade or other bios flashing options in bios (tried all ways i can think of from a ms dos boot usb with bios on it downloaded from dell to a uefi boot usb with bios on it)
I tried asking the seller and other then saying use the one on bottom of laptop or you old service tag he stopped responding.
A week of dell telling me to get a new laptop, to can't help you, to we need order id blah blah to not even reading the e-mails correctly it completely wasted my time effort and extremely disappointing experience so much so that i say to all people using dell is get ya money back coz once it expired unless ya pay more or keep the records of all ya service tags and receipts you are not going to get any help from dell and knowing the previous owners of all dell items I have Buckley of knowing them and they probably have the same of me other then yeah he bought it