Dell XPS 15 9560 sent back for repair 4 times, still broken.

Buying the XPS 15 9560 has been an expensive mistake and one of the most seminal example of terrible service in any product I have owned. I'm going to explain how my laptop broke 4 times, got sent back from the repair depot still broken, and was once in repair for about an entire month. I never post to these places, but my laptop just broke again. I think this has gone far enough.

First, let me set the scene: my XPS arrived on my front door on May 8th, 2017. I was but a naive boy, looking for a dependable laptop to bring with me to my first year of college. I decided to go with the XPS because of the glowing testimony of Reddit and YouTube. Begin the ominous ambiance music.

Let's fast forward. Everything goes well until sometime near the end of the first year, when I got the classic "plugged in; not charging" problem. Thankfully, it was covered under Dell's initial warranty. Nothing too suspicious here, things sometimes break. I get that. I call this portion of the story "situational irony". I send my laptop to the repair depot, and in about 1.5 weeks I get my laptop back. It's fixed and functional.

It works for a good stretch of time until around 2 months after my warranty expires. Same problem: "plugged in; not charging." Dell you fickle beast. Alright, I think. It's a little unlikely for the AC power adapter to break twice, surely it's the power cord: I proceed to buy a second Dell power cord. My laptop still does not work.

The bell dings for round 2: I send in my laptop, things go well, and I get my laptop back in 1.5 weeks. Only this time, the laptop is still broken, right out of the return box. I call Dell support, send it back, and get a regular follow up call where the techie explains that the AC power adapter is broken.

At this point, I was very aware of my AC power adapter. However, unlike the last 2 times, there's a hitch in the repair process, and I don't get my laptop sent back. I get a call explaining that they've decided to also replace my motherboard and are waiting for replacement parts that are currently out of stock. On one hand, I'm annoyed that this has been such an ordeal. Let's recap: I've sent it back twice, paid diagnostic and repair fees, had my laptop still be broken after the second "repair," and now have to wait extra time on the third repair. On the other hand, I'm glad that it's about to be over. After all, it wasn't just the AC power adapter's fault, but also the motherboard. Surely once this is replaced things will be dandy. Spoiler alert: it will not.

Waiting for the spare part made the last repair take around a month in total. This time I decided to buy insurance--the first time I've ever bought insurance for any piece of technology ever. For all you bean counters, I've now shelled out an additional $288.18 (this includes insurance), a good chunk of my life spent trying to fix the thing, and hours of wasted productivity in my job, which required a personal computer. I don't exactly remember, but I'm pretty sure they also charged me for a new charger, which is interesting given that I confirmed my charger wasn't the problem with the laptop. I presume the techs assumed a faulty charger and decided to charge me for one.

Regardless, this whole mess gets cleaned up right as the next university year begins, and things go fine for about 4 more months until the same problem comes up: "plugged in; not charging." This time I get it replaced at my university's repair depot. They're connected to Dell's depot in some way because my extended warranty still covers this repair. This is repair numero 4.

We've now caught up to the current day, where I just got my laptop back about a week ago, and the problem has arisen again. This time it goes away if you jiggle the charger a bit, but at this point it's the 5th time the problem has come up; and I suspect it's going to later stop working completely, like it has for the last 4 times, ending up with me having to send my computer back for repair. Again.

Dell, I think this journey has gone on for a little too long. I've had my laptop from May 8th, 2017 to December 14th, 2018. It's had the same recurring problem 4 times. I've sent it back to a repair depot 3 times. I've spent $288.18 more than I would have if my XPS had just worked to begin with. Now to be fair, the last 3 times were outside the year long warranty, but I think most consumers don't expect this many failures to their high-end laptop to happen so soon after so many alleged repairs. Combine the money I've spent, the productivity lost in my workplace, and the time spent on this problem: it would've been cheaper for me to just buy a MacBook.

Dell, I've used your products for a long time. In fact, I quite like the XPS. When it works, it's amazing. Even when it doesn't work, the machine is a gorgeous. I'm such a fan that I got 2 of my roommates to buy an XPS 15 9560 (back when my laptop had only been broken a single time). Theirs seem to operate without the same problems I've experienced, but for me this is too much. I would appreciate some kind of reply--some kind of acknowledgement--because I honestly don't think your flagship laptop should be this prone to failure.

Otherwise, I'm going to have to switch to Apple. And I hate OSX.

TLDR: had my XPS break 4 times from the same problem, spent $288.18, and had it sent back to me from the repair depot already broken. Oof, ouch, owie.